Eric Stone, KRBD - Ketchikan
Ketchikan will join a national $26B opioid settlement, but officials say the money won’t go far
Alaska is one of all but eight states to join the settlement agreement with drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and three drug distributors: AmerisourceBergen, McKesson and Cardinal Health.
A Metlakatla man is charged with shooting his brother
Court documents allege 18-year-old Isaac G. Henderson shot his brother with a .40 caliber pistol outside their mother’s home around 3 a.m. Sunday.
A Bristol Bay health exec fired for suggesting COVID conspiracy theory is now leading Ketchikan’s tribal clinic
A Bristol Bay health executive fired last year after suggesting the coronavirus was a political conspiracy is now running Ketchikan’s tribal health clinic. Tribal officials say they have full confidence in the seasoned executive.
Former juvenile detention center in Ketchikan transformed into shelter for survivors of domestic abuse, sexual assault
Former cell walls have been knocked out to create larger spaces. Concrete beds and metal toilets are gone. And in their place is a decidedly warmer decor.
Aviation regulators announce recommendations — but no new rules — to reduce air crashes in Alaska
Federal aviation regulators have announced some recommendations to make flying in Alaska safer. It’s an attempt to address Alaska’s outsize share of crashes, but the agency is stopping short of imposing new safety rules on the industry.
US Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka cited for commercial fishing without crewmember license
Troopers say the offense stems from a video the candidate posted to social media in July. Tshibaka is shown removing fish from a set net on the Kenai Peninsula as jaunty marching-band-style music plays in the background.
Police are investigating swastikas and racial slurs spray-painted behind Ketchikan elementary school
Swastikas, racial slurs and genitalia were spray-painted on a pavilion at Houghtaling Elementary School in Ketchikan over the weekend. It’s the third prominent incident of hateful and racist vandalism near a Ketchikan school in the past six months.
Officials warn of landslide danger as fall storm heads for Southeast Alaska
Officials in the Prince of Wales Island community of Craig are warning of potential landslides, flooding and high winds this weekend as a powerful fall storm bears down on Southeast Alaska.
A nurse says she was fired from Ketchikan medical center for reporting safety concerns
State and federal labor investigators are looking into complaints that the hospital retaliated against the nurse after she’d raised concerns that some COVID-19 patients weren’t being properly monitored.
10 COVID-19 cases reported in prisons across Alaska
The prisons with COVID-19 cases in their general populations are spread across the state. There are four active cases at Anchorage Correctional Complex, three at Ketchikan Correctional Center, two at Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward and one at Wildwood Correctional Complex near Kenai.
NTSB: Searchers described poor visibility around Misty Fjords fatal crash site
Responders described low cloud ceilings in Misty Fjords National Monument Wilderness in the hours after a fatal plane crash that killed six people. That’s according to a new report from federal investigators looking into the August 5 crash. But officials say they have yet to determine the cause of the crash.
Five residents at Ketchikan’s Pioneer Home die from COVID-19, state reports
Five residents at Ketchikan’s Pioneer Home died from COVID-19 during an outbreak at the assisted-living home this past week, according to the state health department.
Health and Social Services spokesperson Clinton Bennett said in an...
Killer whale stranded on Prince of Wales Island frees itself
A killer whale that beached itself on Prince of Wales Island on Thursday has freed itself, according to federal biologists.
Inter-Island Ferry Authority says 3 crew members positive for COVID-19, but schedule won’t be affected
Inter-Island Ferry Authority managers said Tuesday that three crew members have tested positive for COVID-19. IFA General Manager Ron Curtis declined to say exactly when the staff members tested positive, citing ferry authority policy.
7 fully vaccinated people test positive for COVID-19 on UnCruise ship sailing in Southeast Alaska
The company says it’s the first time a fully vaccinated guest has tested positive for the disease on its ships.
Canada pledges to reopen ports to cruise ships; Murkowski floats maritime law reforms
Canadian authorities say they’ll lift a pandemic-era ban on cruise ships in the country’s waters, but it won’t happen until after the end of Alaska’s 2021 cruise season. The decision means cruise ships could again sail from Vancouver and Victoria to Alaska in 2022.
‘Cruise ships are back, baby’: Alaska’s first large cruise ship in 21 months visits Ketchikan
The first large cruise ship to visit Alaska since 2019 arrived in Ketchikan early on the morning of July 9. The federally mandated test voyage is the symbolic start of the Alaska cruise season.
Governor’s veto erases $4.4M for new Craig harbor
The Alaska Legislature included funding to get a project for a new harbor in Craig started. But that’ll have to wait for at least another year as Gov. Mike Dunleavy has vetoed the funding.
Kicking off a season like no other, Alaska’s first big cruise ship since 2019 is on the way
When the Serenade of the Seas ties up on Friday, it’ll be the first ship to visit Ketchikan since October 5, 2019 — 21 months ago.
Newly-tested DNA sample led to arrest in 1993 rape case, Ketchikan police say
Ketchikan police have made an arrest in a 28-year-old rape case. Police credit a recent push to end Alaska’s sexual assault kit backlog with identifying the suspect.