Recent News

KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) — A report by the U.S. Coast Guard shows that fatal recreational-boating accidents in Alaska have doubled over the last year.

The Ketchikan Daily News reports there were 14 fatal boating wrecks that killed 19 people in 2016. That’s seven more boating accidents and 12 more fatalities than in 2015.

The Alaska Public Information Office says four of the fatal 2016 accidents took place in southeast Alaska.

According to the Coast Guard, the number of recreational-boating accidents has increased nationwide over the past year. Other states with a high number of boating-related fatalities include Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Massachusetts and Hawaii.

The report says that alcohol was the leading known contributing factor of the wrecks across the United States.

KODIAK, Alaska (AP) — Officials from the spaceport on Kodiak Island are hosting a town hall meeting to answer questions about the Missile Defense Agency’s plans to test a U.S.-Israeli anti-ballistic missile system in Alaska.

The Kodiak Daily Mirror reports testing of the Arrow-3 missile system will begin in 2018. The system was developed by Israel Aerospace Industries and Boeing, and is co-managed by the Missile Defense Agency and the Israel Missile Defense Organization.

The system is being developed to support Israel’s ballistic missile defense system. There are no plans to integrate the missiles into the U.S. ballistic missile defense system.

Navy Vice Adm. James Syring says Arrow-3 is “designed to defeat exospheric ballistic missile threat from Iran.”

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Coast Guard Cutter Bailey Barco is being commissioned in Alaska on June 14.

The Juneau Empire reports the 154-foot (47-meter) Fast Response Cutter will be the second of its kind to be commissioned in Alaska.

The ceremony is taking place in Juneau. The ship recently arrived in Ketchikan, its homeport, after sailing up from Key West, Florida. It will share the port with Alaska’s other Fast Response Cutter, the CGC John McCormick, also homeported in Ketchikan.

Vice Adm. Fred M. Midgette, the Coast Guard’s Pacific Area commander, will preside over the ceremony. Multiple other officers, including 17th District Commander, Rear Adm. Michael McAllister, will be there as well.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A leader in the Alaska state House says negotiators are making progress on a budget, but he could not say whether a budget might be passed before the current special session ends next week.

Rep. Paul Seaton commented Friday after House and Senate negotiators met to hash out differences in spending for several agencies.

Seaton, who is co-chair of the House Finance Committee, says the pace of progress will determine if a budget is settled by next Friday, when the special session is scheduled to end, or in another special session.

Lawmakers are under pressure to finalize a budget before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1.

State agencies have begun making preparations in case a budget isn’t passed and government must shut down.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Division of Forestry officials say they’re busy fighting or monitoring 15 fires burning in southwest Alaska.

The fires have burned 65 square miles (168 sq. kilometers) from McGrath to Dillingham. They began after lighting strikes.

The division says firefighters are staffing five fires and monitoring the rest.

The highest priority is a 3.3 square mile (8.5 sq. kilometer) fire within two miles of the village of Crooked Creek on the Kuskokwim River about 275 miles southwest of Anchorage.

The division says the fire is backing toward the village of 92.

Air tankers on Wednesday dropped retardant in front of the fire closest to the village to slow its progress.

The division says 58 people are working on the fire.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska volcano that has been active for nearly six months has erupted again.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory says Bogoslof (BOH-gohs-lawf) Volcano in the Aleutian Islands erupted at 2:16 p.m. Sunday and sent a cloud of ash at least 35,000 feet (10,668 meters) high. The eruption lasted 55 minutes.

Ash can harm and stop jet engines. Ash from southwest Alaska volcanos is a threat airliners operating between North America and Asia when a cloud rises above 20,000 feet (6,096 meters).

After the eruption, the Aviation Color Code was raised to red, the highest level.

The agency says a person on nearby Unalaska Island reports seeing a large white-gray mushroom cloud form over Bogoslof, with ash falling out to the west.