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Day: July 2, 2026
BELGRADE, Serbia — When Croatian supporters flooded Toronto and Philadelphia this summer, draping city halls in the red-and-white checkerboards found on the Croatian coat of arms and belting out one power ballad after another, the loudest songs, as always, belonged to Marko Perković.
“He’s become an inseparable phenomenon anytime Croatia plays or participates in any kind of competition, especially sporting events,” said Hrvoje Klasić, the leading Croatian historian focused on the legacy of World War II.
“People both at home and abroad view him as synonymous with love for one’s country,” he continued.
Better known as Thompson, after the submachine gun he carried in the Balkan wars of the 1990s, he is the country’s most popular singer — and its most enduring embarrassment.
Croatian fans have made his song, “Lijepa Li Si,” the unofficial anthem of the team and a fixture at every match, a song whose chorus salutes the wartime Croat statelet in Bosnia whose leadership was convicted of war crimes.
Thompson’s wider catalog is more explicit still. One track opens with “Za dom spremni,” the salute that functioned as Croatia’s answer to “Sieg Heil” during the World War II Ustashe regime.
In the past, his concerts have been banned or canceled in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Slovenia, Austria and Germany.
None of this is fringe within Croatia, however. Last summer Thompson drew more than 500,000 people to a single Zagreb concert, the largest in the country’s history, where fans chanted the same Ustashe slogan while the authorities looked away.
In 2018, when Croatia nearly won the World Cup, the second-placed team was welcomed back with Thompson aboard the victory bus and star midfielder Luka Modrić personally asking for him to perform.
Croatia has spent three decades declining to reckon with the Ustashe past, treating the fascist puppet state’s symbols as heritage rather than crime.
Across post-communist Europe, the end of the Cold War brought a wave of historical revisionism, as nations that felt their identity had been suppressed under communism recast neo-Nazi and far-right figures as patriots. Hungary, Ukraine and the Baltic states, as well as Croatia, have all made a version of this bargain, folding once-condemned nationalists into their modern national myths.
“These nations believe they were robbed of their national identities in the past century or are dissatisfied with their country’s present achievements, so they reach back into the past for themes from a more distinguished past,” Klasić concluded.
Politics
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Inside the DHS’s World Cup nerve center
Every day, FBI intelligence officials, weather forecasters, diplomats, security coordinators and people from more than a dozen federal agencies gather on a conference line for what has become one of the most unusual meetings in Washington.
It’s dubbed the “WISLE call” — an acronym that stands for Warning/Weather, Intent, Safety/Security, Logistics/Communications and Event Operations. And it happens every morning around 10 a.m. Eastern during the FIFA World Cup, which is about to enter its fourth week.
From a secure operations floor inside FEMA’s Washington headquarters, officials spend about 30 minutes running through the day’s World Cup matches, touching on everything from extreme heat advisories and fan festivals to cartel activity in Mexico, drone threats, visa issues and stadium security.
On Tuesday, when Brazil played Japan in Houston and Germany faced Paraguay in Boston, the biggest concern on the call wasn’t terrorism. It was the weather.
“The main story over the next couple of days is going to be building heat across the central and eastern United States,” a National Weather Service official told the group. Philadelphia, Boston and New York were all under heat watches, while Houston officials reported temperatures nearing 95 degrees with a heat index above 100.
The daily briefing offers a rare window into the machinery and threat assessments that underpin the largest sporting event ever hosted in North America.
The command center resembles a national emergency operations center more than a sports headquarters. Ten Homeland Security agencies including TSA, Customs and Border Protection, and FEMA work side-by-side on a watch floor staffed around the clock. The State Operations Coordination Center for Event Response — yes another “SOCCER” acronym — is also involved.
About 50 people occupy the physical operations center during 12-hour shifts, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and again overnight, monitoring every match, fan festival and emerging threat across the United States. The center works closely with the International Police Cooperation Center in Leesburg, Virginia, where law enforcement officials from participating countries work alongside U.S. officials. Monday’s WISLE call began with intelligence — and, again, concerns about extreme weather.
An FBI official updated participants on the coming heat wave, noting the bureau was coordinating with federal, state and local partners ahead of the July 4th holiday while also tracking security implications as national teams exited the tournament and closed their training camps.
From there, officials moved city by city. In Boston, clear weather for the sellout crowd of nearly 66,000 for Germany-Paraguay. In Houston, preparations were underway for heat-related illnesses for the Brazil-Japan match.
The State Department’s representative dialed in from the Joint Coordination Center at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City with an update spanning three countries. Mexican police had dismantled a criminal group targeting tourists around World Cup venues, Vancouver’s fan festival had reached capacity during Canada’s match, and officials were monitoring large fan gatherings expected later that evening in both Mexico City and Monterrey.
Despite the long checklist of potential problems, nearly every operational report ended the same way: “All teams are green.”
Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House World Cup Task Force, used his remarks to thank FEMA and Homeland Security personnel while highlighting accomplishments across the federal government that extended well beyond soccer.
He praised U.S. Marshals for recovering 35 missing and endangered children during Operation Yellow Card in Boston, noted DEA fentanyl seizures in Kansas City and public health operations led by Health and Human Services and the CDC. He also announced that the mother of the Capo Verde goalkeeper had successfully received a visa to travel to the United States.
“The behind-the-scenes work that goes into it,” Giuliani said, “is one of the reasons we’re able to talk now halfway through the World Cup about the incredible success.”
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin pointed to what he called the largest counter-drone operation ever assembled for a sporting event in the United States, saying officials had confiscated more than 500 drones while also using the tournament’s security posture to pursue human trafficking networks, fentanyl traffickers and counterfeit operations.
Because stadium security has remained stable, he said, law enforcement has been able to focus resources elsewhere.
“Because you guys are doing such a good job making sure that the games are going off without any major issues,” Mullin said, “we’re able to focus on other things.”
Politics
Sophia DeMarco was introduced to the wild and wonderful world of square-dance calling in 2024. On Sunday she found herself teaching the foundational building blocks of the dance to about 148 people, her largest group to date. The Haines Art Confluence hosted the free dance at the Fort Steward art park on Sunday. Organizer Helen Alten says that this is the second year for the event which drew in about 50 square-dance enthusiasts the first year. DeMarco was bitten by the square-dancing bug at a Boise, Idaho square-dancing convention. She credits her sister, an old-time fiddle player, with the initial interest in the music style and a workshop in Boise for the newfound skills. She has been a guest caller at events but this is only her third time calling a square dance by herself. When she is not guiding dancers through various formations she is guiding kayak tours and driving a bus here in Haines.
Craig Franke was at it again last weekend, helping with another community event. He was heaving bulky items into a dumpster side by side with neighbors at the Four Winds Resource Center’s annual junk collection event Saturday.
Community Waste Solutions collaborated with Stacie Powlison at the Four Winds Resource Center for the fundraiser, now in its fourth year. Franke brings a dumpster to the Mosquito Lake School for community members to dump bulk trash. Community members donate to FWRC and CWS takes away the big stuff. This year some of the “big stuff” included flooring, a pile of water hose that was described as “generational collection,” cumbersome doors, sofas that have seen many a rest, all manner of broken tools and yard equipment, and a locked safe with no key. Neighbors discussed what might be in the safe while assisting with heavy lifting.
As residents of the upper valley descended on Mosquito Lake for the trash day event on Saturday they also could catch a glimpse of Jim Stanford improving the neighborhood. He was trimming the lawn on his zero-turn mower, as he has done for years at no cost to the community. He and Deb Stanford have lived at Mosquito lake since 1984. They raised a family there and enjoy seeing the recreation area used. The Stanfords donated their time and equipment to add a pickleball court recently. The upgrade will include equipment storage in the future, according to Stanford. They put up the net and painted the lines on the court and added a free-standing sign to share laminated official rules. He asks that the community keep it tidy and share equipment in a responsible way. See you on the court.
Celeste Grimes led a nine-person moccasin-making class at Fort Seward recently. The four-day class included hands-on instruction for about 20 hours and was organized by Cory Grant at Tlingit & Haida. Grimes said she has been making moccasins for three years and this was her first time instructing the class. She was very impressed by the participants’ finished products. They learned how to make a pattern from each person’s foot and used leather and fur to handsew each pair.
Patty Campbell and a couple of Haines Little League board members worked together to insure that the Little League had uniforms for the season opener. The shipping situation was looking grim, as some have experienced here. The uniforms were stowed last minute in luggage returning to Haines following a vacation and hustled off to Campbell. She screenprinted and embroidered 60 shirts and 18 hats in just a couple of days. The Haines Little league home opener saw the Pirates beat the Mariners, 7-5.
Sixty-year Haines resident Marilyn Wilson died on Friday, June 26 in Anchorage. Wilson grew up in Skagway in the 1950s but moved to the Chilkat Valley and went on to become the Alaska Native Sisterhood chapter secretary, then president. She was also a longtime organizer of the local Elizabeth Peratrovich Day celebration. Family members say they are working on funeral plans but don’t have a set date yet.
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Thank you for successful Junk Day
The board of the Four Winds Resource Center would like to thank Craig Franke and his staff at Community Waste Solutions for providing another wildly successful “Junk Day” on Saturday. Folks brought everything from defunct lounge chairs to the kitchen sink and the big dumpster was full to the brim by noon. Craig’s generosity and support for our center resulted in much appreciated donations. We, upper-valley residents, are so thankful for community leaders like Craig who go out of their way to make our lives easier with his recycle trailer and his “Junk Day” both provided at the Mosquito Lake School. Here’s to people helping people!
Julie Korsmeyer, FWRC Board President
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Do you think political parties should choose who gets to run for public office when more than half of all registered Alaskans don’t belong to one? Do you think political contributions made by the super-rich and giant corporations should be anonymous? Do you prefer having more extreme candidates from the left and the right instead of candidates more willing to try and find common ground? If your answers are yes to all of the above, then by all means vote to repeal Ranked Choice Voting, RCV.
RCV opponents claim it’s too complicated, but it is actually very straightforward. After an “open primary” in August where anyone can run for any office, the top four candidates are placed on the general ballot for the November election. You can vote for just your favorite candidate or choose to cast a second, third or fourth place vote for the other people in the race. If no candidate gets a majority of the first-place votes, the candidate with the fewest first-place votes drops out. If the dropped candidate was your first choice, your vote is transferred to your second choice and the ballots are counted again. The process repeats until one candidate receives a majority of the total remaining votes.
Our candidate options should not be controlled by small, private clubs (political parties) the best representatives are open-minded and willing to consider different perspectives, and elections should not be for sale to unidentified deep pockets. If you agree, vote NO on repealing RCV.
Gershon Cohen
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10 Years Ago
After more than an hour of testimony from residents, the Haines Borough Finance Committee last week recommended to let voters in the fall municipal election decide the fate of the 1 percent tax for tourism and economic development.
Committee members Ron Jackson and Diana Lapham supported the recommendation; Tresham Gregg was opposed. The assembly will take up the question as a discussion item at its Tuesday meeting.
The issue came to the committee after commercial fisherman J.R. Churchill submitted a letter to the assembly last month asking the group to put on the November ballot via a referendum.
“The borough needs to put its finger on the pulse of whether or not people still support this,” Churchill, who favors repealing the tax, said at the June 30 committee meeting. “I don’t necessarily think that my perspective is going to win out here, but every so often you need to – I think, anyway – give a voice to these people who haven’t ever had a chance to vote on this.”
30 Years Ago
Local calls with cellular phones are now toll-free, a cost reduction of about 75 percent.
“Cool, huh,” said local GTE Alaska manager Greg Combs, who supervised the installation of new equipment for CellularOne. “You pay only for your air time.”
Until the switch was thrown about 4 p.m. Tuesday, local cellphone users were paying the Juneau-Haines long distance rate, about $1.50 for the first minute, on top of a 55 cents per minute air-time charge, Combs said.
Combs said he drove around last week trying out his small cellphone in various locations around town. Despite an occasional “dead zone” – for example, the hill down to Mud Bay – he found that it generally worked.
The toll-free area extends to Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan, and might be extended in another two to three years, Combs said. “For fishermen, this is going to be super.”
50 Years Ago
There was good news and bad news for travelers hoping to go south on the rain-plagued Alaska Highway and the Alaska Marine Highway.
The good news was that the 100 miles of the Alaska Highway affected by washouts had been taken care of and no one was stranded, and that two of the three bridges which had problems as a result of heavy rains would be in service Thursday night, according to Keith Byram of the Canada Department of Public Works.
The bad news was that the third bridge would be usable by Sunday at the earliest, and possibly Monday or Tuesday depending on how repairs go. One pier of the bridge had been ripped badly and had to be jacked up.
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Blotter: June 21 – June 27
Sunday, June 21
A caller on Jones Point Trail reported a brown bear in the area. A Nixle alert was sent.
A caller in Haines reported a lost driver’s license. Name and contact information were obtained.
A caller at Ft. Seward reported ATVs speeding around on the roadway. A verbal warning was given.
A caller on Mud Bay Road reported they were being followed and filmed.
A caller on River Road reported unauthorized camping in the area.
Monday, June 22
A caller at Portage Cove reported a tent in the area for over two weeks.
A caller at Letnikoff Cove reported pots missing from the water. The caller was given Alaska State Trooper contact information.
A caller in the 50 block of Haines Highway reported a driver speeding out of a parking lot.
A caller in Haines reported a missing cell phone. Contact information and an item description were obtained.
A caller at the Fairgrounds reported a brown bear in the area.
Tuesday, June 23
An officer on Deishu Drive assisted another agency.
A caller on Main Street reported a vehicle parked overnight in a no parking spot. The vehicle owner moved the vehicle.
An officer in the 300 block of Haines Highway assisted another agency.
A caller in the 300 block of Haines Highway requested to speak with an officer about an ongoing harassment issue.
A caller in the 100 block of Sawmill Road reported an assault.
A citizen in the 300 block of Haines Highway spoke with an officer about identity fraud. A report was taken.
A caller in the 80 block of Deishu Drive requested a welfare check on a friend.
Wednesday, June 24
A caller in the 100 block of Haines Highway requested a welfare check on a friend.
Thursday, June 25
A citizen on Mt. Ripinski turned in a water bottle they found on the trail. The item description was logged.
A caller in the 400 block of Main Street requested a welfare check on a friend.
An officer on River Road conducted a vehicle stop. The driver received a verbal warning for speeding.
An officer in the 200 block of Second Avenue conducted a vehicle stop. The driver received a citation for driving without a valid license.
Friday, June 26
A caller on Jones Point Road turned in a debit card they found. The item was logged into lost and found.
An officer in Port Chilkoot performed a vehicle stop.
An officer in the 100 block of Third Avenue conducted a vehicle stop. The driver received a verbal warning for speeding.
A caller in the 200 block of Sawmill Road reported a motorcycle driving without a license plate.
A caller in the 300 block of Lynnview Drive requested a welfare check on a juvenile.
A caller in the 300 block of Haines Highway requested to speak with an officer regarding an ongoing civil matter.
Saturday, June 27
An officer at Third Avenue and Lynnview Drive performed a vehicle stop for reckless driving. One subject was taken into custody.
An officer on Lower Mud Bay Road conducted a vehicle stop. The driver received a verbal warning for speeding.
There were six 911 hang-up calls, four canine calls, eight EMS calls and 23 burn permits issued during this reporting period.
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Far from cities with stoplights as far as the eye can see, the Chilkat Valley will temporarily know what it feels like to sit and patiently await the light turning green.
Since June 22, traffic on Wells Bridge over the Chilkat River has been restricted to one direction, with a stoplight outside of working hours.
Liz Segars, senior project engineer for Colaska, said that drivers should “treat it as a normal stoplight.”
If drivers approach the red light, they should wait for the light to turn green before moving through the signal. It can take up to 180 seconds because, she said, the light is operated via a timer cycle.
Segars said the company based the timing off the slowest vehicle, a bicyclist. If a car passes on a yellow light, it will have 90 seconds to clear the length of the bridge and make it to the other side before the light on the other side turns green, according to Segars.
Over the Fourth of July weekend, starting Friday, July 3 and ending Tuesday, July 7, the bridge will return to two lanes of traffic. On July 7, the bridge will go back to being a one-lane road and the stoplight will be reinstalled and remain up until Labor Day weekend.
Working hours on the highway are from 5:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., during which pilot cars shuttle traffic through the bridge’s one-way road.
“It can feel like a really long time, but they are computerized,” Segars said about the stoplights on either side of the bridge. If a fault is detected, then the lights will flash red.
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Alaska’s Gov. Mike Dunleavy approved the $16.4 billion budget for 2027 on June 24, with $1.5 million appropriated for the Haines High School and $6 million allocated for airport improvements. The final budget includes $782,700 for the permanent fund.
The funds for the Haines High School locker room, $864,954, will provide 65% of the funding needed for the project that has an estimated total cost of nearly $1.3 million.
The locker room project has long been discussed but construction has not started yet. But funds for the school’s roof replacement, $623,006, will reimburse the borough for some of the costs of the now-completed project.
The other $6 million is for the second stage of work at the Haines airport which is a project to repave the runway and taxiways and replace drainage culverts and lighting. The first stage of this project received state funding in 2025, with the same improvement goals.
Before passing the budget, Dunleavy vetoed $89 million in funding from both the House, Senate and mental health budgets.
Some of the education funding vetoed by Dunleavy include: $450,000 in funding for teacher-incentive payments and reimbursements, $3.75 million in HeadStart grants, $355,000 in funding for parents as teachers, $123,000 to fund the lead maintenance generalist position at Mt. Edgecumbe High School and $217,000 to fund the statewide library electronic doorway.
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