The Haines Borough Assembly voted to roll back a December spending plan for leftover CARES Act funds after the federal government approved an extension of the spending deadline for the coronavirus relief money. At the assembly’s final meeting before the end of the year, the original deadline for spending CARES Act funds, members voted to use somewhere […]
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Posted inLetters to the Editor
We need people we can trust on the EOC
Brenda Josephson lost her seat on the borough assembly because many of us who voted for her the first time around were appalled by her misuse of power. Her ideological surety resulted in her denying legitimacy to anyone not in her camp and she used continual political maneuvering to undermine people not to her liking. […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Collaboration leads to positive hiring process
My compliments to the Haines Borough Assembly, the Personnel Committee, and the Mayor for doing a thorough job in finding the best borough manager for Haines. With the excellent facilitation skills and guidance generously provided by Lenise Henderson-Fontenot, they have taken an approach that is very likely to lead to a positive outcome. I sat in on a […]
Posted inNews
2020: Pandemic, natural disaster and upheaval
As I sat down to write the 2020 Year in Review, I thought: “I don’t want to relive this year, nor should anyone else.” But tradition dictates an annual recap, which if left unwritten, would end my positive relationship with CVN bookkeeper Jane Pascoe. Plus, the newspaper is a weekly black hole of white space […]
Posted inLocal News, Haines Borough
Assembly Briefs
Manager hiring process to begin Dec. 21 The Haines Borough Assembly has agreed to engage the services of consultant Lenise Henderson-Fontenot, who assisted with the school district’s search for a new superintendent, to help the borough find a new manager. Henderson-Fontenot is offering her services on a pro bono basis in the wake of the recent landslide. […]
Posted inNews
Haines receives massive grant to expand behavioral health services post-disaster
Local agencies and partners at Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau have two weeks to spend an unprecedented $1.4 million the state is channeling into Haines to assist with stabilization and behavioral health services in the wake of the Dec. 2 landslide. “Could you use $1.4 million?” was the text Bartlett chief behavioral health officer Bradley […]
Posted inNews
A 200-year weather event could happen in any given year, according to NOAA
The 200-year weather event that flooded Haines and triggered a lethal landslide on Dec. 2 has the exact same probability of occurring next year, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecasters. And a changing climate could mean the event is even more likely to occur in future years. More than 10 inches of […]
Posted inDuly Noted
Duly Noted
It has been an overwhelming, exhausting and tragic week in Haines. As I am writing this column I pray that by the time we print we do not receive more bad news. We are all glued to our devices for updates. Each time I receive a Nixle alert I hold my breath before opening it, […]
Posted inNews, Climate
Changing climate means more landslides in future, scientists say
Alaska lacks resources to help communities plan around slide potential The Dec. 2 slope failure at Beach Road that left two residents missing is at once tragic and unexpected, and also not at all surprising for Southeast Alaska, according to state geologists. The region is prime landslide territory and a changing climate-trending toward warmer, rainier […]