NOTN- At a Committee of the Whole work session last night, the Juneau Assembly narrowly voted to delay action on an ordinance that would lock the city’s informal five-ship-a-day cruise limit into law, opting instead to wait for findings from the Visitor Industry Task Force.
The committee voted 5-4 to postpone the measure until after the task force completes its work and issues a report later this year. Supporters of the delay, including Mayor Beth Weldon, said the risk of costly litigation was too high, and the need for stronger data to defend any future ordinance was needed.
“It was said that both parties need to show up in these negotiations, and you know, I get that we can do this one-sided, but we still need both parties to show up for our negotiations over the use of the marine passenger funds. And I’m not saying we’re bowing to the the industry. I’m saying, I think we have a lot to gain by continuing with collaboration.” Said Assembly Member Maureen Hall.
Those who voted against the postponement, said it would erode public trust and ignores years of community support for the five-ship cap, now enforced through a memorandum of understanding with cruise lines.
“I’m a little frustrated to hear the conversations we’re having today, because for the many years that I’ve been on the assembly, I have seen overwhelming support for the five ship limit.” Assembly Member Ella Adkison said, “It’s consistently a thing that scores very highly in all of our surveys, it’s something that everyone has rallied around as a good thing and a good first step. And the only reason we haven’t made it code is because we were not legally able to. And now we have the opportunity to make this very popular public good ironclad, and we’re hesitating. That seems to me like we are just wanting to kick the can down the road. I think there’s nothing wrong with bringing it to public testimony, but I can guess that that public testimony is going to be very in favor. And I don’t think waiting will tell us any more than the last few years have already told us.”
In a story by KTOO, it was detailed that a recent federal court ruling in Bar Harbor, Maine, found that community’s limits on cruise passengers were legal, which could potentially open a path for Juneau to pursue its own restrictions.
But City Attorney Emily Wright warned that a local ordinance would almost certainly face a lawsuit. She estimated litigation could cost the city between one and four million dollars, with no guarantee Juneau would win.
The Assembly voted 5-4 to postpone the ordinance. The Visitor Industry Task Force is expected to complete its work and make recommendations to the Assembly later this fall.
The doors of the governor’s office in the Alaska State Capitol is seen on Apr. 10, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Alaska’s November election for governor will include one Democrat and three Republicans after a final-days shakeup that included a wild last-hour substitution on Monday, the deadline to make changes after August’s primary election.
Under Alaska’s unique elections system, all candidates for an office run against each other in the primary election. The top four candidates, regardless of political party, advance to the general election in November.
Former state Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, a Democrat from Sitka, finished August’s primary election with 22.5% of the vote, the most out of 16 candidates seeking to replace incumbent Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
The second-place finisher, Democratic candidate Tom Begich, withdrew from the race officially on Monday despite earning 20.8% of the vote.
That promoted Anchorage businesswoman Bernadette Wilson, a Republican, to the second spot on the November ballot. Wilson had 10.1% of the vote in the primary.
Begich’s withdrawal put former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, a Republican, into the third spot for November. Bronson earned 8.1% of the primary vote.
The withdrawal would also have promoted Republican candidate and former Attorney General Treg Taylor into the fourth spot, but on Monday, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom disqualified Taylor because of gaps in a legally required financial report.
Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor speaks at a news conference on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022, at the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
That left Taylor’s lieutenant governor candidate, Republican businesswoman Candice English, to decide by 5 p.m. whether to withdraw or continue with another running mate.
English found one — Taylor’s wife, Jodi Taylor, who became English’s lieutenant governor candidate in a form filed less than an hour before the 5 p.m. deadline.
According to the Anchorage Press, which was on the scene in Anchorage, English told election workers, “I’m stepping up to governor.” She also told another visitor to the office: “It’s all for the good of the state. The state needs the right people in place. We can’t get it wrong.”
It was not immediately clear on Monday evening whether the substitution is legal. Jodi Taylor’s required personal financial disclosure form contains the same information as Treg Taylor’s, and state regulators found it inadequate.
State law gives Jodi Taylor 30 days to amend her report before a final determination on her candidacy.
In Alaska’s November general election, voters will rank the four candidates (and any write-in candidates) in order of preference.
When ballots are counted, the candidate with the fewest top rankings is eliminated, and any votes for them are redistributed to their voters’ second choices.
The process continues until only two candidates are left, and the person with the most votes wins.
Ranked choice voting reduces the chances that candidates from the same party will split available voters and improve the odds for a candidate from a different party, but the system does not eliminate that chance entirely.
Since 2022, when Alaska began using the current system, a significant number of voters have continued to rank just one candidate.
As a result, political parties have pressured lower-finishing primary candidates to withdraw ahead of the general election in order to consolidate support.
In the case of Alaska’s governor race, where governor and lieutenant governor run as a single ticket, that led to talks around consolidation, where a lower-finishing governor candidate takes the place of a lieutenant governor on a higher-finishing ticket.
That didn’t happen on the Republican side, but it did on the Democratic one.
Second-place finisher Tom Begich confirms withdrawal
Hours before the 5 p.m. deadline to withdraw, second-place finisher Tom Begich, a Democrat and former state senator, officially filed his paperwork to quit the race.
Begich had announced his intentions on Friday, saying he is now supporting the first-place finisher, former state Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, a fellow Democrat.
In a written statement, prerecorded video and interviews after the announcement, Begich said that withdrawing means Democratic support is consolidated around a single candidate.
That means more money for the Kreiss-Tomkins’ campaign and less chance of a split vote in November.
While Alaska uses ranked choice voting, which would allow voters to pick both Kreiss-Tomkins and Begich, results over the past four years show a significant number of voters decline to rank multiple candidates.
Lieutenant governor rejects fourth-place finisher Treg Taylor
Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom on Monday declined to certify former Attorney General Treg Taylor as one of the four finalists in Alaska’s top-four primary election for governor.
Taylor, who finished fifth in the primary, was promoted to fourth after the withdrawal of the second-place finisher, Democratic candidate Tom Begich.
Nick Begich III announces endorsement of Bernadette Wilson
Alaska’s incumbent U.S. Representative, Republican Nick Begich III, said he is endorsing Republican businesswoman Bernadette Wilson as his preference for Alaska’s next governor.
Begich is running for re-election this year; Wilson worked on his prior campaigns for U.S. House, and Begich had previously vowed to support the top-finishing Republican candidate.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders endorsed Wilson on Saturday, as did U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, the leading Republican candidate to become Florida’s next governor.
Turnout is highest for regular primary election since 2014
According to Monday’s certified results, 166,992 voters participated in the August primary election, the most since the 2022 primary, which coincided with a special general election following the death of U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, earlier that year.
Excluding that race, turnout this year was the highest for a primary since 2014, when voters decided a high-profile referendum on whether or not to repeal an oilindustry tax cut.
In terms of the number of votes cast, the 2026 primary was the fourth-largest in state history; in terms of percentage turnout, it was the 18th largest since 1974.
While baked beans already have a solid, classic flavor profile, adding this Thai sauce is a surefire way to elevate the dish with a delicious new twist.
As the wait for a verdict continued, Clancy’s attorney revealed Monday that the Massachusetts mother has received a deluge of mail from people who believe her story is far more complicated than the horrific deaths of her three children might suggest.
People wait on line to enter Plymouth Superior Court during Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial on August 26, 2026 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. (Photo by Mel Musto/Getty Images)
According to defense attorney Kevin Reddington, Clancy has received enough letters from supporters to fill three banker boxes.
And Reddington says Clancy reads every single one.
“She knows there are people out there that have not judged her,” Reddington told reporters (via NBC News), explaining that the letters have provided his client with emotional support while she waits to learn her fate.
One coworker wrote, “I do not know a better mother than Lindsay Clancy,” adding that she “lived and breathed for her children.”
Another described Clancy as “kind, compassionate, patient, empathetic” and devoted to her family. And then there were the mothers who didn’t even know Clancy personally.
Nearly 100 women signed a letter expressing sympathy for what they believed was her struggle with postpartum mental illness. Many said they could relate to the despair and psychological difficulties that can follow childbirth.
“We want to stand by her in her darkest hour,” the mothers wrote.
Other letters came from people around the country and even internationally, with some sharing their own experiences with postpartum mental illness and expressing concern about the treatment Clancy received before the killings.
Those letters have become particularly significant to the defense as Reddington argues that Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis when she killed 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan.
Now, more than three years after the children’s deaths, the support continues to arrive.
Clancy remains nervous and “scared” as the jury deliberates, according to her attorney. But she apparently has plenty of reminders that there are people who believe the woman on trial cannot be reduced to the worst act of her life.
As a nation looks on, the jury could deliver a verdict at any moment.
We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.
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When Lori Loughlin asks for a favor, her former Full House costars say, “You got it, dude!”
That’s why when the actress—who portrayed morning show host Rebecca “Aunt Becky” Donaldson on the… E! Online (US) – Top Stories
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The source explained: “That silence said everything.”
According to the insider, “Blake kept telling herself there was a path back” even after Taylor began icing her out during her legal war with Justin Baldoni.
“She thought time would cool everything down,” the source reasoned.
“And,” the insider continued, “Taylor would eventually remember how much they loved each other.”
‘Taylor has moved on’
“The birthday changed that,” the inside source shared sadly.
The insider explained: “Taylor has moved on.”
According to the source: “Blake finally understands she cannot force Taylor back into her life.”
It was, so to speak, the final nail in the coffin of their friendship.
“You can ignore a lot of signs,” the insider summarized. “It’s harder to ignore your birthday.”
Justin Baldoni going full mask off, posing for selfies with Candace Owens.
Half a dozen women warned you Justin Baldoni is full of shit and now he no longer needs to pretend for a Jury, he’s only too happy to show who he really is. pic.twitter.com/dPD14QNpbc
It is sad that perhaps the biggest casualty of all of this is Blake Lively and Taylor Swift’s friendship.
Perhaps there is something that we don’t know. Perhaps Blake really did wrong Taylor during all of this, rather than merely be the reason that Justin Baldoni was able to almost drag her into the court battle.
It’s sad to think that these DARVO tactics that we all saw employed seemed to work on some overly credulous members of the public. This guy has new fans from the manosphere side of the internet. It will be interesting to see what he does next with his career, unfortunately.
Perhaps the most important lesson in all of this is that Blake knows the difference between her real friends and friends of convenience.
When Lori Loughlin asks for a favor, her former Full House costars say, “You got it, dude!”
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