State transportation officials laid out plans for improvements to roads and sidewalks along main corridors used by cruise ship passengers at a meeting with Haines Borough officials Monday. Pat Carroll and Keith Karpstein of the state Department of Transportation updated residents on planned Beach Road and Front Street improvements and Old Haines Highway sidewalk construction. Carroll said […]

State Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, this week said he would request $600,000 in legislative funding for the Chilkat Center, if the borough gives up the building. He suggested the center return to ownership by Alaska Indian Arts of Haines. “If this is just going to fix the roof or part of the roof, then fine, but […]

Gillnet fishermen in Lynn Canal harvested salmon worth $9.38 million in 2011, with nearly 80 percent of the catch value coming from hatchery-raised chum. Fishermen netted 1.11 million chum, a new record, topping bumper returns in 2008 (1.07 million) and in 2006 (1.09 million). A strong price – 85 cents per pound – helped make the season […]

The Haines Borough would spend up to $15,000 on a Lynn Canal Gillnetters Association study aimed at improving sockeye escapement to Chilkat and Chilkoot lakes, according to an ordinance the assembly advanced last week. J.R. Churchill of the gillnetters’ group submitted the funding request “to review Alaska Department of Fish and Game data and management policies for the past […]

State Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines is seeking a means for downtown businesses to keep signs in place in the face of state regulations that say they must be permanently moved from state rights-of-way. Thomas staffer Kaci Schroeder Hotch said federal law seems to show that the state Department of Transportation can work with federal secretary of […]

The Haines Borough is planning for about $750,000 in improvements to upper highway roads, public facilities director Brian Lemcke said this week. “We’re just in the process now of working up some kind of a limited design that we can come out to bid with, to get as far as we can with that money as far […]

The Alaska Public Offices Commission on Wednesday approved a settlement with state Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, for violations of election laws relating to “thank you” advertisements published in the Chilkat Valley News during his re-election campaign in 2010. Under a consent agreement signed by Thomas and two campaign treasurers – Joyce Thomas and Jim Studley – […]

Lynn Canal gillnetters say they want change in management of the local fishery, which they say weighs disproportionately on their gear group for ensuring salmon escapement goals into local rivers. State Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, met with more than two dozen gillnetters last week. Concerns include that fishing restrictions to ensure sockeye escapement weren’t equally shared with […]