Alaska
Seward, an Alaska tourism hotspot, gets grant for shore-based system to power docked cruise ships • Alaska Beacon
The Port of Seward, which serves a coastal Kenai Peninsula town that is a tourism hotspot in the summer, has received a $45.7 million grant to develop a system to cut air pollution from visiting cruise ships.
The grant, from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Ports Program, is for shore-based power and battery storage systems to be used by the cruise ships that sail in and out of Seward. Those systems will allow cruise ships to switch to electric power from the emissions-spewing diesel fuel they burn while making port calls.
The systems are planned as part of a redeveloped cruise facility expected to be operating in 2026. The new facility is designed to have a floating pier to replace the current fixed dock, accommodating more and bigger ships.
The port project is led by The Seward Company, a public-private developer with the Alaska Railroad, Royal Caribbean Group and Turnagain Marine as partners.
The EPA Clean Ports grant will help Seward meet its environmental goals, the city’s mayor said in a statement.
“The Port of Seward’s shore power project will place Seward among the forefront of sustainable ports in North America. By reducing reliance on diesel generators, we are not only cutting emissions but also enhancing the resilience of our local electric grid,” Mayor Sue McClure said in the statement.
Seward is the smallest community among those with ports that received the 55 EPA Clean Ports Program grants announced last week.
Most of the grant-receiving ports are in major population centers. The three biggest grants went to the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Virginia in Norfolk and the Port of New York and New Jersey. The Port of Alaska in Anchorage, the state’s largest city, was another grant recipient, getting $1.9 million for an emissions inventory and clean-energy transition study.
Seward, in contrast, has only about 2,500 full-time residents within city limits and a roughly similar number in areas just outside of the city boundaries, said Kat Sorensen, the city manager.
But in summer, Seward’s numbers swell. Seasonal workers bring the population to about 7,500 to 10,000, Sorensen said, and tourists add several thousands more each day, she said.
Cruise travel has grown in Seward, just as it has grown in the state in general, Sorensen said.
Alaska’s cruise business has hit all-time highs, bouncing back from the halt caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, a record 1.65 million cruise passengers visited the state, and this year’s totals could wind up being even higher, according to industry reports.
While most cruise passengers’ travel in Alaska is in Southeast Alaska, Seward — in the state’s Southcentral region — got about 190,000 cruise passengers last year, according to industry experts. Between April and October of this year, there were 104 scheduled cruise ship stops in Seward, according to the Cruise Lines International Association.
Sorensen said the cruise companies need to keep their ships powered when making port calls in Seward.
“A fishing boat can come in for a week and just shut off. But the cruise ships can’t,” she said.
Along with building onshore power and battery storage systems, the plan includes a workforce-development program focused on the Seward-based Alaska Vocational Technical Center, she said.
“I think it’s just a win-win-win,” she said.
Alaska’s capital city, Juneau, was the first to develop a shore-based power system for cruise ships. While Seward is on track to be the second Alaska cruise destination to develop such a system, shore-based power is now available for cruise ships in several major ports along the U.S. West Coast and around the world.
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Alaska
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.
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.
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.
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Alaska
Yundt Served: Formal Charges Submitted to Alaska Republican Party, Asks for Party Sanction and Censure of Senator 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.”
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.
Related
Alaska
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.
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.
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.
Despite these internal issues, Fisher claims Boeing deliberately shifted blame towards him and his first officer.
Lawyers for Boeing in an earlier lawsuit wrote that the company wasn’t responsible for the incident because the plane had been “improperly maintained or misused by persons and/or entities other than Boeing.”
Fisher’s complaint alleges that the company’s statement was intended to “paint him as the scapegoat for Boeing’s numerous failures.”
“Instead of praising Captain Fisher’s bravery, Boeing inexplicably impugned the reputations of the pilots,” the lawsuit says.
As a result, Fisher has been scrutinized for his role in the incident, the lawsuit alleges, and named in two lawsuits by passengers.
Spokespeople for Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems declined to comment on the lawsuit.
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