Alaska

USA: Officials begin clearing debris while 3 remain missing in Alaska landslide that left 3 dead

WRANGELL, Alaska (AP) — Searchers looking for three people who remain missing after a massive landslide that killed three others and injured a fourth have changed their strategy from holding an active search to a reactive search that will involve methodically clearing the highway, officials said Thursday.

USA: 3 dead and 3 missing after landslide rips through remote Alaska fishing community

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Three people were killed and three were missing after a landslide barreled down a heavily forested, rain-soaked mountainside and smashed into homes in a remote fishing community in southeast Alaska.

The slide — estimated to be 450 feet (137 meters) wide — occurred at about 9 p.m. Monday during a significant rain and windstorm near Wrangell, an island community of 2,000 people some 155 miles (250 kilometers) south of the state capital of Juneau.

USA: Anchorage adds to record homeless death total as major winter storm drops more than 2 feet of snow

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Four homeless people have died in Anchorage in the last week, underscoring the city’s ongoing struggle to house a large homeless population at the same time winter weather has returned, with more than 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow falling within 48 hours.

The four bring the total number of people who died while living outdoors in Anchorage to 49 year this year, a record that easily eclipses the 24 people who died on the streets of the state’s largest city last year, according to a count kept by the Anchorage Daily News.

USA: Plane that crashed, killing Rep. Peltola’s husband, had over 500 pounds of meat and antlers on board

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A small plane that crashed in rural Alaska earlier this month, killing the husband of U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, was carrying more than 500 pounds of moose meat and antlers from a remote hunting camp when it went down shortly after takeoff, according to an investigation report released Thursday.

Crammed with tourists, Alaska’s capital wonders what will happen as its magnificent glacier recedes

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Thousands of tourists spill onto a boardwalk in Alaska’s capital city every day from cruise ships towering over downtown. Vendors hawk shoreside trips and rows of buses stand ready to whisk visitors away, with many headed for the area’s crown jewel: the Mendenhall Glacier.

USA: No survivors in Alaska helicopter crash

JUNEAU (Alaskia), July 22 (NNN-XINHUA) — No survivors were found after a helicopter crashed in the US state of Alaska Thursday night, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials.

Four people were onboard a Bell 206L-4 craft operating out of Maritime Helicopters in Homer, a private charter company, said Alaska NTSB Chief Clint Johnson. The helicopter lost contact via an electronic tracking system around 7 or 8 p.m. Thursday local time (0300 or 0400 GMT Friday).

USA: Strong earthquake strikes Alaska peninsula, tsunami warning lifted

July 16 (Reuters) - An earthquake of magnitude 7.2 struck the Alaska peninsula region early on Sunday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, and a tsunami warning for nearby regions was issued but later withdrawn.

The U.S. Tsunami Warning System withdrew a warning it had issued for coastal areas of South Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula.

USGS revised the magnitude of the earthquake down from an initial reading of 7.4, and it revised the depth of the quake to 32.6 km (20.3 miles) from an initial 9.3 km.

USA: 10 states plan to sue EPA over standards for residential wood-burning stoves

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Attorneys general from 10 states plan to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, saying its failure to review and ensure emissions standards for residential wood-burning stoves has allowed the continued sale of appliances that could worsen pollution.

That means programs that encourage people to trade in older stoves and other wood-burning appliances, such as forced-air furnaces, haven’t necessarily improved air quality, the states say.

Cruising to Nome: The first U.S. deep water port for the Arctic to host cruise ships, military

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The cruise ship with about 1,000 passengers anchored off Nome, too big to squeeze into into the tundra city’s tiny port. Its well-heeled tourists had to shimmy into small boats for another ride to shore.

It was 2016, and at the time, the cruise ship Serenity was the largest vessel ever to sail through the Northwest Passage.

USA: Tragedy that left 5 dead or missing puts spotlight on safety in Alaska charter fishing industry

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Morgan Robidou posed next to the bright aluminum hull of his prized new vessel, a 30-foot (9-meter) fishing boat that he could use to take friends, family or tourists out after salmon or halibut in the bountiful waters of southeast Alaska.

“Official boat owner,” he wrote when he posted the photo on social media last October, to congratulatory responses from friends.

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