JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — For years, a popular part of many cruises in southeast Alaska has been sailing up Tracy Arm, a long, narrow fjord marked by steep mountains, glittering waterfalls and calving glaciers.

But this season, major cruise lines are skipping it. A massive landslide last summer sent parts of a glacier crashing into the water, generated a tsunami and pushed a wave high up the opposite mountain wall. Several companies opting out cited safety concerns with the still-hazardous slopes.

“Tracy Arm is the majestic princess, you know, she is the queen of fjords,” said travel agent Nate Vallier.

The destination cruise and tour companies have chosen as an alternative — nearby Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier — is “still beautiful by any means, but it’s just not the same,” he said.

Tracy Arm, southeast of Juneau, is a roughly 30-mile (50-kilometer) fjord that features two tidewater glaciers — the North and South Sawyer — and wildlife, including seals and bears.

Early on Aug. 10, 2025, a landslide originating high on a slope above the toe of the South Sawyer, near the head of the fjord, sent water surging more than a quarter mile (more than half a kilometer) up the mountain wall opposite the slide and out Tracy Arm.

No ships were in the fjord, officials said, and no deaths or injuries were reported. But kayakers camped on an island near where Tracy and Endicott arms meet had much of their gear swept away by the rushing water.

Southeast Alaska, largely encompassed by a temperate rainforest, is no stranger to landslides. And while it’s long been known the fjord network in the Tracy Arm region has been susceptible, the slope that failed had not been identified as an active hazard before last summer’s collapse, said Gabriel Wolken, manager of the state’s climate and ice hazards program.

Scientists are working to understand not only what caused the slope to collapse but to understand what other hazards might exist in the fjord, he said.

The area remains unstable, said Steven Sobieszczyk, a U.S. Geological Survey spokesperson. Steep landslide areas continue to change for years after an initial slide, he said by email.

“Continued rockfall and small-scale sliding from the exposed landslide scar are expected and could impact the water, potentially causing a future localized tsunami,” he said.

Major cruise companies, including Holland America, Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean said in response to inquiries from The Associated Press that they are replacing a Tracy Arm visit with Endicott Arm. MSC Cruises, Virgin Voyages and regional tour company Allen Marine also are doing Endicott and Dawes Glacier instead. Norwegian Cruise Line said it does not have voyages sailing by Tracy Arm.

Endicott already has been a stop for some ships previously and an alternative when conditions in Tracy Arm, such as excess ice, have been unsafe.

Vallier, who owns the Alaska Travel Desk, said he would have liked cruise companies to give travelers more advance notice about itinerary changes.

After leaving Seattle, the first ships of the season are due April 21 in Ketchikan and in Juneau the following week.

Seeing a glacier — particularly a dynamic, calving glacier — is a bucket-list item for many tourists, and that’s what has made Tracy Arm so popular, he said. While the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau is a major attraction for the capital city and cruise port, many visitors view it from across a large lake, and it has diminished or entirely retreated from view from some hiking overlooks.

Kimberly Lebeda of Wichita, Kansas, was excited when she booked tickets for a Tracy Arm excursion for her family last year. Lebeda, who researches areas she visits, said she was sold on the scenery.

But the night before the stop, they were told that due to ice in Tracy Arm, they would go up Endicott instead. Her family and others who’d booked the excursion got off the ship and onto a smaller boat with glass windows, abundant seating and snacks. They saw seals on ice floes, waterfalls and “a wall of ice” calve from Dawes Glacier, she said.

She called it “an amazing thing to witness.”

“Was it worth it? Yes, because I don’t know if I’ll ever get to do that trip again,” she said. “Again, I haven’t ever been to Tracy Arm so I can’t really compare. But to me, was it worth it and was it exciting? Absolutely.”

In a state with some of the highest rates of sexual abuse in the nation, why are Alaska’s lawmakers so slow to act on a bill aimed at protecting minors?

House Bill 101 unanimously passed the House last session but has since languished in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it’s been shielded from any action. The reason for that? Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Matt Claman, an Anchorage Democrat who is running for governor, wants to use the bill as an anchor for an omnibus crime package that’s yet to be unveiled. The bill’s sponsor, Anchorage Rep. Andrew Gray, also a Democrat, wants to keep HB 101 a standalone item, arguing it has a better chance of becoming law on its own rather than being watered down in an omnibus package with who-knows-what legislation yet to be attached — and he’s right.

The crux of the bill itself is simple: Raise the age of consent from 16 to 18. It’s a no-brainer of a bill, and it should be passed on its own rather than be cobbled into an omnibus behemoth.

Omnibus bills have a track record of becoming legislative junk drawers — catch-all packages that often include legislators’ pet projects, broadly sweeping proposals or last-minute amendments that can sink legislation. What starts as a clear bill can quickly derail into a diluted version of itself, which benefits no one at the end of the day. It’s exactly for those reasons that some lawmakers — in this case Sen. Claman — build omnibus bills in the first place, and it’s bad governance.

That offense is especially acute here. House Bill 101 didn’t just pass the House — it passed unanimously. That’s a rare feat in this age of partisan gridlock. Ensconcing it in a multi-layered package is pure politics, an attempt to create a prop on which to hang a gubernatorial campaign.

Rep. Gray has been correctly explicit about the danger. The more pieces you weld onto a bill, the more chances you create for opposition to form. A measure that could pass 20-0 in the Senate on its own today suddenly becomes vulnerable when tied to unrelated policies slated for tomorrow. And it’s not just that an omnibus package is harder to pass — the building of these mega-bills is expressly undemocratic. Voters and lawmakers should be able to clearly support initiatives that rise or fall on their own merits. When multiple laws are packaged together, lawmakers are forced to accept or deny the whole package rather than each individual proposal. This subverts a full debate and leads to broadly unpopular laws being passed against voters’ wishes.

There also is a time factor at play. With the legislative session rolling fast toward a scheduled May 20 close, pushing forth a yet-to-be-seen omnibus package is like hitting the emergency brake as the train pulls into the station. In a Legislature where time is short and priorities compete for attention, an omnibus rollout is a risk lawmakers should hesitate to embrace.

Alaska consistently ranks at or near the top in the nation for sexual assault and abuse. More than half of reported sex offenses in Alaska involve crimes against children. The current law leaves a gap that predators can and do exploit. At 16, a teenager in Alaska can legally consent to sex with someone of any age. That means when a 16- or 17-year-old is targeted by a much older adult, the burden often falls on the teen to prove in court that the encounter was not consensual — a high bar that can complicate prosecutions and discourage reporting.

House Bill 101 aims to fix that by shifting the legal framework in a way that better protects minors and gives law enforcement clearer tools. It puts the responsibility where it belongs — on the adult, not the child. Teens ages 13 to 15 could still legally engage with someone up to four years older, and 16- and 17-year-olds with someone up to six years older. The goal is not to police teenage relationships but to draw a clearer, more defensible line when adults prey on minors.

Lawmakers can and should vet this and all bills thoroughly, including fiscal impacts and how the law would be enforced. But those debates belong in the open, on the record, with amendments if needed and votes taken accordingly. They are not a justification for keeping the bill parked in committee or folding it into a broader package that hasn’t even been introduced.

Alaskans deserve to know where their senators stand on this issue. Families, educators and advocates want clarity on whether lawmakers are willing to strengthen protections for minors. And despite Sen. Claman’s grandstanding, victims — past and future — deserve a system that doesn’t make accountability harder than it needs to be.

There is a simple path forward. Move House Bill 101 out of committee as a standalone bill, bring it to the floor and take the vote.

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU/KTVF) — State troopers who fatally shot and killed a 24-year-old Fairbanks man on New Year’s Day will face no criminal charges, Alaska prosecutors announced, after an independent review determined they were legally justified in their use of deadly force.

Content Warning: This article contains video and information that some readers might find disturbing.

Newly-released redacted Alaska Department of Public Safety incident records show troopers were called at about 11:28 a.m. Jan. 1 to a home on Gradelle Avenue after a report of a domestic disturbance involving Rexford. Rexford had been released that morning from Fairbanks Memorial Hospital’s behavioral health unit, where he had been admitted since Christmas Day.

According to the incident report, Rexford was sitting on a couch as troopers and family members talked with him about returning to the hospital for an involuntary mental health commitment.

The report says Rexford suddenly ran into the kitchen, grabbed large kitchen knives and began making repeated stabbing motions at a trooper, ultimately forcing him to the ground.

The report also says the trooper sustained a small knife wound to his hand during the struggle, which was confirmed by body-worn camera footage.

Two troopers fired their service weapons during the struggle, the report says. Rexford was struck and pronounced dead at the scene. Rexford’s brother Adam — identified by the family at a January vigil — was also struck by gunfire during the shooting, the incident report says. He was transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he was treated for a gunshot wound to the head, according to the incident report.

Alaska State Troopers have identified the troopers who fired as Trooper John Faul and Trooper Wyatt Miller. According to AST, both troopers had about five and a half months of service at the time of the shooting. The incident report says Faul also had more than three years of prior law enforcement experience as a patrol deputy with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.

The Alaska Bureau of Investigation investigated the shooting, and the findings were independently reviewed by the Office of Special Prosecutions, which has declined to file criminal charges against the troopers.

Alaska’s News Source has reviewed body-worn camera footage and 911 audio released as part of the investigation.

Incident report details

The report says the first 911 call came from Rexford’s brother, who told dispatch his brother was having medical issues and was breaking items in the home and asked that two troopers respond.

The report says a second call came from Rexford’s father, who told dispatch his son was destroying property and had just been released from the hospital’s fourth floor. The father told dispatch no one had been hurt but that Rexford might need to be restrained, according to the report.

The report says troopers were talking with Rexford about a Title 47 — an involuntary mental health commitment — to return him to the hospital. During that conversation, Rexford said multiple times that he wanted to die, according to the report.

Investigators wrote that from the time Rexford stood up and rushed to the kitchen until the final shots were fired was about eight seconds, based on their review of body-worn camera video.

Vigil held for Rexford

The decision comes nearly three months after family and friends gathered Jan. 26 at Golden Heart Plaza in downtown Fairbanks for a candlelight vigil to remember Rexford.

Rexford’s sister, Linda Rexford, read a statement from their parents.

“He liked to go biking, walking and fishing with his family. We were very proud of him buying his first brand new car this past summer by himself,” she said. “He was a kind, thoughtful, caring person who wanted to become a registered nurse. He was excited about being able to do the things he wanted to do and looked forward to working in the medical field in the future.”

Linda Rexford said her brother was born Nov. 7, 2001, in Fairbanks. She said he attended University Park Elementary School, Ryan Middle School and West Valley High School, and became a certified nursing assistant through the University of Alaska Community and Technical College.

Rexford’s uncle, Robert Kious, said at the vigil he wished troopers had used tasers.

What’s next

DPS has said an administrative process can follow officer-involved shootings to review tactics, training and whether any policy violations occurred. AST has confirmed the next steps will be an administrative review to look at tactics, training and whether policies were followed.

The Alaska Department of Law said it was in the process of being released the Office of Special Prosecutions’ official review on Friday.

The Rexford family’s supporters are now calling for a rally at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 11 at Geist and University in Fairbanks in support of William and Adam Rexford.

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