ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is worried about cuts to military jobs, specifically ones that prevent sexual assault, suicides and behavior problems within the forces.

“Over the last week, our offices received multiple reports of pending Department of Defense guidance that would significantly alter, or even terminate, large portions of the Department’s sexual assault prevention and response (SAPR) services. According to these reports, SAPR guidelines are included in a list recently circulated by Deputy Secretary Feinberg for review and potential cancellation,” Sens. Murkowski and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, wrote in a joint statement.

The Associated Press reported that there were plans to have about 2,500 personnel in place to do this prevention work throughout the military services, combatant commands, ships and bases by fiscal year 2028, but those have been slowed because of the hiring freeze and cuts.

Newsweek has reported that some military branches have paused sexual assault prevention trainings after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on diversity, equity and inclusion to evaluate all programs.

The pause comes despite the Department of Defense reporting that there has been “significant progress on reducing unwanted sexual contact.”

The DOD says rates of unwanted sexual contact affecting active-component women decreased from 8.4% to 6.8% between 2021 and 2023. The rates of unwanted sexual contact affecting active-component men also appeared to decline from 1.5% to 1.3%, which the DOD says is not a statistically significant change.

Nearly 7,000 fewer service members experienced sexual assault in 2023 than in 2021, according to DOD estimates.

Emails to the DOD have not been returned.

Murkowski’s letter says that during Sec. of Defense Pete Hegseth’s confirmation process, he vowed DOD would do better about “training and ingrain the fact that sexual abuse and assault is not tolerated in the force.”

The letter goes on to say that, “Meaningful progress toward this goal is fundamentally incompatible with any effort to dismantle those SAPR-related programs and regulations that are already in place. Even minor reductions risk compromising decades of progress toward ending sexual abuse and harassment in the Department. Prompt action is essential to reinforcing victims’ belief in the words of their leadership.”

Alaska’s News Source has asked the senator’s office for additional information such as a request to see the list circulating about possible cuts, if Murkowski has received a response from Hegseth and if the AP numbers are accurate.

This story will be updated with a response.

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Anchorage is in the midst of its 5th wettest April on record. So far the city has recorded 1.38 inches of precipitation, when .43″ is the normal rainfall amount for the month.

Southeast Alaska seeing some of the wettest weather today. Ketchikan getting an inch and a half of rain, with more than 6-tenths in Wrangell, Petersburg and Sitka.

An area of low pressure is over the Aleutians and will be the weather maker over the next several days. Winds will increase in the interior by Tuesday. Cold Bay saw the highest gust of wind at 52 mph.

The low circulation will ensure clouds and rain over the southern areas of the state, and generate some gusty winds as well.

Southcentral will see rain, heavy at times in Prince William Sound and the Seward area too. Otherwise, it is scattered shower in the Matanuska and Susitna Valleys and Kenai Peninsula.

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Jessica Michelle Singleton’s Alaska tour of her newest hour-long comedy special brought her back to her teenage stomping grounds in Anchorage.

Touring performers aren’t always frequent in Alaska, and Singleton admits even as a teenager, her heart didn’t yearn to stay in Alaska when she was a student at Service High School

“I break out into hives when I get too cold,” Singleton said.

She’s performed at comedy festivals in Alaska before, along with her credits as a paid regular at The Comedy Store in LA, two recorded albums, and shorter specials on Hulu and Peacock.

Past Alaska audiences haven’t disappointed her.

“Being from Alaska, when I did the festival because we didn’t do just Anchorage, we did Homer and Seward and people just packed out,” Singleton said. “We’re so excited and I think it’s also because they don’t get a lot of live stand-up comedy.”

Singleton said shortly after filming her first hour-long special, “Hi Y’all,” Jake Armstrong, an Alaskan comic approached Singleton with an idea for a local tour. Now in the midst a tour through the Milk Run, Singleton said she’s seeing different kinds of audiences than larger cities might offer.

″I love going into smaller cities and smaller towns on the road because everyone’s so much more pumped up, because they don’t take it for granted,” Singleton said.

“Last night, somebody drove 7 hours to see me in Skagway.”

Her newest special isn’t heavy on Alaska-related material, Singleton said most of “Hi Y’all” is focused on her childhood in southern Mississippi before her mom moved their family to Anchorage.

“We don’t have time for that. That’s gotta be the next special,” she said.

However, there is one clip she hopes to show at her Anchorage debut at Bear Tooth Theatrepub that was removed during the editing of the full special.

“There will be more [Alaska jokes] in future specials, but I have done some throughout the years, little chunks, and had a couple of clips go viral where I’m talking about Alaska.” Singleton said.

Thus far in her tour, Singleton has performed stand up for Alaska audiences in Ketchikan, Skagway and Juneau, but her April 27 debut in Anchorage will be a screening of the taped special followed by a Q&A.

Following the Anchorage debut, she’ll be back on the road in Talkeetna, Cordova, Fairbanks and Palmer.

Find details for Singleton’s tickets and tour dates here.

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