Published Jun 27, 2023 by Alaska House Coalition

Monday, the Alaska House Coalition sent a formal request to the Speaker of the House to take an official poll of the House to determine whether the legislature will call itself into special session for the purpose of overriding the governor’s vetoes. Under Alaska Statute AS 24.05.100(a)(2), the Speaker of the House “shall initiate a poll upon the request of 25 percent of the membership.” If two thirds of the House and Senate agree, the legislature will convene a special session.

“Despite the hard work put forward by the legislature to pass a balanced budget that made critical investments in education, childcare, workforce development, and in senior care, the governor has decided to veto these responsible investments and cut education funding to an amount that will force class sizes to grow, teachers to struggle, and school districts to consider drastic options including shortening the school week” said Minority Leader Calvin Schrage (NA-Anchorage).

“When education and Head Start get cut during the implementation of the Alaska Reads Act, it makes me question whether this administration is truly concerned about student reading and academic success for all children,” said Representative Andi Story (D-Juneau).

“The cuts to the University of Alaska’s workforce development programs and deferred maintenance are short-sighted,” said Representative Ashley Carrick (D-West Fairbanks). “Our students, faculty, and staff deserve budget stability and a commitment from the administration to growing our workforce for the high-demand careers we need to fill right now and into the future.”

Published Jun 27, 2023 by Gray Media

The country is facing a crisis that it’s never experienced before: loneliness, isolation and negative messages on social media that could lead to suicide attempts by young people.“

Things are not going well right now, they are struggling, we see record rate of suicide, depression and anxiety,” U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said. “Here in Alaska, we have one of the highest youth suicide rates. Across the country, we see that 1 in 3 adolescent girls seriously considered taking their own life in 2021.”

Murthy joined Sen. Dan Sullivan on Monday at the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Consortium Library in an event dubbed the Alaska Youth Mental Health Roundtable. The two shared their understanding of the state’s mental health crisis after meeting with Alaska mental health providers and experts. It was Murthy’s first visit to Alaska since 2016 when Sullivan hosted a wellness summit on the epidemic of drug addiction.

Published Jun 27, 2023 by Cheryl Kawaja

What began as a 6,300-kilogram western red cedar on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska is now a nine-metre dugout canoe set afloat for the first time this past weekend on Pine Lake, Yukon.

The creation of this Tlingit healing canoe was a journey — one that was spiritual, physical and bureaucratic.

Price, a professor at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau, taught himself how to carve the ancient canoes after studying surviving dugouts from the past. It has become his lifelong passion; this canoe is his 13th project.

An apprentice team began with seven students. The process is not just about carving, but creating the boat with intention and resilience.

The work is symbolic, Price said.

"Each chip represents a life we've lost to alcohol and drugs in Indigenous country. And of all the chips that have come off, there's a broken home, a broken family," said Price, adding that his vision to create healing canoes came during a sweat lodge ceremony.

Price said each person involved in the journey to create the boat is changed through the process.

Published Jun 26, 2023 by RSS Feed

The narrow channel of water that separates Alaska from Russia is a little bigger than it used to be, new analysis shows.

A research project found that the Bering Strait is at least a meter deeper on the Alaska side than previously believed, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center. The project evaluated new and old bathymetric surveys, applying modern technology to the latter to more accurately pinpoint locations.

The change is from erosion that took place between 1950 and 2010 and was likely the result of increasing flows of water through the strait, said a newly published study about the project, which NOAA describes as providing the first detailed analysis of the eastern Bering Strait’s seafloor.

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The strait is a crucial spot biologically, too. It is the migration route for various species, from deep-swimming whales to long-distance traveling seabirds. Along with being the site for the flow of water and heat in the summer, it is the point where winter freeze-up allows formation of sea ice to spread from the Chukchi Sea to the Bering Sea.

Climate change is affecting that dynamic. Research led by Seth Danielson, a University of Alaska Fairbanks oceanographer, has found that the transfer of heat through the strait increased dramatically in recent years; as a result, the Chukchi Sea has warmed significantly over decades, a change that affects the entire Arctic.