Business

It’s a Thursday morning in the multipurpose room of Soldotna’s Christ Lutheran Church, where a handful of quilters gather weekly to work on projects. Deborah Standefer fires up her sewing machine and stitches a blue, circular quilt.

But despite Standefer’s enthusiasm, there’s a palpable feeling of loss among the group. Just two traffic lights north on the Kenai Spur Highway, the Joann Fabric and Crafts store is hosting a going-out-of-business sale. The Soldotna location is set to close April 29.

Standefer says she mostly shops at Joann for its selection of quilt batting – or insulated material between the quilt top and backing fabric.

“You never truly miss them until they’re really gone,” Standefer said. “We all shop at Joann’s at some time or another, so I think it’s going to have a big impact.”

The Ohio-based nationwide retailer filed for bankruptcy last year amid financial troubles. It originally planned to close about two-thirds of its stores – like those in Anchorage and Juneau. But the company wasn’t able to find a buyer willing to keep any stores open.

For quilters on the Kenai Peninsula, there aren’t many other local options to turn to. One of them is North Beach Quilting in Kenai, which sells higher-end fabrics. It’s a lot smaller than Joann, but shop owner Shonda Powell says many established quilters in the area already shop there.

“I get my fabrics from like, they’re made in Bali or Indonesia,” Powell said. “So the stuff that I have is not something that you’re going to find at Joann Fabrics.”

Since the Soldotna Joann store announced its closure, Powell says she sees new customers every day. Some are looking for items her store doesn’t carry. Powell is hoping to expand the small shop’s inventory as much as possible.

But Powell says she’s sad that crafters will soon have fewer options on the Kenai Peninsula to choose from. She’s concerned that Joann’s closure will impact quilters on a budget and those new to the craft.

“I think that if somebody’s learning how to sew, this is not the place that they’d pick first,” Powell said.

Crafters say they shop at Joann’s because of the store’s breadth of inventory. Barbara Steckel is a long time member of Soldotna’s Thursday quilting group. She says she’s used to being able to find a wide range of items at Joann, like every shape and size of velcro.

“Well, it’s definitely going to have an impact, because when I’m working on something, I’m used to running in there and being able to find most of the supplies,” Steckel said.

Steckel is also involved with Stitches of Love, a local group that makes and donates quilts to those in need. Even though much of the group’s quilting material is donated, they buy a lot. And Steckel fears the store’s closing could make it hard to stay within their budget.

”We’ve been looking at other sources and looking at the prices,” Steckel said. “We’re not quite sure what the impact is going to be.”

For quilters on the Kenai Peninsula, Joann’s closure will affect more than just their quilting projects. Many also knit, paint or scrapbook, and are not sure where to go for their crafting supplies. Some say they’ll resort to Walmart or online retailers.

Standefer, with the Thursday Soldotna quilting group, says Joann is a landmark for Kenai Peninsula crafters. She says the store’s closure is a blow to the community.

“You go into Joann Fabric, and everybody in town’s there,” Standefer said. “It’s kind of a melting pot, you always see somebody that you know, and it’s just been there for a long time, so it’s kind of a highlight to the community.”

Standefer says crafters from across the Kenai Peninsula would visit the Soldotna store, and often make purchases at other local businesses. She’s concerned about how the chain’s closure will affect local employees and those who craft to make money.

Alaska’s voter-approved mandate for paid sick leave has not yet gone into effect, but some lawmakers are already trying to reduce the number of workers who would benefit from it.

A bill pending in the Alaska Legislature, House Bill 161, would exempt businesses with fewer than 50 employees, a change from the 15-employee threshold in the labor-rights initiative that voters approved in November. The bill would also drop seasonal workers from the mandate for accrued paid sick leave. The bill was introduced on March 28 by Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, with Rep. Julie Coulombe, R-Anchorage, as a co-sponsor. Both are members of the House minority. It has the support of a key majority member; House Majority Leader Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage, signed on as a co-sponsor on April 14.

It addresses Ballot Measure 1, a three-part citizen initiative that will raise Alaska’s minimum wage and protect workers against any employer-imposed political or religious meetings, as well as mandate paid sick leave, based on time accrued over work periods. Voters approved Ballot Measure 1 by a 58-42 percent margin. The new law is set to go into effect on July 1.

Ruffridge and Coulombe, during the bill’s first hearing on Wednesday, described the proposed changes as modifications that fit within the state constitution’s limits. While the constitution forbids sweeping changes within two years to any voter-passed initiatives, the bill “in no way seeks to repeal or change some of the key provisions of Ballot Measure 1,” chiefly the minimum-wage hike that was probably the most popular element, Ruffridge told the House Labor and Commerce Committee.

Coulombe said the changes amounted to a “few tweaks” that are necessary to help small businesses.

“What will happen if we don’t try to amend this a little bit, make the language a little cleaner and make it more adaptable to small businesses, we have small businesses that might actually just go out of business,” she told the committee.

The bill has the enthusiastic backing of the Alaska Chamber, a business group that campaigned against the ballot measure.

In testimony at Wednesday’s hearing of the House Labor and Commerce Committee, Kati Capozzi, the chamber’s president, called it a “vital correction” to a pending mandate that burdens small businesses, especially in the tourism and hospitality sectors.

“Maybe well-intentioned or maybe not, Ballot Measure 1 introduced a one-size-fits-all mandate that failed to account for Alaska’s unique economic landscape,” she said.

Echoing earlier comments by Ruffridge and Coulombe, Capozzi said voters were less aware of Ballot Measure 1’s sick-leave provisions than they were of the wage hike. “It’s become clear that many voters did not understand the true and full implications of the ballot measure,” she said.

One of the leaders of the Ballot Measure 1 campaign vowed to work against House Bill 161.

“For me, it’s really important that the voters will be respected here,” Joelle Hall, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO, said Thursday. “The voters have made this choice. The voters have said, ‘We would like this to happen.’ And whether or not the business groups can use a smaller group of people, the Alaska Legislature, to try to undo their will — that is something we will fight.”

Hall disputed the bill sponsors’ characterization of the changes as minor.

“This, in my mind, is a substantial change. It is repealing the benefit that the voters voted for,” she said.

She also disputed the contention that voters had not paid attention to the sick-leave provisions in the initiative.

“That is just silliness, because we were very clear that it was earned sick leave,” she said. “Almost all of our advertising was about that, so almost every single ad we put out was about somebody’s earned sick-leave benefit.”

She said she was expecting some pushback on the bill’s provisions, but not this soon.

“It’s a little bit shocking to me that it’s such an aggressive overreach of what the voters passed,” she said. “I’m not surprised that they’re going to fight us on this tooth and nail every single session, to try to claw it back. I’m a little surprised they’re starting before it’s even a law.”

Alaska was not the only state where voters in November approved a mandate for paid sick leave. Similar initiatives passed in Missouri and Nebraska.

Several other states already required paid sick leave prior to last year’s election.

The Chin’an Gaming Hall is in a doublewide trailer off the Birchwood exit on the outskirts of Anchorage, a far cry from a Las Vegas style casino, but there are often long lines of people waiting to get inside. Since it opened in January, its 85 electronic bingo machines stay busy.

This picture could change if the state is successful in its bid to shut down the gambling operation. Last Wednesday, the Alaska Attorney General asked a federal court in Washington, D.C. to issue a preliminary injunction against it.

This latest motion follows a lawsuit the state filed in February, after the federal government approved the project in the final days of the Biden administration.

The outgoing assistant secretary of Interior, Bryan Newland, gave the Eklutna Tribe final approval for the gambling operation on Jan. 16, one of his last acts before the Trump administration took the reins of power.

The tribe immediately went to work. In four-and-a-half days, it bolted together several modular buildings and opened its doors to limited gambling operations. The building, it said, was temporary and would eventually be replaced by a permanent gaming hall with about 700 machines and restaurants.

The project had been on the fast track since February 2024, when the U.S. Interior Department’s solicitor, Bob Anderson, issued a new opinion on the legal status of Native allotments in Alaska.

Anderson’s opinion upended previous court decisions on Native allotments in Alaska. He said under certain conditions Alaska tribes could operate gambling establishments, just as tribes do on Lower 48 Indian reservations.

After the new legal interpretation, the National Indian Gaming Commission and the Bureau of Indian Affairs green-lighted the Eklutna tribe’s proposed gaming hall. Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance also endorsed the project in her comments in a federal environmental review, despite a lawsuit filed by a group of neighboring property owners to block the gaming hall.

The neighbors claim it will change the rural character of their community and force them to pick up the costs of the new development, such as increased public safety services and road upgrades, because Native allotments are not subject to state and local taxes.

The tribe has promoted its gaming hall has a boon to the region, that could eventually bring 400 jobs and 70 million dollars in economic activity on an annual basis.

In a statement, Aaron Leggett, president of the Native Village of Eklutna, called this latest court filing against his tribe disheartening, a sign that Governor Mike Dunleavy is escalating his attack on tribal sovereignty.

“If Governor Dunleavy and Attorney General Treg Taylor are successful in their quest to preempt the Native Village of Eklutna’s tribal sovereignty and self-determination, it could mean an end to the Chin’an Gaming Hall and the permanent facility that the Tribe intends to develop,” Leggett said. “It will undoubtedly discourage other Tribes across our state in our communities.”

The Chin’an Gaming Hall sits on about eight acres of Native allotment land near the Birchwood Airport. Although it’s a tiny sliver of the 1.5. million acres of Native allotments in Alaska, it has become a huge test case for the state.

In a statement, Deputy Attorney General Cori Mills said the state’s jurisdiction over these lands is at stake.

“We are asking a court to reaffirm what it has already said—the State maintains primary jurisdiction over Alaska Native allotments. A solicitor’s opinion cannot convert them into Indian reservations,” Mills said. “We are asking for the court to make sure the issues can be resolved before further development occurs—we believe keeping the status quo best protects all parties involved. Once the litigation is completed, then everyone will know where their lane is.”

For now, the Native Village of Eklutna is staying in its lane and will continue to operate the gaming hall. The profits will be used to fund tribal health programs and create jobs for its members. Leggett said the tribe has struggled in the past to help its members but calls its gambling establishment an “incredible success.”

The Alaska Humanities Forum faces a massive cut to its budget after the Trump administration’s slashing of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The more-than-50-year-old organization uses federal money, combined with matching dollars from local grants and donations, to fund programs around the state aimed at bringing communities together.

Kameron Perez-Verdia is president and CEO of the Alaska Humanities Forum.

“Youth programs that are happening around the state,” Perez-Verdia said. “It’s programs that are doing language preservation. It’s grants that are doing historical projects.”

The forum received a letter April 2 from the National Endowment for the Humanities that its federal grant — totalling about $900,000 — was terminated, effective April 1.

Alaska isn’t alone. Last week, humanities programs in all 50 states that rely on the national endowment received notice that the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency aims to cancel roughly $175 million in grant funding that had not yet been disbursed.

The short notice is troubling, Perez-Verdia said, and his organization is exploring legal options to get its funding restored.

“We believe that this is an illegal action,” he said. “It’s funding that was already granted. Our organization, and all of these councils, are in charter. So these are in our U.S. law that our organization exists and gets funded.”

If the funding isn’t restored, it would be very difficult to raise local funds to make up the loss, Perez-Verdia said.

“To be able to raise this kind of money is going to be really challenging,” he said. “We as an organization would have to restructure significantly, and we would lose a lot.”

Representatives from the offices of Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Congressman Nick Begich did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, Perez-Verdia said the state’s congressional delegation has expressed support for the Alaska Humanities Forum.

““We believe we will ultimately win this fight. We have strong support from Alaska’s congressional delegation and from national partners,” Perez-Verdia said. “But it’s going to take time.”

Sitka-based Silver Bay Seafoods is buying out the international seafood processing giant OBI.

Silver Bay announced the acquisition on Tuesday, stating that it is partnering with the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp.

In a press release, Silver Bay says it plans to manage all OBI facilities and operations, including processing plants in Petersburg, Seward, Kodiak, Larsen Bay, Egegik, Wood River, Cordova, and Naknek, as well as a warehouse and labeling facility in Kent, Wash.

The processing plants produce salmon, whitefish and crab products.

The takeover has long been rumored, with visits by Silver Bay officials to some of the plant sites.

Silver Bay is a fishermen-owned company that operates 13 plants in Alaska and on the West Coast.

OBI was created in 2020 when two large seafood companies merged – Icicle Seafoods and Ocean Beauty Seafoods. Silver Bay is acquiring Icicle’s stakes in OBI. Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation acquired half the stakes in Ocean Beauty Seafoods back in 2007 before it became OBI.

Alaskans are bracing for impact as the White House rolls out steep tariffs on goods imported from Canada, China and Mexico.

President Donald Trump first announced his proposed tariffs in early February, when he said the U.S. would slap 25% tariffs on goods imported from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China. The administration then paused the policy after Canada and Mexico agreed to take steps to crack down on border security.

The tariffs took effect on Tuesday and included a higher tax on Chinese goods. The move immediately sparked retaliatory tariffs from China and Canada. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she would respond later this week.

In Alaska, the news reignited concerns about the policy’s potential to send prices skyward – and to damage the state’s relationship with Canada.

Those concerns are especially acute in the border towns of Haines and Skagway. Mike Healy owns Skagway Brewing Company. It’s the biggest restaurant in the small, coastal tourist town – and one of the few that’s open right now.

He said tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods could hit his operation in a range of ways. The obvious one is food prices.

“We know that our food costs are going to go up, our purveyors have indicated so. Much of our produce comes from Mexico,” Healy said. “So that’s going to be for Skagway Brewing company but also just [the] general public.”

But an even bigger concern, he said, is that the Trump administration’s policy could blunt the flow of visitors from the town’s nearest neighbor, Canada. Healey said Canadians may take into consideration that towns like Haines and Skagway have no control over the policy. But there’s no guarantee.

“There’s a movement in a lot of Canada to boycott travel to the U.S. as a result of the tariffs and a couple other things,” Healy said. “And we don’t know how that’s going to play out.”

The trend already appears to be hitting Haines.

The borough’s tourism director, Rebecca Hylton, was not available for an interview. But she said in a text message that she’s spent the weekend at an outdoor adventure and travel show in Vancouver, where she spoke with at least a dozen people who said they were sympathetic to the two communities. But they have still chosen not to travel to Alaska this year.

“People were kind but also steadfast in their position,” Hylton said.

Also top of mind for many residents in the area is how the tariffs might affect local businesses or residents who travel to Canada to purchase groceries or other goods.

Agents at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection stations in Haines, Skagway and Anchorage said they could not comment on how the tariffs will be enforced at the Canadian border. They directed KHNS to other contacts within the agency, who have not responded to requests for comment.

But locals have started contacting the Skagway Port of Entry themselves – with mixed results.

Skagway resident Deb Boettcher said she spoke with agents at the border twice on Tuesday. The first time, an agent told her a 25% tax would be applied to all Canadian goods brought through the border. The second time, an agent said their understanding was that anyone who purchases Canadian products for personal use and brings them back into Alaska would not be subject to the tariffs. But businesses likely would be.

Gregory Wolf, the president of the Alaska International Business Center, said in an interview last month that trade policies do not typically target residents crossing the border with groceries or other goods. He said the tariffs might affect local businesses, depending on what products they buy in Canada and how much they cost.

“The idea is more for large scale importers, exporters, where you’re talking about millions of dollars — in some cases, hundreds of millions of dollars,” Wolf said. “That’s where the tariffs will really have an impact.”

Alaskan officials at the state and local levels have scrambled to preserve Alaska’s long standing relationship with the neighboring country.

That includes a resolution moving through the state legislature that emphasizes the importance of the relationship between Alaska and Canada – and signals opposition to trade policies that would disrupt it. The resolution, which cleared the Senate Special Committee on Arctic Affairs last week, notes that Alaska imports more than $750 million in Canadian goods each year.

Trump’s statement on Monday that the tariffs would take effect Tuesday came amid speculation that he might soften the policy – or reverse it – in response to negotiations with Mexico and Canada.