Wire Service

David Rigas

Commentary: A note from the publisher

Beginning May 3, the Clarion will be printed off-site in Alaska, and delivered on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

David Rigas
The Peninsula Clarion printing press is photographed on Monday, April 18, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)

Clarion to print 2 days a week beginning May 3

The change reflects a growing emphasis on timely online coverage of the region

The Peninsula Clarion printing press is photographed on Monday, April 18, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
In this photo provided by Christopher Hayden, a light baby blue spiral resembling a galaxy appears amid the aurora for a few minutes in the Alaska skies near Fairbanks, Saturday, April 15, 2023. The spiral was formed when excess fuel that had been released from a SpaceX rocket that launched from California about three hours earlier turned to ice, and then the water vapor reflected the sunlight in the upper atmosphere. (Christopher Hayden via AP)

Odd spiral appears amid northern lights in Alaska night sky

The cause early Saturday morning was a little more mundane than an alien invasion

In this photo provided by Christopher Hayden, a light baby blue spiral resembling a galaxy appears amid the aurora for a few minutes in the Alaska skies near Fairbanks, Saturday, April 15, 2023. The spiral was formed when excess fuel that had been released from a SpaceX rocket that launched from California about three hours earlier turned to ice, and then the water vapor reflected the sunlight in the upper atmosphere. (Christopher Hayden via AP)
Former Gov. Frank Murkowski speaks on a range of subjects during an interview with the Juneau Empire in May 2019. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

Alaska Voices: We live in a real world — or do we?

Events taking place today in the energy world should be of critical concern to our country, our Congress and our president.

Former Gov. Frank Murkowski speaks on a range of subjects during an interview with the Juneau Empire in May 2019. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
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Honored to have been judges in Alaska and committed to a fair and impartial judiciary

In Alaska all judges are subject to the Alaska Code of Judicial Conduct

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Alaska LNG Project Manager Brad Chastain presents information about the project during a luncheon at the Kenai Chamber Commerce and Visitor Center on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Feds OK exports for LNG project

Thursday’s action reaffirms a 2020 authorization by the department that was challenged by environmentalists

Alaska LNG Project Manager Brad Chastain presents information about the project during a luncheon at the Kenai Chamber Commerce and Visitor Center on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Bob Shavelson (courtesy photo)

Point of View: Our politicians should listen to Alaskans on public school funding

The Alaska Policy Forum is actually part of a sprawling and coordinated web of lobbying groups and so-called “think tanks”

Bob Shavelson (courtesy photo)
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Minister’s Message: Find mental healing through God

Holy Saturday has always been a strange day to observe

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This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows a crater and an ash cloud after the Shiveluch volcano erupted in Klyuchi village on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, Wednesday, April 12, 2023. Shiveluch, one of Kamchatka Peninsula’s most active volcanoes, started erupting early Tuesday, spewing ash more than 300 miles northwest. Several Russian villages were covered in grey volcanic dust in the largest fallout in nearly 60 years. (Satellite image ©2023 Maxar Technologies via AP)

Ash from Russian volcano prompts Alaska flight cancellations

The ash cloud is from Shiveluch Volcano

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows a crater and an ash cloud after the Shiveluch volcano erupted in Klyuchi village on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, Wednesday, April 12, 2023. Shiveluch, one of Kamchatka Peninsula’s most active volcanoes, started erupting early Tuesday, spewing ash more than 300 miles northwest. Several Russian villages were covered in grey volcanic dust in the largest fallout in nearly 60 years. (Satellite image ©2023 Maxar Technologies via AP)
Jesse Bjorkman (Courtesy)

Opinion: Our next big fight — The erosion of Alaska’s wildlife management authority

The National Park Service is targeting Alaska’s wildlife management practices on preserves

Jesse Bjorkman (Courtesy)
Mandy Iworrigan via AP
In this photo provided by Mandy Iworrigan is Nanuq, in the middle with Brooklyn Faith, after the 1-year-old Australian shepherd was returned to Gambell, on April 6.

Dog arrives home after sea-ice odyssey

About a month after Nanuq disappeared, people in Wales, 150 miles northeast of Savoonga on Alaska’s western coast, began posting pictures online of what they described as a lost dog

Mandy Iworrigan via AP
In this photo provided by Mandy Iworrigan is Nanuq, in the middle with Brooklyn Faith, after the 1-year-old Australian shepherd was returned to Gambell, on April 6.
A sign offering tips on how to recreate safely around bears can be seen on Thursday, July 1, 2021, on Skilak Lake Road in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)

Voices of the Peninsula: Got bears? Protect yourself and keep Kenai bears wild with electric fencing

Electric fences are an effective and relatively inexpensive way to keep bears out of gardens, beehives, chicken coops, garbage, and other attractants

A sign offering tips on how to recreate safely around bears can be seen on Thursday, July 1, 2021, on Skilak Lake Road in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
AP Photo / Becky Bohrer
Mitchell Thomas Watley, right, listens to his attorney Nick Polasky before a scheduled court hearing on Tuesday, April 11, 2023, in Juneau, Alaska. A preliminary hearing that was scheduled for Tuesday for Watley, a children’s book illustrator, was pushed to April 21. Watley has been accused of terroristic threatening after authorities said he posted in locations in Juneau transphobic notes that referenced shooting children.

Hearing pushed back for Alaska illustrator on threat charge

Mitchell Thomas Watley, 47, was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Tuesday

AP Photo / Becky Bohrer
Mitchell Thomas Watley, right, listens to his attorney Nick Polasky before a scheduled court hearing on Tuesday, April 11, 2023, in Juneau, Alaska. A preliminary hearing that was scheduled for Tuesday for Watley, a children’s book illustrator, was pushed to April 21. Watley has been accused of terroristic threatening after authorities said he posted in locations in Juneau transphobic notes that referenced shooting children.
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, speaks to a joint session of the Alaska State Legislature at the Alaska State Capitol on Tuesday, April 19, 2022. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire File)

Opinion: Dan Sullivan’s convenient amnesia

Here’s a history lesson that Sullivan’s public persona is desperate to forget.

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, speaks to a joint session of the Alaska State Legislature at the Alaska State Capitol on Tuesday, April 19, 2022. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire File)
In this Thursday, April 6, 2023, image provided by Providence Alaska, a moose stands inside a Providence Alaska Health Park medical building in Anchorage, Alaska. The moose chomped on plants in the lobby until security was able to shoo it out, but not before people stopped by to take photos of the moose. (Providence Alaska via AP)

Moose feasts on lobby plants in Anchorage hospital building

A young moose trudging through the snow looking for a meal spotted green plants in the lobby of a medical building

In this Thursday, April 6, 2023, image provided by Providence Alaska, a moose stands inside a Providence Alaska Health Park medical building in Anchorage, Alaska. The moose chomped on plants in the lobby until security was able to shoo it out, but not before people stopped by to take photos of the moose. (Providence Alaska via AP)
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Minister’s Message: With the Resurrection, hope rises

There were probably many more but the Gospels tell of three specific resurrections from the dead in the ministry of Jesus.

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(Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire File)

Opinion: Lawmakers must step up and increase school funding

There’s no excuse for depriving the funding needed to ensure our students’ learning.

(Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire File)
The American island of Little Diomede, Alaska, left, and on the right, the Russian island of Big Diomede, are seen from the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica in the Bering Strait, on July 14, 2017. The Alaska Air National Guard on April 3, 2023, traveled nearly 660 miles to rescue a pregnant woman on a small island two miles from Russia who had severe abdominal pains, a reflection of the challenges patients face in the nation’s largest state where the most remote areas have no roads and hospitals can be hundreds of miles away. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

Rescue flight highlights Alaska’s unique challenges

The Alaska Air National Guard this week traveled nearly 660 miles to rescue a pregnant woman on a small island

The American island of Little Diomede, Alaska, left, and on the right, the Russian island of Big Diomede, are seen from the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica in the Bering Strait, on July 14, 2017. The Alaska Air National Guard on April 3, 2023, traveled nearly 660 miles to rescue a pregnant woman on a small island two miles from Russia who had severe abdominal pains, a reflection of the challenges patients face in the nation’s largest state where the most remote areas have no roads and hospitals can be hundreds of miles away. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
State Rep. Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski, inquires about election legislation during a committee hearing Tuesday at the Alaska State Capitol. Carpenter, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, is sponsoring bills to decrease business taxes and implement a 2% statewide sales tax that were heard. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Opinion: Proposal is a fiscal plan, but not a good one

The numbers don’t add up.

State Rep. Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski, inquires about election legislation during a committee hearing Tuesday at the Alaska State Capitol. Carpenter, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, is sponsoring bills to decrease business taxes and implement a 2% statewide sales tax that were heard. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
The children’s book “You Are Home With Me,” illustrated by Mitchell Thomas Watley, is shown at a bookstore in Portland, Ore. in this April 5, 2023 photo. Publisher Sasquatch books, owned by Penguin Random House, said Wednesday, April 5, 2023, it has ended its publishing relationship with Watley after he was arrested on allegations of leaving violent, transphobic notes in stores around Juneau, Alaska. Watley told police he was motivated by fear following a deadly school shooting in Nashville that sparked online backlash about the shooter’s gender identity, court records show. (AP Photo/Claire Rush)

Publisher drops children’s illustrator for anti-trans notes

The text on the notes read: “Feeling Cute Might Shoot Some Children.”

The children’s book “You Are Home With Me,” illustrated by Mitchell Thomas Watley, is shown at a bookstore in Portland, Ore. in this April 5, 2023 photo. Publisher Sasquatch books, owned by Penguin Random House, said Wednesday, April 5, 2023, it has ended its publishing relationship with Watley after he was arrested on allegations of leaving violent, transphobic notes in stores around Juneau, Alaska. Watley told police he was motivated by fear following a deadly school shooting in Nashville that sparked online backlash about the shooter’s gender identity, court records show. (AP Photo/Claire Rush)