Alaska
Miss Manners: When a host cares more about their dogs than their guests
DEAR MISS MANNERS: My husband is the president of a local college alumni chapter, and I am the secretary. The chapter recently held an alumni meeting at the residence of the headmaster of a local private high school. Though the setting was a private home, the event was a formal gathering attended by the university president and various dignitaries.
Upon our arrival, five dogs began jumping on us and the other guests. We did not know that the headmaster and his wife had dogs. As I am severely allergic, I quietly asked the hostess if the dogs could be kept upstairs during the meeting.
She took great offense, loudly declaring that the dogs were her “children” and refusing to move them. I spent the evening wheezing and sneezing through my presentation to the university president.
Was I wrong to make this request? Should I have suffered in silence to avoid offending the hosts?
GENTLE READER: As unpleasant as this situation was for you, Miss Manners can’t help being relieved that it wasn’t even more dangerous.
You and your husband are not employees of the college, but its beneficiaries. Therefore any estrangement would have been a loss to the school, and not to your own status.
And evidently, the headmaster and his wife do not have human children, if they believe youngsters of any kind should be jumping on their guests — especially ones suffering physical distress. (One wonders at the standard of behavior in the headmaster’s school, if this is what prevails at home.)
Of course you should not have stayed and suffered. You could have apologized to the guests that you had to leave because of your allergy, or you could have stuck the university president with that task. He would have had a strong interest in not alienating the leaders of the alumni group.
• • •
DEAR MISS MANNERS: We’ve hosted an annual Kentucky Derby party in our home for years. We invite most of the same people every year, with a few new folks now and then.
We send out the invitations and let them know that we are providing all the food, and also tell them what drinks we will be serving. We ask that they RSVP so we will know how many to prepare for.
We have had as few as 25 people show up, and as many as 60 — the majority of whom had not responded to our invitation. I feel compelled to let the non-responders know how rude it is to ignore an invitation and how hard it makes it for us to prepare, but I fear that would be rude as well.
How do I handle non-responders? My first inclination is to ask them if they understand what “RSVP” means, or just to drop them from the list next year. Help.
GENTLE READER: The non-rude way to let them know how rude they are is to ask whether they plan to attend, and then to drop them from next year’s list.
But Miss Manners wonders why your invitations don’t plainly state “please respond” instead of using a silly French form that some people really might not understand.
ANCHORAGE — Southwest Airlines (WN) has launched its first-ever service to Alaska, beginning seasonal flights to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) from Denver International Airport (DEN) and Harry Reid International Airport (LAS).
The carrier scheduled Anchorage service to begin on May 15, 2026, with once-daily flights through the summer from both Denver and Las Vegas. Southwest’s booking site now markets Anchorage flights, with fares and connecting itineraries visible from multiple U.S. cities.
Southwest adds its 43rd state
Anchorage becomes Southwest’s 122nd airport and brings Alaska into the carrier’s domestic network as its 43rd U.S. state. The airline had announced the move in October 2025, describing Anchorage as one of several new 2026 destinations added as part of a broader network expansion.
The launch follows Southwest’s recent additions of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Knoxville, Tennessee; Sint Maarten; and Santa Rosa/Sonoma County, California. Anchorage is the most geographically distinct of those additions, extending Southwest’s map into a market where air travel is unusually central to state connectivity.
Why anchorage matters
For Alaska, Southwest’s arrival adds another large U.S. carrier at ANC and increases competition on two important Lower 48 corridors. Alaska transportation officials framed the service as a boost for passenger choice, tourism, business travel, and broader state connectivity.
The Denver and Las Vegas launch points are also strategic. Denver gives Southwest a strong inland connecting point to much of its domestic network, while Las Vegas adds another high-volume leisure gateway. Together, the routes allow Southwest to test Alaska demand without immediately entering more crowded West Coast-to-Anchorage markets.
Part of a larger southwest reset
The Anchorage launch comes as Southwest continues to reshape both its network and onboard product. The airline has been rolling out assigned and premium seating, free Wi-Fi for Rapid Rewards members, and in-seat power on Boeing 737-8 aircraft as part of its redesigned cabin strategy.
That context matters. Anchorage is not just a novelty dot on the map; it is part of Southwest’s wider attempt to broaden vacation demand, strengthen connecting relevance, and enter markets that historically sat outside its traditional network profile.
Impacts
For travelers, the immediate impact is simple: Anchorage now has new seasonal nonstop options from Denver and Las Vegas, backed by Southwest’s large connecting network. For ANC, the service adds another national carrier during the peak summer travel window.
For Southwest, Alaska is a symbolic and strategic expansion. The carrier is moving beyond its old domestic playbook, adding more geographically ambitious destinations while modernizing the product around assigned seating, premium options, and loyalty benefits. The real test will be whether Anchorage performs strongly enough to return beyond the initial summer season.
Alaska
‘Minimal fire activity observed’, Firefighters work to put out fire in area burned in 2014 Funny River Fire
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Firefighters are battling a human caused fire on the Kenai Peninsula, the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection (DOF) said.
The Killey River Fire was discovered Friday evening, DOF said. A pilot and a boat operator reported it.
“It is burning along the edge of the waterway in the burned area of the 2014 Funny River Fire,” DOF said. The fire “is about 2.25-miles up the Killey River from its confluence with the Kenai River.”
As of Saturday morning, the fire was about 8.2 acres.
“[Precipitation], helicopter bucket drops, and the air tanker slowed the fire and allowed firefighters to cut saw line and build hose lays around the fire,” DOF said Saturday.
In a note from Saturday on the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center Situation Dashboard, it said minimal fire activity was observed after firefighters worked “around snags in the old fire scar. The crew engaged to secure the west side of the fire with anticipation of strong gusts from the east.”
Burn permits have been suspended in the Kenai-Kodiak area, as well as the Fairbanks and Delta prevention areas, DOF said.
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