Alaska News Daily Brief, Monday, October 26

Alaska News for Monday, October twenty-sixth. This morning runs from Haines zoning to Dillingham tax lots to high surf pounding Hooper Bay, and some of it happened while you were out for the weekend.

0:12Tree cutting along Kenai Peninsula salmon streams falls to fewest since 2018

Fewer trees are coming down along Kenai salmon streams, Alaska Airlines' big new jet finally got its sign-off, and Kodiak's later herring season closed well short of its catch. On the Kenai Peninsula, landowners have cut fewer trees along salmon streams this year than in any year since twenty eighteen. The borough counts the trees cut in a 50-foot strip along its salmon waters. Those are the streams, rivers and lakes where salmon spawn and grow. So far this year, that count is 391. In twenty twenty-two, it was 2,772. Cutting surged during the spruce bark beetle outbreak. Tree removal permits have dropped since then, from 226 in twenty twenty-one to 58 this year. Inside that strip, cutting trees, building a walkway, or putting in a culvert takes a borough permit. Trimming, planting native plants, or clearing a tree that fell on its own doesn't. One number went the other way. Landowners asked for the borough's restoration tax credit 32 times this year. That's the most in any year on the borough's chart, which starts in twenty twenty. Only 3 have been approved so far. The review doesn't say whether the rest are still pending or were denied. The credit repays up to half of the land tax assessment or the project cost, whichever is less. It runs for 3 tax years, for work like a walkway or rebuilding a riverbank. The protected strip keeps growing as the state documents more salmon waters. It now covers 980 streams, rivers and lakes, up from 793 in May of twenty twenty-four. Most of the permit activity is on one river. Since twenty twenty, 87% of habitat permits have been on the Kenai. River Center Manager Samantha Lopez presents the numbers to the borough Planning Commission tonight in Soldotna. It's an informational item, so there's no public hearing.

2:07FAA certifies Boeing 737 MAX 10, the jet behind Alaska Airlines' largest order

For Alaska Airlines, the plane that makes up most of its order book is now cleared for delivery. The Federal Aviation Administration certified Boeing's 737 MAX 10 on October 20th. That decision had been on hold since September. A newly disclosed software issue came up, and the agency wanted to be sure it wasn't a safety problem in flight. Before signing off, the agency required flight-control updates. One of them is an improved sensor that reads the plane's pitch. Testing covered nearly 1,000 flights and more than 2,000 hours in the air. Alaska Air Group CEO Ben Minicucci called it a rigorous, deliberate process. Alaska has firm orders for 168 jets in the MAX family. That includes 105 MAX 10s ordered in January, the biggest order in the airline's history. The airline says the bigger jet can serve its busiest routes more efficiently. At least 25 of them will have 12 lie-flat suites each for cross-country flights. That's the first lie-flat seating on any of Alaska's 737s. The first MAX 10 isn't due until sometime between April and June of twenty twenty-seven.

3:28Fish and Game closes Kodiak's Ugak and Kiliuda herring waters a day before B season's end

Over on Kodiak Island, Fish and Game closed two of the island's main herring grounds at noon Saturday. That was a day before the later herring season was set to end. The closure covered the Ugak and Kiliuda areas and Shearwater Bay, on the island's east side. Fishermen had caught about 420 tons by then. That's about 30% of the 1,392 tons the season allowed. This season opened July first. Its limit comes from a share of the spring herring that went uncaught. Last fall, Forrest Bowers spoke to the Board of Fisheries. He now runs the department's commercial fisheries division. He said participation in Kodiak's new seasonal openings had been lower than the department expected. The season also ran without tenders from July until October 14th. Tenders are the boats that pick up fish from fishing boats and haul them to processors. Kodiak's separate herring food and bait fishery opens at 9 this morning. It has a 1,280-ton limit across 8 districts.

4:31Dillingham council proposes selling three tax-foreclosed lots and keeping a fourth

Quickly, around the state. In Dillingham, the city council wants to sell three lots the city took over for unpaid taxes. One would go to a neighbor who needs it for access. A fourth lot would stay with the city for future road and utility work. Hearings on all three are December 3rd.

4:51Review finds errors in about 1 in 4 Kodiak moorage charges it checked

In Kodiak, consultants checked harbor moorage bills and found mistakes in about 1 in 4 of them. Some boat owners were charged too much, and some too little. The harbor is focusing on credits to fix it.

5:03Peltola taken to hospital after Anchorage crash; Fairbanks, Bethel stops moved

In Anchorage, a driver rear-ended the car carrying U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola Saturday evening. She and her family were on the way to the Alaska Federation of Natives banquet. Peltola and her family were taken to the hospital. The campaign says their injuries were minor. Peltola, a Democrat, is challenging Republican Senator Dan Sullivan. The campaign is moving two stops, in Fairbanks and Bethel, to later in the week.

5:33Haines Assembly may adopt development rules the planning commission asked to see again

In Haines, the Assembly may vote tomorrow on new rules for projects that bend the usual zoning rules. The rules would raise the minimum site for those projects in the townsite to 1 acre. The planning commission had asked to see the final version again.

5:49NOAA Fisheries moves 475 tons of unused Bering Sea trawl cod, mostly to small boats

It never got that review. In the Bering Sea, NOAA Fisheries moved 475 tons of Pacific cod that trawlers weren't using. Most of it goes to small hook-and-line and pot boats,

6:02Juneau manager seeks $7.4 million more for Bartlett hospital's finished budget year

through December 31st. In Juneau, the city manager wants permission to spend another seven point four million dollars at Bartlett hospital. That's on top of twelve million dollars approved in July. Both cover a budget year that's already over.

6:15Juneau reopens Lemon Creek playground with fencing meant to keep out bikes

Juneau's Lemon Creek playground, Sigoowu Ye Park, is open again. It was closed more than a year for a renovation and reopened in August. Within weeks, bikes damaged its new surface, and the city closed it again September 15th. It reopened October 21st with fencing meant to keep bikes out.

6:37Weather service extends Yukon Delta Coast high surf advisory to Wednesday

Along the Yukon Delta coast, including Hooper Bay, Emmonak and Chevak, the weather service extended its high surf advisory to 4 in the morning Wednesday. Gusts could reach 50 miles an hour,

6:51Calista shareholders to get about $114 per 100 shares by Nov. 13

with waves 2 to 4 feet above high tide. For Calista shareholders, the Alaska Native corporation approved its Akilista distribution, a yearly payout. This year it totals four point nine five million dollars. It works out to about one hundred fourteen dollars per 100 shares, paid by November 13th. Address and direct deposit updates are due November 2nd.

7:14Alaska may drop 58 education rules, including a 90-day charter school deadline

The state school board wants public comment on scrapping 58 education rules. Today, a charter school application approved by a local school board must reach the state at least 90 days before the next State Board meeting. The proposal would drop that deadline. Another rule sets how library grants are split up.

7:33Wrap-up

Calista shareholders: address and direct deposit updates are due November 2nd. Kodiak food and bait herring opens at 9 this morning. Also today, Victor Joseph, a former Tanana Chiefs Conference chief, is the Alaska Federation of Natives' next co-chair, and snow is lingering on Broad Pass and Paxson. That's all for this edition of the Alaska News daily brief. The full stories are at Alaska News dot com. And that's the way it is, Monday, October twenty-sixth, twenty twenty-six.