Alaska

The U.S. Forest Service officially kicked off its public process for the Tongass National Forest Plan Revision on Wednesday, with an initial 30-day public comment period intended to guide a draft plan and environmental review. 

The Tongass National Forest is the largest national forest in the U.S., with more than 16 million acres covering 80% of Southeast Alaska, including more than a thousand islands.

Forest-wide decisions made at the federal level shape the environment and the lives of Southeast residents — from industrial uses like mining and timber, to tourism and recreation, to the health of ecosystems and quality of subsistence harvests.

The last forest management plan was completed in 2016. That plan phased down the amount of old-growth available for logging over several years. The revised plan will set the stage for how the agency intends to manage the forest over the next 10 to 15 years. 

In its public notice released Tuesday, the agency outlined six proposed goals for the updated plan that address land use designations; economic uses of the forest; the rise in cruise ship visitors, collaboration between different groups; subsistence hunting, fishing and gathering needs; and Indigenous knowledge.

The public notice said the agency will ensure the plan is consistent with two of President Trump’s executive orders aimed at maximizing mineral extraction and logging in the Tongass. 

The agency also noted that a long-term timber demand analysis underway at the Pacific Northwest Research Station will inform projected timber sale quantities. The last analysis, published in 2016, estimated demand for Tongass forest products would range from roughly 41 to 76 million board feet per year between 2015 and 2030.

The public comment period for the scoping phase ends March 19 at 11:59 p.m. The agency expects to publish a draft revised plan and draft environmental impact statement this fall, followed by a 90-day public comment period. The final plan is expected next May.

Immigration enforcement agents swarmed a Soldotna home Tuesday morning and took a family of four, including a kindergartner, into custody.

Sonia Arriaga, from Jalisco, Mexico, has lived in Alaska since 2023. Her husband, Alexander Sanchez-Ramos, said agents arrived in about five vehicles and pulled her from her car when she returned from driving her middle child to school.

“I’m not talking about nicely, either. I’m talking about aggressively grabbing her and pulling her out. You know, she’s still in her pajamas, for crying out loud,” he said.

Sanchez-Ramos is an American citizen, born in Seward. He said masked agents placed him in handcuffs as he stood outside in temperatures hovering in the teens, wearing gym shorts and sandals. They questioned him about who else was at home. A relative brought the youngest child out.

“He was upset. He was crying, asking for his mom,” Sanchez-Ramos said.

Arriaga and her three sons, ages 5, 16 and 18, were eventually taken to Anchorage. The oldest son was put in jail, Sanchez-Ramos said, while the younger sons and their mom were detained in a hotel.

The story of their arrest reached a group of church leaders in Anchorage who told reporters the case raised grave moral concerns.

“How could anyone possibly claim to support family values when they are willing to stand by and be silent when a five year old is taken into detention?” said Rev. Michael Burke, senior pastor at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church.

He said the incident could traumatize a child for the rest of his life.

Burke said he isn’t disputing the lawful enforcement of immigration restrictions. But, he said, federal agencies are trampling the law and violating the pledge that stepped-up enforcement would target criminals and the “worst of the worst.”

“As faith tradition leaders, grounded in the Hebrew Scriptures, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we say that there is something deeply wrong here,” he said from his church pulpit, with eight pastors representing different congregations behind him. “There is a moral crisis in America where we detain and arrest families and small children.”

Sanchez-Ramos said Arriaga was in the country legally and was seeking asylum based on threats of violence in Jalisco. She had legal authorization to work, he said. She missed a hearing date in January, he said, but their lawyer assured them all the paperwork had been filed to revive her claim.

They met at a Mexican restaurant where they both worked and married earlier this month, he said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not yet responded to an emailed query about the case.

The City of Hoonah has a new chief of police to replace the last chief who was fired while trying to resign last spring. 

James Beck of Oklahoma began his role as Hoonah’s new chief of police and director of public safety in January. Hoonah, a community of less than a thousand people, is located on the northeastern side of Chichagof Island, west of Juneau. 

Beck has served in multiple law enforcement roles for more than two decades, holding positions including tribal police officer, tribal chief of police and sheriff at different agencies in the Lower 48. 

In an interview, Beck said he took the job because he was looking for a change and was drawn to Hoonah’s Indigenous culture. Beck is an enrolled tribal member of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. He said his goal is to build trust between the community and the police department. 

“If you’re always truthful, you’re going to remember what you told somebody,” he said. “If you go to trying to tell fibs and little white lies and just being dishonest, it’s going to come back on you eventually, because you’re going to spin a web of lies, and it always collapses.”

Beck’s hiring comes after Hoonah’s former chief, Carlos Frias, alleged he was fired from his role after two years because he began investigating domestic violence and sexual assault complaints made against some city leaders. However, city leaders rebuffed his claims, saying he was fired for a series of violations, including excessive use of force. Frias has since moved away from Hoonah and is now a police officer in Tucson, Arizona.

Beck said one of his goals as chief is to increase transparency and accountability. 

On Thursday, the City of Hoonah is hosting a community meeting at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall for residents to ask questions or make suggestions to him about the police department. Community members can participate in person or online. 

“I think these community meetings is for me to put myself in front of the community so that I could increase that transparency, because I do believe in transparency and law enforcement,” he said. 

Beck said he would also like to increase staffing levels at the four-person department and upgrade the station.

Bill Miller, Hoonah’s mayor, said Beck has been a great addition to the community so far. 

“His community involvement is really good. He’s been attending all of our meetings because he’s wanting to know the community,” he said. “He fits well for it. He’s got a really good attitude, very knowledgeable.”

Benjamin Botts, formerly with the Ketchikan Police Department, served as interim chief after Frias was fired. According to the city’s website, Botts now serves as a multi-service officer for the department alongside two other officers.

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan is scheduled to deliver his annual address to the Alaska Legislature at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

The Alaska Legislature invites the congressional delegation to deliver an address while they’re in session each year. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is scheduled to address the Legislature in March.

Sullivan was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2014. Prior to that, he served as Alaska’s Attorney General and Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. He’s up for re-election in November, and is being challenged by former U.S. Representative for Alaska Mary Peltola.

Watch a live stream here, on KTOO 360TV or tune into KTOO 104.3 or 91.7 FM.

Anchorage cross-country skier Gus Schumacher won a silver medal Wednesday at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic games, after racing a near-perfect anchor leg in the team sprint event.

Paired with teammate Ben Ogden from Vermont, Schumacher challenged Norwegian superstar Johannes Klæbo on the last climb of the six-lap race and finished just ahead of Italy.

It’s Schumacher’s first Olympic medal, and he said he was dialed in nearly all the way to the finish line to claim it.

“I think I did a good job of not thinking too, like, results-wise until, you know, I could see Ben on the other side there and knew I had space,” he said. “I’m really proud of how I just sort of skied with abandon in a way, because when I’m skiing free I’m the best.”

Schumacher is 25 years old and grew up in Alaska and has dreamed about the Olympics for most of his life.

He became the first American to win a gold medal in an individual race at the Junior World Ski Championships in 2020. Then in 2024, he became the youngest American to win a World Cup cross-country ski race. Schumacher was one of eight Alaska Nordic skiers competing in this year’s Olympics.

Schumacher raced against Ogden on the U.S. circuit starting at a young age. They’ve since become close friends and are rooming together in Italy, where Ogden also won a silver in the individual sprint race.

Schumacher said that history made it particularly special to stand on the podium alongside Ogden. There’s a whole community that makes a result like an Olympic medal possible, he said.

“Amazing to cross that line and celebrate with Ben, and then just like everyone who’s helped us along the way. Like, my parents are here, and the whole wax staff, and the staff in general, and coaches and everything,” Schumacher said. “It means a lot to all of us.”

Schumacher and his coach Erik Flora say they’re delighted to get home and share the medal with teammates, friends and other Alaskans.

Travelers can now schedule ferry rides with the Alaska Marine Highway System for May through September. That’s after the summer schedule opened for booking Feb. 12.

The schedule looks a lot like recent years, with six of the state’s nine vessels sailing. There is not enough funding or staffing to run them all, said Shannon McCarthy, spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation.

“Our crew is relatively stable right now, but, you know, it’s not expanding rapidly,” McCarthy said. “Our budget is also a concern this year, so we will only be running one of the mainliners at any given time.”

Only one mainliner – the Columbia – is scheduled to travel weekly through Southeast to Bellingham, Washington. That means a round trip every two weeks for most residents.

McCarthy said the Kennicott will be on standby in case the Columbia needs repairs.

“The nice thing is, it is much better to have two vessels — main liners — that are able to be sailed at any point,” she said. “It puts the state in a much better position.”

The Tustumena will sail the southwest region between Homer and the Aleutians. That’s roughly two round trips per week from Homer to Kodiak, and one full Aleutian Chain run per month.

The day boat, Leconte will sail Prince William Sound. And Lynn Canal will be similar to last year, with the Hubbard doing nearly daily runs between Juneau, Haines, and Skagway.

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski helped secure hundreds of millions in federal ferry funds over the last five years. But the state is now waiting on a key federal grant for this year. DOT Commissioner Ryan Anderson is scheduled to be in DC this week to talk to the Alaska Delegation about it.

“Because this money is still available — it was written into the law,” McCarthy said. “So, we’re just trying to figure that out, to see if there is some relief there.”

With ongoing funding issues, the state is considering selling the Matanuska, a 63-year-old mainliner that’s been tied up in Ketchikan and used for housing new ferry workers. McCarthy says they’ll still be able to offer housing in the mainliner that’s not currently sailing.