Alaska
Alaska Museums brace for financial impact of President Trump’s latest executive order
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – In an effort to continue the downsizing of the federal government, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday titled “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy.”
In the latest order Trump outlined the agencies he wants to see shuttered.
One of the organizations is the Institute for Museum and Library Services. The institute accounts for 250 million dollars in taxpayer funding that gets distributed throughout the United States.
According to the director of Museums Alaska, Dixie Clough, the impacts in Alaska will be felt by the dismantling of the institute.
“[The federal government] supports all of our museums, all of our libraries,” Clough said.
There are over 100 museums throughout the state — each one with unique needs. The agency handles reimbursable grants, meaning the museums spend the money they have on hand to complete projects and are reimbursed with funding through the agency.
“So, if someone currently has a grant that they’re working on, they are spending the money upfront, and then they have to ask ILMS for reimbursement, any museum with a grant currently will have already spent money,” Clough explained.
In Alaska there are two primary ways the funding is used. The first is through expanding access to the resources available through the museums, these include digitizing exhibits and creating new exhibits.
“The federal funding from ILMS really allowed museums to do impactful projects that would reach more people and tell more history for Alaska, to not only their own communities but communities further out that they probably won’t be able to do anymore,” Clough said.
The second way is by expanding training programs through the museums to keep talent in the state.
“Quite a few of our past IMLS grants in Alaska have been one museum applying for a grant and then providing training to a lot of smaller institutions,” she said. “So, quite a few of these smaller volunteer-run organizations who rely on maybe IMLS-funded training through other museums won’t be able to have access to that anymore,”.
Clough also explained the potential impact on Alaska’s tourism industry.
“Alaska has such almost like a fantasy world in a lot of people’s brains,” she said. “Museums are a really big part of the tourism industry. When you get off a cruise ship, you want to go to a museum, learn about the town you’re in.”
The goal of downsizing the federal government and reducing waste spending has been one of the President’s core messages. The order gives the agency seven days to fulfill the request of the White House or risk losing its funding. President Trump says this is necessary to help cut down on the waste in the federal government.
“These are people in many cases they don’t show up for work, nobody even knows if they exist,” President Trump said to press correspondents on Air Force One.
Clough says that when we get to the end of the week ILMS may not exist and the long-term damage has yet to be seen.
“The history and culture and art of Alaska is so important and having that federal funding allowed museums to share it more with more people in different ways, and with this executive order, that ability will be very much decimated,” she concluded.
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JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – Two men were arrested in separate drug investigations led by the Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs (SEACAD) task force in Southeast Alaska after authorities intercepted packages containing methamphetamine, according to the Juneau Police Department.
In one case, investigators in Ketchikan identified a suspicious package on Oct. 28, that was determined to contain around 2,056 grams – roughly 4.5 pounds – of methamphetamine. The package was delivered on Nov. 1 and picked up by 33-year-old Louisiana resident Adidas Nike Zion Brown, who took it to his residence on the 1000 block of Dunton Street, according to the Juneau Police Department.
After Brown opened the package, officers seized the drugs, which have an estimated street value of $315,960. Officers also seized a firearm at the scene. Brown was arrested and taken to the Ketchikan Correctional Center.
Brown is facing three counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance in the third degree, two counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance in the fourth degree and two counts of misconduct involving a weapon in the third degree.
In a separate investigation, SEACAD identified two suspicious packages shipped to Haines between Oct. 27 and Nov. 4. The packages were found to contain about 235 – about half a pound – of methamphetamine combined.
On Nov. 5, the packages were delivered in Haines and picked up by 30-year-old resident Austin Elmer Benedict Hotch, who took it to a residence on the 200 block of 2nd Avenue, according to the Juneau Police Department. Investigators later seized the drugs, valued at about $50,000. Officers also seized roughly $24,000 in cash.
Hotch was arrested and taken to the Haines Borough Community Jail on a charge of misconduct involving a controlled substance in the third degree.
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The Egan Civic and Convention Center in downtown Anchorage closed Tuesday night as a shelter for hundreds of Alaskans displaced by ex-Typhoon Halong last month.
The announcement came as over 300 people who were evacuated from Western Alaska communities were being moved from both the Egan Center and Alaska Airlines Center on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus into private, non-congregate shelters.
Shelter operations from the Egan moved to the Spenard Community Recreation Center at 2020 West 48th Avenue. That location will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
The strong storm made landfall over Oct. 11-12 on Alaska’s western coast, leaving a path of destruction in dozens of villages in the Kuskokwim delta area. One person was confirmed dead and two others were still missing.
The Spenard rec center shelter will be temporary, according to Bryan Fisher, director of the homeland security division.
“Closing the Egan Center doesn’t signal the end of our shelter support mission or diminish the urgent need to transition more people into non-congregate housing,” Fisher said in a prepared release.
While shelter operations ended at the Egan Center, the building will still be used as a United States Postal Service center for incoming mail for those displaced by Halong. That service will stop at the end of November, authorities said.
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A new center opened Monday to provide disaster recovery services to Western Alaska residents displaced by ex-Typhoon Halong who evacuated to the Anchorage area, state officials said.
Available services at the hub include help with state and federal disaster recovery aid applications, business and homeowner loan application support, social services, and tribal identification replacement, the State Emergency Operations Center said in a statement Monday. State officials said the effort is in cooperation with Calista Corp.
The Disaster Assistance Center, located in the Calista building at 1400 W. Benson Blvd, Suite 110, will be open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Nov. 14, according to emergency officials. Evacuees needing a ride to the center can contact Alaska 211 by dialing 211 or 1-800-478-2221, emailing alaska211@ak.org or visiting alaska211.org.
Similar services have been offered in Bethel, where some displaced by last month’s disastrous Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta storm have also sought shelter.
State emergency officials in an update Sunday said that there have been 1,280 applications for state individual assistance and 491 applications for Federal Emergency Management Agency aid. The federal aid became available after President Donald Trump’s Oct. 22 federal disaster declaration.
The deadline for those seeking state aid is Dec. 9. It is Dec. 22 for anyone applying for federal assistance.
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