U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 10) (left) sits moored next to U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB 20) at Coast Guard Base Seattle, Aug. 25, 2024. The Polar Star and Healy are routinely deployed to Arctic and Antarctic locations to support science research or help resupply remote stations. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Lt. Chris Butters)
The U.S. Coast Guard announced Tuesday that it has awarded a $137 million contract for the first phase of a project intended to allow its Seattle base to host two new heavy icebreakers.
The contract, awarded to The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, covers dredging of the Coast Guard’s Slip 36 and construction of two ship berths capable of hosting the new icebreakers, formally known as Polar Security Cutters.
The first of those ships, the Polar Sentinel, is expected to be complete in 2030. When accepted into the Coast Guard, it will be the service’s first new heavy icebreaker since the Polar Star was commissioned in 1977.
The Coast Guard operates the federal government’s icebreaker fleet, and the Polar Star is key to supplying American research bases in Antarctica from its Seattle home port.
A second and third heavy icebreaker were fully funded with $4.3 billion included as part of the Republican budget package approved by Congress and President Donald Trump earlier this year.
The budget package also included $300 million for port construction in Juneau to support the newly commissioned Coast Guard icebreaker Storis, a converted oilfield services ship. Until that work is complete, the Storis will be homeported in Seattle.
The Republican budget package, known as the “Big Beautiful Bill Act,” includes billions of dollars for shoreside port facilities like those in Juneau and Seattle.
Additional phases of work are expected in Seattle, which is expected to be the home port of four new major Coast Guard cutters, the service said in a written statement.
Photo of Mendenhall glacier in autumn, taken by Rosary Lombardo
NOTN- After two recent deaths on trails near the Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau police are urging hikers to take precautions and understand the challenges search-and-rescue teams face in southeast Alaska.
Juneau Police Chief Derek Bos said such cases fall into one of two categories, people who vanish in the wilderness, often requiring search-and-rescue efforts, and those whose disappearances are suspicious or criminal in nature.
“Alaska State Troopers actually have jurisdiction over search and rescues in all of Alaska.” said Bos, “When we get those calls in, initially, it’s deferred to AST for them to conduct search and rescue operations and begin the initial stages of that investigation, we also are privileged in Juneau to have Juneau mountain rescue, which is a very professional, wonderful entity that does a great job of search and rescues. And so they work in collaboration with AST on those initial stages of a missing person who’s gone hiking and just not come back.”
JPD supports both groups and shadows their work in case the missing person case later becomes a criminal investigation.
Bos also noted that southeast Alaska poses difficulties for search teams. Dense vegetation, steep mountainsides and shifting winds complicate efforts by ground crews and even trained search dogs.
“It doesn’t take much to look around and see that we are in a very densely vegetated area, and it’s very vertical. So it’s not like looking for somebody in the plains of Kansas.” Bos said, “There’s a lot of visual obstructions, there’s altitude challenges, there are different wind patterns. So even using search and rescue dogs, if you’re above a scent and the scent is below you, it might blow up on the wind, but if the dog is below the scent and the scent is going up, you might miss it. There’s significant challenges through every aspect of a search and rescue in Southeast Alaska.”
Community members often play an important role, he added, since hikers can help narrow down search areas if they remember where they saw someone.
“A huge thing for us with the public is, if you see this individual on a trail, call us and tell us, let us know where you saw them and when you saw them, that helps us narrow down the search area, and gives a better point of where that person was last seen, so that we can start search efforts in a more specific location.”
Police are urging residents and visitors to share their plans before heading out on local trails.
“If you don’t communicate that, it could be days before anybody identifies that you’re missing, and it just delays search efforts.” Bos said, “And if you’re hurt in the woods or have an illness in the woods, you want help as quickly as possible, self induced accountability is pivotal for any kind of hiking or adventures in Southeast Alaska.”
Claire Stremple, seen here on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Juneau, has been named the new editor of the Alaska Beacon. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Claire Stremple, a former Alaska Beacon reporter and the current managing editor of public radio station KTOO-FM in Juneau, has been named the Beacon’s new editor.
The Beacon is an affiliate of the national nonprofit States Newsroom, which conducted the hiring process.
“We are thrilled to welcome Claire back to the Beacon as editor and look forward to more great reporting from our talented team under her leadership,” said Chris Fitzsimon, publisher and CEO of States Newsroom, in a written statement.
Stremple worked at the Beacon from spring 2023 through fall 2024 after prior work as a reporter for KTOO and KHNS-FM public radio in Haines.
While at KTOO, she won the Alaska Press Club’s 2022 Public Service Award for reporting that exposed a large backlog at Alaska’s Division of Public Assistance. After leaving the Beacon in 2024, she returned to KTOO as its editor.
Fitzsimon said he selected Stremple from among many applicants based on her leadership at KTOO, her prior experience at the Beacon, and her commitment to Alaska journalism.
By phone, Stremple said she wants to return to the Beacon because she enjoyed working with its reporters, “and I think that the capitol is a really exciting place to be doing state politics news reporting. I think there’s a lot of opportunity for investigative work there, and that prospect is really exciting to me. So it’s really exciting to be back with the team and be back in the capitol.”
She added, “I do want to continue Andrew Kitchenman’s work, because I think his work and vision have been pretty exemplary and impactful in the state and for other media networks.”
Alaska Beacon reporting is donation funded and can be reprinted for free by newspapers, radio stations, TV stations and news websites.
Stremple intends to work from Juneau, her current location, but said she could change locations if needs warrant.
Studies show that in-person visits between children and a parent in jail or prison can strengthen family bonds and reduce recidivism.Joe Amon/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Across Pennsylvania, an estimated 65,459 children have a parent in jail or prison. That’s according to a recent email inquiry to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. Nationwide, nearly half of adults have experienced a close family member being in jail or prison, and 1 in 14 children have lost a parent who was living with them to incarceration.
In May 2025, state Rep. Andre Carroll, whose district covers parts of northwest Philadelphia, and whose own father was incarcerated when Carroll was a child, introduced PA House Bill 1506. The proposed law “focuses on improving communication between incarcerated individuals and their families” by making phone calls and other communication with incarcerated individuals free. It would also prohibit the replacement of in-person visits with other forms of communication such as video calls.
In 2020, when in-person visits were stopped at jails and prisons due to the COVID-19 pandemic, my colleagues and I interviewed 71 jailed parents in Wisconsin to understand the strengths and challenges of remote video visits with their children.
The parents we spoke with strongly preferred in-person visits, where they are allowed to touch and hug, over virtual ones.
“Contact means a lot,” one parent told us. “This type of stuff breaks families apart, not being able to see a person face to face or touch a person.”
Another parent said, “Video visits are good as it fits into their schedule, but they are not the same. … Giving your child a hug is worth a hundred video visits.”
These findings are still relevant today because many local jails across the country are using video visits as a replacement for in-person visits. For example, an analysis of 40 county jails in Michigan found that 33 of them banned in-person visits.
State and federal prisons generally have in-person visits, with video visits sometimes offered as a supplement.
During child-friendly visits, children see their incarcerated parents face to face and can hug them, hold hands, be carried, or sit on their lap. They engage in meaningful activities together – such as playing games, reading together, doing art projects, or taking photos of themselves – that are designed to strengthen their relationship. They can also eat together, are free to move around the space, and are supported by trained staff.
In-person contact visits that allow touch are more developmentally appropriate for children than noncontact visits. For young children who are not part of an intervention, visits with incarcerated parents behind plexiglass can be confusing. The kids can see but not touch their parent, and they can only hear and speak to them through a device that looks like an old-fashioned telephone.
More frequent parent-child contact during parental incarceration – and visiting in particular – is associated with better mental health, fewer behavioral infractions, better relationships with the child’s at-home caregiver and more parent-child contact and better adjustment after release.
Other studies have found links between more visits with children and less recidivism, which also benefits society as a whole.
Furthermore, a study of 507 adults incarcerated because of felony charges in a county jail in Virginia found that more frequent contact with family members during incarceration related to more family connectedness, which in turn predicted better mental health during the first year after release.
Some prisons charge exorbitant fees for video and phone calls. The Prison Policy Initiative tracks the prices of phone calls from prisons in each state. In 2021, the average cost of a 15-minute in-state phone call from a Pennsylvania prison was more than $3.
The racial disparities in who is incarcerated mean that Black and Latino families disproportionately carry the financial load of incarceration-related expenses.
Other barriers involve distance that families live from the prison or jail, time and scheduling conflicts, and strict mail policies that allow incarcerated people to receive only postcards or scanned copies of their mail. Strained relationships between incarcerated parents and family members can further limit contact.
Keeping families connected
Transportation programs offered by the Pennsylvania Prison Society, an advocacy organization for people who are incarcerated and their families, and other groups can help when family finances are tight. PPS currently provides rides from Philadelphia to four state correctional institutions. A round-trip bus ticket, which is usually $20, is free for children under 18.
In addition, some jails and prisons offer a limited number of free video visits or phone calls. The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections’ website indicates that incarcerated individuals can receive up to four in-person visits per month in addition to six no-cost video visits.
Other organizations are trying to make sure that children and other family members have a chance to stay connected to their incarcerated loved ones in positive ways. Earlier this year, nonprofit legal advocacy organizations helped children in two Michigan counties file landmark civil rights lawsuits that asserted a constitutional right to visit their parents in jail.
As an expert witness in these cases, I hope that they help more children get the “right to hug” their incarcerated parents and raise awareness of the positive impacts that visits play in the current and future well-being of incarcerated individuals and their families.
Julie Poehlmann receives funding from the National Institutes of Health; the content of this article is solely the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Poehlmann is also currently serving as an expert witness in several legal cases that involve incarcerated parents and their children.
Well, the good news is that Meghan Markle’s Netflix deal was renewed, and a second season of her lifestyle show, With Love, Meghan, is currently available to stream.
The bad news is that not many people are taking advantage of that availability.
Netflix has a history of being cagey with its viewership data, but the streaming giant has loosened its privacy protocols a bit in recent years.
So while we don’t have the full story yet, the numbers that are currently available do not paint a rosy picture.
Despite criticism from across the pond, Meghan Markle has received praise for her cooking segments in the US. (Image Credit: Netflix)
‘With Love, Meghan’ Season 2 fails to make Netflix charts; Season 1 viewership declines
The first season of With Love made its way onto Netflix’s top ten list — but just barely. The show never rose above tenth place.
And according to a new report from Deadline, the second season has failed to make the charts at all.
Not only that, the outlet reports that the show’s first season turned to lack “long tail appeal.”
In June, Netflix’s semi-annual data dump, the What We Watched report, showed that With Love, Meghan ranked 383rd with 5.3M views.
Deadline describes that as “low for a Netflix original,” which is being generous, frankly.
A woman of many talents, Meghan Markle discusses her recent ventures. (Image Credit: Bloomberg/YouTube)
The outlet points out that Suits ranked higher than Meghan’s latest TV project, despite the fact that the show concluded its run over six years ago.
We’re sure Meghan appreciates that the legal drama has found a new audience.
But no one wants to feel like they’ve peaked. So the news that more people watched Suits in the past six months than With Love probably didn’t go over well in the Markle household.
Again, we won’t know how far the show has fallen until the next What We Watched report drops at the end of the year.
But so far, it’s not looking good.
Sitting down for an interview in August 2025, Meghan Markle had a very clear understanding of her critics. (Image Credit: Bloomberg/YouTube)
Meghan reportedly had high hopes for her lifestyle show
Meghan and Prince Harry’s previous Netflix projects met with mixed results, and there were hopes that this would be a new beginning for the couple.
After all, Meghan has been in the lifestyle game since before she became a royal. Back in her Suits days, she achieved popularity as an influencer with her website the Tig.
With Elon Musk as your dad, who needs enemies? Vivian Wilson certainly doesn’t.
However, the public feud with her notorious father has led to her taking certain precautions in public — including disguising herself.
Vivian is an aspiring model. She’s 21-years-old. She isn’t rich — she arguably walked away from that when she cut ties with her awful dad.
But she has a lot going for her. Even if creeps and her dad’s fanboys can make life harder than it should be.
Vivian Jenna Wilson and Denali attend RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 10 Red carpet & Premiere Party at Gitano on May 08, 2025. (Photo Credit: Santiago Felipe/Getty Images for Paramount+)
Hopefully, creeps and Elon Musk fanboys won’t recognize Vivian Wilson in public
On Tuesday, September 2, The Cut published a broad interview with 21-year-old aspiring model Vivian Wilson, estranged daughter of Elon Musk.
During the interview, Vivian shared that being herself in public is too risky these days.
So, when she goes out to gay bars, she finds ways to disguise herself.
The Cut naturally asked what she does to camouflage herself.
“You don’t need to know my ways!” Vivian exclaimed in response.
(It seems that she’s living her estranged father’s unattainable dream — she’s actually funny)
Bosco, Vivian Jenna Wilson and Kerri Colby attend RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 10 Red carpet & Premiere Party at Gitano on May 08, 2025. (Photo Credit: Santiago Felipe/Getty Images for Paramount+)
It sounds like she also has to deal with chasers and harassment
According to Vivian Wilson, her public feud with daddy dearest Elon Musk means that “a lot of people … tried to spin things I say into things” that she never meant.
But it’s not all about her widely reviled father — even if that has put a spotlight on her.
“A lot of people can be really creepy,” Vivian acknowledged.
“Especially about my body.”
Photography in this is amazing!
She really does seem like she has great opportunities to model like she said she’d enjoy in the article.
“A lot of people say the most disgusting, unhinged things they would do to me. It makes me feel gross,” Vivian lamented. And it’s clear that this isn’t just about going out in public, either.
She has a pretty urgent instruction for the public:
“Don’t text people on the internet all the ways you’d f–k them.”
If someone wants to receive that kind of explicit message, you’ll usually know because they’ll say so explicitly. Sending something like that unsolicited is sexual harassment.
She lives with three roommates for the same reason that so many others do
As for other aspects of her life, Vivian Wilson shared that she has more money than your average 21-year-old, but she isn’t rich. Her mom is rich. Infamous father Elon Musk is famously, disgustingly so.
“People assume I have a lot of money. I don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars at my disposal,” she acknowledged. “My mom is rich, right? But obviously the other one … is unimaginable degrees of wealthy.”
Vivian lives with three roommates.
And she admitted that her most stereotypical quality is that she has “Daddy Issues.”
But is Todd Chrisley gay? This is a question that has been circulating around the Internet for a long time now.
(Lifetime)
“I know who I’m married to,” wife Julie said on the Tuesday, September 2, episode of The Chrisleys: Back to Reality, adding of such speculation:
“At the end of the day, okay. You can think whatever you want of him because he knows who he is.”
During this new and nauseating Lifetime docuseries, producers reminded viewers that Todd’s former business associate, Mark Braddock, has claimed to have had an affair with the Chrisley Knows Best star and former convict.
Todd has consistently denied the allegations and has also said that Braddock was the person responsible for all the financial crimes that eventually sent him and Julie to prison.
Grayson Chrisley, Julie Chrisley, and Todd Chrisley speak after the latter two received federal pardons. (Image Credit: Fox News)
“It’s important to understand that in the position that we’re in, scandal sells,” Todd himself explained on air this week before pointing out Braddock is the “only one” that has ever made this kind of allegation.
In a confessional, Savannah Chrisley then recalled the moment Braddock first alleged that her dad was gay.
“During the trial, Mark made claims that he had a relationship with my father. We were all like, ‘You got to be effing kidding me,’” she said.
“Our lawyer said it best: Where’s the text messages? Where’s the phone calls? Where’s the letters? Where’s anything? … I don’t buy it.”
Todd Chrisley speaks onstage during the ‘Chrisley Knows Best’ panel at the 2016 NBCUniversal Summer Press Day at Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village on April 1, 2016. (Photo Credit: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Todd and Julie have been married since 1996 and share three biological kids: Chase, 29, Savannah, 28, and Grayson, 19. Todd also has two children from a previous relationship.
In this seriously awful docuseries, Todd’s ex-assistant, Tonya Claytor, defended the spouses and assured fans they are truly in love.
“I’m very close with Todd,” she said. “I’ve traveled with him. I’ve stayed in his house. I’ve eaten dinner with them. I spend a lot of time with his family. Todd loves Julie. He loves his wife. Todd loves women.”
About two and a half years ago, Todd addressed Braddock‘s accusations that the two had an affair.
While chatting with son Chase, the reality star trashed any insinuation that he was unfaithful to his wife.
“What’s insulted me the most is that, out of all these 54 years, for me to finally be accused of being with a man, it would be someone who looked like Mark Braddock,” Todd quipped on his podcast.
“A toad. Someone that looks like a thumb. Someone who says he’s only had sex with his wife and me.”
Todd, in all of his obnoxious terribleness, added:
“Let me tell you something. I could understand if you’d have had sex with me, it would [make] you crazy. I get that. There have been many who have been [dick-mitized] by your daddy.”
They did not stop with the caption, of course. John David and Abbie shared a series of maternity photos.
The photos are more than just a baby bump and ultrasound pics. We see numbered balloons along with the couple’s two existing children.
5-year-old Grace is wearing a pink dress with a “1” balloon. 3-year-old Charlie is wearing a “2” balloon. The couple’s “3” balloon completes the message for anyone who didn’t bother to read the caption.
John-David Duggar poses here with his wife, Ashley, back in the early days of the show! (TLC)
Congratulations are in order
At this point, many long-term Duggar watchers may feel that adults from this cult-adhering family announcing pregnancies is non-news.
It would be like if your average person put out a press release every time that they get Taco Bell.
However, the congratulations for John David and Abbie Duggar came pouring in anyway.
And not all of them came from mere strangers.
“Congrats! So excited for you all,” Jana – who is pregnant with her first child — wrote to her twin and to his wife.
As most of us may recall, John David and Abbie married in November of 2018.
This followed a courtship — the cult’s heavily chaperoned version of dating — of several months.
In January of 2020, Abbie gave birth to their first child: Grace.
Two years later, the couple welcomed Charlie. 2022 was the year that they officially became a family of four.
Abbie Burnett and John-David didn’t even change out of their wedding attire before filming this video for TLC. (Image Credit: TLC)
Only three kids in 8 years of marriage?
It is true that John David and Abbie Duggar aren’t exactly keeping pace with his awful parents or his disgraced brother Josh in terms of churning out child after child.
In many ways, these two act like a real couple. They break Jim Bob’s rules and seem to genuinely love each other in ways that cult rules don’t normally permit.
Perhaps it’s because John David is, like Jana, older.
Or maybe he and Abbie could have made these choices at any age. Either way, they seem more determined to give their children a stable, sane home than some of his siblings. That can only be a good thing.
Critics say the jeans/genes pun at the center of the ads had uncomfortable racist/eugenicist undertones.
We doubt that it was Sydney’s intention to ingnite an intense debate on social media, but that’s exactly what happened. In fact, it’s hard to think of another time when an ad campaign sparked so much division.
You’d think that after such a debacle, Sydney would steer clear of endorsement deals for a while. But just a few weeks later, she’s back at it!
Sydney Sweeney attends the Los Angeles Special Screening of “Americana” at Desert 5 Spot on August 03, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)
Sydney Sweeney returns to modeling, sparks new round of discourse
This time, the Euphoria star is modeling for the iconic shoe designer Jimmy Choo.
“The new Bar Hobo bag is presented in the print of the season. Discover a play on timeless zebra print, realised in warm autumnal hues,” reads the brand’s caption for the photos below.
For the most part, the response from commenters was positive.
But once again, a number of folks found aspects of the campaign problematic.
For example, @modelsdoingballet account reportedly objected that the Jimmy Choo social media team seems to be “mocking ballet,” which is … certainly a take.
“Sorry, but the Jimmy Choo brand value is not currently strong enough to be making this mistake,” another commenter reportedly wrote.
“Whoever approved this, and thought this was a good idea….they should simply look at these comments. It’s not good,” yet another quipped.
Sydney Sweeney attends the Los Angeles Special Screening of “Americana” at Desert 5 Spot on August 03, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)
But as usual, Sydney also enjoyed the support of an army of devoted fans.
“Sydney Sweeney IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD RN,” one commenter remarked on the Jimmy Choo Instagram page.
“She’s the it girl right now. Keep climbing @sydney_sweeney there’s always going to be a mob of haters trying to tear you down harder the further you rise! Laugh to the bank sweetie!” another echoed.
If remaining a topic of conversation is the goal, then Sydney and her PR team certainly seem to know what they’re doing!
