Category: Alaska News

Police chief Jimmy Yoakum and new hire Max Marty have returned from a state police academy, adding personnel to a department that has been mired in understaffing and turnover.

For much of the past year, officers Max Jusi and Travis Russell have split round-the-clock policing duties after a third officer, interim-chief Michael Fullerton, resigned last April.

The department struggled to find a long-term occupant for its top job after seven-year chief Heath Scott resigned in 2023. 

The assembly hired Yoakum last summer, but just before the hire was finalized, the assembly learned the Alaska Police Standards Council would not accept a transfer of Yoakum’s Tennessee police credentials. That required the borough send Yoakum to a 17-week state police academy in Fairbanks, while also continuing to pay his $125,000 salary. 

Yoakum successfully completed the academy Feb. 1 and is back in Haines. 

Yoakum said the experience was a useful update on both Alaska code and new policing techniques. 

Yoakum first received his police training at a Tennessee academy in 1995. Similar to his Tennessee training, much of the Alaska State Police Academy training focused on firearms and combat skills, Yoakum said in an interview last week. 

Yoakum, however, said he observed a sea change in both training methods and policing philosophy — an improvement, he said, over his experience 30 years prior. 

Rather than simply spending time at a shooting range, Yoakum said, the Alaska police training focused on working through policing scenarios, including decision-making on when to fire or physically engage a suspect, and when to disengage. 

“Just about every single drill we did up there that I can remember, we were engaged in a survival situation, in a gunfight, and at some point you had to come off of it,” Yoakum said. 

The training, Yoakum said, also included ways to avoid confrontations in the first place. 

“In 1995, you didn’t have people carrying around guns and weapons and knives and things like that,” Yoakum said. “It was mainly just a wrestling match. But now, there’s a lot of people out there that are trained in combatives, and so if I can maintain that distance and talk with you, 85% of the time we’re going to come to a good resolution.”

Not all of Yoakum’s academy experience was focused on combat. Yoakum talked extensively about officer mental health while interviewing for the chief position, and he said mental health first aid training and officer mental health discussions at the academy were a welcome change from his first academy go-round. 

Yoakum also now has a heavily annotated textbook on his desk in the borough police department from academy courses on Alaska code and constitutional law. Yoakum said the training had a specific focus on the Fourth Amendment, which bars illegal search and seizure. 

While Yoakum and Marty were at the academy, the Haines department saw at least two high-profile policing situations, including one drug arrest and a shooting at Picture Point in November. Yoakum said he was briefed on both situations by department sergeant Max Jusi. 

“(Jusi) has a wealth of knowledge,” Yoakum said. “He’s got experience. He makes great decisions. He’s got good judgment. The information I got, there was no reason for me to second-guess him, and he continued to handle it just like he has been for the past year.”

Yoakum completed the academy alongside new department hire Max Marty. Marty, however, won’t be able to serve on his own as an officer until he completes a mandatory field-training course. For the two-and-a-half- to three-month course he’ll serve alongside Travis Russell, his field training officer. 

While he completed the police academy training, Yoakum will also have to wait until after a probationary period ends on July 22 to apply for his official Alaska Police Standards Council certification. Alaska Department of Law spokesperson Austin McDaniel said the probationary period is standard for all academy graduates, and under state law the probationary status will not change the duties Yoakum can perform. 

On top of Yoakum and Marty’s return, the borough has also begun advertising a fifth officer position. 

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Resource extraction vs. conservation: It’s a familiar fault line in the borough. But some say it shouldn’t be, at least not in such stark terms.

Those who advocate for some sort of middle ground now officially include assembly members Kevin Forster and Gabe Thomas, who introduced this week their “safety belt” proposal — a 38-page package of potential legislation that would provide “guardrails” if heavy industry were to begin operating in the borough.

At Tuesday’s assembly meeting, Forster pitched the proposal as an “à la carte menu” of regulations already in use around the state that could be considered for use in the borough.

Forster said in comments after the meeting that he and Thomas had received support in drafting the package from his wife Jess Kayser Forster and from “AI analytical tools.” He placed particular emphasis on the “draft” aspect.

“I want to be very clear, the document we’re discussing tonight is by no means a finished product, and is by no means a take-it-or-leave-it ordinance,” Forster said. “I’m not even saying I support every element of this packet. But I do believe the public deserves to see the full scope of what is possible across this state, so we can decide what’s appropriate for this community.”

The proposal will now enter into a 30-day public comment period, after which the assembly will presumably begin to edit down the proposal, though the process has not been completely explained yet. Included in the package are a host of what could be ordinances or ballot measures changing borough charter.

It’s somewhat unusual for assembly legislation, which generally arrives at the body ready for two public hearings and a final vote. More complicated proposals are often discussed and refined in committee meetings before being brought to the assembly.

Sargent was the lone vote against introducing the package, and he raised some of those process discrepancies in explaining his vote after the meeting.

Sargent raised concerns of staff and resident capacity while the Lutak Dock rebuild is ongoing. He also specifically referred to the fact that the legislation was changed and resubmitted by its sponsors after the assembly packet was released on Thursday.

“It’s happened twice in a row where Gabe and Kevin have done these privately, and then we get big changes right before the meeting,” Sargent said, referring also to an ore- containerization proposal at the last assembly meeting. “We’re basically voting on things we haven’t seen.”

Sargent said that while he supported the overall goal of the proposal, he had issues with some of the content.

“It was presented as a survey of things being done elsewhere in the state. That’s not really what it is. There are a number of things that haven’t been done elsewhere.”

Forster emphasized after the meeting that the rough-draft nature of the document was meant to provide a starting point, but still leave an opening for the public to speak. With the motion to introduce the package, the assembly also directed the package be reviewed by the borough attorney.

It remains to be seen whether the public will get behind the package, but it had preliminary support from officials at the meeting — including some like Morphet and Stickler — who have often been on opposite sides for other issues.

Forster himself recently signed a letter from Chilkat Forever advocating against any large-scale mining in the Chilkat Valley. But personal views aside, he argues the assembly has neither the authority, nor a clear mandate from voters, to block heavy industry.

Said Forster after the meeting: “The question that I think would get, like, 95% buy-in, would be, if you found out there was some kind of large-scale development, whether you wanted it or not, how would we see the most benefit and least harm. That’s the question.”

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Officials with the Alaska National Guard said plans to deploy a trained rapid response force this month to support federal authorities in Washington D.C. has been pushed back to May. 

Gov. Mike Dunleavy in November approved the U.S. Secretary of the Army’s request for 100 service members to deploy to the nation’s capital as part of a joint federal task force this month. The effort is part of a national directive by the Pentagon to all 50 states to prepare National Guard service members to train for “civil disturbance operations.”

By email on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Alaska National Guard said the timeline has been extended.

“The Alaska National Guard remains in contact with the Pentagon, through the National Guard Bureau, and continues to move through the established processes to support Joint Task Force-District of Columbia,” said Dana Rosso, a public affairs officer with the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, which houses the Army and Air National Guard divisions. 

“The current activation timeline has been refined to May 2026,” he wrote. 

As of January, there were roughly 2,700 National Guard members stationed in Washington D.C., which the Trump administration has said is to help drive down crime. Service members are expected to be stationed there through the end of the year. On Tuesday, an additional District of Columbia Army National Guard brigade was activated “to coordinate military support to civil authorities and protect critical infrastructure in the nation’s capital.”

A spokesperson for Dunleavy’s office declined to comment on the extended timeline on Wednesday.

At the time the request was announced, Maj. Gen. Torrence Saxe, Adjutant General of the Alaska National Guard and Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, said in a letter to lawmakers that 100 service members were in training for the mission to be “aligned with nation-level requirements.”

“The team will consist of Alaska Army and Air National Guard personnel trained in mission sets that may include site security, roadblocks and checkpoints, civil disturbance control, critical infrastructure protection, and personnel security,” Saxe wrote.  

But the process for how the deployment was formally requested and approved has raised questions from lawmakers. 

Rosso said by email Thursday the request was made by phone call.

“The request for activation of the Alaska National Guard to support Joint Task Force – DC came via phone call to Governor Mike Dunleavy from the Secretary of the Army following the President’s Executive Orders from August 2025,” he wrote. 

Dunleavy’s office could not find a written copy of the U.S. Secretary of Defense that requested the deployment, a spokesperson for the governor’s office said Wednesday. 

Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage and co-chair of the Joint Armed Services Committee, is a veteran of the Alaska National Guard and was among lawmakers that raised concerns in November when the announcement was made. He questioned the legality of the directive in an interview on Wednesday.

“Until they get something in writing, then there’s no actual deployment to prepare for,” Gray said.

“I think it’s a big misuse of the American taxpayer dollar to fly any soldiers from Alaska to D.C. for what we know is a trash pickup mission in many ways, and it’s a waste,” he added. “It’s just a waste of taxpayer dollars. So I hope that it continues to get pushed off indefinitely and that it never happens.”

Editor’s note: “This article was updated on 3/12/2026 at 12:30 with more information from the Alaska National Guard.”

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The Alaska Senate voted unanimously Wednesday to spend more than $300 million from savings and reverse some of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s most recent budget vetoes.

In a pair of 20-0 votes, the Senate approved a bill that would spend $373.5 million from the Constitutional Budget Reserve to pay for a variety of expenses and fill a deficit in the current budget year. 

“This is money to fund the budget that was passed last year for things that the governor already spent on,” said Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage.

The bill now goes to the House, which failed last month to approve the needed spending from the budget reserve.

Among the expenses in the new supplemental budget bill is $70.2 million needed to unlock federal transportation grants. Dunleavy vetoed that funding last year amid a dispute with the Legislature about the proper source of the money. 

Also in the bill is $98.7 million for the state’s wildfire response fund and up to $75 million for the disaster relief fund. That latter figure is dependent upon negotiations with the federal government about who will pay for the response after ex-Typhoon Halong devastated southwest Alaska last year.

The largest single item in the bill is $129.6 million needed to refill the state’s higher education investment fund, which was used to cover expenses due to a separate veto-involved dispute between the Legislature and governor.

That fund covers scholarships paid to Alaska high school students who meet academic standards and attend in-state schools.

The Senate-passed bill is significantly smaller than a $531 million version that had been previously considered. It shrank at the urging of the Senate’s six-person, all-Republican minority caucus.

It takes three-quarters of the House and three-quarters of the Senate — 30 Representatives and 15 senators, respectively — to spend from the budget reserve. 

That’s a high hurdle, particularly because the Senate’s bipartisan majority caucus has just 14 members and the House’s multipartisan majority has just 21 members.

In both cases, compromises with the all-Republican House and Senate majorities are needed to spend from the reserve.

On Monday, the Senate pulled the supplemental budget bill from its schedule with no advance notice. Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, said at the time that the Senate Majority had unexpectedly lost a minority vote it needed to spend from the reserve.

That spurred hours of closed-doors negotiations between the Senate minority and members of the majority.

Since the United States and Israel started bombing Iran on Feb. 28, the price of oil — and, in turn, Alaska’s potential oil revenue — has risen, giving legislators another way to erase a looming deficit.

“We went over and talked with (the Senate Finance Committee) co-chairs and just said, ‘Hey, obviously, the price of oil is changing,’” said Senate Minority Leader Mike Cronk, R-Tok. 

At the minority’s urging, the co-chairs removed almost $150 million from the bill — extra spending for state prisons, money for Medicaid, and millions in backup “headroom” for unforeseen expenses, among other items.

Cronk said the items removed during the compromise discussions could come back later, in the state’s regular budget bill, and the goal was to create “a real supplemental fast track” bill.

According to figures provided by staff for Hoffman, if Alaska North Slope oil prices average roughly $75 per barrel between now and June 30, the end of the state’s fiscal year, the state will earn enough oil revenue to pay for the removed items without spending from savings.

Since the start of the legislative session, construction companies have been lobbying for quick passage of a supplemental budget bill because they fear losing hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of federally funded construction projects scheduled to take place as soon as this summer. 

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities has disputed the need for early funding, and on Wednesday, Sen. George Rauscher, R-Sutton, attempted to strike that item from the supplemental budget.

He withdrew his proposed amendment after encountering opposition, saying he was satisfied with the smaller bill on the floor.

“We’ve come down a long way from $500 million,” he said.

After the Senate voted on Wednesday morning, members of the House majority attempted to call a vote to confirm the Senate’s changes. 

Members of the House minority objected, and the vote is now scheduled later, at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

House Minority Leader DeLena Johnson, R-Palmer, said members of the minority wanted to wait until Friday, when a new state revenue forecast is expected.

“We’re talking about a $300 million draw. We may not need to take that full amount out of savings when we have money coming in,” she said, referring to the way the price of oil has surged during the Iran war.

Asked whether the new, lower draw from the reserve is more acceptable to members of the minority, Johnson said she wasn’t sure yet.

“There’s probably a number that’s better than others, but I mean, as low as possible is our number,” she said.

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Heliport rehearing

Controversy surrounding a 26 Mile heliport, and likely litigation too, will continue after the assembly on Tuesday denied appeals from both the borough manager and heliport owners George and Lynette Campbell. 

The requests for appeal followed a Haines Borough Planning Commission meeting last month in which the commission voted to deny the Campbells a new heliport permit. The Planning Commission meeting was plagued by procedural issues, including a key court document that was missing from the packet, and commissioners who said they were unclear about the scope of their powers in the complicated legal quagmire. 

For this week’s meeting, while the Campbells and borough manager Alekka Fullerton were in agreement asking for a rehearing, they differed on why they wanted the rehearing, as well as on most else associated with the issue. 

In Fullerton’s case, she recommended a rehearing based on a video, purportedly of helicopter dust at the heliport, that was emailed to planning commissioners but not made available to the public. The public, and specifically the appellants, Fullerton said, had a right to view all the evidence being considered. 

“George didn’t have any opportunity to say, for example, that’s not even my land,” Fullerton said.

George Campbell, who spoke at the meeting, said the planning commission, among other issues, should not have considered the permit in full. Rather, he argues it should have only had the authority to consider and alter specific conditions of the permit. 

Fullerton said Tuesday that the borough’s legal position, based on input from the borough attorney, is the opposite: that the planning commission acted within their rights in considering the full permit. 

Ultimately, all the arguments are, at least for now, somewhat void: the assembly voted not to rehear the appeal in its entirety, and will hold a partial hearing on only some of the permit conditions. 

In a procedural twist, a majority of assembly members disagreed with the decision they voted for. 

“I don’t think the Campbells or anybody else with a CUP (conditional use permit)  request similar to that is going to get a fair shake with the planning commission,” said assembly member Mark Smith. Assembly member Cheryl Stickler said she “concurred” with Smith’s statements. 

Assembly member Kevin Forster joined Smith and Stickler in voting for a rehearing, leaving only assembly members Craig Loomis and Eben Sargent voting against. But still, the minority won out due to Gabe Thomas’ consequential absence from the meeting: the assembly requires motions receive four votes to pass, regardless of how many members are present. 

That meant no matter how Thomas voted, his presence would have changed the outcome: had he voted with the minority, the resulting 3-3 tie would have put the question to the mayor. Had he voted with the majority, the motion would have passed, triggering a rehearing for the Campbells. 

Note: In a continuation of the meeting on Wednesday night, with Thomas in attendance after his absence the previous night, the assembly voted to rescind its prior votes and vote again on the issue. The body then split 3-3 with Smith, Stickler and Thomas voting in favor of a re-hearing. Mayor Tom Morphet broke the tie with a fourth yes vote in favor of a rehearing. 

“There have been all sorts of allegations that the Haines Borough Planning Commission did something wrong,” Morphet said. “We’re going to review their decision. If we find they did something wrong this review will be an opportunity to do something right.” 

The upcoming hearing likely won’t be the end of the story — particularly if it doesn’t grant a new permit. Campbell all but guaranteed assembly members that another lawsuit would be coming. 

“If I haven’t proved already that we’re fighting this, I don’t know what to tell you,” he said. 

Lutak Dock settlement offer received 

The assembly went into a lengthy closed-door executive session Tuesday to discuss a settlement offer from former Lutak Dock contractor Turnagain Marine. Fullerton said the borough received the offer Friday. 

Turnagain first filed suit over a year ago, on Nov. 11, 2024, alleging unreasonable delays and unpaid invoices by the borough in the dock rebuild. The borough has disputed the contractor’s claims, and court-mandated mediation failed to reach a resolution late last year. 

Hearings in the suit have not yet been scheduled, but the borough has since terminated its contract with Turnagain. 

Fullerton did not disclose the content of the settlement offer or what was discussed in the closed-door session. She did, however, say assembly members consulted with the borough’s attorney in the session, but did not take action on the offer, leaving it on the table for now. 

Tanani Bay sewer outfall petitioned

New Haines residents were on hand Tuesday to petition the assembly to take over a problematic sewage outfall at a Tanani Bay subdivision.

The four in attendance, former Utah residents, said they bought land in the subdivision from developer Don Turner Jr. in 2019 with the intention of building homes and moving to Haines. Now, they say, the sewage issues, which they did not know about upon purchase, could prevent them from moving into completed homes later this year. 

The issue seems to have a long backstory. Turner said he developed the subdivision in 1996 under an agreement that the city would take over the sewage system upon completion. Turner submitted documents supporting that position, and assembly members seemed to agree as well. 

But according to both Turner and Fullerton, for the past two decades, no one has maintained or tested the system — not Turner, and not the borough. Then, in 2023, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation declared the system out of compliance. 

Fullerton and a majority of assembly members expressed a need and willingness to get the system back in compliance, though a formal motion putting ink to the statement failed, with Sargent and Loomis voting against. 

The remaining question seems to be just a structure to pay for the work on the system. Because the system isn’t connected to the borough’s townsite wastewater infrastructure, staff say the sewer enterprise fund can’t pay for it. Instead, Fullerton suggested subdivision residents vote to form a service area, where they would all chip in to fund borough maintenance. The residents present said they were open to the idea. 

Business continues in a mid-week special

The assembly adjourned at 10:00 p.m., leaving much of the agenda for another meeting scheduled for the following day. The Wednesday meeting will cover topics including accessory dwelling units, cell towers, Dalton Trail RMSA user fees, and harbor dead-storage regulations. 

The post Assembly briefs: Heliport rehearing, Tanani Bay sewer outfall, Lutak Dock settlement appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

Keeping an instrument in tune can be a nightmare for any musician during a live show. It seemed particularly challenging for Matthew Baker during Monday evening’s Amour Courtois show at the Chilkat Center. 

Baker, who is from North Dakota, joined a trio of jazz musicians on medieval instruments playing a 17th century bowed instrument known as a baryton. It’s played much like a modern cello and for much of the show he was having to make constant minute, and sometimes major, adjustments to keep it in tune. 

“A baryton likes a humid climate,” he said after the show. 

While Haines certainly meets that requirement, the group is nearing the end of a tour that started in Dawson City, Canada. He said the -40 degree temperatures were a shock to his instrument. 

Near him on the stage, French jazz pianist Baptiste Bailly struggled to keep his hands warm – often sitting on them while the trio re-imagined 14th century music through wide-ranging jazz interpretations bringing modern interpretations to composers like Guillaume de Machaut and Gilles Binchois. 

Despite the climate challenges, the group – which includes Spain’s Efrén López – put on a striking show for a crowd of about 60.  

Long after the concert was over, more than a dozen people crowded around Baker and Lopéz to ask questions about their instruments. 

Sean Bryant leaned in close to examine Baker’s baryton which has a somewhat hidden set of pluckable strings running up the back of the neck. The instrument is exceptionally rare, so he’s not likely to find one to play for himself but joked that he was considering building one. 

López, who is a multi-instrumentalist, had a setup featuring an oud, which is a pear-shaped Middle Eastern instrument, and a Pander de Peñaparda, a square drum generally played by women in a region of Spain near to his home. But it was his hurdy-gurdy which got the most attention. 

The guitar-shaped stringed instrument, which originates from the 9th century, includes drone strings sounded by a hand-cranked wheel which can sound like a set of bagpipes. It also has strings that pass over a bridge which can generate a loud drum-like buzz when played. 

Combine those instruments with Bailly’s penchant for playing the keys while scraping his hands along the strings of the grand piano in the auditorium and the music at times seemed to fill the auditorium with a wall of textured sound. At other moments, the audience leaned in to hear quiet notes or reverberating strings giving way to long, lingering silences. 

Local musician Henry Leasia took on the challenge of mixing that sound. He said he’s still learning how to mix a live show in real time, but that members of the group knew what they wanted, brought their own gear and gave him guidance about how to present their particular, peculiar sound. 

“You want to hear the quiet, you want to hear all of the dynamics, but it’s so hard to get all of that range,” he said. “It was fun.” 

The Amour Courtois tour started in Dawson and was headed to Vancouver for a Friday, March 13 show to cap it off. 

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