Category: Alaska News

Assembly members will discuss a request for proposals for Port Chilkoot Dock for the second time at the Aug. 11 Haines Borough Assembly meeting. And, the borough clerk’s report confirms that two citizen initiatives are making their way through town. The Chilkat Valley News’ Will Steinfeld joins KHNS reporter Melinda Munson.

Melinda Munson: Will, thanks for joining us. Let’s talk about what is on the agenda for Tuesday’s Haines Borough Assembly meeting. Let’s first talk about the cruise ship dock. 

Will Steinfeld: Where we left this last time was the borough manager and the assembly plan to write up a draft of what they call an RFD, a request for proposal for management of this dock. So the general idea was, we’re going to go put out this call for whatever private companies are out there who are interested in some sort of deal to lead this dock, manage the dock, whatever they can dream up. And then the borough would have the freedom to go through the proposals, see if any feel like good fits or good deals, and then proceed from there. 

And so we’re kind of at the same step in the process this week, except now there is actually a draft of this RFP document that the borough staff have drawn up. And Assembly are going to take a look at it and maybe approve it. They could go in any direction. I think they could approve it or edit it. 

It does give us new information about what this RFP process will look like. It’s really open ended as we heard last time, so it doesn’t really have strict guidelines about what the proposals need to look like exactly. It gives outside entities the freedom to offer what they want to offer. 

It does require specific information. If this RFP goes out and goes out as written, we’ll hear from companies about financial information, how they plan to handle specific aspects of managing the dock, like how they’re going to schedule shifts. So this is all stuff the boroughs ask for, and we’ll hear from assembly members if they think anything’s missing, or if they think the process isn’t right. And then maybe the RFP process will start after the meeting. 

Included in the document is the wording “ship scheduling.” Can you explain why that could be a little bit complicated in Haines? 

The whole idea of putting this dock out for management is complicated because there are companies that feel like there’s prior history, and they already have an interest in what’s happening here. It’s not just starting with a blank slate and asking people to come in and give their best offer. 

You mentioned the ship scheduling. That’s currently done by Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska. They don’t have a contract with the borough, but they do a lot of the management of the dock right now, including the ship scheduling. 

The borough retains ownership. The borough collects the fees. But Cruise Line Agencies provide some of the staff who coordinate logistics of landing at the facility. Also the infrastructure like fenders that are at this dock. So they made a point to come and talk to the borough staff when this whole Global Ports thing kicked off to say, ‘Hey, we already do a lot here.’ And Global Ports coming in, or now a different company that responds to this RFP could change things. 

Global Ports itself has said that they feel like they’ve already invested a lot into this process and had asked for some kind of return should the borough go out and open up this offer to other companies. And it doesn’t really seem like the borough has given them that – I hesitate to say special treatment –  but it sounded like they were asking for some kind of differential treatment in the RFP process. Asking for the ability to match any other company’s best offer.

So, you know, if other outside companies that haven’t been involved come in, they’ll be entering this kind of network of relationships that already exists surrounding this facility. 

Will, Haines residents can expect to see two petitions going around town, hoping to get enough signatures to be on the ballot. Tell us about those petitions. 

These petitions are going to need 279 signatures from registered voters to be on the ballot. If they’re on the ballot, then the voters will decide if they pass. 

The first is to repeal the seasonal sales tax that passed at last year’s election. So that’s the one that raises sales tax in town in the summer and lowers it in the winter – and exempts groceries in the winter. And if this gets on the ballot and then the voters approve it, it would just roll back the sales tax system to how it functioned before last year’s election. 

And then the second one is to lower the senior property tax exemption from $300,000 exempt property value to $200,000. The mayor, Tom Morphet,  wrote a letter in the Chilkat Valley News, a letter to the editor last week, making a case for this. And he says that the borough needs to collect more revenue for what he calls essential services. And he says this does that. It brings in more money, but it still maintains at least $200,000 of exemption for seniors.”

The post Listen: Assembly to discuss cruise dock deal, new initiatives headed to the ballot appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, will pay more than $2,000 to settle a series of campaign finance complaints filed by a former chair of the Alaska Republican Party in 2025.

The Alaska Public Offices Commission approved the final consent agreement July 28. Under the terms of the agreement, Stutes will pay a penalty of $2,643.50 and repay her campaign $13,869.44 to settle complaints regarding improper campaign finance reporting and improper campaign spending in the 2020, 2022 and 2024 elections.

Investigating the complaint by Randy Ruderich against Stutes, the commission said the Kodiak legislator responded promptly to requests for information, and that there was “nothing to indicate” that serious violations identified by Ruderich were “intentional or provided a personal benefit to the candidate.”

Stutes, who has represented Kodiak, Cordova and parts of the Gulf of Alaska coast since 2015, is running for state Senate this year, seeking to replace Sen. Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak. Two other Republicans are also running for the seat.

By phone, Stutes said Ruderich informed her about the complaint before he sent it to APOC, and she ended up being the one informing regulators about the issue. 

The issues were the result of innocent mistakes, and she’s actually grateful to Ruderich for pointing them out, she said. She’s no longer trying to keep her own campaign accounts and has hired a professional.

“What gave me the most satisfaction of all this was saying to Randy Ruderich, ‘I really appreciate you calling this to my attention because if you didn’t, I’d still be making those mistakes, and then it would be a great big mess.’” 

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Helena, Mont. — A Helena resident said the removal of three streetlight shields on Peosta Avenue left nearby neighbors dealing with added glare and raised new questions about who controls the lights and how lighting district money is used.

The U.S. Department of Education is expected to award $41.3 million in grant funding through the Alaska Native Education Program to 26 Alaska grantees after some delay, according to an announcement from Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

The grant funding was expected on July 1, but has been delayed more than a month. Grantees alerted Murkowski’s office they had not yet received the funding, prompting Murkowski to press the U.S. Sec. of Education Linda McMahon to release the awarded funding, according to the statement on Aug. 5.  

“Last week, I raised this issue with Secretary McMahon, and I’m pleased she agreed to expedite the obligation of the funds for the Alaska Native Education Program grants that Congress appropriated earlier this year,” Sen. Murkowski wrote. 

The Alaska Native Education Program provides federal funding to “meet the unique education needs of Alaska Natives” and to support education programs to benefit Alaska Native people, according to the program website. 

Officials with the U.S. Department of Education’s grant office for the program did not give a reason for the delay or specify when the funds will be dispensed after a query on Friday. 

The grants are awarded to Tribes, tribal organizations and school districts with a majority of Alaska Native students to support a variety of initiatives across a three-year grant period. 

“Grants provide, for example, culturally relevant curriculum, tutoring and other academic supports, indigenous language revitalization, workforce development opportunities, teacher professional development, postsecondary planning and support, and success, early childhood education, and afterschool programming,” Murkowski said in the statement. 

“I will continue to champion this program and work with the Department to ensure this funding is administered more expeditiously going forward,” she said.

Grantees include several early learning and literacy programs. Millions are slated for Indigenous language, art, science, and medicine including $2.1 million for the Baby Raven Reads project by Sealaska Heritage Institute and $1.4 million for tutoring and college readiness programs through the Rural Indigenous Students College Readiness Alliance launched by the Bering Strait and Lower Kuskokwim School Districts, two of Alaska’s largest, rural districts.

Rosita Kaaháni Worl, president of the Sealaska Heritage Institute, a Native non-profit corporation focused on Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures, said her organization was one of the grantees that alerted Murkwoski’s office to the delay. Sealaska has not received its grant funds yet.

Worl said in an interview Friday that federal funds and support for Alaska Native communities is critical, given Alaska’s history of suppressing Native education and language. 

“So these programs have helped us overcome the effects of that kind of suppression,” she said. “Our data shows definitely that it promotes and enhances Native education, and we show that through all of our evaluations…it’s led to higher academic performance.”

She said SHI has seen success in early childhood programs like Baby Raven Reads project and initiatives to support students continuing education, which reduces drop out rates. “We’re still behind non-natives, but we’re gaining ground,” she said. 

Worl said the federal support helps Sealaska Heritage Institute provide annual funding for education across Southeast Alaska where state funding has fallen short. SHI provides $1 million each year to the Juneau School District and $2 million annually to the University of Alaska Southeast, as well as funding to support school districts across the region for teacher training, arts and language programs.

“It’s a program that has proven benefits,” she said. “There, there’s no doubt about it.”

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Person tracking fitness activity on a smart watch.

Bodog reports that the 10,000-step goal originates from a 1960s marketing campaign, with research suggesting 7,000 steps may provide significant health benefits.

(The Center Square) – In the past decade, government grants to nonprofits and the number of nonprofits that receive tax money has doubled, raising questions about whether public money is being wasted, an investigation by The Center Square found.