Southcentral

A dead whale the size of a school bus washed up along Anchorage’s Tony Knowles Coastal Trail on Saturday.

On Monday morning, dozens of people braved the numbing cold to see the frost-covered carcass resting on the frozen mudflats near Westchester Lagoon. The whale was lying on its side and its mouth was open so wide spectators were crawling inside the baleen to take photos.

That’s something Barbara Mahoney, a biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, does not encourage. She asked visitors to keep a safe distance from the whale as biologists try to learn more about it. So far they know it’s a 47-foot female fin whale. The agency got its first report about the carcass Saturday from the group Defenders of Wildlife.

“It’s in very good condition,” Mahoney said in an interview Monday. “It’s been cold out, so that’s probably helping.”

Fin whales are born at 21 to 25 feet long then grow to about 70 feet as adults, Mahoney said, which has led biologists to estimate that the whale was a yearling or juvenile when it died.

No major injuries have been found on the fin whale so far, Mahoney said, including any signs that it was struck by a ship.

“We do not know how or why this animal is on the beach,” she said.

On Monday morning, Anneliese Kupfrian was bundled in warm gear to see the whale. She was also here Sunday night, but said it was crowded with more than 100 people, so she decided to come back for another look.

She’s glad people are taking advantage of the rare sight.

“I think it’s kind of funny that this is just like the hype right now. Like, ‘Hey, have you heard about the whale? Go check it out. Like, get out there, get a picture,’” Kupfrian said. “How many opportunities do you have to have something wash up this close, right in town, for everyone to go see it, learn about it? Pretty cool community experience.”

Mahoney said fin whales are “semi-common” in the lower Cook Inlet, although their habitat extends throughout Alaska waters of the Bering Sea and Pacific Ocean.

So far, Mahoney said biologists have made several measurements of the whale including its girth and tail length. They’ve also taken samples of its skin and blubber to assess its genetics and blubber thickness. Mahoney said biologists were attempting a full necropsy of the whale’s organs Monday afternoon, but frigid winds were freezing exposed flesh within the carcass.

According to Mahoney, beluga whale beachings are commonly reported in the Anchorage area, with beachings of larger whales less frequent.

“It does happen, but it’s very infrequent to have large whales in the upper Inlet swimming and/or beached,” she said.

In 2016, two fin whales were found dead in Southcentral Alaska waters. One was struck by a cruise ship and found on the ship’s bow when it docked in Seward. The other was beached in Knik Arm and later died.

Two humpback whales have beached in the area in recent years, including a carcass that washed ashore at Kincaid Park in September 2017. Both that carcass and another at nearby Point Campbell drew large crowds despite difficult treks to reach them, Mahoney said, which has left her unsurprised at locals’ interest in the fin whale.

“This is really pretty easy to get to: flat Coastal Trail, a little shuffle down off some rocks, and then you’re on the frozen beach,” she said.

Fin whales are protected under the Endangered Species Act, and federal law bars removing parts from the carcass. Mahoney asked visitors to remember potential dangers posed by the area – including the mudflats, which can soften to their quicksand-like summer texture under extensive foot traffic.

“It is Cook Inlet, and we need to be aware of the tides,” Mahoney said.

Back on the flats Monday morning, Cecilia Karoly-Lister took photos with her 2-year-old son and her dog alongside the whale carcass.

She said she’s grateful for the opportunity to take a closer look at the animal, but it’s also sad.

“It’s definitely sad. I’m really curious,” Karoly-Lister said. “Aesthetically, she’s stunning. I feel like it’s beautiful to see how her colors are perfectly mirrored in the mountains and the mud.”

Karoly-Lister said she’s interested to hear how and why the whale washed up so close to town.

Homer Police arrested a man Monday in connection to three shootings at two local nonprofits.

Homer Police Chief Mark Robl said officers found and arrested 30-year-old Josiah Kelly of Anchor Point after a second shooting at Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic’s administrative and education building Monday evening. The clinic had also been shot at earlier in the day.

Kachemak Bay Recovery Connection, an organization that supports people recovering from substance use disorder, also had its building shot at in late October.

“Kelly has confessed to us to all three of the shootings,” Robl said. “His motive for doing the shootings is, basically, he said he did those for religious reasons.”

Robl said they believe Kelly acted alone in the shootings. A faith-based crisis pregnancy center in Wasilla was also vandalized last week, but Robl said he doesn’t believe the cases are connected.

Claudia Haines, the family planning clinic’s CEO, told KBBI after the first shooting that someone fired eight rounds into the clinic on Monday morning.

“No one was hurt because it was before the work day began, thankfully. But it’s, it’s terrifying for staff and volunteers,” she said.

Charging documents say Haines told Homer Police after the first shooting that Kelly canceled the clinic’s trash service “due to him not agreeing with family planning.” Kelly is listed as the owner of Rubbish Removed and Recycled in Homer, according to state corporate records.

The family planning clinic provides reproductive health services across most of the Kenai Peninsula. In addition to wellness checks and pregnancy tests, the clinic also provides gender-affirming care, contraceptives and testing for sexually transmitted infections.

This isn’t the first time the organization has been targeted. The family planning clinic’s Pride flags were also vandalized last year. Haines said they were already preparing for more attention from the public.

“Reproductive healthcare is a very push button topic right now, despite its access being a universal right,” she said. “So, we were bracing ourselves for something, but we’re so deeply saddened that someone would risk hurting people in order to send this kind of message.”

Willy Dunne is the vice president of Kachemak Bay Recovery Connection’s board of directors. He said the shooting caused a lot of fear in the community, but they’re moving forward.

“This was a setback, for sure, but there’s a really healthy, vibrant recovery community here, and people not only willing, but really anxious, to help folks recover from alcohol and substance use disorders,” Dunne said. “And so we’re really excited to continue moving ahead and developing our facility and developing our programs.”

Kelly is currently being held at the Homer Jail. He was arraigned Tuesday morning at the Homer Courthouse. Kelly was charged with multiple counts of misconduct involving weapons and criminal mischief, which are both felonies. His pre-trial is set for Nov. 22 at the Kenai Courthouse.

The Port of Seward, which serves a coastal Kenai Peninsula town that is a tourism hotspot in the summer, has received a $45.7 million grant to develop a system to cut air pollution from visiting cruise ships.

The grant, from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Ports Program, is for shore-based power and battery storage systems to be used by the cruise ships that sail in and out of Seward. Those systems will allow cruise ships to switch to electric power from the emissions-spewing diesel fuel they burn while making port calls.

The systems are planned as part of a redeveloped cruise facility expected to be operating in 2026. The new facility is designed to have a floating pier to replace the current fixed dock, accommodating more and bigger ships.

The port project is led by The Seward Company, a public-private developer with the Alaska Railroad, Royal Caribbean Group and Turnagain Marine as partners.

The EPA Clean Ports grant will help Seward meet its environmental goals, the city’s mayor said in a statement.

“The Port of Seward’s shore power project will place Seward among the forefront of sustainable ports in North America. By reducing reliance on diesel generators, we are not only cutting emissions but also enhancing the resilience of our local electric grid,” Mayor Sue McClure said in the statement.

Seward is the smallest community among those with ports that received the 55 EPA Clean Ports Program grants announced last week.

Most of the grant-receiving ports are in major population centers. The three biggest grants went to the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Virginia in Norfolk and the Port of New York and New Jersey. The Port of Alaska in Anchorage, the state’s largest city, was another grant recipient, getting $1.9 million for an emissions inventory and clean-energy transition study.

Seward, in contrast, has only about 2,500 full-time residents within city limits and a roughly similar number in areas just outside of the city boundaries, said Kat Sorensen, the city manager.

But in summer, Seward’s numbers swell. Seasonal workers bring the population to about 7,500 to 10,000, Sorensen said, and tourists add several thousands more each day, she said.

Cruise travel has grown in Seward, just as it has grown in the state in general, Sorensen said.

Alaska’s cruise business has hit all-time highs, bouncing back from the halt caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, a record 1.65 million cruise passengers visited the state, and this year’s totals could wind up being even higher, according to industry reports.

While most cruise passengers’ travel in Alaska is in Southeast Alaska, Seward — in the state’s Southcentral region — got about 190,000 cruise passengers last year, according to industry experts. Between April and October of this year, there were 104 scheduled cruise ship stops in Seward, according to the Cruise Lines International Association.

Sorensen said the cruise companies need to keep their ships powered when making port calls in Seward.

“A fishing boat can come in for a week and just shut off. But the cruise ships can’t,” she said.

Along with building onshore power and battery storage systems, the plan includes a workforce-development program focused on the Seward-based Alaska Vocational Technical Center, she said.

“I think it’s just a win-win-win,” she said.

Alaska’s capital city, Juneau, was the first to develop a shore-based power system for cruise ships. While Seward is on track to be the second Alaska cruise destination to develop such a system, shore-based power is now available for cruise ships in several major ports along the U.S. West Coast and around the world.

A grand jury in Kenai has indicted Alaska state troopers Joseph Miller and Jason Woodruff on first-degree assault charges after they severely injured a local man while trying to detain him. The troopers had misidentified the man as someone subject to an arrest warrant.

The indictment was announced Thursday by the Alaska Department of Law. First-degree assault, a class A felony, carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a presumptive sentencing range of 7-11 years.

Woodruff and Miller are scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 12.

The two were previously indicted for fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor.

When that lesser indictment was announced in August, it was an extraordinary act: Police in Alaska rarely face criminal prosecution for actions taken on the job.

But in a news conference, James Cockrell, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Public Safety, said that body camera footage made it clear that charges were warranted.

“When I reviewed this video, I was totally sickened by what I saw,” Cockrell said in August.

It was not immediately clear why prosecutors presented the case to jurors for a new indictment. A spokesperson for the Department of Law declined comment, citing the ongoing nature of the case.

“The Criminal Division always continues to evaluate our cases, even after charges are filed. The indictment represents a reassessment of the case, and the grand jury determined the higher charge was warranted,” said Deputy Attorney General John Skidmore in a prepared statement on Thursday.

A spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Public Safety said on Thursday that Miller and Woodruff remain employed by the department but have been off duty since Cockrell became aware of the incident that led to their indictment.

The spokesperson declined to say whether they are on paid or unpaid suspension.

Troopers’ union contract with the state says that “When a member is indicted … the member shall be placed on Authorized Leave Without Pay (LWOP) or allowed to use accrued personal leave pending the conclusion of the criminal proceeding.”

“The Alaska Department of Public Safety continues to fully cooperate with the Office of Special Prosecutions as they prosecute this case,” said the spokesperson, Austin McDaniel. “The alleged actions of Joe Miller and Jason Woodruff do not represent the work that the Alaska State Troopers do every day to protect Alaskans and ensure public safety.”

Laka David and Shan Green huddled around a laptop and microphone, rehearsing a rap they just wrote called “Heart In This.” The minute-long song talks about joy and independence.

“I was just trying to be nice,” David rapped over a hip-hop beat. “If that’s how it’s gonna be, your future might be bleak.”

He and Green were among about 50 young Alaska Natives from all over the state who were learning about music production at the Elders and Youth Conference in downtown Anchorage on Monday. They collaborated with Indigenous artists to write their own songs, crafting lyrics about their cultural values, families and homes. The artists hoped the hands-on workshop encouraged the participants to think about pursuing music. They said representation in the music industry is liberating, and there needs to be more of it.

“I love working with the youth,” Artist Tyler Apaquutaq Young, known as 2essentialz, said.  “I just love watching them engage and just engage their creativity and creative expression. Like, this is where this starts!”

On Monday, Young mentored David and Green’s newly-formed music group called “Aqpik,” which is Iñupiaq for salmonberries.

He said creating music has allowed him to relate and connect with other Indigenous people, and with his Tsimshian culture.

“Even perhaps with reclaiming our identity as Indigenous people, healing from historical trauma, just having a seat at the table and feeling like that. Just being authentically and unapologetically Native. That’s what I love about music,” he said.

Across the room, Tyler Simunoff and about 10 other kids also worked on a rap, theirs was about subsistence. Simunoff said he struggled to find lyric inspiration at first, but it became easier once he focused on things he enjoyed when he’s home in Kodiak.

“I like to hunt, fish and gather resources to live off the land,” Simunoff said.

He said he’s always liked listening to music, but he’s never created his own so he was eager to attend this session.

“It was the best one on the list that I saw in the first few options,” he said. “I thought it would be a great opportunity.”

A few chairs down, Manu David wrote a list of what she likes to do when she visits her family in Ruby, a village of less than 200 people along the Yukon River.

Parts of her lyrics, she said, drew inspiration from the abundance of blueberries she picks and eats each year.

“I like to go berry picking. I like weaving baskets with cedar, and I like to cut and filet fish,” she said.

Caden Tarkington from Anchorage had the same idea: focusing on what he loves about living in Alaska. He’d already written his verse.

“Getting down, walking up, ready to go hunting, in and out the camp we go,” he said.

Eventually Tarkington’s verse was weaved with the others, with the help of event staff. The group titled their song “Native Life,” and it shares their perspectives on subsisting across Alaska.

Take a listen:

The Alaska Zoo in Anchorage has a new addition: an endangered Amur tiger named Natasha.

Dozens of volunteers and staff members greeted Natasha at the zoo Wednesday, eagerly watching her as she strolled her new space.

“We’re really excited,” Sam Lavin, curator for the zoo, said. “It did us all some good to see tigers back in the exhibit. We’re just so, so happy.”

Natasha is 11 years old, about 300 pounds and was born at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Kansas.

She arrived in Anchorage on a FedEx flight, and is the only tiger at the zoo after Kunali died in March of complications from old age. His brother, Korol, died in 2023. Both tigers lived to age 19.

Amur tigers are the largest cat species in the world. And in the wild, they’re only found in Russia and China, so they’re adapted to cold temperatures and harsh climate conditions. Lavin said she expects Natasha to thrive in Alaska.

“We couldn’t have another kind of tiger and have them be comfortable here,” she said.

It takes a lot of planning to get an endangered animal to the Alaska Zoo.

Natasha is part of an endangered species breeding program within zoos, known as a species survival plan, which aims to support wild tiger conservation efforts and raise awareness about the species.

She was moved because she can’t contribute to the Kansas zoo’s breeding efforts. In 2019, Natasha was spayed while undergoing a surgery to remove a mass. The Alaska Zoo isn’t a breeding facility.

Four other species are in survival programs at the Alaska Zoo: polar bears, lynx, snow leopards and wolverines.

Lavin said, so far, Natasha is curious about her new home.

“She’s moving slow and obviously checking everything out, but she’s interested,” Lavin said. “We’ve been told she’s quite athletic.”

It’s estimated that between 350 and 450 Amur tigers remain in the wild.