Tucker Challan, 16, was found on Sunday after triggering and being buried in an avalanche in Turnagain Pass
A teenager has died after triggering an avalanche, the fourth person killed in snow slides in Alaska this month.
Alaska State Troopers said the body of 16-year-old Tucker Challan of Soldotna was recovered from the avalanche on Sunday by the Alaska mountain rescue group.
Continue reading...Ohio, Maryland and Alabama among states to report new cases, with 378 confirmed in first few months of 2025
More US states are reporting measles cases as the Texas outbreak expands, surpassing last year’s total, amid vaccine misinformation and hesitancy.
The Texas outbreak could take a year to get under control, one health official said – during which time it may spread to more states. Yet the parents of the six-year-old girl who died of measles in Texas have spoken against measles vaccination as misinformation continues to proliferate, including from figures such as the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr.
Continue reading...Republican senator Lisa Murakowski introduces bill to require peak’s name kept on US maps, laws and regulations
The Alaska Republican US senator Lisa Murkowski has introduced legislation to officially rename North America’s tallest mountain as Denali, a counter to Donald Trump’s executive order to revert the peak’s name to Mount McKinley.
Murkowski’s bill, which was co-sponsored by her fellow Republican senator for Alaska, Dan Sullivan, would require the peak to be referred to as Denali on any US maps, laws and regulations.
Continue reading...Temperatures in some areas could fall to more than 10C below seasonal average. Plus, blizzard fears in Alaska
China was hit by snowstorms and a significant cold wave over the weekend, and the extreme conditions are expected to persist as the country approaches the new year on Wednesday.
Temperatures are forecast to drop to more than 10C (18F) below the seasonal average in some areas, with northern regions experiencing the most severe weather. Maximum temperatures in Shenyang are expected to plummet by more than 13C, while Yinchuan could tumble to -8C.
Continue reading...Renewed program would allow hunters to eliminate up to 80% of the animals on 20,000 acres of state land
Alaska is set to resume the aerial gunning of bears and wolves as a population control measure aimed at boosting caribou and moose herd numbers, even as the state’s own evaluation of the practice cast doubt on its effectiveness.
The renewed program would allow hunters to eliminate up to 80% of the animals on 20,000 acres of state land. Environmental groups opposed to what they label a “barbaric” practice of shooting wildlife from helicopters is more about sport than scientific practice in part because hunters want caribou populations to increase because they are trophy animals.
Continue reading...Mississippi’s firearm-related violence rate nearly double that of Haiti, which is plagued by political and gang strife
A new report by the Commonwealth Fund finds some US states have firearm death rates comparable to countries in conflict, and even states with the fewest firearms deaths are far higher than peer developed democracies.
For instance, Mississippi’s rate of firearm-related violence (28.5 per 100,000 people) was nearly double that of Haiti (15.1 per 100,000) in 2021, when mercenaries assassinated the country’s president, unleashing a fresh round of gang warfare which pushed the country into a state of civil war.
Continue reading...A popular Facebook group posts videos of animals seen a half-mile from a well-populated Anchorage neighborhood
Millions of people worldwide tuned in for a remote Alaska national park’s “Fat Bear Week” celebration this month, as captivating livestream camera footage caught the chubby predators chomping on salmon and fattening up for the winter.
But in the vast state known for its abundant wildlife, the magical and sometimes violent world of wild animals can be found close to home.
Continue reading...In ceremony in Kake, military acknowledges bombardment of village that destroyed it and led to many deaths
In a ceremony Saturday afternoon, the US navy apologized for firing upon and torching the Alaska Native village of Kake in 1869.
Surrounded by tribal Chilkat weavings, historic photographs and other Lingít artwork in the Kake elementary and high school gymnasium, R Adm Mark B Sucato expressed the military’s regret, in the first of two apologies planned by the military for bombardments of Alaska Native communities in the late 1800s.
Continue reading...Glaciologist says ‘he’s totally fine’ after video of rapper tasting water goes viral and viewers warn of contamination
Chris “Ludacris” Bridges sparked concern from some social media followers when he knelt on an Alaska glacier, dipped an empty water bottle into a blue, pristine pool of water and drank it.
Video of the rapper-turned-actor tasting the glacial water and proclaiming: “Oh my God!” got millions of views on TikTok and Instagram. Some viewers expressed concern that he was endangering his life by drinking the untreated water, warning it might be contaminated with the parasite giardia.
Continue reading...Landslide in city of Ketchikan also damaged homes and infrastructure, and Alaska governor declared emergency
A landslide in the Alaska city of Ketchikan killed one person and injured three others while prompting a mandatory evacuation, authorities said.
Three people were taken to Ketchikan medical center after the landslide, which struck at about 4pm local time on Sunday. It also damaged homes and infrastructure, the Ketchikan gateway borough and city officials said in a joint statement on Sunday.
Continue reading...Late spring and early summer blazes in Canada, Alaska and eastern Russia add to carbon emissions
The northern hemisphere has had a large number of intense wildfires in the first half of summer, carrying vast amounts of smoke across Eurasia and North America.
Research by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (Cams) showed large-scale and intense wildfires had been developing throughout the late spring and summer, with numerous fires burning in Canada, Alaska and eastern Russia.
Continue reading...Four Chinese vessels were ‘transiting in international waters but still inside the US exclusive economic zone’
Multiple Chinese military warships were spotted off the coast of Alaska over the weekend, the US Coast Guard announced.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the US Coast Guard said that it detected three vessels approximately 124 miles (200km) north of the Amchitka Pass in the Aleutian Islands, as well as another vessel approximately 84 miles (135km) north of the Amukta Pass, a strait between the Bering Sea and the north Pacific Ocean.
Continue reading...Robbi Mecus, 52, and climbing partner, who was rescued and hospitalized, fell from Mount Johnson in Denali national park
A helicopter crew on Saturday recovered the body of a climber who died after falling about 1,000ft (305 metres) while on a steep, technical route on Mount Johnson in Alaska’s Denali national park and preserve, park officials said in a statement.
Robbi Mecus, 52, of Keene Valley, New York, died of injuries sustained in a fall Thursday while climbing a route on the south-east face of the 8,400ft (2,560-metre) mountain, the park said. His climbing partner, a 30-year-old woman from California, was seriously injured; she was rescued Friday and flown to an Anchorage hospital, park officials said.
Continue reading...Two people were onboard Douglas DC-4 that went down near Fairbanks on Tuesday, authorities say
A Douglas DC-4 airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday and burst into flames, authorities said. No survivors have been found, Alaska state troopers said.
The plane took off in the morning from Fairbanks international airport. It crashed about 7 miles (11km) from there and “slid into a steep hill on the bank of the river where it caught fire,” according to Alaska state troopers.
Continue reading...Nearly 200 planes grounded as FAA investigates Saturday flight from Portland, Oregon, in which a cabin panel blew out in mid-air
US regulators have ordered the temporary grounding of 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft following a cabin panel blowout late Friday that forced a brand-new airplane operated by Alaska Airlines to make an emergency landing.
“The FAA is requiring immediate inspections of certain Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes before they can return to flight,” said Mike Whitaker, a Federal Aviation Administration administrator, on Saturday. “Safety will continue to drive our decision-making as we assist the NTSB’s [National Transportation Safety Board] investigation into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.”
Continue reading...Highly contagious virus could bring “one of largest ecological disasters of modern times” say scientists
A polar bear has been killed by bird flu as the highly contagious H5N1 virus spreads into the most remote parts of the planet.
The death was confirmed in December by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. “This is the first polar bear case reported, for anywhere,” Dr Bob Gerlach, Alaska’s state veterinarian, told the Alaska Beacon.
Continue reading...Crew recovers body of Kara Heller, whose parents and sister found dead, and look for third child of family and their neighbor
Authorities recovered the body of an 11-year-old girl Saturday evening from the debris of a landslide in south-east Alaska that tore down a wooded mountainside days earlier, smashing into homes in a remote fishing village.
The girl, Kara Heller, was the fourth person confirmed killed by last Monday night’s landslide.
Continue reading...The Heller family was at home when the rockslide buried their home on Friday; neighbor Otto Florschutz was also killed
The deadly landslide in south-east Alaska early this week killed five family members and their neighbor, a commercial fisher who made a longshot bid for the state’s lone seat in the US House last year, authorities said on Friday.
Timothy Heller, 44, and Beth Heller, 36 – plus their children Mara, 16; Derek, 12; and Kara, 11 – were at home on Monday night when the landslide struck near the island community of Wrangell. Search crews found the bodies of the parents and the oldest child late on Monday or early Tuesday; the younger children remain missing, as does neighbor Otto Florschutz, 65, the Alaska public safety department said in a statement that identified the victims of the disaster.
Continue reading...Slide estimated 450ft wide occurred near Wrangell, a small fishing community, and cut off power to about 75 homes
A landslide that ripped down a sopping, heavily forested mountainside in south-east Alaska killed three people, injured a woman and left three other people missing as it smashed into three homes in a remote fishing community, authorities said Tuesday.
Rescue crews found the body of a girl in an initial search and late Tuesday the bodies of two adults were found by a drone operator.
Continue reading...Employees in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Bethel, Alaska, make rare move to organize staff in financial industry
Workers at two Wells Fargo bank branches are planning to launch unionization efforts on Monday in a rare move to organize staff at a financial services company.
Employees in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Bethel, Alaska, said they would notify the National Labor Relations Board that they plan to hold elections to decide whether to unionize, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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