Connect with us

Alaska

Alaska Legion Baseball hosts coaches clinic featuring MLB affiliates

Published

on

Alaska Legion Baseball hosts coaches clinic featuring MLB affiliates


ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Despite a snow-covered field just a few yards away, Anchorage youth still found a way to play ball in the halls of West Anchorage High School on Saturday.

Alaska Legion Baseball hosted another edition of its annual professional coaches clinic this past weekend, getting dozens of Anchorage children under the tutelage of Major League teachers.

“You have to have a foundation,” triple-A hitting coach Travis Denker said. “If you don’t, then you’re just going to be swinging and it won’t matter. I definitely love what I’ve seen so far.”

Advertisement

With the guidance of both current and former members of the Arizona Diamondbacks, the clinic focused on drills designed to improve hitting, fielding, and pitching. The four-day camp was open to individuals from as young as second grade up to the high school ranks.

“You can assess pretty quickly their level of aptitude or ability. When you’ve been coaching that long, you know what you need to say and what you need to show,” pitching coach and former MLB pitcher Jeff Bajenaru said.

“The great thing about baseball is you don‘t need to be the biggest, you don‘t need to be the strongest, and you don’t need to be the fastest,” former Diamondbacks assistant pitching coach Dan Carlson added. “There’s no ’one size fits all.’”

The clinic was originally started by 2017 World Series champion and longtime pitching coach Brent Strom, a man who has helped lead the likes of Dallas Keuchel and Justin Verlander to the Cy Young trophy in 2015 and 2019, respectively.

Strom also coached Charlie Morton and current New York Yankee Gerrit Cole to All-Star caliber seasons. He last coached with the Diamondbacks in 2024.

Advertisement

Playing in a state that is notoriously difficult in drawing attention to its athletes, the clinic was another opportunity to showcase Alaska’s ballpark skillset, building off the eye-catching performance that current Oregon Duck Coen Niclai put on last year at the same event.

“He is a guy that stood out last year for sure, not only just size and athleticism, but also how he could hit, how he could throw, how he could catch,” Carlson said. “I promise you, if there’s somebody I see here, I would pass it on to my scout friend at home in Arizona.”

Clinic staff are hopeful the event will continue next year. Interested athletes or parents are encouraged to keep an eye on the Alaska Legion Baseball website for updates and upcoming camps.

Denker also hosts an online coaching program available with a paid subscription on his website.

Advertisement





Source link

Alaska

Dozens of vehicle accidents reported, Anchorage after-school activities canceled, as snowfall buries Southcentral Alaska

Published

on

Dozens of vehicle accidents reported, Anchorage after-school activities canceled, as snowfall buries Southcentral Alaska


ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Up to a foot of snow has fallen in areas across Southcentral as of Tuesday, with more expected into Wednesday morning.

All sports and after-school activities — except high school basketball and hockey activities — were canceled Tuesday for the Anchorage School District. The decision was made to allow crews to clear school parking lots and manage traffic for snow removal, district officials said.

“These efforts are critical to ensuring schools can safely remain open [Wednesday],” ASD said in a statement.

The Anchorage Police Department’s accident count for the past two days shows there have been 55 car accidents since Monday, as of 9:45 a.m. Tuesday. In addition, there have been 86 vehicles in distress reported by the department.

Advertisement
Snow measuring up to 17 inches deep in Anchorage, Alaska, on Jan. 6, 2026.(Alaska’s News Source)

The snowfall — which has brought up to 13 inches along areas of Turnagain Arm and 12 inches in Wasilla — is expected to continue Tuesday, according to latest forecast models. Numerous winter weather alerts are in effect, and inland areas of Southcentral could see winds up to 25 mph, with coastal areas potentially seeing winds over 45 mph.

Up to a foot or more of snow has fallen across Southcentral Alaska, with more snow expected...
Up to a foot or more of snow has fallen across Southcentral Alaska, with more snow expected through the day.(Alaska’s News Source)

Some areas of Southcentral could see more than 20 inches of snowfall by Wednesday, with the Anchorage and Eagle River Hillsides, as well as the foothills of the Talkeetna Mountain, among the areas seeing the most snowfall.

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Alaska

Yundt Served: Formal Charges Submitted to Alaska Republican Party, Asks for Party Sanction and Censure of Senator Rob Yundt

Published

on

Yundt Served: Formal Charges Submitted to Alaska Republican Party, Asks for Party Sanction and Censure of Senator Rob Yundt


Sen. Rob Yundt

On January 3, 2026, Districts 27 and 28 of the Alaska Republican Party received formal charges against Senator Rob Yundt pursuant to Article VII of the Alaska Republican Party Rules.

According to the Alaska Republican Party Rules: “Any candidate or elected official may be sanctioned or censured for any of the following
reasons:
(a) Failure to follow the Party Platform.
(b) Engagement in any activities prohibited by or contrary to these rules or RNC Rules.
(c) Failure to carry out or perform the duties of their office.
(d) Engaging in prohibited discrimination.
(e) Forming a majority caucus in which non-Republicans are at least 1/3 or more of the
coalition.
(f) Engaging in other activities that may be reasonably assessed as bringing dishonor to
the ARP, such as commission of a serious crime.”

Advertisement

Party Rules require the signatures of at least 3 registered Republican constituents for official charges to be filed. The formal charges were signed by registered Republican voters and District N constitutions Jerad McClure, Thomas W. Oels, Janice M. Norman, and Manda Gershon.

Yundt is charged with “failure to adhere and uphold the Alaska Republican Party Platform” and “engaging in conduct contrary to the principles and priorities of the Alaska Republican Party Rules.” The constituents request: “Senator Rob Yundt be provided proper notice of the charges and a full and fair opportunity to respond; and that, upon a finding by the required two-thirds (2/3) vote of the District Committees that the charges are valid, the Committees impose the maximum sanctions authorized under Article VII.”

If the Party finds Yundt guilty of the charges, Yundt may be disciplined with formal censure by the Alaska Republican Party, declaration of ineligibility for Party endorsement, withdrawal of political support, prohibition from participating in certain Party activities, and official and public declaration that Yundt’s conduct and voting record contradict the Party’s values and priorities.

Reasons for the charges are based on Yundt’s active support of House Bill 57, Senate Bill 113, and Senate Bill 92. Constituents who filed the charges argue that HB 57 opposes the Alaska Republican Party Platform by “expanding government surveillance and dramatically increasing education spending;” that SB 113 opposes the Party’s Platform by “impos[ing] new tax burdens on Alaskan consumers and small businesses;” and that SB 92 opposes the Party by “proposing a targeted 9.2% tax on major private-sector energy producer supplying natural gas to Southcentral Alaska.” Although the filed charges state that SB 92 proposes a 9.2% tax, the bill actually proposes a 9.4% tax on income from oil and gas production and transportation.

Many Alaskan conservatives have expressed frustration with Senator Yundt’s legislative decisions. Some, like Marcy Sowers, consider Yundt more like “a tax-loving social justice warrior” than a conservative.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Alaska

Pilot of Alaska flight that lost door plug over Portland sues Boeing, claims company blamed him

Published

on

Pilot of Alaska flight that lost door plug over Portland sues Boeing, claims company blamed him


The Alaska Airlines captain who piloted the Boeing 737 Max that lost a door plug over Portland two years ago is suing the plane’s manufacturer, alleging that the company has tried to shift blame to him to shield its own negligence.

The $10 million suit — filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Tuesday on behalf of captain Brandon Fisher — stems from the dramatic Jan. 5, 2024 mid-air depressurization of Flight 1282, when a door plug in the 26th row flew off six minutes after take off, creating a 2-by-4-foot hole in the plane that forced Fisher and co-pilot Emily Wiprud to perform an emergency landing back at PDX.

None of the 171 passengers or six crew members on board was seriously injured, but some aviation medical experts said that the consequences could have been “catastrophic” had the incident happened at a higher altitude.

Leani Benitez-Cardona, NTSB aerospace engineer, and Matthew Fox, NTSB chief technical advisor for materials, unpacking the door plug Sunday from Alaska Airlines flight 1282, a Boeing 737-9 MAX, in the materials laboratory at NTSB headquarters in Washington, D.C.NTSB

Fisher’s lawsuit is the latest in a series filed against Boeing, including dozens from Flight 1282 passengers. It also names Spirit AeroSystems, a subcontractor that worked on the plane.

Advertisement

The lawsuit blames the incident on quality control issues with the door plug. It argues that Boeing caught five misinstalled rivets in the panel, and that Spirit employees painted over the rivets instead of reinstalling them correctly. Boeing inspectors caught the discrepancy again, the complaint alleges, but when employees finally reopened the panel to fix the rivets, they didn’t reattach four bolts that secured the door panel.

The complaint’s allegations that Boeing employees failed to secure the bolts is in line with a National Transportation Safety Board investigation that came to the conclusion that the bolts hadn’t been replaced.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending