Alaska Ferry Stops In B.C. to Restart in May
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- Category: State News
- Created on Tuesday, 08 February 2022 15:05
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By Larry Persily
Wrangell Sentinel writer
An Alaska state ferry hasn’t stopped in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, since fall 2019, but officials “remain hopeful” they can add back the Canadian port to Southeast Alaska runs on May 1.
“The Alaska Marine Highway System continues to work closely with both U.S. and Canadian customs regarding a return to service in Prince Rupert,” Sam Dapcevich, state Transportation Department spokesman, said in a Feb. 1 email.
The department and ferry system management “have multiple tasks to complete before we will be approved to re-commence service,” the marine highway has posted to its website. “However, we are making progress and remain hopeful for a May 1 return-to-service date.”
Customs-clearance issues in 2019 pushed the Alaska ferry system out of the Canadian port, where it had operated since the marine highway’s first runs in 1963, before the system extended its route several hundred miles south to Puget Sound.
The department will not make Prince Rupert bookings available on its website “until we’re certain of a May 1 start date,” Dapcevich said.
The plan since late last fall, which Dapcevich confirmed last week, has been for the Matanuska to make two round trips one week of each month between Prince Rupert and Ketchikan, which is about a six-hour voyage north of the Canadian port.
The ferry system’s summer timetable shows one week a month with two 17-hour “placeholder” openings in the Matanuska’s schedule that would allow the ship to run from Ketchikan to Rupert and back, with time for customs clearance, loading and unloading.
The customs-clearance issue became a problem in 2019 when the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, under the Department of Homeland Security, decided that armed law enforcement officers needed to be present while its agents conducted inspections at the Rupert ferry terminal.
The Alaska ferry system had brought customs agents from Ketchikan on board the vessel when sailing to Prince Rupert so the officers could pre-clear travelers as they boarded for the U.S. Those officers were unarmed, which worked for decades.
“In order to reduce security risks to the U.S, and provide safety for the traveling public and unarmed CBP officers,” the federal agency determined that armed officers must be present at the terminal, the agency said in 2019.
Without an agreement and funding to contract with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for armed officers to work the ferry loadings, or armed U.S. agents, and unable to resolve the issue with U.S. and Canadian officials, the state ended its service to Prince Rupert.
The issue became moot in March 2020 when Canada closed its border at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Canada has since reopened its border.
In addition to resolving the issue of armed law enforcement personnel present during ferry calls, Dapcevich said the department is working to install a weapons safe at the terminal, new perimeter controls, confirming the dock and vehicle ramp are structurally sound, and “securing diplomatic notes of agreement between Canada and the U.S.”
Travelers and freight haulers long appreciated the option of taking the Alaska ferry to Prince Rupert rather than the longer and more expensive sailing to Puget Sound.
Prince Rupert officials in 2019 said about 14,000 travelers used the Alaska terminal each year.
The state has a long-term lease on the dock and terminal building, which is owned by the Prince Rupert Port Authority.
Sen. Manchin Endorses Sen. Murkowski
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- Category: State News
- Created on Monday, 07 February 2022 16:24
- Hits: 547
By HOPE YEN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on Sunday endorsed Republican colleague Lisa Murkowski for reelection, crossing party lines to back the incumbent from Alaska who faces a primary challenger supported by former President Donald Trump.
The conservative West Virginia lawmaker said he has teamed well with Murkowski in the 50-50 Senate to build bipartisan support for legislation such as President Joe Biden’s infrastructure law. He said Alaska and the Senate are well-served with her in office.
“It’s hypocritical to basically work with a person day in and day out and then, when they’re in cycle, you’re supposed to be against them because they have an R or D by their name,” said Manchin, who appeared with Murkowski on CNN’s “State of the Union” to promote the values of bipartisanship.
“Alaska could only be so lucky to have her continue to serve them,” he said.
Murkowski faces GOP primary challenger Kelly Tshibaka, who has support from Trump and Alaska Republican party leaders but who significantly trails the incumbent in fundraising. A Democrat has yet to enter the race; the state’s last Democratic senator, Mark Begich, lost reelection in 2014.
It isn’t the first time that Manchin has bucked his party’s political operation. In 2020, he endorsed Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in her reelection bid. Manchin had indicated last April that he would support Murkowski if she chose to run again this year.
Murkowski is one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial for his role in stoking the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Her reelection bid plays up her credentials as a centrist in the Senate, working across party lines to “stand up to any politician or special interest that threatens our way of life.”
A member of the Senate since 2002, Murkowski lost the Republican primary for her seat in 2010 but ultimately won after launching a successful write-in campaign. She’s joined Democrats several times on high-profile votes, including opposing Trump’s effort to repeal President Barack Obama’s health law in 2017 and her 2018 refusal to vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court justice.
Murkowski said Sunday she as well would support Manchin, who is up for reelection in 2024.
“If he’s running, I’m endorsing him,” she said.
Manchin has drawn ire from the progressive wing of his party over his reluctance to back broad climate and social safety net legislation that Biden envisioned would pass with support from all 50 Democratic senators. After initially indicating he could support a version of that bill, Manchin announced in December that he would not back the effort and that the legislation in its present form was dead.
On Sunday, Manchin indicated he recently talked to Biden but said the topic didn’t really come up because of the need for separate action by Feb. 18 on a separate funding bill.
He reiterated a desire to pass smaller pieces of Biden’s proposal with input and support from Republicans. “These are major changes,” Manchin said. “It is going to change society as we know it.”
Palin Resumes Fight with Times After COVID
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- Category: State News
- Created on Thursday, 03 February 2022 15:57
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By TOM HAYS
The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Sarah Palin’s libel suit against The New York Times went to trial Thursday in a case over the former Alaska governor’s claims the newspaper damaged her reputation with an editorial linking her campaign rhetoric to a mass shooting.
The trial is a rare example of a jury deciding the validity of a persistent refrain from Palin and other Republicans: That a biased news media is willing to bend the truth to make conservatives look bad.
Palin, a onetime Republican vice presidential nominee, told journalists as she arrived at the courthouse that she was looking for “Justice for people who expect truth in the media.”
A lawyer for The Times, David Axelrod, told jurors the editorial was primarily about gun laws, not Palin, and was not a “political hit job.”
Opening statements to the jury were initially scheduled for last week, but were postponed when Palin tested positive for COVID-19.
The trial is happening on The Times’ home turf, in Democrat-friendly New York City, but Palin attorney Shane Vogt asked jurors in his opening statement to put aside any personal opinions they might have about Palin’s politics.
“We come to this case with our eyes wide open and keenly aware of the fact we’re fighting an uphill battle,” Vogt said. “Give us a fair shot. We’re not here trying to win your votes for Governor Palin or any of her policies.”
Palin will be the trial’s star witness. She’s seeking unspecified damages.
Axelrod, an attorney for the Times, acknowledged the newspaper made a factual mistake in the editorial, but said it was not malicious and the paper “acted as quickly as possible to correct that mistake.”
Palin sued the Times in 2017, accusing it of damaging her career as a political commentator with an editorial about gun control published after U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, was wounded when a man with a history of anti-GOP activity opened fire on a Congressional baseball team practice in Washington.
In the editorial, the Times wrote that before the 2011 mass shooting in Arizona that severely wounded former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords and killed six others, Palin’s political action committee had contributed to an atmosphere of violence by circulating a map of electoral districts that put Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized crosshairs.
In a correction two days later, The Times said the editorial had “incorrectly stated that a link existed between political rhetoric and the 2011 shooting” and that it had “incorrectly described” the map.
The disputed wording had been added to the editorial by James Bennet, then the editorial page editor. At trial, the jury would have to decide whether he acted with “actual malice,” meaning he knew what he wrote was false, or with “reckless disregard” for the truth.
Bennet has said he believed the editorial was accurate when it was published.
A judge put off the trial last week to give an unvaccinated Palin time to get over any possible COVID-19 symptoms. Away from court, she caused a stir by being sighted dining out in Manhattan after her positive test results were made public.
Palin, 57, has publicly said she won’t get the vaccine.
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Photo caption: A replica of the sign reading “Annahootz Head Chief of the Sitka Tribe” in this 1904 photo of the Kaagwaantaan Wolf House is among items to be rededicated Oct. 23-24 at the 100-year anniversary celebration of the Last Potlatch of 1904. The sign was part of the Wolf House artifact collection loaned to Sitka National Historical Park in 1963.
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