Corinne Smith

Geologists say that loose, saturated soil and weak bedrock were behind the December 2020 landslide.

All three of Haines’ emergency dispatchers have tested positive for COVID-19, but officials say they’ve elected to stay on the job anyway to field 911 calls from the public safety building.

Haines' police chief said the bear was reported to be underweight meaning it was likely desperate for food.

Recent bear activity around Haines — including bears peering into shop windows and lumbering down Main Street — has caught many residents by surprise. But a state wildlife biologist says it’s not so unusual for some bears in Southeast to still be out foraging this time of year.

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the extreme weather event in Haines that led to a deadly landslide and storm damage to dozens of homes and businesses. A playground project at the Haines school is one of several memorial projects planned to commemorate the disaster and honor those affected.

“It just basically looks like a black surface on wood, and then these amazing images are able to be pulled out of it," said Haines Sheldon Museum collections coordinator Zachary James.

Bruce Funk of Whitehorse was Haines' first Canadian visitor since March 2020. He had tears in his eyes as he shook hands with the mayor. “It’s been a long time,” he said with a laugh. “Ah, just happy to be back.”

Lars Zika and his 7-year-old Alaskan malamute She-Ra are sailing around the world in a 62-foot sailboat. They stopped in Haines over the weekend.

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued three Haines paddlers on Sunday along the Tsirku River, east of Klukwan. One says that dry suits and a satellite phone may have made the difference between life and death.

Recently Haines’ planning committee recommended prohibiting yurts as permanent structures. Existing ones would be grandfathered in. But going forward, any new yurt or similar tent-like structures would have to be relocated after 18 months.