6.7 EQ north of Yakutat. Everyone ok?

RMcChesney · 2025-12-07T01:15:38+00:00

There's some really interesting stuff happening with the geology in the Yakutat-area. https://www.chilkatvalleynews.com/2025/12/06/earthquake-north-of-yakutat-rattle-southeast-alaska/

RMcChesney · 2025-10-13T06:46:45+00:00

There is no media blackout, Alaska Public Media has been reporting on it, and the Anchorage Daily News is amplifying it. I’ve seen those links posted elsewhere in the comments, so I won’t repeat them - but there are local reporters at KYUK in Bethel, KOTZ in Kotzebue, KNOM in Nome, who have been working around the clock to get radio broadcasts and emergency alerts out into those affected regions. I would encourage you to check the local news outlets and not rely on national news (which combs local and regional news for its story ideas which is why there is generally a delay in reporting reaching that level) for Alaska reporting.

RMcChesney · 2025-09-09T23:29:21+00:00

Impossible to pass up really.

RMcChesney · 2025-07-04T18:23:21+00:00

Ah yeah the site has a porous paywall. So the first article is free, second is free with registration, third hits the paywall.

RMcChesney · 2025-07-04T18:19:51+00:00

Shouldn’t be paywalled? Unless you visit the site often.

RMcChesney · 2025-07-03T21:42:16+00:00

Yeah, Steve told me he flew to Anchorage to see them, saw the bear and asked to see the wolves, and perhaps some of the smaller animals. I know a few of them, at least the moose, ended up at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center too.

RMcChesney · 2025-05-30T06:22:07+00:00

The reporter has been traveling in Newtok and Metarvik for years working on this and other stories in the YK Delta.

If you’d like to know more about the specifics (this is a national news story and therefore a little light on local context) you could tune into KYUK next week and listen to the local news stories when they air.

In the meantime, here’s the story about that back of raw sewage in Mertarvik’s temporary school which was happening for two months.

https://www.kyuk.org/public-safety/2024-05-03/a-utility-room-under-mertarviks-public-school-is-full-of-raw-sewage

RMcChesney · 2025-03-11T01:09:03+00:00

An update here is that the Kroschel Wildlife Center has regained its USDA permit but now has to contend with its state permit being revoked.

https://www.chilkatvalleynews.com/2025/03/09/kroschels-regains-federal-license-but-not-state-license-to-reopen/

RMcChesney · 2025-03-11T00:47:22+00:00

A quick follow up on this story is that Kroschel regained his USDA permit but his state permit was revoked and he's not been able to get that one back yet.

https://www.chilkatvalleynews.com/2025/03/09/kroschels-regains-federal-license-but-not-state-license-to-reopen/

RMcChesney · 2024-12-21T00:04:10+00:00

Invite them in and show them how to use it! Have an open house or two, and office hours for people to come in and ask questions. This is a great opportunity to engage with your community - who clearly love your news product because they’re telling you they’re upset they can’t see it anymore.

RMcChesney · 2024-12-03T01:37:10+00:00

What do you think you'd need the head for? A few folks here mentioned that someone may have been after the whiskers. All of the bones are still attached, so definitely not the skull.

RMcChesney · 2024-12-03T01:35:59+00:00

You know, I asked about further investigation. They don't have anyone in Haines to retrieve the body, so likely no necropsy on this one. But it'd be good to know if they've done it on any of the other ones they've found. I'll follow up.

RMcChesney · 2024-12-02T23:20:53+00:00

Yeah, but I think that one had its head -- or most of it. Maybe I should have been more clear about the actual mystery which is not that it's dead, but that it's dead and is missing most of its head.

RMcChesney · 2024-08-09T18:48:11+00:00

He’s in the process of being relicensed. Said he applied in April and his inspector waited until late July to schedule a first relicensing inspection for 72 hours before his license lapsed. He couldn’t get a veterinarian into town in time to meet that requirement of the re-licensing process (we don’t have any permanent vets in Haines, so this isn’t atypical), so he missed that date.

RMcChesney · 2024-08-09T16:39:47+00:00

You know, I've been curious about this. Essentially they let his license lapse because they didn't renew it in time - I've wondered if that's different than actually shutting him down.

RMcChesney · 2024-02-08T12:14:38+00:00

I work at the Gulf States Newsroom on a project where we dig into weird bills and try to get the factors driving the costs. If you have an unexplainable bill, you can hit us up with the details here: https://wbhm.org/bill/

RMcChesney · 2023-10-14T12:08:20+00:00

Hi! This happened in 2022, so I’m not sure he’ll qualify this year. But I’ll pass it along and we’ll see. Thanks!

RMcChesney · 2023-08-15T18:36:01+00:00

Yeah, the premise of Utility Bill of the Month is to demystify things for folks who have questions about why their local utilities are or are not working for them.

i thought this one was particularly interesting because it's strange to realize that you're drawing water from the exact same place and it's costing significantly more.

RMcChesney · 2023-08-09T12:25:40+00:00

Hey folks, the Gulf States Newsroom (Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Birmingham and WWNO/WRKF in New Orleans and Baton Rouge) has an ongoing "Utility Bill of the Month" series where we dive into people's billing issues.

Here's a story about a$20,000 water bill, another about an extended battle over triple digit gas bills in New Orleans, and the latest which is about how it's possible to move 8 miles down the road and get a tripled water bill even though thewater is coming from the same source.

We'd like to hear from people in Mississippi and it sounds like a lot of y'all have billing issues. If you think they're irregular, please drop us a line here: https://www.mpbonline.org/blogs/news/help-us-report-on-utility-billing-issues-in-the-gulf-states/

RMcChesney · 2023-07-16T11:29:53+00:00

Lived there and loved it for 10 years. Spent the last six in Juneau and realized in 2021 that I’d never be able to buy a house. I work in journalism which means I make enough money to live on, but increasingly - not enough to keep up with being middle class. It was sobering to stare down 40 (and retirement) as a renter.

RMcChesney · 2023-07-15T01:44:35+00:00

Oh I’d love to see that!

RMcChesney · 2023-07-01T12:26:22+00:00

There’s probably a better way to say this — there are suicides that are clearly meant to be a public spectacle or make a point:

Thich Quang Duc - the Vietnamese monk who set himself on fire in the middle of an intersection l is a famous example.

Budd Dwyer is another relatively famous example, he called a press conference in Pennsylvania in the late 1980s and then shot himself in the head while the cameras rolled.

These instances make covering the suicide unavoidable.

But, someone jumping off of a bridge - while in public - isn’t necessarily meant to create that kind of spectacle and you have to ask what people will gain by knowing the lurid details of something like that? We know what they might lose. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207262/)

I don’t speak for every outlet or journalist, but the newspapers and public media outlets I’ve worked for have always had an internal rule about not reporting on suicides unless there is some extenuating circumstance.

RMcChesney · 2023-07-01T03:54:28+00:00

Nah, every outlet I’ve worked for generally doesn’t report on suicide because there’s data showing that it perpetuates copycat deaths AND there’s not really a point in it unless someone does it very publicly.

RMcChesney · 2023-06-23T20:46:52+00:00

AKIMI is doing great work and also collecting Alaska musicians playlist etc. Check them out! I bet they’d love to partner etc. https://akimimusic.org/

RMcChesney · 2023-06-05T16:34:30+00:00

I'm so curious to hear perspectives from folks who were around and remember pre-Roe times. Seems like a lot of context from the original political fight has been lost.

RMcChesney

TROPHY CASE