Effort to reshape response to reports of missing and murdered Indigenous people underway in 3 Alaska communities Print article Three rural Alaska communities are involved in a new pilot program intended to create culturally sensitive protocols on how different government and law enforcement agencies respond to reports of missing or murdered Indigenous people. The project was launched in recent weeks with Curyung Tribal Council of Dillingham, the Native Village of Unalakleet and Koyukuk Native Village, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska said in an online statement. The project comes after the launch of the federal Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Initiative, and Alaska is one of several states to start up pilot programs related to the issue.
Subpoenas issued to Pebble developer, former executive February 11th |
The U.S. Department of Justice has issued a grand jury subpoena to the developer of the controversial proposed Pebble mine and the company s former chief executive as part of an investigation involving already-disclosed private conversations about the project, according to a statement from the project s parent company. The Pebble Limited Partnership and its former CEO, Tom Collier, have each been served with a subpoena issued by the U.S. Attorney s Office for the District of Alaska, according to an online statement from Northern Dynasty Minerals, Pebble s parent company on Friday.
Dillingham kindergartners return to learn, play together in school February 11th |
It s bitterly cold outside, but the kindergartners playing on the jungle gym and a hill of snow next to Dillingham Elementary School don t seem to mind. I like being in school, said Juliette Olson. I like seeing my teacher. And it s been fun to see my teacher! Cooper Roenfanz agreed. I like being in school, he said. I like to see my friends. Dillingham city schools have had to close the classrooms after two and a half weeks. That s because people were potentially exposed to COVID-19. The 13-day window of in-class instruction was a welcome respite for the kids, who hadn t been in a classroom since last November.
Recently, two vanity license plates spotted in Anchorage lit up social media and made local and national news. The plates read FUHRER and 3REICH. Eva Gardner, who had family members killed in the Holocaust, contacted the Department of Motor Vehicles after seeing the first one. She emailed, The text is FUHRER, a word that is effectively synonymous with Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazis who was responsible for millions of genocidal deaths, mostly of Jews. You can confirm this through a simple web search of the word. Elected officials, Twitter stars, prominent bloggers, the DMV and community leaders began weighing in. Jamie Allard, an Anchorage Assemblywoman, posted on social media,
We can no longer ignore climate change in Alaska. It is not only transforming our landscape and stressing our economy; it s imperiling lives. The mudslides in Haines last month are just a harbinger of the devastation that warmer, wetter winters could bring to our state. Many on the left claim we can only solve this problem by handing power to Washington to impose a vast, new climate regime. But as we ve seen again and again, federal regulation is no solution for Alaska. A far better plan is to pass legislation for a market-based policy that lowers emissions nationwide. That s how we can fight climate change and prevent Washington, D.C., bureaucrats from seizing even more control of our state.
Atka, Nikolski, St. George are almost fully vaccinated against COVID-19 February 11th |
Unalaska s neighboring communities of Atka and Nikoski as well as St. George in the Pribilof Islands are almost completely vaccinated against COVID-19 through the tribal vaccine rollout. We ve got enough vaccines to get everybody completed, said Lori Jackson, a nurse practitioner and medical director for the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, which operates the tribal community clinic in Unalaska. The Oonalaska Wellness Center is acting as a vaccine hub to get doses out to those communities in the Aleutians and Pribilofs that APIA serves. Jackson said that s anywhere between 450 and 490 people across the four communities.
The virtual Bristol Bay Youth Leadership Forum is scheduled for March 23-25, 2021. Students in grades 9-12 from Southwest Region School District, Lake and Peninsula School District, Bristol Bay Borough School District and Dillingham City School District are invited to apply. Students attending the virtual forum will have the opportunity to participate in cultural activities, learn critical work-readiness and leadership skills, and take part in presentations and dialogues focused on community initiatives, current issues impacting Native communities, and college and vocational career opportunities. Student applications are due Feb. 26, and can be submitted online at bit.ly/virtualBBYLFapp. More information and a copy of the application can also be downloaded at www.utbb.org/calendar-of-events/2021/virtualbbylfapp and submitted by fax or email.
As this paper went to press, news had just broken of another massive outbreak in remote Alaska. Akutan, which lies near the tip of the Aleutian Islands some 760 miles from Anchorage, is home to the Trident Seafoods plant, which is just starting to process Bering Sea pollock. What started with just a handful of employees testing positive over the weekend has now ballooned to 135 workers testing positive nearly 50% of those tested. Other seafood processing plants have suffered a similar fate this winter Unisea Inc. in Unalaska had to halt operations after officials say a New Year s party in company housing resulted in some 55 employees testing positive.