Alaska

In Alaska’s U.S. House election, the leading campaigns are thinking about third options • Alaska Beacon

Published

1 day ago

October 30, 2024

In Alaska’s U.S. House election, the leading campaigns are thinking about third options • Alaska Beacon

In the final week of Alaska’s closely contested U.S. House race, supporters of the two leading candidates are urging some Alaskans to consider a third option.

With incumbent Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola in a tight election against Republican candidate Nick Begich, her campaign has begun running ads favorable toward Alaskan Independence Party candidate John Wayne Howe. A pro-Peltola political action committee is also running online ads in support of Howe.

Howe, chair of the AIP, finished fifth in Alaska’s top-four primary election, but advanced to the general election after two higher-ranked Republicans withdrew.

The ads, listed on the disclosure website of Facebook’s parent company, Meta, are targeted principally at middle-aged Alaska men — a demographic that favors Begich, according to public opinion polls conducted during the campaign.

The strategy, as outlined in a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee document, is to get non-Peltola voters to pick Howe instead of Begich, then rank no one as their second choice in the ranked choice election.

That would sap potential votes from Begich, boosting Peltola’s chances.

“It is important that people who vote for John Wayne Howe rank him first and do not consider other choices,” the DCCC said in a website post dated Oct. 23.

One of the ads, from a pro-Peltola committee called Vote Alaska Before Party, was published starting Oct. 21, shortly before the DCCC post. The other three ads, run by Peltola’s campaign, were published starting this week.

All three note that Begich was born in Florida and suggest that voters should vote for someone who was born in the state. Both Peltola and Howe were born in Alaska.

On the Republican side, the National Republican Congressional Committee said in an Oct. 9 post on its website that “liberal Democrats with a college degree under 35 in urban and suburban Anchorage and Juneau need to hear that Democrat Eric Hafner supports Medicare for All and Defunding ICE.”

Hafner, the fourth candidate in Alaska’s top-four general election, is running as a Democrat but is imprisoned in New York state and is likely ineligible to serve as Alaska’s lone member of the House if he were elected.

If a Democrat were to vote for Hafner as their first choice and decline to pick Peltola second, it would reduce Peltola’s odds of victory.

No ads with the NRCC’s suggested message are listed in the Meta ad library or in the political ad disclosure files of KTUU-TV, the state’s largest TV station.

Earlier this month, Begich noted on a podcast with former Republican U.S. Senate Kelly Tshibaka that Hafner supports Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee. Peltola has declined to endorse Harris to date.

Begich’s statement, coupled with the NRCC’s message, prompted a harsh message from the Alaska Democratic Party, whose director accused Begich and the NRCC of using “dirty tricks.”

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Alaska

A hunter in Alaska is found dead after being mauled by a bear

Published

15 mins ago

October 31, 2024

Press Room

A hunter in Alaska is found dead after being mauled by a bear

Toby, an orphaned four-year-old Alaskan coastal brown bear, stands and looks out over the compound at the Fortress of the Bear Center in Sitka, Alaska, on Aug. 1, 2013.

Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

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Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

A man from Sitka, Alaska, was found dead Wednesday after he was apparently attacked by a brown bear during a deer hunting trip, according to officials.

Tad Fujioka, a 50-year-old resident of Sitka, had been reported overdue from the deer hunting trip on Tuesday, the Alaska Department of Public Safety said in a statement. Fujioka’s remains were found at 11:30 a.m. local time Wednesday by search teams and an investigation shows “he was the likely victim of a fatal bear mauling,” the agency said.

Wildlife Services kills hundreds of thousands of noninvasive animals a year. This photo, obtained from the USDA via the Freedom of Information Act, shows a gray wolf in a trap laid by a Wildlife Services employee.

Tim DeSpain, an information officer with the department, said Fujioka had killed a deer before being attacked by the brown bear.

“The area is remote and there are a lot of bears,” DeSpain told NPR.

Troopers and members of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game searched for bears “until daylight constraints affected the search, and did not locate the bears,” DeSpain said. “The bears consumed the deer and left the immediate area which is remote and difficult to access.”

Members of Fujioka’s family have been notified, the public safety department said.

Sitka is located in southeastern Alaska and is a community on Baranof Island. The community is nearly 100 miles south of Juneau, the state’s capital.

There are 30,000 brown bears estimated to be in Alaska, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. They normally live along Alaska’s southern coast and can weigh up to 1,500 pounds.

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Alaska

Halloween brings stormy weather to Alaska

Published

8 hours ago

October 31, 2024

Press Room

Halloween brings stormy weather to Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – A sunny break on Wednesday over Southcentral Alaska gave residents a chance to take a breather after nearly a foot of snow Monday to Tuesday.

But don’t get too relaxed, because Halloween in Southcentral is calling for snow and rain.

As for overnight, there is a chance of snow and temperatures in the 20s. That will mean slick roads, and with snow expected to fall Thursday morning, it could cover up those slippery areas of roads and highways. Take it slow in the snow!

The storm set to hit Southcentral is already pushing snow, freezing rain and gusty winds over Southwest Alaska. The storm is centered over the Bering Sea.

No advisories or warnings going into Wednesday night, but this next storm is likely to move in very challenging weather conditions all over again. Starting early Thursday, snow is likely to be falling over the Kenai Peninsula.

The snow will move north to Anchorage, with 2 to 3 inches possible, and then mix with rain by afternoon, and in another possibility, if temperatures remain too warm, rain could be substantial, about 7/10 of an inch.

Southeast Alaska will get a break Thursday and Friday too. Halloween should remain mostly dry, with just a few showers. Another storm front reaches the region by the weekend.

The hot spot for Alaska on Wednesday was Sitka at 55 degrees and the cold spot was Anaktuvuk Pass with a temperature of 15 degrees below zero.

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Alaska

Hunter found fatally mauled by bear in Alaska

Published

15 hours ago

October 31, 2024

Press Room

Hunter found fatally mauled by bear in Alaska

An overdue hunter in Alaska was found dead Wednesday after an apparent attack by at least one brown bear, state police said.

Alaska State Troopers were called shortly after 6 p.m. Tuesday after Tad Fujioka, 50, of Sitka, failed to return from a deer hunting trip, the law enforcement agency said.

A search was launched, and his remains were found at around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, state troopers said in a daily report of incidents.

“Investigation revealed he was the likely victim of a fatal bear mauling,” they said in the report.

Fujioka had killed a deer at the location before he was attacked by at least one bear, said Tim DeSpain, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Public Safety.

Investigators know a brown bear was involved because that’s the only type of bear in the area, DeSpain said.

“The area is remote and there are a lot of bears in that area,” he said.

State troopers and officials with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game searched for the bear or bears that might be responsible but did not find them, DeSpain said.

Sitka is a city and borough of about 8,400 people in the Alaska panhandle, southwest of Juneau.

Alaska has black bears, brown bears — which include grizzlies — and polar bears.

There are around 100,000 black bears and around 30,000 brown bears in Alaska, the state Department of Fish and Game says on its website. There are far fewer polar bears, which the state considers threatened, and they range far to the north of Sitka.

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