High-altitude object the size of a small car was downed on Friday but its owner and purpose have yet to be identified
Questions remain after the US government shot down two high-altitude objects, one near Deadhorse, Alaska along the north-eastern Alaskan coast and a second near Yukon, Canada, that have yet to be identified.
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau tweeted Saturday afternoon that he ordered the takedown of an unidentified object in Canadian airspace out
Continue reading...Spokesman John Kirby says object, the size of a small car, was ordered by President Biden to be downed
• Chinese ‘spy balloon’ wakes up world to new era of war on edge of space
A US fighter jet has shot down an unidentified high-altitude object over Alaska that was the size of a small car but the nature, purpose or origin of the object remains unclear.
US officials said the targeted aircraft brought down on Friday was considerably smaller than the Chinese balloon downed last Saturday over the Atlantic, and carefully avoided characterising it as a balloon, drone or plane, giving nothing away about the description of the object other than its rough size, its altitude and its direction of travel.
Continue reading...Interior department report recommends scaled-back version of ConocoPhillips’ Willow project despite Biden campaign pledge
The Biden administration has advanced a $8bn drilling project on Alaska’s north slope. The ConocoPhillips Willow project, which would be one of the largest oil and gas developments on federal territory, has drawn fierce opposition from environmentalists, who say its approval runs counter to the president’s ambitious climate goals.
An environmental assessment released by the interior department on Wednesday recommends a scaled-back version of the project ConocoPhillips originally proposed, and would produce about 600m barrels of oil over 30 years, with a peak of 180,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
Continue reading...Peltola made history to become the first woman to represent the state when she won a special election in August
Mary Peltola, a Democrat and the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress, has won her bid to retain the state’s sole seat in the House of Representatives.
Peltola made history when she won a special election this summer to replace the Republican Don Young after his death. She is also the first woman to represent Alaska in Congress since it became a state in 1959.
Continue reading...The 500lb one-year-old moose fell through a basement window and became trapped, requiring six people to help get him out
Firefighters in Alaska got an unusual request for assistance last Sunday, from Alaska wildlife troopers.
“They were looking for some help getting a moose out of a basement,” said Capt Josh Thompson of Central Emergency Services on the Kenai Peninsula.
Continue reading...Causes being researched but likely included increased predation and stresses from warmer water
Alaska officials have cancelled the upcoming snow crab season, due to population decline across the Bering Sea.
The fall Bristol Bay red king crab harvest will not happen. The winter harvest of smaller snow crab has also been cancelled for the first time.
Continue reading...Hurricane causes blackout across Puerto Rico while typhoon forces 8m to flee homes in Japan
It has been very active across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in recent days with more than five storms officially named.
Hurricane Fiona in the Caribbean was the first storm of the tropical Atlantic season to strengthen into a major hurricane. Fiona made landfall on Sunday across south-western Puerto Rico, where it dumped 762mm (30in) of rain with sustained gusts of 115mph.
Continue reading...Rising waters brought power outages, damage and concerns over surviving the winter as downpours also affected California
Floodwaters in Alaska are receding after the remnants of a powerful typhoon pummeled the state’s western coastline. But residents are continuing to grapple with power outages, water damage and concerns about how to survive the coming winter.
This weekend, a low-pressure system spinning out from Alaska made its way down the coast to northern California, bringing rare September rain to the region. The downpours aided efforts to contain the 19 sq mile (49 sq km) Mosquito fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills, but raised new concerns.
Continue reading...In what could be the worst storm in five decades, residents are warned to take action against rising waters that may not recede for hours
Alaska is bracing for what forecasters believe could be its worst storm in decades, as the remnants of a typhoon bring hurricane-force winds and towering waves crashing toward its shores.
The remnants of Typhoon Merbok, now swirling over the Bering Sea, are predicted to deliver devastating levels of flooding and damaging wind gusts beginning Friday night and lasting through the weekend..
Continue reading...Peltola’s victory in the state’s first ranked choice voting election makes her the first Alaska Native to serve in the House
The Democrat Mary Peltola has won the special election for Alaska’s only US House seat, besting a field that included the Republican Sarah Palin, who was seeking a political comeback in the state where she was once governor.
Peltola, who is Yup’ik and turned 49 on Wednesday, will become the first Alaska Native to serve in the House and the first woman to hold the seat. She will serve the remaining months of the late Republican US Representative Don Young’s term. Young held the seat for 49 years before his death in March.
Continue reading...Polls show congresswoman trailing far behind conservative lawyer Harriet Hageman in Wyoming’s Republican primary
Widely praised for her defence of democracy during the January 6 committee hearings, Liz Cheney looks set to lose her seat in Congress on Tuesday to a rival backed by former US president Donald Trump.
Opinion polls show Cheney trailing far behind conservative lawyer Harriet Hageman – who has echoed Trump’s false claims of widespread voter fraud – in a Republican primary election to decide Wyoming’s lone member in the House of Representatives.
Continue reading...Construction crew found elderly Lulu in bushes after thinking she was a bear
An Alaska family had given up hope of finding their blind, elderly golden retriever who wandered away from their home three weeks ago, but a construction crew found Lulu in salmonberry bushes after initially confusing her for a bear.
Lulu was barely alive after being found Tuesday, but she is being nursed back to health and is back home with her family, the Daily Sitka Sentinel reported.
Continue reading...Bears were stealing food from tents at campground in Anchorage that provides shelter but is also bear country
Alaska wildlife officials have killed four black bears in a campground recently reserved for people in Anchorage who are homeless after the city’s largest shelter was closed.
Employees from the Alaska department of fish and game on Tuesday killed a sow and her two cubs and another adult bear that was acting separately, stealing food from tents inside Centennial Park, which is managed by the city, officials said.
Continue reading...Run by former Republican vice-presidential candidate marks first bid since resigning as governor partway through her term in 2009
Former Alaska governor and Republican ex-vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin leads in early results from Saturday’s special primary for the state’s only US House seat in what could be a remarkable political re-emergence.
Voters in the far north-western state are whittling down the list of 48 candidates running for the position that was held for 49 years by the late US Representative Don Young.
Continue reading...The former governor says she will ‘combat the left’s socialist, big-government, America-last agenda’
Sarah Palin has announced her run for Alaska’s only seat in the US House of Representatives, marking her first run for public office in over a decade.
“America is at a tipping point,” Palin said in a statement released on her Twitter account announcing her candidacy. “As I’ve watched the far left destroy the country, I knew I had to step up and join the fight.
Continue reading...Race marshal says trio’s decision to bring dogs inside ‘affected the competition for racers’ as Peta condemns Alaska race
A fierce winter storm in the last stretch of this year’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog, which ultimately forced six mushers to quit the same day, now has seen three mushers punished for sheltering their dogs instead of leaving them outside in the harsh conditions.
Mille Porsild of Denmark, Michelle Phillips of Canada and Riley Dyche of Fairbanks were penalized for taking dogs inside shelter cabins to ride out the storm with winds so strong, they whipped up white-out conditions, the Anchorage Daily News reported Friday.
Continue reading...Iñupiaq musher Apayauq Reitan is poised to make history – but circumstances were very different when she faced Rosebud Summit three years ago
The snow was blowing sideways as the blizzard engulfed Rosebud Summit. Alone with her dog team more than 3,500ft up in Alaska’s forbidding White Mountains, then 21-year-old musher Apayauq Reitan struggled to find the trail during the 2019 Yukon Quest.
“The only way for me to tell where it was was by walking in front of the team and sinking into the snow up to my hips,” said Reitan.
Continue reading...Man said he yelled at and kicked the animal as it charged him along a riverbed before it retreated
A cyclist confronted and bitten by a 500lb bear while out riding in Alaska told authorities he yelled at and kicked the animal as it ran after him, along a riverbed.
The incident last Tuesday occurred in Cantwell, close to the intersection between the Jack and Nenana rivers, the Alaska department of public safety said.
Continue reading...Research into life of Kik adds weight to theory that climate change could have contributed to species’ demise
He was huge, hairy and boasted two enormous tusks: researchers say they have discovered a woolly mammoth called Kik who traipsed almost far enough in his life to circle the Earth twice.
Experts say the work not only sheds light on the movements of the giant proboscideans, but adds weight to ideas that climate change or human activity may have contributed to the demise of most of the creatures about 12,000 years ago.
Continue reading...Defense department promises improvements in quality of life and mental health help on army bases
The defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, has expressed concern about the alarming spike in suicides among US forces.
In 2020, 385 active-duty soldiers died by suicide, marking a steep increase from the 326 cases reported by the Pentagon in 2018.
Continue reading...