Author: Mark Thiessen
-
Survivor of newly found WWII shipwreck: ‘So many’ to rescue
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Daryl Weathers remembers trying to pull men from the sea off Alaska’s Aleutian Islands after a U.S. Navy destroyer hit a mine left by the Japanese following the only World War II battle fought on North American soil. The explosion, which ripped the stern off the USS Abner Read, also covered many…
-
Naked airline passenger taken for psychiatric examination
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle was forced to return to Anchorage early Wednesday after a passenger locked himself in the bathroom, took off all his clothes, and refused to follow crew instructions. Kate Danyluk, a passenger on the flight, told The Associated Press she knew something was wrong because the flight…
-
Powerful undersea quake sends Alaskans fleeing from feared tsunami
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A powerful undersea earthquake sent Alaskans fumbling for suitcases and racing to evacuation centers in the middle of the night after a cellphone alert early Tuesday warned that a tsunami could smash into the state’s southern coast and western Canada. The killer wave never materialized, but people endured several tense hours in…
-
Officials from Arctic nations meet amid drilling concerns
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save FAIRBANKS, Alaska — High-level officials from the world’s eight Arctic nations will meet in Alaska amid concerns about the future of the sensitive region after President Donald Trump called for more oil drilling and development.…
-
Howls, high-fives mark start of Iditarod race across Alaska
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Mushers pumped their fists and high-fived fans Monday as they set out one-by-one on the world’s most famous sled dog race, a nearly 1,000-mile trek through the grueling Alaska wilderness. The grandson of a co-founder of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was the first competitor on the trail in Fairbanks, in…
-
Baptism by ice: Alaskans make annual plunge into frigid lake
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — More than a thousand people in Alaska dressed up as elves or in other elaborate costumes, while some stripped down to barely anything to take part in a polar plunge. The fundraiser for Special Olympics Alaska took place Saturday at Goose Lake in Anchorage, where ice was cut from a large portion…
-
Alaska’s popular walrus cam streams again after a decade
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A popular webcam showing large male Pacific walruses lying on the beach with a Hitchcockian number of seabirds flying overhead is once again streaming to the Internet. The high-definition stream from Alaska’s remote Round Island had been dormant for nearly a decade after private funding ran out, but a version is…
-
Iditarod draws mushers from around the globe
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — If you thought mushing was limited to Americans and Canadians, you’d be wrong. This year’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race features a Swede and five Norwegians, including Robert Sorlie, the 2003 and 2005 champion. A contingent of racing officials from Norway and Sweden visited Alaska last summer to look for ways…
-
Iditarod sled dog race kicks off this weekend
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across Alaska kicks off this weekend as usual, after warm winter weather nearly prompted officials to move the start hundreds of miles north to Fairbanks for the first time in a decade. Temperatures have dropped, improving trail conditions and allowing the 42nd running of the…
-
Webcams make Alaska bears accessible
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A new video initiative is bringing the famed brown bears of Alaska’s Katmai National Park directly to your computer or smartphone. Without having to go there, you’ll be able to watch mature…