Category: Alaska News

At the Alaska Beacon, we’re constantly trying to figure out where we should put our attention. There’s always more news than there are people to report it.

Every Thursday, the Alaska Legislature publishes its committee schedule for the coming week. Public notices alert us to meetings and events. The governor’s office occasionally lets us know ahead of time that something’s coming down the pike, too.

Here’s what we know about for the coming week. If you know of something that’s coming up that you should think we should pay attention to, email us at info@alaskabeacon.com.

We can’t cover everything on this list, but we’re interested in them and we think you should know about them in case you’re interested in them, too.

This list is ripped from our notebooks, and it is likely to change over the course of the week. We’ll update it when we can.

Are you trying to keep track of when to testify on a bill? The Legislature has a website for that.

Monday, March 9

• Bid opening for the new National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska lease sale. (This was moved to March 18 because of an error.)
• 8 a.m. – House Education Committee hears invited testimony on a bill that would raise per student state education funding by $630 and a resolution that would ask the Trump administration to waive visa fees for international teachers in Alaska
• 9 a.m. – Senate Finance looks at major maintenance projects for Alaska’s K-12 schools
• 10:30 a.m. – House floor session (citations only)
• 11 a.m. – Senate floor session, watch for supplemental budget vote
• 1:30 p.m. – Senate-passed elections reform bill gets a hearing in House Finance
• 1:30 p.m. – ISER and other invited testifiers talk about the pension bill in Senate Finance
• 3:30 p.m. – Bipartisan, bicameral education task force looks at major maintenance with representatives from the Department of Education and Early Development, the Legislative Finance Division and the Coalition for Education Equity.

Tuesday, March 10

• Mariculture Conference of Alaska opens in Anchorage (it runs through March 12)
• 9 a.m. – State school board meets to hear report on how well the Alaska Reads program is working
• 11 a.m. – U.S. Rep. Nick Begich gives his annual legislative speech
• 1 p.m. – Alaska Railroad CEO gives a status update to House Transportation
• 3:30 p.m. – Planned Parenthood talks to Senate Health and Social Services

Wednesday, March 11

• Morning House and Senate floor sessions
• 7:30 a.m. – Senate Finance Corrections Subcommittee considers the budget for the Department of Corrections
• 8 a.m. – Joint House and Senate Education Committee meeting for the 2026 State Board of Education Report to the Legislature
• 9 a.m. – Legislative Finance and Division of Retirement and Benefits talk about the pension revival bill with Senate Finance
• 9 a.m. – Cook Inlet LNG talks to Regulatory Commission of Alaska about their plans for a floating natural gas import terminal
• 12 p.m. – Lunch and Learn about Alaska’s role in international energy stability
• 1 p.m. – House Judiciary takes up an as-yet-unintroduced (as of Friday) resolution about voter privacy
• 1:30 p.m. – Public testimony on the operating budget in House Finance
• 1:30 p.m. – Where is state IT falling short? They’ll talk to Senate Finance
• 3:15 p.m. House Labor & Commerce Committee considers interstate health care licensing compacts that could unlock more federal money through the Rural Health Transformation Program
• 3:30 p.m. – Big new public education funding and policy bill gets a hearing in Senate Education
• 3:30 p.m. – Senate Resources gets an update on the Railbelt electric transmission upgrades and on the Port of Alaska
• 4:30 p.m. – Budget public testimony continues in House Finance until 6:30 p.m.
• 5 p.m. – House Education talks about their BSA increase bill

Thursday, March 12

• Public comments due on UAS plans for a shellfish seed farm in Sitka
• 9 a.m. – House Finance has a hearing devoted to the elections reform bill
• 9 a.m. – Real Estate Commission meeting
• 10:15 a.m. – House Military and Veterans Affairs talks about a bill allowing “patriotic organizations” to sell alcohol
• 12 p.m. – Lunch and Learn about efforts to track landslides in Southeast Alaska
• 1:30 p.m. – More public testimony on the budget in House Finance
• 1:30 p.m. – Senate Finance takes a first look at the new bill cutting the amount of money transferred from the Permanent Fund to the treasury each year
• 1:30 p.m. – Senate Transportation learns about a fancy new way to de-ice roads
• 3:15 p.m. – House State Affairs looks at an education tax
• 3:30 p.m. – NCSL talks about the rural health transformation program, giving a national perspective

Friday, March 13

• Morning House and Senate floor sessions
• Estimated date for spring revenue forecast
• Deadline for public comments on new mining road near Herbert Glacier trail in Juneau
• 8 a.m. – House Education talks about free school meals and a federal bill that would require ID for some internet use
• 1:30 p.m. – Still more public testimony about the budget in House Finance
• 2 p.m. – Federal court arguments in Metlakatla-state dispute over fishing
• 3:30 p.m. – Senate Resources talks about natural gas and an income tax

SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE

All three members of Alaska’s delegation to Congress showed their support for the new war with Iran this week, voting against resolutions intended to restrain President Donald Trump.

Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, both Republicans, voted against a measure in the Senate on Wednesday, and Rep. Nick Begich III, also a Republican, voted against a similar House resolution on Thursday.

Both resolutions failed to advance. 

The Alaska legislators’ votes were in line with their past actions. Last year, when Trump ordered a bombing campaign against Iranian nuclear facilities, all three said they supported the strikes.

The current war is significantly larger than last year’s attacks, and Trump has said he is seeking Iran’s “unconditional surrender” and wants to have a role in picking its next leader.

Neither he nor senior administration officials have given firm long-term plans, and they have not ruled out the deployment of soldiers on the ground in Iran. 

Begich issued a statement on Feb. 28 calling the war “a necessary and targeted response” and said he supports regime change in the country.

“The path forward cannot be centered on further appeasement but the removal of this corrupt, fanatical leadership that has brought suffering to the Iranian people and threatens our peace at home. In so doing, we can provide the people of Iran the opportunity to change leadership, reclaim their sovereignty, and chart a new course,” the statement said in part.

Begich is in the middle of a re-election campaign, and his two leading challengers issued statements opposing the war.

By email, Democratic U.S. House candidate Matt Schultz criticized Begich’s vote and suggested he would have chosen differently.

“Our tax dollars should build schools and hospitals here at home, not bankroll endless foreign wars. But Washington always seems to find billions for war while Alaskans pay the price with sky-high costs and watch investments in our future get delayed, downsized, or ignored,” he said.

“The cost of war isn’t just dollars and cents, it’s measured in human lives and suffering. As a pastor, I believe every life is sacred. That’s why the Constitution requires Congress to approve war: so no president can send Americans into conflict without a real plan and the support of the American people.”

A spokesperson for independent U.S. House candidate Bill Hill referenced that candidate’s posts on social media when asked about his position.

“Our leaders should be investing in lowering costs and making life better for working Americans, not putting American lives at risk in foreign wars without congressional approval,” Hill wrote in a Wednesday post on Facebook. 

“Six U.S. service members have died and billions of dollars have been spent in a matter of days.  Meanwhile here at home, our schools are in crisis, healthcare costs keep rising, veterans are at risk of losing benefits, and everyday costs are just too damn high,” he wrote. “We can’t afford a costly war with no end in sight.”

On the Senate side, Murkowski said the resolution presented to her this week would have required the removal of soldiers from hostilities, stopping military operations immediately.

“The abrupt cessation of all offensive operations would not leave any Americans — soldiers, diplomats, or civilians — in the Middle East in a safer position,” her statement said in part.

Murkowski said Trump has “committed U.S. troops to active engagement in combat with an enemy that has targeted and killed Americans for decades. We have lost six soldiers in this fight with the potential for more casualties. What our troops need now is for our Congress, and this country, to know that they are supported. It is for this reason that I oppose Senator Kaine’s War Powers Resolution — based on the practical implications of its passage.”

Sullivan has supported military action against Iran for years and told reporters on Feb. 28, “I’m not someone that, in general, would support kind of taking out world leaders,” he said. “But I think these guys, … my belief is that they’re less world leaders than terrorists, right?”

He reiterated his position during a Congressional hearing days later, alluding to Iranian support for anti-American insurgents during the Iraq War and in terrorist actions before that.

“This country’s been at war with us for almost a half century,” he said, referring to Iran, “and they’ve killed thousands and wounded thousands of our best and brightest.”

Sullivan is also facing a re-election campaign this year, but unlike on the House side, there isn’t a bright line between the incumbent and his leading opponent on this issue. 

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola hasn’t made any public statements about the Iran war, and her campaign social media accounts have been silent on the subject.

When contacted Thursday, her campaign spokesperson said she had no comment. 

That makes it unclear whether she supports or opposes the war.

SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE

In Alaska, a suspended driver’s license will stay suspended unless a driver takes steps to reactivate it, the Alaska Court of Appeals ruled this week.

In an opinion published Friday, the court upheld the conviction of a Southcentral Alaska woman for driving with a revoked license.

Attorneys representing Kasey Malay had argued that under the plain language of state law, a license revocation lasts only for the time prescribed by courts or the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles. 

Not so, the court ruled this week. Writing for the court, Judge Marjorie Allard said, “we conclude that a revoked driver’s license remains in ‘revoked’ status for purposes of a (driving with a revoked license) prosecution until the person takes the affirmative steps necessary to have their license reinstated and their license is reinstated.”

That would involve reapplying to the DMV and getting a new license. 

Malay, who was convicted of DUI in 2010, was arrested three times for driving with a revoked license between 2012 and 2013, and had her license revoked for 90 days each time.

Malay never sought out the DMV for a new license, and in 2020 she was stopped by police three more times and thrice cited for driving with a revoked license.

She was convicted in jury trials on all three offenses and appealed those convictions. 

Allard’s opinion notes that there is an “inherent ambiguity” in the state law defining “revoke” and in the law describing how to restore a revoked license. Both laws mention a “period of revocation.”

“Thus, at first blush, Malay’s arguments at trial appear to have some potential merit,” Allard wrote. 

But that argument is defeated by a different law, she wrote. That statute, covering who is financially responsible in cases where a driver has a suspended license, says in part that “a period of suspension, revocation, or cancellation continues until proof of financial responsibility for the future is provided. Upon expiration of a period of limitation, the license remains revoked until proof of financial responsibility for the future is provided.”

Another statute, governing limited driver’s licenses, has similar language.

“We therefore conclude that, contrary to Malay’s arguments at trial and on appeal, a revoked license does not cease being ‘revoked’ for purposes of a DWLR prosecution when the period of revocation specifically ordered by the court ends or when proof of financial responsibility is provided,” Allard wrote. “Instead, the license remains ‘revoked’ until all the steps required for reinstatement have been taken and the license is reinstated.”

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Friends, from my view, it doesn’t look so good in the Valley these days…

Property tax assessment notices are up everywhere in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, even for swampy lots that have not increased in real value, while the school district considers school closures in the face of a $23 million deficit.

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District is proposing to close three local neighborhood schools to save $4.5 million next year.

What’s another solution? Cut administrative positions. A typical administrator makes well over $100,000 and with benefits the cost is between $150,000 – $200,000 for each position. When I was School Board President, albeit a while ago, I saw these numbers myself because I requested that I sign all administrative contracts over $100,000 — there were a lot! Cutting administrative positions, mostly by not filling positions, will make a huge difference.

The main problem with school budgets is that they are prepared by the administration… and we all know administrators, directors and assistant superintendents won’t cut their own positions. They cut teachers.  

School Boards don’t generally change the budget that much. A lot is contingent on the amount of borough and state school funding needed to save the schools, so on we go with the status quo.  

Self-Inflicted

In the Valley, we appear to be drifting without a plan. Last year the school district and the borough got voter approval for $94.4 million of new school bonds with high interest rates. This year brings the possibility of closed schools, bigger class sizes, new bond debt payments and higher property taxes. 

Taking on more debt to build new schools while closing traditional schools is an incredibly poor utilization of resources. Apparently, no one ran the numbers of future operating costs for our schools or thought about multiple-use of school buildings. No policy. No direction. It’s not rocket science. Elected officials should step up and think outside the box.

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An orphaned brown bear cub captured near Mud Bay in 2006 has died after two decades in captivity. 

The Minnesota Zoo announced Feb. 24 that staff euthanized the bear after its arthritis and severe joint degeneration worsened over the past year. He was one of three orphaned brown bears raised together and later featured in the zoo’s “Russia’s Grizzly Coast” exhibit. 

Alaska Department of Fish and Game records do not extend before 2010, leaving few official details about the cub’s condition when he was captured.  But, according to a story in the July 20, 2006 edition of the Chilkat Valley News,  the cub was about 60 pounds when it was captured near a Mud Bay home on July 13 of that year. 

State wildlife biologists said it had apparently been fed dog food for about a week before it was  captured. “The bear appeared to come to the sound of dog food being poured in the bowl. He was being fed and on a schedule. He knew the cues and came right up. It didn’t seem to bother him at all that we were there,” Fish and Game biologist Ryan Scott is quoted as saying at the time. A family that lived nearby was given a warning for feeding the bear, according to the article. 

Once the wayward bear was picked up in Haines, he was taken to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center where he joined up with what would eventually become a trio of young bears captured by state biologists that year. There was Sadie, named after a creek near Kotzebue where she was found. Then in July came Haines. In August, a hunter shot a sow on the Kenai Peninsula and later discovered she had cubs.

It was at the conservation center where Diana Weinhardt first encountered and named Haines in what would become a decades-long relationship between Minnesota and Alaska. Weinhardt worked at the conservation center from 2005 to 2007. She helped care for, and named,  all three cubs as they arrived

“I sometimes referred to them as the layers of chocolate,” Weinhardt said. “Kenai was caramel. Sadie was milk. Haines was very dark.” 

All three cubs were in their first year and were neutered or spayed before spending their lives together at the zoo. Sadie was the smallest, but could keep the boys at bay. 

“What Sadie wants, Sadie gets,” Weinhardt said. “Those boys sometimes were double her size and she’d back them both up at the same time.” 

Then-conservation center staff member Diana Weinhardt said zoos and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums had made a joint decision not to breed black and brown bears anymore. “There were enough nuisance animals that we couldn’t provide homes for all of them,” she said. 

The bears eventually moved to the Minnesota Zoo’s “Russia’s Grizzly Coast” exhibit, designed to recreate a rugged northern coastal ecosystem. The enclosure included a large outdoor habitat with a pool, a dig pit and year-round access to covered outdoor space.

The bears also had an indoor den where visitors could watch their behavior through soundproof glass.

“It’s one of the best bear exhibits in the country,” Weinhardt said.

“It had a storyline of the coast of Russia where all of these animals were found in the wild,” Weinhardt said. “Amur leopard, wild Russian boar, brown bears, sea otters, Amur tigers. So the storyline was very strong.” 

It wasn’t just the three bears. When guests entered the exhibit they first saw four otters – three of whom were found as orphans off the coast of Alaska. That included Capers, who was found near his dead mother in Kachemak Bay; Jasper, who was rescued near Homer; and Rocky who was found abandoned near Craig. 

“Alaska orphans really kind of carried half of the exhibit,” Weinhardt said. 

Weinhardt now holds the title of Curator of the Northern Trail, which means she’s in charge of the keepers who take care of the animals and the exhibits. But, their building is across from her office. “To this day, I still go there for my visits. Keepers do 100% of the work with them, but there’s still a bond,” she said. 

Weinhardt said the bears developed distinct personalities as they aged. Sadie was strong-willed, Kenai was curious about people, and Haines grew into a lanky protector.

“Haines was just very well behaved. He stood up on his back legs a lot. Kenai would get scared and he would run to Haines,” she said. 

In a newsletter farewell tribute to Haines, zoo staff described him as calm, collected and clever. “Keepers say he had a knack for doing the least amount of work for the maximum reward of food during enrichment sessions.” 

Haines is the second of the trio to die. Kenai was found dead in his enclosure two years ago. Weinhardt said they had been treating him for cancer. Weinhardt said one keeper has been with the three bears since they came to Minnesota. 

“That’s what’s tough about the zoo field, you have these really strong bonds,” she said. 

State bear biologist Anthony Crupi said 20 years is a solid lifespan for a captive male brown bear, though Weinhardt said she’s seen captive bears live longer, particularly early in her career. 

“When I first started in the late 1970s, bears in captivity were living in their late 20s, early 30s,” she said.

Improvements in veterinary care and nutrition have helped some captive bears live longer, she said. Still, she said it was the right time for Haines to go. Before they decided to euthanize him, Weinhardt said the zoo had been training Haines for cold laser therapy on his joints for his arthritis. She said a necropsy later confirmed severe degeneration in his hip and other joints. 

Weinhardt said the zoo got hundreds  of comments on a social media post from people who shared photos and memories of seeing Haines over the years. 

“I was sobbing just reading these from people that have come to the zoo. Guests knew their names, they knew which one was which,” she said. 

With her two lifelong companions gone, Sadie is now the only remaining bear in the exhibit. Zoo staff are watching to see how she adjusts.

The post Orphaned Mud Bay bear cub dies after two decades at the Minnesota Zoo appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

By Klas Stolpe  

Juneau Independent

The Petersburg High School girls basketball team won the opening tip and the opening game of the 2026 Region V Basketball Tournament on Wednesday in the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé George Houston Gymnasium.

The fourth-seed Lady Vikings defeated the fifth-seed Haines Lady Glacier Bears 43-17 behind 15 points from sophomore Lexie Tow who also won the tip.

Senior Natalee Bertagnoli added 10 points for Petersburg, sophomore Zia Hulebak six, senior Aurora Wolf four, senior Rikka Miller three, sophomores Simone Nilsen and Cadence Flint two apiece and Emilia Anderson 1.

The Lady Vikings had one 3-point shot, 15 closer in and were 10-16 from the line.

CC Elliott led Haines with eight points including the Lady Glacier Bears’ first three baskets in the first quarter. Freshman Brylea Swaner added three points, freshmen Sophia Hedden and Emma Lapeyri and junior Ali Lloyd had two apiece. Haines hit six field goals and were 5-6 from the line.

Petersburg led 10-6 after eight minutes and then opened a 23-9 lead at the half that included four straight steals by Tow who converted three for scores in a Lady Vikings press that gave Haines pause. Petersburg led 37-11 after three quarters.

The Lady Vikings advance to play top seed Metlakatla on Thursday at 9 a.m. Haines plays an elimination game at Thursday at noon against Wrangell, who suffered a 62-32 loss to Craig.

“I feel like it was a nice, like, warmup game,” Tow said.  “To get us started for the rest of the games. Tomorrow we have Metlakatla, and that is one of the teams we have wanted to play all season and beat. I feel like this game kind of like helped us get motivated for that game.”

CRAIG 62 WRANGELL 32

The second-seed Craig girls jumped on third-seed Wrangell early and didn’t slow down as they posted a 62-32 win.

“It is a pretty big win for us,” Craig junior Ashlynn Smith said. “We are really excited to show everyone what we are made of and get to the region ‘chip. We are really excited to showcase everything we have worked on all season long.”

The showcase started with Smith scoring off the center tip and then the Lady Panthers went on a 16-1 run behind a shot past the arc from senior Chelsea Thompson, a fast break layup by freshman Jayla Edenshaw, another from Thompson, a shot from the arc by junior Sara Steffen and another in the paint, a steal by Smith who fed Thompson for a score, a Smith fast break and a layup by freshman Alli Demmert for an 18-1 lead.

Wrangell senior Christina Johnson stopped the run with a score off a steal by Lady Wolves junior Alexis Easterly to end the first quarter at 18-3.

The Lady Wolves were without the services of junior Alana Harrison. The injured Southeast star was on the bench cheering her teammates into a better second quarter. Lady Wolves junior Hailey Cook hit a shot from the arc in the stanza and senior Shailyn Nelson had three scores in the paint.

Craig’s Smith continued her strong play in the second quarter with two more steals, a shot past the arc and two shots closer in, Edenshaw added a basket and Steffen added two scores inside as the Lady Panthers lead increased to 31-12 at the half.

“We came in at halftime of this game and we just had to be their biggest cheerleaders,” Wrangell coach Christy Brown said of trying to pick up her team. “It is hard when you are down by 10, 15, or 20 points to try and dig deep and get to the next level, but it is what it is and we just need to try and stay positive and do the things we can do to make that happen.”

Wrangell would put together a 10-point third quarter and another 10 points in the final eight minutes, but Craig hit for 15 and 16 in the final two stanzas for the 62-32 win.

“I think it was a team effort,” Craig coach Vanessa James said. “We played together as a team, moved the ball really well and it was everybody looking for each other. And the defensive effort was huge for us, getting deflections, getting steals, looking for the girl filling the lane. A complete team effort and that is what makes me most proud.”

Steffan led Craig with 14 points, Smith and Thompson added 13 points apiece, Nelson and Demmert seven apiece, Edenshaw six and sophomore Alaya Bates two. The Lady Panthers hit five shots past the arc, 22 closer in and were 3-7 at the line.

Johnson led Wrangell with 12 points, Cook and Nelson added six apiece, Easterly five and freshman Kaiya Brevick three. The Lady Wolves hit four shots past the arc, seven closer in and went 6-10 at the line.

Craig advances to play in Friday’s 3 p.m. championship game against the winner of Thursday’s 9 a.m. game between top seed Metlakatla and Petersburg. Wrangell plays a Thursday noon elimination game against Haines.

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.

This story was originally published by the Juneau Independent.

The post Petersburg girls run past Haines, Craig girls topple Wrangell in 2A region openers appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

The Haines and Metlakatla High School boys played like their historic namesakes in a second-seed versus third-seed Wednesday night cap basketball game in front of a packed Region V 2A crowd at the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé George Houston Gymnasium.

The  ‘mini Gold Medal’ style game featured hard-nose pressure defense like their fathers played, fast breaks and shots from distance like their grandfathers put up, and a 42-31 Glacier Bears win over the Chiefs that wasn’t decided until the final minutes.

“It means a lot,” Haines senior Colton Combs said. “I am a senior and this is the first time I have made it to the finals at regions, so it is a pretty big moment. We came out on defense from the start. All year we have only do good on offense if we start on defense, for bringing the energy.”

Metlakatla junior Cruz Lindsey it a pair of free throws for the game’s first points and after Haines senior James Stickler hit inside, Cruz hit from past the arc for a 5-2 lead, the last time the Chiefs would have the scoring advantage.

Both teams were athletic in their defensive work and the score would not be changed until halfway through the stanza. Stickler muscled inside for a basket and followed a missed shot on Haines’ next possession for a 6-5 lead. C. Combs drove the lane on Haines’ next possession and scooped a shot in for an 8-5 lead that held to the start of the second quarter.

Haines senior JC Davis stole a ball to open the second quarter and fed sophomore Isaac Jones for a layup, Stickler hit inside and junior Brady Ferrin hit from the arc for a 15-5 lead with 3:10 remaining in the first half.

Metlakatla senior Bryce Olin hit from the arc to close to 15-8, but Haines junior Wade Lloyd answered from distance to lead 18-8. Metlakatla junior Gianni Scudero-Hayward hit a free throw to close to 18-9, but Haines’ Stickler followed a missed Glacier Bears shot and tipped it in for a 20-9 lead to end the half.

Metlakatla struggled to hit shots in the first half, missing numerous attempts in the key. The Chiefs opened the second half with a shot past the arc from Olin to close to eight, 20-12, but Haines’ Stickler rebounded a missed Glacier Bears shot and put the lead back to 10 points, and teammate Davis stole the next Metlakatla possession and scored for a 24-12 lead, and C. Combs added a free throw for 25-12.

Metlakatla’s C. Lindsey hit from the arc to close the score back to 10 at 25-15. Haines’ C. Combs hit a free throw for the 26-15 score with eight minutes remaining to play.

Haines junior Kyran Sweet stole a ball and scored to start the fourth quarter, and Stickler added a free throw for a 29-15 lead. Metlakatla countered with scores from Olin and C. Lindsey to trail 29-19.

A shot past the arc by Haines’ Davis and a steal by C. Combs who fed Sweet for a score pushed the lead out to 24-19, but Metlakatla’s Cash Martinez buried back-to-back scores past the arc to trail by seven, 32-25, with 3:45 left in the game.

Haines’ C. Combs scored on an up-and-under drive through traffic and Metlakatla’s Scudero-Hayward answered from the arc to trail 36-28.

Metlakatla would be forced to foul and Haines’ C. Combs and Sweet each hit a pair to push the lead out to 40-28 with under a minute left to play.

C. Lindsey closed Metlakatla to 40-31 with 28 seconds remaining, but Haines’ Ferrin and Stickler hit one free throw for the 42-31 final.

Stickler led Haines with 12 points, C. Combs eight, Sweet six, Davis five, Ferrin and Jones four apiece, and Lloyd three. The Glacier Bears hit three shots past the arc, 12 closer in and hit 9-18 from the charity stripe.

Olin led Metlakatla with eight points, S. Martinez and C. Lindsey seven apiece, freshman Cash Martinez six, and Scudero-Hayward three. The Chiefs hit eight shots past the arc but just two closer in and were 3-7 at the line.

“That is a very first for me,” Haines coach Bryan Combs said. “And it is the very first for the boys. It is an emotional win today. We knew we could beat them. We beat them twice earlier in the year, but that just shows all the work that we put in. Defensively first, defense-minded first. That’s an effort. All effort. And we just made a few more shots than they did.”

On watching his son play, coach Combs said, “He handled it well. He dealt with the pressure, he dealt with the adversity really well, so I couldn’t be happier. And we made free throws down the stretch. It is a big win, but we have a big game Friday. That is where our heads are now. That is where our focus goes – Friday night.

Haines advances to Friday’s 4:30 p.m. championship game against the winner of Thursday’s 10:30 a.m. game between number one seed Petersburg, who had an opening tournament bye, and number four seed Wrangell who defeated five seed Craig earlier Wednesday. Metlakatla plays an elimination game Thursday at 1:30 p.m. against Craig.

WRANGELL  61, CRAIG 43

The number four seed Wrangell Wolves ran with the number five seed Craig Panthers and then ran away with a 61-43 win to open their 2026 Region V Basketball Tournament on Wednesday at the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé George Houston Gymnasium.

Craig freshman Tate Arndt scored the game’s first point on a free throw, but Wrangell junior Everett Meissner answered with back-to-back baskets and the Wolves would never trail again.

The Panthers kept it close in the first quarter pulling within a point at 4-3 as senior Josh Bennett scored on a drive.

Wrangell’s Aadyen Gillen hit two free throws for a 6-3 lead and Craig’s Arndt answered for 6-5.

Wrangell sophomore Kai Wigg scored on a steal for 8-6 and Craig pulled to within one point for the last time as Arndt scored on an inbounds play for 8-7.

Wrangell would pull to a 15-9 lead after eight minutes and inch into a 22-13 lead midway through the second stanza on scores by sophomore Lucas Stearns, Powers and Gillen.

Craig stayed in the contest with an Arndt shot off glass and a shot past the arc by senior Adam Vickers to trail 22-18.

Wrangell would close the first half on a 15-2 run that included a final trio of baskets of steals by senior William Massin (one) and Stearns (two) all within 25 seconds that gave the Wolves a 37-20 lead at the break.

The Wolves pushed out to a 51-36 lead after three quarters and coasted to the win.

Powers led Wrangell with 23 points, Gillen added 12, Stearns 10, Meissner five, Ben Houser and Massin four apiece and Wigg three. The Wolves hit two shots past the arc, 21 closer in and were 10-18 from the line.

Bennett led Craig with 15 points, Arndt 11, Vickers 10, freshman Jack Conaster five and senior Aiden Goheen two. The Panthers made four 3-point shots, 11 closer in and hit 9-16 at the line.

“It feels really great,” Stearns said.  “It means we are working our way towards the state tournament. Just defense and getting stops was important. Stopping them from getting set up in their offense.”

Wrangell advances to play top seed Petersburg at 10:30 a.m. Thursday. Craig plays an elimination game at 1:30 p.m. Thursday against Metlakatla.

This story was originally published by the Juneau Independent.

The post Haines tips Metlakatla in ‘mini Gold Medal’ as 2A Region opens appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

Tlingit master weaver Lily Hope will use a $50,000 national fellowship she was awarded this year to help organize the first Northwest Coast Textile Symposium in Juneau. 

“The perpetuation of Northwest Coast textiles is my life now and into the future,” Hope said. “My dream life is continuing to vision and fundraise and connect the humans and artists and changemakers to continue to lift Chilkat and Ravenstail weaving.”

The United States Artists awardees for 2026 is nomination based, and Hope said she was first nominated six years ago. She remained in the pool by reapplying every year. The fellowship money is unrestricted and can be used to support the artist however she wishes. 

Hope said she is using it to make history.

Eighty to 100 robes are expected altogether at the “Gathering of the Robes.” The textile symposium is scheduled for April 14-17, 2027, at Centennial Hall. A website launched in February and is accepting interest forms and donations. 

“The Gathering of the Robes will bring together the largest dancing collection of both curvilinear Chilkat weaving and geometric Ravenstail weaving in the history of the world,” Hope said. “Many, many students of my own and of my mother, students of my students. Multiple generations deep of the people that I have taught are now teaching also, so we’ve got that depth of mentorship.”

Hope held a small gathering of 22 Chilkat robes in the past, and a separate event for nearly 40 Ravenstail robes in 2024. Both events were celebrations of the revival of the traditional craft. But Hope said both styles of textiles haven’t danced together as they will at the 2027 symposium.

“I know what it’s like to have Chilkats dancing in one place, and we experienced the joy of having Ravenstail together,” she said. “But this has never happened where we have the ancestral memory of Chilkat work and the woken-up memory of Ravenstail in the same space. The spirit being, or the ancestral resonance that is present when these works are dancing, is deeply felt by any person present.”

Hope said the emotional resonance living in the robes is difficult to put into words. 

She said the most exciting thing about next year’s symposium is three days of dedicated time to gather and share knowledge in a large space. Tables will be set up for vendors and weavers can throw down robes that are works in progress. 

“Tricks of the trade” will also be discussed, and weavers will have the opportunity for mentorship. Hope herself has taught hundreds of traditional weavers. 

She said during the symposium, historic Ravenstail robes rewoven by 11 students and weaver colleagues will dance once again in a ceremony, titled the Ravenstail Symbolic Repatriation project. 

Other projects are closer to completion and at Hope’s fingertips.

She and Sydney Akagi, her weaving colleague, worked on a Chilkat dancing blanket for the de Young Museum in San Francisco for nearly two years. It was dropped off at the museum on Thursday.

The blanket is a close replica of a work in the American Museum of Natural History. Akagi is a former student of Hope’s and was recently chosen by Sealaska Heritage Institute to lead the weaving of a historic Chilkat robe made entirely of mountain goat wool for the first time in more than 150 years. 

The second “Weaving Our Pride” robe, a rainbow-colored Ravenstail, is also “inches away from completion.” Hope said it will be ready to dance at this year’s Celebration in June, SHI’s biennial cultural event.

The first, a Chilkat Pride robe, danced for the first time during Celebration in 2024. The project for both robes began in 2023. Wooden cases are also being built for both Pride robes to be stored at Zach Gordon Youth Center, the same place where they are being woven in the community. For the Ravenstail, five mentor weavers, and over 20 Alaska Native and non-Native youth have woven at the youth center for over two years.

After completion, the robes can be worn by youth during the biennial Celebration, graduations, new-name parties, coming-out parties, and other events.

“Witnessing the student who had put in the most hours on this work get to help us cut it off the loom and then drape it on their shoulders — it was one of the highlights of 2024,” Hope said. “Being able to witness this person experience the completion, but also the literal pride of participating in making something bigger than themselves, and the affirmation of identity and community, love and belonging.”

Hope said the same sense of belonging applies to a “Giving Strength” robe being woven for the AWARE shelter for domestic and sexual violence survivors. It was started in 2018.

This robe is also nearing completion, with just its bottom borders needing to be finished. Heidi Vantrease inspired the “Giving Strength” robe after posting a small teal and purple weaving on the Ravenstail and Chilkat Facebook group, captioning it “I am weaving this for someone who has been deeply affected by sexual and domestic violence, and I am being intentional about putting in my strength and prayers for healing.”

Hope said, “If it’s not us personally, it is someone close to us who has been affected.” She noted the statistics for Alaska Natives experiencing domestic and sexual violence in particular are “staggering.” 

She reached out to Vantrease and asked if volunteers could weave a community robe inspired by her work for the AWARE shelter. More than 60 volunteers are creating 5-by-5-inch weavings to stitch together in a larger teal and purple robe, the colors representing sexual and domestic violence awareness. 

Hope said the “Giving Strength” robe’s collaborative style echoes a community robe her late mother, Clarissa Rizal, envisioned and executed in 2016 called “Weaving Across the Waters.” It is on display at the Longhouse Weaver Studio at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Once the “Giving Strength” robe is finished, it will remain at the AWARE shelter.

“When else do you get to experience the strength of 60 artists on your shoulders? Imagine coming in from whatever you’ve just experienced over however long the abuse was happening, and you come into the AWARE shelter, and the first thing they do is set your bags down — ‘put this robe on,’” she said. “That’s why we do the work. Set down the grief and fear and rage and feel the strength of 60 people who say, ‘You can do really hard things.’”

Hope said the $50,000 fellowship she received is also “affording me this beautiful space of looking at my last 15 years of work and being able to contemplate what is next.” Most importantly, she said, it is allowing her to exhale while pondering future steps.

She closed her public studio last fall to recenter her artistic intentions after a conversation with weaver Shdendootaan “Shgen” George. It still serves as a working studio. Hope said she is thinking about creating a Chilkat blanket for her clan, the T’akdeintaan.

“What is the most sensible thing that helps to not just elevate Northwest Coast textiles, but continue my particular body of work?” she asked. “What happens if I get to make work for my own homeland? What if it isn’t about the monetization of ceremonial artwork? What do I make when I get to think about keeping something in my clan or family?”

This story was originally published by the Juneau Independent.

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The head of the Alaska Division of Elections will not share legal advice that led to the state’s decision to send an extended voter list to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Director Carol Beecher told state senators Wednesday that she will not waive attorney-client privilege as state lawmakers examine last year’s decision to give the Trump administration a detailed list of Alaska voters.

Alaska is one of 12 states that have either turned over their voter lists or have said they plan to comply with a nationwide request, according to records kept by the Brennan Center, a critic of the administration’s request.

Alaska and Texas are also the only states to have signed a memorandum of understanding that would allow the Department of Justice to pick individual voters for eventual removal from state lists of eligible voters.

Neither elections officials nor the Alaska Department of Law have explained why the state voluntarily complied with the request and signed the memo, or how compliance fits within the Alaska Constitution’s right to privacy.

Last week, Idaho became the latest state to reject the Department of Justice’s request for voter information, joining dozens of others.

That state’s Secretary of State said in a letter to federal officials that filings in a lawsuit showed that the department had shared sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, with “unauthorized persons,” and as a result, he could not guarantee that Idahoans’ identities would be safe.

In a pair of legislative hearings this week, Alaska lawmakers were unable to learn why Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, Beecher, and the Alaska Department of Law reached a different conclusion.

Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, grilled Beecher during a Wednesday hearing, pressing her to release the legal advice she received before the Division of Elections turned over its voter list.

“This is an issue of grave concern for hundreds of thousands of Alaskans, and you have the ability to provide us with those documents. You have the ability to waive any potential privilege. Would you be willing to do that?” he asked.

“At this point, I am not willing to waive that privilege,” she said. 

Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson, D-Anchorage, asked Beecher whether the department made a mistake by sharing the voter data and signing the memo that would allow the federal government to single out individual Alaskans.

“I do not, at this juncture, believe that the division made a mistake in signing the MOU,” she said.

This week’s toughest questions came from Democratic lawmakers. Beecher and Dahlstrom are both Republicans, and Dahlstrom is also a candidate for governor in this fall’s elections.

Republican lawmakers were generally silent in this week’s hearings. 

Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage and chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said he was “in an awkward position” and reached out to a variety of experts in an attempt to avoid bias in a hearing he held on Monday.

During that hearing, Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake, said he sees the state’s compliance as something like following the speed limit.

“When the federal government makes a law, we’re expected to follow it … it’s the federal government’s job, through whomever, to ensure that law is followed, and from what I understand, the federal government was merely attempting to make sure that Alaska followed the National Voter Registration Act,” he said.

The information transmitted to the Department of Justice goes beyond the publicly available voter information purchasable from the Division of Elections for $20. 

It contains personally identifying information, such as birthdates, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

In a legal analysis performed last month, legislative attorneys called the DOJ’s request “unprecedented” and said the division’s handover would be legal only if the federal government requested the information “in compliance with federal law” and used “the information only for governmental purposes authorized under law.”

As of Wednesday, three separate federal judges — in Oregon, California and Michigan — have ruled that the federal government’s request is not in compliance with federal law. 

Of the 48 states and the District of Columbia that have been asked for their voter lists, 29 and DC are fighting the federal government in court. The federal government has won none of those cases to date.

Legislative attorney Andrew Dunmire said he is also unaware of any federal law that allows the federal government to single out individual voters for removal from voter lists, as the MOU states.

On Wednesday, Beecher said the Department of Justice has not yet requested that any voters be removed from Alaska’s list. In addition, Dahlstrom said in December that the state would comply with the MOU only if the federal government’s actions are legal.

But with the Alaska Department of Law and the Division of Elections stonewalling legislators, it isn’t clear what the state considers a legal request. 

In September, the Justice Department told Stateline that it is sharing the voter data with the Department of Homeland Security, and the Trump administration has previously said it intends to input the voter lists into a nationwide registry to look for noncitizens.

The DHS tool for that effort has repeatedly flagged citizens in error, ProPublica reported last month.

Speaking to legislators this week, former Alaska attorney general Bruce Botelho advised lawmakers to continue searching for the legal advice given to elections officials by the Alaska Department of Law.

He also suggested that legislators consider filing a lawsuit to have the agreement with the Department of Justice declared illegal.

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Correction: The initial version of this article incorrectly listed the number of states that have provided voter lists to the federal government. Alaska is one of 12 states that has either turned over voter data or is planning to do so.

Less than two weeks before they’re set to come to Haines, the Freeride World Tour has canceled events in Europe and Asia — a reminder of the borough’s financial risk. 

The Freeride World Tour, a company owned by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, is scheduled to hold six events this year, with Haines as the tour’s lone U.S. stop. 

One event was scheduled for Kühtai, Georgia. But on Feb. 20, the company announced it was postponing the Kühtai stop because of “unstable snowpack conditions.” The event was rescheduled for the following week and relocated to Innsbruck, Austria. But that event, too, was canceled because of avalanche danger. 

A similar cancellation in Haines would be costly to local taxpayers. To bring Freeride to town, the Haines Borough is paying the company a $75,000 lump sum. 

According to the official event contract, if the competition is cancelled, the borough would still have to pay the full sum of money. If the event is rescheduled elsewhere, the borough would be on the hook for half its payment. 

The borough was originally responsible for an additional $25,000 worth of in-kind donations to Freeride, but it seems outside entities have now covered those costs. Palmer Project owner Viszla Copper has donated $25,000 to the event, First National Bank Alaska has donated $5,000, and Delta Western has donated $2,000. 

Alaska Seaplanes, The Aspen Hotel, AP&T, Haines Packing, Community Waste Solutions, Alaska Mountain Guides and Discover Deishú are also making in-kind donations, borough tourism director Reba Hylton said. Alaska Mountain Guides and Discover Deishú will also be compensated for providing busing. 

Risk Factors

The likelihood of the event being canceled is hard to pin down, and there are multiple factors at play.

In Haines, avalanche risk was elevated earlier this winter after a long, windy, dry spell in December followed by heavy precipitation and warming temperatures, said Jeff Moskowitz of the Alaska Avalanche Center. However, time and more snowfall have covered some of those issues. 

“Right now there’s pretty decent stability,” Moskowitz said Monday. “The stuff that had caused a lot of the avalanches back in January is pretty deep down in the snowpack.”

Now, forecasters are more focused on avalanche risk brought about by recent wind.

But broadly, it’s impossible to say exactly what snowpack conditions might look like in two weeks, Moskowitz said. Avalanche risk factors like heavy precipitation, rapid warming or high winds could yet change the outlook.

Moskowitz and the Alaska Avalanche Center will continue to issue forecasts for the Chilkat Valley, but will not specifically work with Freeride. 

Conditions in the air will also be a major factor, with helicopters flying skiers to the start of their runs. 

Freeride has scheduled a nine-day weather window for their single-day competition. Back in November, Alaska Heliskiing owner Sean Brownell told the CVN that Haines heliskiing operators generally have a 50% fly rate, meaning helicopters can get off the ground on roughly half the days of the season. Brownell’s company is the permitted operator for the event, but he did not respond to questions this week about what services Alaska Heliskiing will provide during the event. 

Staff at the Freeride World Tour have not responded to any questions from the CVN for the past year, including phone calls and emails last spring and fall, and questions this week. 

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