The Haines Borough School District steered a presentation by nature photographer Amy Gulick to two classrooms instead of a school-wide assembly after school board president Carol Kelly determined Gulick’s talk should fall under a “controversial issues” policy. Resident Carol Tuynman this week asked for reconsideration of that decision and board member Anne Marie Palmieri also raised questions about it. […]

Candidates for Haines’ seat in the state House of Representatives and at least one candidate for state Senate have said they’ll attend a debate 7 p.m. Monday at the Haines School, organizer Royal Henderson said this week. State Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, challenger Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins of Sitka and state Sen. Albert Kookesh, D-Angoon, have confirmed they’ll […]

A recording of a July 4 encounter between resident Dean “Bear” Lari and officer Simon Ford played by Haines Borough police last week revealed new details but didn’t differ significantly from previous statements about the run-in. Police chief Gary Lowe played the 12-minute conversation for the Chilkat Valley News, with 21 seconds redacted that Lowe said identified youths who […]

As immediate measures to prevent further erosion of the slumping, Mount Ripinsky hillside, the Haines Borough will extend two drainage pipes, redirect an uphill drainage eastward and pursue an impermeable liner for a roadside ditch, manager Mark Earnest said last week. In the future, the borough may also encourage or require retention of trees on the hillside, Earnest said, following up […]

Alaska Power and Telephone has overbilled the Haines Borough School District $225,057 for electricity. The error that caused the overbilling dates to the opening of the renovated Haines School in 2007. AP&T discovered the error during one of its periodic audits in July, said Danny Gonce, manager of the utility’s local power operations. Because the school district […]

Haines Borough officials last week addressed the topic of safety in relation to management of heli-skiing, following concerns raised by the family of a heli-skier killed in an avalanche during a tour in March. Borough officials said the municipality isn’t responsible for ensuring safety during heli-tours, but they consider a company’s safety record in evaluating […]

Haines Borough voters on Tuesday will fill two seats on the assembly and three seats on the school board, and revisit a question about exempting local candidates from the state’s financial disclosure laws. Polls at the American Bald Eagle Foundation and Klehini Valley Firehall are open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Candidate views and election-related stories can be […]

A Skagway truck driver this week said his plan to dig two, 500-foot-long trenches for mineral exploration on state land near Mount Riley amounts to a rock-hunting outing that would last about two weeks and have the impact of a residential driveway. Eric Hosford has sought a state permit for the work that would dig, […]

Meeting packets are a thing of the past for the Haines Borough Assembly. Instead of reams of paper, assembly members now each get an iPad, a slimmed-down, tablet computer with a touch-screen keyboard. Borough officials say iPads will not only save the Haines Borough heaps of paper and ink; they’ll also reduce staff time and wear and tear […]