Free Republic

No mask, no flight. Alaskan Airlines has intensified its mask mandate as the coronavirus pandemic continues, requiring all passengers over the age of 2 to wear a facial covering — with no exceptions.

Camelot and King Arthur's Court, Knights of the Round Table, Guinevere, Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad, and the search for the Holy Grail ... (The Holy Grail was Jesus' cup at the Last Supper.) Our imaginations soar with history and legend immortalized in "Idylls of the King," written 1859-85 by poet Alfred Lord Tennyson. Alfred Lord Tennyson embellished the medieval legend of the Lady of the Lake who gave the sword Excalibur to the courageous young King Arthur. Scenes of this were portrayed in Disney's 1963 animated musical fantasy movie, The Sword in the Stone. Born AUGUST 6, 1809, Alfred Lord...

The Canadian Border Service Agency is imposing stricter restrictions on American motorists crossing the border on their way to Alaska. The Canada-U.S. border has been closed to all non-essential traffic since March 21 and will remain closed until Aug. 21, when the issue will be reconsidered by the Canadian and American governments. However, a loophole exists that allows Americans to travel through Canada by car if they are heading to Alaska. Beginning Friday, all foreign nationals aiming to drive through Canada to the northernmost U.S. state for non-discretionary purposes, such as work or going to a primary residence, will be...

By comparing data collected by all-sky cameras, magnetometers, and seismometers during three aurora events in 2019, University of Alaska Fairbanks seismologist Carl Tape and colleagues show that it's possible to match the striking display of lights with seismic signals, to observe the same phenomenon in different ways. Researchers have known for a while that seismometers are sensitive to magnetic fluctuations—and have worked hard to find ways to shield their instruments against magnetic influence or to remove these unwanted signals from their seismic data. But the aurora study offers an example of how seismometers could be paired with other instruments to...

Anchorage, Alaska – U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder announced an update on efforts made to promote public safety in rural Alaska.  Following his May 2019 visit, Attorney General William P. Barr declared a law enforcement emergency in rural Alaska under the Emergency Federal Law Enforcement Assistance (EFLEA) program, resulting in significant funding and the authorization of several long-term measures to support village public safety and victim services.  To date, $62.1 million in grants have been awarded, with 39 funded law enforcement positions, to support improving public safety in rural Alaska.  A summary of the grant awards and ongoing agency efforts...

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released its final environmental impact statement on Friday which found gold and copper mining in Alaska “would not be expected to have a measurable effect on fish numbers.” That clears the final hurdle for the Corps to issue a permit this year to Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., the Canadian company that has proposed the mining operation in the state. Environmentalists oppose the project and the Obama administration did what it could to keep the Alaskan wilderness off limits to energy production. “In a scientific review conducted under the Obama administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection...

Biden's promises to the citizens of Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, El Salvador, and the rest of the world stand in stark contrast to what he plans to accomplish for the American worker on Day One, which is nothing. Sunday marks 100 days until the 2020 election. That might come as a surprise to some Americans, who are so used to being neck-deep in conventions, speeches and rallies by now, without them they’d forgotten how close we were. The Republican convention is now cancelled, and for the past few months Joe Biden has barely been seen outside his home, dodging questions from...

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit about 75 miles south of Chignik in Alaska. Officials have now issued a tsunami warning for South Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula, from Kennedy Entrance to Unimak Pass The US Tsunami Warning System said tsunami activity was predicted to hit within the next hour at points along the Alaskan coast. It said Sand Point could be hit at 11.15pm local time (8.15am BST), Kodiak at 12.05am (9.05am BST) and Cold Bay at 12.15am (9.15am BST).

Among the latest targets in the mob movement to remove historical monuments throughout America that has gained steam since the tragic death of George Floyd is the statue of Alexander Baranov, the first Russian governor of Alaska, that sits outside the Sitka City Hall. Nearly 100 people rallied in front of City Hall on June 23, calling for the statue to be removed, and the Sitka Assembly voted 6-1 last Tuesday to move the statue from its prominent spot in the town. Baranov was the first chief manager of the Russian-American Company and directed the expansion of Russian authority in...

A prominent Alaska psychiatrist faces a criminal charge for allegedly punching a man in the face for not wearing a face mask in a Juneau Fred Meyer earlier this month. Joshua Sonkiss, 49, was charged with a single count of misdemeanor assault for the incident. He appeared in court Wednesday. The 53-year-old victim, Bowen Dallmann, told police Sonkiss “punched him in the face” for “not wearing a mask” at the Juneau grocery store on June 1, according to a citation filed by Juneau municipal prosecutors. The document notes a witness backed up Dallmann’s account. “Dallmann wanted to pursue assault charges,”...

Tim La Porte, owner of Iliamna Air Taxi, vividly remembers seeing it in July 1977 as he and passengers banked near the lake's surface. The group spotted something very fish-like for a few seconds, maybe 15 feet long based on the size of a nearby skiff. "It arched its back and hit the water, which was glassy calm, and this wake radiated out from the great big splash," he said. "We saw a great, big tail going sideways, back and forth, going down." "I don't believe it's a whale, and it didn't act like the seals we've seen for years,...

Another U.S. professor "with strong ties to China" has been arrested and charged with allegedly lying about his ties to the communist country. Song Guo Zheng, who the Justice Department described as a "rheumatology professor and researcher," allegedly used more than $4.1 million in federal research funding to help advance China's capabilities with regard to rheumatology and immunology. The Justice Department alleges he then failed to disclose to the U.S. government that he held employment in China while conducting U.S. taxpayer-funded research as a researcher at multiple universities in the U.S., including Ohio State University. A Google Scholars profile with...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband of more than 30 years, Todd Palin, quietly finalized their divorce this spring, according to court records. Though the case has long been sealed from public view, the publicly available docket shows their divorce was granted on March 23 after a non-contested hearing, which an Alaska court official confirmed.

Former Vice President Joe Biden released a set of policy recommendations on Wednesday that included a proposal to close the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas exploration and development. ANWR was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. But local biologists joked that Congress had confused ANWR with another large bloc of federal land in northern Alaska, the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), because ANWR had more oil and NPR-A had more wildlife.

A government meeting in Alaska opened with a prayer to Satan after a Satanic Temple member won the right to deliver the invocation, prompting about a dozen officials and attendees to walk out. The invocation was the first given by the Satanic Temple since the Kenai Peninsula Borough — 75 miles south of Anchorage — changed a policy in November after the Alaska Superior Court said that policy violated the state’s constitution’s establishment clause. The new policy allows for anyone in the borough to offer an invocation, no matter their religion. In her invocation, Iris Fontana, who is a member...

he senators skipping out include Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mitt Romney of Utah, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. The lawmakers gave varying reasons for why they won't be at President Donald Trump's renominating convention. Some of those senators are not among Trump's favorites.

As far as hiking buddies go, Barack Obama and Bear Grylls make for an unlikely pairing. Grylls is a TV outdoorsman with a flair for drama and a propensity for drinking his own urine. Obama is cerebral and stolidly even-keeled, and, you know, the president of the United States. Nevertheless, the strange duo is slated for some bonding Tuesday while hiking the Exit Glacier, a south Alaskan river of ice that has shrunk by 1.25 miles in recent decades. They have no plans to drink urine, Grylls has confirmed, and the adventurer’s usually madcap exploits will be scaled down to...

The recession is hitting state and city budgets hard in the new fiscal year that starts on July 1. They are responding by firing workers, reducing services, and even increasing taxes. Massive federal aid is the only real solution. The new fiscal year for 46 states and many cities begins on Wednesday. And a flood of red ink caused by the deep pandemic recession is forcing them to fire workers, reduce spending and services, and even raise taxes (one of the worst things you can do in a recession). Without Congress providing up to $1 trillion in federal aid, non-federal...

Scientists say a massive volcanic eruption in Alaska more than 2,500 years ago triggered a global climate shock on the other side of the Earth that led to the fall of the Roman Republic. The eruption of Mount Okmok on an Alaskan island in the year 43 BC – an event known as 'Okmok II' – spewed ash particles that cooled the planet by shading incoming solar radiation. Scientists say this caused with a spell of extreme cold in the Mediterranean during the European summer – the second-coldest of the last 2,500 years.

A new Facebook group has popped up in Anchorage to share information about which businesses are mandating masks — and which are not. The mask shaming is strong with the group called “Anchorage Businesses that Wear Masks,” whose members call out businesses where masks appear to be optional, and then vow to boycott them. This is the place to go to see the world of Karens. The group’s purpose is benign enough: “Many of us would like to shop and support a business whose employees wear masks to help protect themselves and their customers. This is a group meant to...