An effort to institute term limits for Sealaska’s 13-member board of directors has failed despite receiving a majority of ‘yes’ votes from shareholders. Similar term-limit measures also failed to advance in 2016 and 2012 . The longest serving member is former state Sen. Albert Kookesh of Angoon, who’s been on Sealaska’s Board of Directors since 1976. This year’s measure faced a steep hill to climb. It needed more than 1 million shares directed by shareholders to succeed. But it still fell short

The Army Corps of Engineers plans to release its final environmental review for the proposed Pebble Mine later this summer. Last month, the Corps changed which transportation corridor it recommends. The route cuts through land owned by several Bristol Bay entities that refuse to grant Pebble access to their properties. Known as the “northern route,” the transportation corridor is an 82-mile road along Lake Iliamna. Trucks would use it to take copper and gold from the mine site in the north and

A Chilkat mask woven to document the coronavirus pandemic has been donated to Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau. Famed weaver, Lily Hope, created a similar mask as part of an online art competition in April. It took her 60 hours to weave the mask, which was later acquired by the Burke Museum in Seattle. The mask fits similar to those worn in public to protect people from contracting COVID-19. But it was woven using an intricate technique practiced by Indigenous people living along the

Most coastal residents have heard about Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning and the dangers that it poses to humans. But it’s not just people that can get sick or even die from eating toxic mussels, clams or other shellfish. Pet owners need to watch out for their pups too. Naomi Bargmann leans over the edge of the Starrigavan dock to dip a frosted plastic bottle attached to a net into the cold waters of Sitka Sound. Her Alaskan Husky Chickie lounges on the dock beside her. “Chickie’s not very good at

Neiman Marcus is one of the clothing retailers that’s seen a decline in sales because of the coronavirus. The company filed for bankruptcy in early May — just weeks after it was sued by Sealaska Heritage Institute. The company was selling a so-called “Ravenstail knitted coat” on its website, which the Institute alleges is a copy of a notable Alaska Native weaver’s design. Lily Hope remembers seeing her mother’s piece hanging at an art show at the Heard Museum in Phoenix. The robe was called

At a time when monuments of colonizers and enslavers are being debated and removed across the country, a mural is going up this July 4th in the birth place and on the birthday of a Native civil rights leader. The new mural in the Southeast Alaska community of Petersburg celebrates Elizabeth Peratrovich, her legacy as a Native Tlingit woman, and voice for equal rights. Elizabeth Peratrovich was born on July 4, 1911, in Petersburg to a Tlingit family. At that time, being Native meant facing

Four former Anchorage mayors have called for a public process to decide the fate of a statue of Captain Cook in Alaska’s largest city . In a letter to the editor published by the Anchorage Daily News , the mayors – Dan Sullivan (not to be confused with the U.S. senator with the same name), George Wuerch, Rick Mystrom and Tom Fink – say residents are concerned with the lack of public input in a recent decision by current Mayor Ethan Berkowitz. At an Anchorage Sister Cities Commission meeting June

Since construction of Kotzebue Electric Association’s solar project began in May, a locally hired crew has clocked in ten-hour days, six days a week. They’ve hauled 1,440 solar panels across uneven tundra and installed the final one on June 18. The 576-kilowatt project is the second largest in the state, next to the Willow Solar Farm in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The construction site is southeast of the local airport, at the end of a long, gravelly access road. The rows of panels bring new

The abandoned bus where Christopher McCandless starved to death in 1992, has been removed from the wilderness north of Denali National Park . At the request of the state, the National Guard airlifted the bus yesterday, an effort aimed at reducing the number of people making the dangerous hike. The 1950’s era Fairbanks public transit bus was hoisted from where it long sat off the Stampede Trail, on the west side of the Teklanika River. National Guard spokesperson Candice Olmstead says a Chinook

The Alaska Federation of Natives, which represents 191 federally recognized Alaska Native tribes and 11 regional corporations, has announced the date and theme of their annual convention. This year’s theme will be “Good Government, Alaskans Decide.” A release from AFN says the theme highlights “the challenges and opportunities the Native community and all Alaskans face, including responding to and recovering from the pandemic and resulting economic downturn.” The keynote speaker for the