By Tegan Hanlon, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage University of Alaska President Jim Johnsen. (Courtesy University of Alaska) The head of Alaska’s public university system is potentially leaving the state to take over the helm of the University of Wisconsin System. The UW system announced Tuesday that Johnsen is the sole finalist to become its president. Johnsen will go through multiple interviews next …

By Lex Treinen, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage Like the rest of the country, Alaska has had record levels of unemployment claims over the past few months. To put it in perspective, during the first eight weeks of the pandemic, more than 95,000 people filed new claims for unemployment insurance. Back in 2019, the number was about 8,000 for the same …

By Hope McKenney, KUCB – Unalaska American Seafoods is based in Seattle and Dutch Harbor and maintains a fleet of six vessels that fish for pollock, hake, and sole out of both the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Credit Courtesy of American Seafoods Eighty-six crew members of an American Seafoods trawler have tested positive for COVID-19, according to a …

By Jacob Resneck, CoastAlaska – Juneau The Petersburg Fisheries seafood plant, owned by Icicle Seafoods is and where the company got its start in 1965. (KFSK file photo) Two of Alaska’s largest seafood companies are merging their salmon processing businesses. Icicle Seafoods and Ocean Beauty Seafoods will be combining forces to create OBI Seafoods. Talks of a potential merger have …

by Tegan Hanlon, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage Screenshot from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services COVID-19 dashboard, showing this week’s cases, taken on May 29, 2020. (Data from https://coronavirus-response-alaska-dhss.hub.arcgis.com/) There are six new coronavirus cases in Alaska from Thursday, following a spike in positive tests the day before, according to the state Department of Health and Social Services. The latest …

A Princess cruise ship in Juneau. (Photo by Heather Bryant/KTOO) by Adelyn Baxter, KTOO Canada has extended its ban on cruise ships until at least the end of October due to the global pandemic. “Cruise ships with overnight accommodation and a capacity of more than 100 persons — that includes passengers and crew — will be prohibited from operating in Canadian waters until …

By Nathaniel Herz, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Anchorage Alaska’s largest rural airline is scrambling to find a buyer that can keep the company intact as it emerges from bankruptcy, rather than seeing its planes sold off piecemeal through a liquidation process. RavnAir Group flew to more than 100 Alaska communities before shutting down and filing for bankruptcy last month amid …

By Andrew Kitchenman, Alaska Public Media & KTOO – Juneau Screenshot from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services COVID-19 dashboard, taken on May 28, 2020, showing a spike in confirmed cases in Alaska on May 27. (Data from https://coronavirus-response-alaska-dhss.hub.arcgis.com/) There were 13 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Alaska on Wednesday. That’s the most new cases for one …

By Andrew Kitchenman, Alaska Public Media & KTOO – Juneau Rep. Tiffany Zulkosky, D-Bethel, speaks during a House floor session in the Capitol in Juneau on March 16. Zulkosky said on Wednesday that she’s seen Alaskans have a false sense of security as the state eases health mandates. She spoke during a joint meeting of the House State Affairs and …

Map of the Bristol Bay region. Lake Iliamna is close to the Pebble Deposit location, indicated by the red box. (Photo courtesy U.S. EPA) By ANTONIA GONZALES (NATIONAL NATIVE NEWS) Announcement of a major change in the access route to the proposed Pebble Mine in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska is met with resistance from Tribal groups and other opponents. …