Alaska
Video: Cars dive off cliff in Alaska town's insane Fourth of July celebration
Forget fireworks. For one small US town, Independence Day is all about sending cars soaring off a cliff. For nearly two decades, Glacier View in Alaska has celebrated the Fourth of July with a spectacle that’s thrilling and a little bit insane.
While most places light up the night sky with fireworks, Glacier View illuminates the day with the screams of metal martyrs.
“You gotta see cars fly,” one attendee told Alaska News Source.
Videos online show vehicles, some with the American flag painted over them, achieving a brief moment of glory before transforming into crumpled heaps of metal at the bottom of the cliff.
But at least they went out with a bang, as a swan song of rock anthems like Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Fortunate Son’ and Nickelback’s ‘Burn It to the Ground’ blared in the background.
According to Alaska News Source, this year’s event boasted the most airborne automobiles yet, with a dozen taking a one-way trip down the rocky bluff.
Everything from police cruisers to buses dived off the cliff, much to the delight of a thousands-strong crowd that arrived as early as 8:45 am to snag the prime viewing spots.
This quirky tradition, which some consider “the most quintessentially American way” to celebrate the Fourth of July, has become a magnet for thrill-seekers around the world.
For just $20, one can witness automotive acrobatics and witness the kind of freedom that only comes from launching a car off a cliff (safely, of course – no drivers were harmed in the making of this celebration).
So how exactly do these cars fly? According to a report by Roadtrippers, some get a little help from a monorail, while others are launched freewheeling, most with a simple block of wood keeping the pedal to the metal.
The result? Cars soaring through the air, performing daredevil stunts (unintentionally, of course) before meeting their final destination in a hail of scrap metal.
Alaska
Alaska Airlines employees help uplift communities during inspiring Week of CARE – Alaska Airlines News
Alessandra F., Manager of Community Relations and Engagement, searched for meaningful ways to support local military families in the state of Alaska, where over 50,000 active-duty service members and their dependents reside, and where 1 in 10 Alaskans is a veteran. Her search led her to Fisher House Alaska, a long-standing Care Miles partner with Alaska Airlines.
Fisher House provides military families with a “home away from home” at no cost, allowing them to focus on medical care and recovery while finding comfort and community. Alaska Mileage Plan members can support this cause by donating miles here.
More than 30 Alaska Airlines employees spent the day at Fisher House, baking fresh brownies and cookies, organizing closets and pantries, and preparing thoughtful care packages for the families staying there. The day wrapped up with a hearty fall dinner cooked by our team, serving more than 50 guests and creating a warm, welcoming atmosphere for these deserving families.
Alaska
Wright and Eischeid face off again in a close state House race to represent East Anchorage district • Alaska Beacon
In Anchorage’s North Muldoon and Russian Jack neighborhoods, two candidates are facing each other for the second time in two years for a seat in the Alaska House.
While Republican incumbent Rep. Stanley Wright is seeking reelection, Democrat Ted Eischeid is on a mission to unseat Wright in the rematch.
In 2022, Eischeid lost to Wright by 72 votes.
This year, Eischeid said he retired early from his job as planner for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough so he could redouble his campaign efforts —“I knocked a lot of doors two years ago, I’m doubling that effort this time,” he said.
Eischeid led the race in the primaries with a 3% edge over Wright, although only 8% of registered voters turned out.
Any flipped seat could be consequential in a closely divided House, so an Eischeid victory could tip the balance of power away from the current Republican majority.
Wright is a Navy veteran from South Carolina. He followed his wife to Alaska where they raised their children. Before representing House District 22, Wright worked as a community systems manager in Anchorage’s Community Safety and Development office. His previous public service roles include work in the state governor’s office and for the state’s Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
Eischeid had a career as a middle school science teacher in the Midwest before he, too, followed his wife to Alaska where he found work as a planner for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. His previous public service was two terms as a nonpartisan county board supervisor in Wisconsin. He said the value of listening to all viewpoints was driven home to him in that role.
“Sometimes I voted conservative, sometimes I voted progressive. I let people’s public testimony and I let the data guide me. And I listened very closely, tried to suspend my bias as much as I could,” he said.
As part of his campaign, Eischeid said he heard that the district’s main concerns are education, public safety and infrastructure. He said the value of a good education is a priority for him in part because he grew up poor in Iowa after his father died when he was very young.
“I’m a food stamp kid. I’m a free and reduced lunch kid. And because I had good public school teachers, I got a good education. I was able to earn that college degree, and I entered a good middle-class lifestyle,” he said, adding that, if elected, he will bring that history — and the sense of compassion it instilled in him — to Juneau.
That sentiment points to a similarity between the candidates. In 2022, Wright told the Alaska Beacon that a “pretty rough” childhood on a South Carolina farm and, later, in a housing project, taught him about the value of public assistance. He sought federal grants for low- and moderate-income housing as a city employee in Anchorage, according to his campaign.
Eischeid described himself as a moderate Democrat who will listen, but doesn’t want to “waste time” fighting culture wars.
“People don’t want professional politicians, and they’re not asking for much, but they want somebody that represents them and knows them and puts people over party,” he said.
Wright did not respond to the Alaska Beacon’s requests for an interview for this story. But his voting record has at least one striking example of putting concerns raised in his district over the leadership of his party: In the last session, he was one of the seven members of the Alaska House’s majority caucus who voted with members of the House minority in a failed attempt to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of an education bill that included a permanent increase for state education funding.
At the time, Wright said one of the schools in his district had been threatened with closure and that “really weighed heavy on my heart.”
In his first term in office he co-sponsored a number of bills that became law, including the measure that led to state recognition of Juneteenth, and passed a law that is intended to streamline the certification process for counselors in order to increase access to mental health care.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
Alaska
VOA Alaska to hold annual Fall Festival
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Another fall tradition will be hosted this weekend by Volunteers of America.
Nonprofit VOA Alaska will hold its Fall Festival on Sunday at the Nave in Anchorage’s Spenard neighborhood.
Engagement Manager Maricar Yuzon joined the News at 4 crew to talk about the organization and the Festival activities.
Copyright 2024 KTUU. All rights reserved.
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