Category: Alaska News

The latest news and information from your Alaska news station.

Friday, July 3
A caller in the 300 block of Lynnview Drive requested assistance locating a family member.
A caller in the 1000 block of Haines Highway reported a neighbor was leaving property in the yard.

Saturday, July 4
Haines Volunteer Fire Department crews provided support for holiday events.
An officer performed a welfare check at Tlingit Park.
A caller in the 1000 block of Haines Highway reported possible illegal burning.
Haines Volunteer Fire Department crews stood by during the fireworks display at Picture Point.
A caller requested a welfare check on a family member.

Sunday, July 5
A caller at Tlingit Park turned in a cell phone and power bank. The owner picked up the items.
An officer on Mud Bay Road issued a verbal warning for speeding.
An officer in the 1000 block of Haines Highway issued a verbal warning for speeding.
An officer on Mud Bay Road issued a verbal warning for speeding.
A caller in the 1000 block of Vermier Street reported people knocking on doors in the area.
A caller requested a welfare check on a family member.

Monday, July 6
An officer in the 300 block of Haines Highway assisted another agency.
A caller in the 100 block of Main Street reported a bird nest that fell from a tree. An officer and the Bald Eagle Foundation responded.
An officer on Beach Road issued a verbal warning for turn-signal requirements.

Tuesday, July 7
A vehicle in the 200 block of Main Street received a parking violation for exceeding posted time limits.
A caller reported lost keys. Item description and contact information obtained.
A caller in Juneau reported they were unable to locate their vehicle.
Haines Police and Haines Volunteer Fire Department assisted with a funeral procession on Haines Highway.
A caller at 16 Mile Haines Highway reported a vehicle parked on the roadside for two weeks. Alaska State Troopers were advised.
A caller in the 40 block of Haines Highway reported motorbikes driving recklessly. Drivers received a verbal warning.
An officer on Mud Bay Road conducted a vehicle stop. The driver received a verbal warning for speeding.
A caller in the 100 block of First Avenue reported multiple items missing from their vehicle.
An officer in the 300 block of Third Avenue conducted a vehicle stop. The driver received a verbal warning for an obstructed license plate.
A caller in the 400 block of Haines Highway reported a bizarre acting person.

Wednesday, July 8
A caller requested a welfare check for a family member.
A caller in the 200 block of Sawmill Road reported their truck trailer was hit by a vehicle.
A caller on Haines Highway reported multiple vehicles passing them while driving.
An officer on River Road conducted a vehicle stop. The driver received a verbal warning for speeding.

Thursday, July 9
A caller in the 200 block of Second Avenue reported a hit and run.
An officer on First Avenue performed a vehicle inspection.
A caller at Port Chilkoot turned in a set of keys. The item was logged in lost and found.
A caller on Front Street filed a missing vehicle report. The vehicle was found.
A caller on Haines Highway reported a reckless driver. A verbal warning was issued to the driver.

Friday, July 10
A caller on Beach Road had questions about firearms use in the townsite.
A caller on Haines Highway reported a possible impaired driver.
An officer on Chilkat Trail Road issued a verbal warning for speeding.
An officer on Mud Bay Road conducted a vehicle stop. The driver received a verbal warning for speeding.
An officer in the 1000 block of Haines Highway performed a welfare check on a possible abandoned vehicle.
An officer on Front Street assisted a disabled vehicle.
An officer on Beach Road conducted a vehicle stop. The driver received a verbal warning for turn signal requirements.
Officers patrolling in the 1000 block of Haines Highway checked on excessive smoke but found no fire.

Saturday, July 11
A caller in Skagway reported losing their keys. Item description and contact information obtained.
An officer in the 100 block of First Avenue assisted another agency.
An officer in the 300 block of Haines Highway assisted another agency.
An officer in Haines assisted an agency in Montana with a missing persons case.
An officer on Hooter Lane responded for a civil matter follow up.
A caller in the 300 block of Lynnview Drive requested to speak with an officer regarding a domestic issue.

There were 10 911 hang-up calls, one canine call, 7 EMS calls and 31 burn permits issued during this reporting period.

The post Blotter: July 3 – July 11 appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

We had another beautiful community gathering featuring displays of local art, music, food, beverages and conversation at the Four Winds Resource Center on Saturday evening.  We would like to thank all the incredibly talented visual artists who showed their work.  This was our fourth year for this art exhibition and it grows each year with more artists and more art lovers. If you have never attended, plan on it next year. You will be blown away. As Picasso said,   “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life”. 

Julie Korsmeyer, Four Winds Resource Center board president

The post Thank you for another successful art show appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

I want to thank everybody who helped me during a medical episode at Mosquito Lake on July 9. We’ll start with Rashah McChesney and her friends whose names I did not catch, Deb Stanford and the others at the Mosquito Lake School, the state park ranger, Klehini Valley fire chief, Haines ambulance crew and the doctor and nurse at SEARHC. If I missed anyone please accept my thanks for being there. Without your immediate attention, I would have had an even rougher day. 

Alan Haines

The post Thank you for medical help in the upper valley appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

(The Center Square) – In high-priced Seattle, residents can now make up to $66,000 as a single person and qualify for utility assistance under a plan approved by the city council.

The western Prince William Sound town of Whittier is small, with only about 250 residents packed into a narrow slice of land between the mountains and the sea. But it accommodates a huge number of travelers who move in and out by cruise ship, ferry, railroad, car, bus and truck.

In recent years, according to city officials, Whittier has gotten about 700,000 visitors annually: tourists, recreational users, seafood workers, cargo shippers and others. That number is expected to increase substantially in the coming years.

To help figure out ways to move people in and out more efficiently, with fewer bottlenecks and confusion, the city and the state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities are developing a plan to guide the next 20 years: Whittier Moves.

“All eyes are on Whittier as an area of opportunity to grow tourism and freight,” the plan’s website says. But to realize that potential, improvements are needed to address challenges posed by the narrow geography between the water and the mountains, including limited flat land and a sole ground transportation link to the outside, the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel. It is North America’s longest combined rail-auto tunnel, but it is only one lane wide, meaning travelers to and from Whittier, whether in cars or on the train, have to take turns.

A draft master plan released in June is the product of numerous meetings, workshops, open houses and other events. Among the concerns raised by residents and visitors were lack of adequate parking during busy periods, confusing or missing signage and overtaxed public facilities. City and state officials will accept comments on the draft plan will through July 24, and they  expect to complete a final plan this year.

Concurrent with the Whittier Moves project is the city’s Whittier Safety Action Plan, which is to “identify existing safety issues, analyze roadway data, and recommend strategies and projects that can improve safety for people walking, biking, driving, and operating commercial vehicles.”

The planning work is timely. Traffic in and out of Whittier is on the rise, thanks largely to a big increase in cruise ship use.

In 2024, Whittier received 46 cruise ship calls ferrying 296,300 passengers, according to the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. Last year, after a new cruise terminal opened, ship calls jumped to 73, according to the department. This year, there are 103 ship calls expected, more than twice the number just two years ago, according to the department.

Additionally, a big crowd is expected in Whittier in early August, when the U.S. Navy is set to commission a new warship named after the late U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.

Along with its role as a road-marine-railroad hub that attracts tourists, recreationalists, seafood harvesters and cargo shippers, Whittier regularly lands on lists as one of the “weirdest” towns in the nation.

The modern town, where the Alaska Railroad, Alaska Marine Highway System and the state road system converge, is a military legacy.

Nearly all residents live in a single building, the Begich Towers, a converted military building that also houses a store, post office and church.

Beneath Whittier’s shops, restaurants and other structures is a web of tunnels left by the military, most of them closed but some still in regular use, like the underground route between the Begich Towners and the Whittier School.

The biggest building in town, taking up a significant portion of the scarce space between the water and the mountains, has been abandoned for decades: the 273,600-square-foot Buckner Building. Used for only a few years in the 1950s, it was its own city under one roof, “including a shooting range, drycleaner, theater, bank, barber shop, commissary, post exchange, craft shop, snack bar, officer’s club, serviceman’s club, bowling alley, library, bakery, classrooms, radio & TV stations, office space, dental clinic and hospital,” as the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation describes it. The building has long been closed to public use because of asbestos and other hazards.

A bill passed by the legislature aims to help Whittier to gain a bit more space to accommodate visitors and traffic. The measure, House Bill 216, allows the city to buy land from the state-owned Alaska Railroad, transactions that require legislative approval. The city and railroad have already struck deals for some parcels located in strategic spots. The bill became law and went into effect on July 3 without the governor’s signature.

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Anchorage residents are weighing in on the future of Goose Lake Park as the city develops a new master plan. The proposal comes after the 2018 earthquake damaged the park’s lakeside building and includes three possible visions for the park’s…

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Wednesday Night: Cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low around 50F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Thursday: Overcast. High 64F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.

On a warm July afternoon near Fairbanks, a volunteer with the Alaska Bee Atlas kneels beside a patch of blooming fireweed, gently sweeping a net through the air. A small bumblebee lands in the bottom of the net — one of thousands of specimens collected each summer across the state. It’s a simple moment, but one that reflects a much greater effort: Alaskans working together to understand the bees that pollinate the North.

For decades, scientists knew surprisingly little about Alaska’s native bees. The state’s size, remote landscapes and short summers made systematic research difficult. Many species were known from only a handful of specimens. Others had never been documented at all. As Alaska warms faster than almost anywhere else on Earth, these knowledge gaps have become more urgent.

Today, a growing network of researchers, land managers and community scientists is beginning to fill those gaps — and the Alaska Bee Atlas is at the center of that effort.

A statewide effort to understand Alaska’s bees

The Alaska Bee Atlas is the first coordinated, statewide project designed to document where Alaska’s bees live, how abundant they are, and how their ranges may be shifting. Volunteers and researchers collect bees from tundra, forests, meadows, and backyards, creating specimen‑based records that scientists can verify and study for decades to come.

These specimens help answer fundamental questions:

• Which bee species live in Alaska?
• Where are they found?
• How are their ranges changing as the climate warms?
• Which habitats support the greatest diversity?

Because Alaska is vast and sparsely populated, scientists cannot survey every region on their own. The Bee Atlas expands their reach, bringing in observations from communities across the state. Each specimen becomes a data point that helps build a clearer picture of Alaska’s pollinators.

Why this science matters

Alaska’s bees are adapted to cold temperatures, short summers, and unpredictable weather. Many can fly in conditions that would ground bees elsewhere. But these same adaptations make them sensitive to rapid environmental change.

Researchers are beginning to document:

• earlier spring flowering,
• shifts in bloom timing across regions,
• changes in bee emergence patterns, and
• the spread of invasive plants into new areas.

These changes can affect the delicate timing between bees and the flowers they depend on — a relationship scientists call phenology. When flowers bloom too early or too late, bees may struggle to find food at critical moments in their life cycle.

Understanding these shifts requires long‑term data, and that is exactly what the Bee Atlas is designed to provide.

Supporting research across Alaska

While the Bee Atlas is the backbone of statewide monitoring, other agencies and institutions contribute essential pieces of the puzzle.

Researchers at the University of Alaska and the Alaska Center for Conservation Science study how bees respond to temperature, snowpack, and changing vegetation. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service maintain long‑term monitoring plots that track pollinators alongside plants, wildlife, and climate conditions. Together, these efforts help scientists understand how Alaska’s ecosystems are changing — and what those changes mean for pollinators.

What scientists still son’t know

Despite recent progress, major questions remain:

• How do Alaska’s bees survive long, cold winters?
• Which species are expanding their ranges northward?
• How quickly are invasive plants altering forage availability?
• Are diseases or parasites affecting native bees in Alaska?

Answering these questions will require years of data — and the continued involvement of volunteers across the state.

A foundation for the future

The science emerging from the Bee Atlas and related research programs is more than an academic exercise. It provides the foundation for conservation decisions, land‑management strategies and community efforts to support pollinators.

By understanding where bees live, how they are changing and what they need to thrive, Alaskans can make informed choices — from backyard gardens to public lands.

On that July afternoon near Fairbanks, the volunteer gently transfered the bumblebee from the net into a small vial. It’s one specimen among many, but together, these small contributions are helping build the most comprehensive picture of Alaska’s pollinators ever assembled. In a rapidly changing North, this knowledge may be one of our most important tools.

This is the fourth article in a six commentary series about Alaska’s native bees.

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