Southcentral

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday canceled projects worth nearly $500 million for vaccine development using mRNA technology. He defended that action while speaking at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.

“The mRNA vaccines, we know from COVID, don’t work against upper respiratory infections,” he told reporters. “They don’t work very well — Let me put it that way.”

Kennedy is a long-time skeptic of the scientific consensus on vaccines. Reports published in peer-reviewed journals have found COVID-19 vaccines, using mRNA technology, to be highly effective. Kennedy said mRNA vaccines might be useful for cancers and diseases other than respiratory infections.

Alaska’s U.S. senators flanked Kennedy as he spoke. Both voted to confirm him in February, though Sen. Lisa Murkowski said at the time she was concerned about his “selective interpretation of scientific studies.” She said Tuesday she didn’t agree with some of his actions, such as dismissing the entire Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices and installing new members, some with controversial views.

“I am a strong believer that vaccines save lives,” Murkowski said, “as I believe the secretary himself has stated.”

Kennedy, as secretary, has sometimes spoken of vaccines as a crucial public health tool but also undermined their credibility.

He just happened to be in Anchorage on the day his agency announced he was canceling mRNA vaccine development contracts. It’s the season for cabinet secretaries to visit Alaska, and the secretaries of Homeland Security, Housing and Transportation are coming next week, Sen. Dan Sullivan explained.

“We have a lot of people — a lot of cabinet officials, sub-cabinet officials, admirals, generals — that we’re going to be hosting in Alaska in August,” he said. “It’s an exciting time.”

Unlike most cabinet members, Kennedy has visited Alaska many times. He came in years past to campaign for environmental causes. He also says he feels committed to carry on the work of his father and uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy, to improve the lives of Indigenous people.

Outside the building, Susan Soule was among several dozen people who came to protest Secretary Kennedy.

“My sign says, ‘Respect the science. Vaccines save lives.’ That’s why I’m here,” she said. Kennedy, she said, “has not given any sign that he respects science. He’s killing people by what he’s doing to vaccines and the research.”

The medical campus where Kennedy spoke has for years championed vaccines to improve community wellness. In late 2020, the Alaska Native health care system led the rest of the state on COVID-19 vaccination.

The Eklutna Tribe has operated its new casino outside Anchorage under the shadow of two separate lawsuits. A federal judge has dismissed one of those, filed by a group of property owners near the tribe’s casino in Birchwood.

With approval from the U.S. Interior Department, the tribe opened its Chin’an Gaming Hall on a Native allotment in February.

The property owners argued that the casino harmed the rural character of their neighborhood and claimed it would increase traffic, noise and raise the risk for water pollution. Their attorney, Don Mitchell, also challenged the Native Village of Eklutna’s status as a federally recognized tribe.

“Congress has never allowed a middle-ranking employee of the Interior Department to just wave a magic wand and create 200 Indian tribes, either in Alaska or any other place,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell is referring to Ada Deer, who served as Assistant Secretary of Interior during the Clinton administration. In 1993, she included Eklutna in a list of Alaska tribes to eliminate any doubt that they have the same status as tribes in the Lower 48. Numerous court cases have tried and failed to invalidate this decision. In a ruling on Friday, June 27, U.S. District Judge James Robart said the Eklutna lawsuit should be dismissed in “equity and good conscience.”

In a statement, Aaron Leggett, the president of the Native Village of Eklutna called the ruling a significant step forward, because it affirmed an important principle to the tribe — that its rights are firmly rooted in the land.

Tribal legal experts like Michelle Demmert says even one challenge to an Alaska tribe’s legitimacy threatens them all. They also consume time, energy and precious dollars, she says.

“Time and time again, the law is clear in these areas that continue to be challenged,” said Demmert, an attorney in the Tribal Governance Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. “If the argument was that the Eklutna tribe is not a tribe, there’s legal precedent. There’s federal law that says, ‘They are.'”

Mitchell disagrees that the federal law and courts have been clear on tribal jurisdiction in Alaska.

Depending on what the neighboring property owners decide, Mitchell says an appeal could be the next step, because the judge delivered a second blow to his case on Monday. Mitchell had asked the judge to reconsider his ruling, a motion he quickly rejected.

The tribe also faces another federal lawsuit, this one brought on by the Alaska Attorney general. It also aims to shut down the casino and contests the tribe’s authority over the land the gaming hall was built on land that was conveyed to the Ondola family under the Alaska Native Allotment Act of 1906.

The Chin’an Gaming Hall sits on about eight acres near the Birchwood Airport, which the tribe has leased from the heirs of the Ondola family. During the Biden administration, the Interior Department reversed course on an earlier decision that said Native allotments in Alaska could not be considered “Indian Country.” This step cleared the way for the casino’s approval.

Since the gaming establishment opened, it’s seen brisk business, sometimes with long lines waiting to enter. Chin’an means thank you in the Dena’ina language. For now, it’s a small gambling operation in a temporary building limited to electronic gaming. The Native Village of Eklutna hopes to build a permanent facility, so it can add restaurants and expand its operations. The tribe hopes to use the money to create jobs for its members and fund social and economic development programs.

Immigration officials detained an Anchorage man originally from Peru on Friday, according to his wife, who says she’s been left in the dark about what will happen to him next.

Cristian Ibanez Velasquez, 32, had dropped his wife at work Friday morning and returned home when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers approached him in the couple’s driveway.

He’s been in jail ever since, said his wife, Paola Jimenez, in an interview Thursday, nearly a week later. Jimenez said she just wants to know if he’s safe.

“I just want to know when my husband’s gonna get out, when he’s gonna be safe and sound at home, because I don’t know how it is inside,” she said. “I don’t know if he’s safe in there.”

As ICE was detaining him, Ibanez Velasquez called Jimenez. He only speaks Spanish, she said, and the officers detaining him didn’t have an interpreter.

The officers told Jimenez that her husband had been marked for deportation, she said. They said they were taking him to the Anchorage Correctional Complex and that he would eventually be sent an immigration facility in Tacoma, Washington.

Ibanez Velasquez entered the United States illegally in 2022, the couple married in Alaska in 2024, and while they had intended to pursue citizenship for him, they never did, Jimenez said.

While in jail, Ibanez Velasquez has been able to make sporadic phone calls and Jimenez has been able to visit him, but visitation was canceled at least once. And her husband said he was not getting a medication he’s supposed to take for heartburn, which Jimenez attributed to a language barrier.

“He said that the nurse told him that he needs to ask that in writing and give it to the guard,” Jimenez said. “But my husband doesn’t know how to read, how to say or do anything in English.”

Jimenez is adamant that her husband has no criminal record and, though he was caught entering the United States illegally in 2022, had been in regular contact with ICE about his whereabouts and immigration case. That involved using an app on his phone to snap photos of himself every Sunday and occasional in-person check-ins, she said.

“The same officer that was doing his check-ins for him was the same officer that detained him that day,” Jimenez said. “Nobody told him there was something else going wrong.”

Ibanez Velasquez was a mechanic in Peru and had been following a dream, along with his cousin, to come to the U.S., first to Chicago, Jimenez said. When that didn’t work out, he came to Alaska in 2023, when the couple met, and they married in October of 2024, Jimenez said.

They got two cats together – Cosmo and Tac – and after the wedding had planned to apply to get citizenship for Ibanez Valasquez, she said.

“The whole process is expensive to start. A, B and C, there was always something in the middle,” Jimenez said. “It was hard to be able to pay for everything for us, and then start the process. So we just never got around to it, unfortunately. And then this happened, and it just changed everything completely.”

As immigration enforcement ramped up under President Donald Trump’s administration, the couple saw news stories about ICE rounding up immigrants for deportation, Jimenez said.

“But that was more in the Lower 48,” she said. “Obviously, it was in the back of our heads, you know, like, ‘We still got to be careful.’ But then I think it was probably a month before this happened to my husband, that three are also picked up here, I believe. Well, then it happened to him.”

A Seattle-based spokesperson for ICE sent a general written statement in response to a request for comment on Ibanez Velasquez’s case.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not indiscriminately conduct enforcement actions on random people,” ICE public affairs officer David Yost wrote. “All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and if found removable by final order, removal from the United States, regardless of nationality.”

Activists plan to protest Ibanez Velasquez’s detention in a rally set for 5:30 p.m. Thursday in front of the Department of Homeland Security offices in downtown Anchorage.

The loss of a federal grant has forced the University of Alaska’s ANSEP program to cancel its long-running summer academy, less than two weeks before rural students were scheduled to arrive.

ANSEP, the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program, operates the yearly Summer Acceleration Academy, allowing high school students in rural communities to come to Anchorage for a five-week program in various STEM courses.

Michele Yatchmeneff, chief operating officer for ANSEP, said many of these students don’t get a chance to take similar courses in their local schools.

“So what we do is offer the course here at the university, so that they can get dual credit,” Yatchmeneff said. “So they can get credit for graduation from high school and then also graduation towards a degree.”

Yatchmeneff said ANSEP officials were informed last week that the federal government had terminated their $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation, forcing the last-minute cancellation of the Summer Acceleration Academy. The program was set to begin May 24 and serve 47 students.

“The National Science Foundation right now has been told that they’re getting a 50% cut,” Yatchmeneff said. “They’re mainly supporting a lot of research; I also have had research projects with them. So nationally, this has become an issue, and ANSEP is part of that.”

Yatchmeneff said she’s hopeful the program will return next year, and she doesn’t anticipate any further cuts.

“Right now, we still have federal funding coming in from example, like the National Park Service and a few others, and we don’t foresee any more cuts,” Yatchmeneff said.

Other summer ANSEP programs, including the Summer Bridge internship program and middle school academies, were not impacted by the funding cut.

This is not the only recent impact to the ANSEP program from changes at the federal level. The program recently removed the term “Alaska Native” from many parts of its website, citing compliance with federal guidelines on DEI-related language related to race. The change sparked widespread pushback. In the United States, Native American and Alaska Native tribal members are legally considered a political class, as opposed to just a racial group.

Correction: This story has been corrected to reflect that ANSEP is still referred to as the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program, despite the removal of “Alaska Native” from different parts of its website.

Ten people from Whittier charged with illegal voting made initial court appearances Friday — a routine procedure in a case that has the potential to be anything but.

The 10 were born in American Samoa. That gives them the unique status of being U.S. nationals, born on American soil and holders of U.S. passports, but not citizens. A group called Right to Democracy is championing their case.

“If they had been born instead in another U.S. territory — like Guam or the Virgin Islands or the District of Columbia — or Alaska, they would not be in this situation, facing criminal legal peril today,” said Neil Weare, co-founder of the group.

Right to Democracy advocates for people born in U.S. territories and is part of the legal team representing a previous Whittier defendant: Tupe Smith. She was arrested in 2023 and charged with illegal voting and related felonies after she won election to her local school board. Her challenge is before the state Court of Appeals.

Meanwhile, last fall Alaska State Troopers investigated Smith’s husband and other members of their extended family in Whittier. The state brought fraud and perjury charges against the 10 defendants last month.

Some, according to the charging documents, told officers they thought they could vote in state and local elections but not for president.

The case could draw a national spotlight for reasons that go beyond election outcomes in Whittier.

It is already wrapped up in a larger constitutional question about whether people born in U.S. territories have a birthright to citizenship. Weare sees that as a central issue in the Whittier cases and said it may be part of the defense.

“It is the state’s burden to prove every element of the alleged offense, and one of those elements is that they’re not a citizen of the United States,” he said. “We don’t believe they’ll be able to prove that under the Constitution.”

The case has a different import for right-wing bloggers. That’s because, despite a lack of proof, it’s a widely held belief among supporters of President Donald Trump that non-citizens voted in massive numbers in 2020.

The Whittier case doesn’t fit the stolen-election narrative well. Many of the defendants didn’t vote in presidential election years. And Trump swept tiny Whittier in 2020, winning 74 votes — more than double the vote total of Joe Biden. At least one of the Whittier defendants is an ardent Trump fan, to judge by his Facebook posts.

Michael Pese is Tupe Smith’s husband and accused of voting in 2022 and 2023. He said he loved the town of Whittier and loved serving as a volunteer firefighter there. But, he said, the charges have changed his feelings.

“After everything is done, I don’t know if I want to stay back in Whittier, because I feel unwelcome,” he said.

Prosecutors say the state built the case against Pese and the other defendants after receiving an anonymous tip that non-citizens were voting in Whittier.

A Homer pilot and passenger from Anchorage died Monday in a plane crash near the Kenai Peninsula community of Nanwalek, after investigators say a landing attempt was aborted due to a dog on the runway.

The commercial flight operated by Homer-based Smokey Bay Air had been headed from Homer to Nanwalek at the time of the crash, said Clint Johnson, Alaska chief of the National Transportation Safety Board.

“Witnesses on the ground as well as another airplane in trail indicated that while the airplane was on approach to Nanwalek, there was apparently a dog that was on the runway,” Johnson said. “It appears that the pilot initiated a go-around, and during that go-around there was a loss of control.”

Johnson said the Cessna 207 didn’t touch down on the initial approach, and the dog wasn’t struck.

The plane crashed in a tide-line area near the north end of Nanwalek’s runway.

Alaska State Troopers identified the two people killed as pilot Daniel Bunker, 48, and passenger Jenny Irene Miller, 37.

Miller was a well-known Inupiaq artist and photographer originally from Nome, who was also celebrated as a role model and mentor for LGBTQ+ and two-spirit youth. Bunker is survived by his wife and their two sons, and remembered as a kind and skilled pilot.

Another passenger who has not been publicly identified was seriously injured in the crash and was transported to an Anchorage hospital.

The crash happened around 2 p.m. Monday. Troopers reported receiving multiple 911 calls. As they responded by helicopter with an NTSB investigator, many local residents headed to the crash site to help, Johnson said. The first responders included the local school principal and staff, according to the superintendent of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, Clayton Holland.

“Our principal and staff were involved with the immediate response to the wreck and we are thankful to them and all the other community members who responded to provide aide,” Holland said in a text message.

Troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel said residents found the plane on a beach near the runway. The plane wasn’t submerged at the time of the wreck.

“They were able to get one male passenger out of the aircraft, bringing him to the medical clinic where he received medical treatment,” McDaniel said.

Locals tried to provide lifesaving care for Bunker and Miller, McDaniel said, but the two were declared dead at the scene.

Along with troopers and the NTSB, numerous other agencies also responded to the crash, including Guardian Flight, LifeMed, Maritime Helicopters, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Alaska State Park Rangers.

Condolences poured in Tuesday for those impacted by the crash.

Holland, the Kenai Peninsula superintendent, said the crash is a tragedy for the entire Nanwalek community and Homer as well, and offered his thoughts and prayers for all involved.

Nanwalek is roughly 25 miles southwest of Homer and only reachable by boat or plane. It has about 240 residents.

in an online video from earlier this year, pilot Daniel Bunker said he regularly flew to three remote villages, describing it as a rewarding job and a way to connect the residents there to the mainland. Smokey Bay Air ran regular flights to Nanwalek, Port Graham and Seldovia.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic plane crash involving Smokey Bay Air, and we mourn the loss of Daniel Bunker — a skilled pilot and kind soul who served our communities with dedication,” said an online post from Seldovia Village Tribe.

In a statement, staff and board members with the nonprofit Native Movement mourned Jenny Irene Miller’s sudden passing, describing her as a wonderful friend, a kind human and a true luminary. Miller was a board member at the nonprofit.

“Jenny was such a bright and kind human doing good work for the world, a good friend who always reminded me to be thoughtful of others and caring even when it’s hard to be,” said fellow board member and friend Tikaan Galbreath. “Every time I had the chance to be with her, it felt like the simple joys were more clearly present and laughter was easy to find. I’ll sorely miss her friendship.”

Miller’s work has been displayed across the country and the globe.

“It was easy to love Jenny,” said Misty Nickoli. “I felt peace in her presence. Which is a hard thing to accomplish in the work and lives that we live. She always made me feel special and beautiful. She always made room for kindness. My heart is with her wife, family and our community.”

Johnson, with the NTSB, said crews were working Tuesday to recover the plane before waters rose.

“Obviously we want to get it out of there as soon as possible,” Johnson said. “We don’t want to risk losing the wreckage.”

The NTSB plans to transport the plane to Anchorage or Wasilla for a close inspection of the aircraft and its contents, as it continues to investigate what caused the crash.

Johnson said that animals on runways in rural Alaska have been reported to the NTSB before. But, he said, Monday’s incident is the first he can recall in which one has been a potential factor in a fatal crash.

“(In) Bush operations, you do see this,” Johnson said. “And animals, whether it’s a dog or a moose or whatever, obviously that’s going to be a peril that you have to contend with.”

The NTSB has previously visited Nanwalek, which has an 1,850-foot curved runway with frequent high winds.

According to an NTSB report, the same aircraft that crashed Monday had a rough landing there during a Smokey Bay Air flight in August 2016. The pilot and sole occupant, who was unhurt, reported encountering “a pretty rapid shift in the winds in both direction and velocity” just before touchdown. The plane bounced, touched down again, then overran the end of the runway, damaging its propeller and a wing.

Smokey Bay Air could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The NTSB is asking anyone who witnessed the crash and has not already spoken with investigators to contact them by email at witness@ntsb.gov.

KDLL’s Ashlyn O’Hara contributed to this report.