Alaska Airlines is charting new international territory with a striking new livery design.
The Seattle-based carrier on Tuesday announced two new transatlantic routes launching in 2026, with nonstop service from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to London’s Heathrow Airport and Reykjavik’s Keflavik Airport. The airline is rapidly expanding its global reach following its 2024 acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines. It had also purchased Virgin America in 2016.
Both European routes are set to launch in the spring with daily, year-round service planned for London, which is one of the most sought-after destinations for American travelers and a key hub for Alaska’s Oneworld alliance partners.
As part of the announcement, Alaska Airlines revealed a new design for the aircraft that will serve these long-haul flights, retiring the iconic image of the Alaska Inuit Native man that has adorned the airline’s tailfins for decades.
The new look, reserved for the airline’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet, replaces the human portrait with flowing swashes of blue and green intended to evoke the aurora borealis.
The rebrand is described by the airline as a tribute to the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, with the aurora motif symbolizing connectivity and global reach. The “Alaska” wordmark remains prominent near the front of the aircraft in navy blue.
The Dreamliner jets, set to enter service in the coming year, represent Alaska’s first foray into twin-aisle aircraft, a move necessary to support intercontinental service. The carrier has historically focused on domestic and short-haul international flights, primarily within North America.
The announcement is part of a broader post-merger strategy that aims to turn Alaska into a formidable player in international travel markets, particularly for West Coast flyers seeking more direct connections overseas.
Flights to Reykjavik and London will be available for booking later this year, the airline said.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., issued a set of subpoenas Tuesday to several high-profile former officials that includes former President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former FBI Director James Comey, as part of the panel’s ongoing investigation into the federal government’s handling of sex trafficking laws and the prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was a former associate of former Anchorage Daily News owner Alice Rogoff.
Others subpoenaed were issued to former US Attorneys General Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, William Barr, Jeff Sessions, and Alberto Gonzales, and former FBI Director Robert Mueller.
The move is an escalation in the House-led probe into what Comer has described as “decades of institutional failures” in the investigation and prosecution of Epstein and his network. The committee is specifically scrutinizing the use of non-prosecution agreements, the handling of plea deals, and the role of federal officials in decisions related to Epstein and Maxwell’s cases.
In a letter to former President Clinton, Comer cited his past ties to Epstein, referencing flight logs showing Clinton aboard Epstein’s private jet in the early 2000s. Comer also pointed to an unearthed photograph showing Clinton receiving a massage from a woman who has since identified herself as one of Epstein’s trafficking victims.
The letter further alleges Clinton may have intervened to suppress reporting on Epstein. “It has also been claimed that you pressured Vanity Fair not to publish sex trafficking allegations against your ‘good friend’ Mr. Epstein,” Comer wrote. The committee is also seeking clarification on conflicting reports about whether Clinton ever visited Epstein’s private island.
Chairman Comer’s letter to Hillary Clinton raises questions about her proximity to Ghislaine Maxwell and notes that Maxwell’s nephew worked for Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign and was later hired at the State Department when Clinton served as Secretary of State.
Comer says the purpose of the subpoenas is to “inform legislative solutions to improve federal efforts to combat sex trafficking and reform the use of non-prosecution agreements and/or plea agreements in sex-crime investigations.”
The subpoenas arrive just ahead of highly anticipated testimony from Ghislaine Maxwell, which had been scheduled for Aug. 11. That appearance has been postponed pending the outcome of Maxwell’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The House inquiry adds to mounting pressure on the Department of Justice to declassify files related to Epstein, including records believed to detail his associates and clients. Critics have long accused the federal government of stonewalling the release of those documents — including surveillance videos and visitor logs — since Epstein’s death in federal custody in 2019.
Chairman Comer has not indicated whether additional subpoenas may follow or if public hearings will be scheduled.
All individuals named in the subpoenas have been given until later this month to respond.
The Municipality of Anchorage is preparing to break ground on what some are calling a step forward in transitional housing, and what others, with a wink, are already calling “The Crampground.”
Mayor Suzanne LaFrance, in partnership with the Anchorage Community Development Authority, announced this week that Visser Construction has been tapped to design and build 24 “microunits” on city-owned land near the Elmore Permit Center. This is the approximate location where former Mayor Dave Bronson attempted to construction a homeless navigation center, to connect homeless people with services appropriate to their needs.
The pilot project, formally known as the “Microunits for Recovery Residences,” aims to offer temporary housing for individuals transitioning out of homelessness and into substance misuse recovery. The 24 units, about 96 square feet each, will cost $1.7 million and will be paid for by the public treasury from opioid settlement funds. It’s a two-year pilot, with the possibility of relocating or scrapping the units if the program is not successful.
These shoebox chateaus are a cornerstone of Mayor LaFrance’s Homelessness and Health Strategy. They’ll come equipped with utility hookups and supporting infrastructure, with doors expected to open to residents by Oct. 15.
But the 24 units will fall short of meeting the needs of the approximately 3,000 who are roaming Anchorage streets without a certain place to lay their heads.
“The proposals we received demonstrated creativity, expertise, and a shared commitment to advancing housing solutions for our community,” said Mike Robbins, Executive Director of ACDA, who hinted that this is just the beginning of a wider vision. The final contract with Visser Construction is pending approval at ACDA’s August board meeting.
Mayor LaFrance, who has bought into the “housing first” philosophy, said the microunits are designed as “a vital bridge to stability,” offering low-cost, low-barrier shelter for people looking to get back on their feet. “This pilot project exemplifies Anchorage’s commitment to finding innovative solutions for homelessness and the substance use epidemic,” she said.
Still, in places like Seattle, where such crawl-in closets have been tried in village settings, there’s been a lot of resistance, and the villages quickly have become shantytowns filled with social problems, crime, and overdosed residents.
Midtown Assembly Member Felix Rivera, who helped spearhead the idea through a now-disbanded Complex Behavioral Health Community Task Force, said the project reflects the kind of creative thinking Anchorage needs. “I’m excited to see these kinds of partnerships come together and for Midtown to play a key role, as it has for years, towards finding creative solutions to address our community’s challenges.”
The city plans to select a site operator through a competitive process in the coming weeks.
The idea of microunits in Anchorage isn’t new. The In Our Backyard project, launched by a local church in 2024, paved the way.
At 69 years old, John Kersbergen lives a humble and quiet life in Alaska, driving Uber part time in Anchorage. But 50 years ago, the former Navy boatswain’s mate was in the middle of one of the most chaotic, heartbreaking, and heroic moments in American military history: the fall of Saigon.
He was just 17.
John Kersbergen just after completing boot camp.
In April 1975, as the Vietnam War reached its devastating end, Kersbergen was stationed aboard the USS Midway, an aircraft carrier home-ported in Yokasuka, Japan, that would become central to one of the largest helicopter evacuations in history — Operation Frequent Wind. He had grown up rough: dropped out of school, ran away from home, and fell in with a bad crowd. His father, a Navy veteran himself, delivered a hard truth: “Son, you’re either going to find yourself in jail or dead.” So Kersbergen enlisted.
Too young for the Marines or Army, the Navy took him in. He finished boot camp in 1973, and by 1974 he was aboard the Midway, working as a refueler in Japan, handling JP-5 jet fuel with a smell so toxic it clung to him no matter how often he showered. It left his skin raw and may have contributed to the neuropathy and prostate problems he developed later in life — although the VA acknowledged he was exposed to Agent Orange.
He remembers the mission orders as if it were yesterday. “We were in the Sea of Japan, heading home to Yokasuka, when the captain came over the loudspeaker and said we were being rerouted to the Gulf of Tonkin, with a stop in the Philippines first,” he recalled. “We had to offload all the fighter jets — F-4 Phantoms, F-14s Tomcats, A-6 Intruders, and A-7 Corsairs — and bring in helicopters, Hueys, H-47s, Chinooks, and Cobras. He couldn’t tell us the mission until we got there.”
The mission was clear soon enough: evacuate American personnel and Vietnamese allies as Saigon fell.
One of Kersbergen’s battle stations was what’s called Sponson Watch. With high-powered binoculars and plugged into the ship’s tower communications, he stood watch in full battle gear, including a breathing apparatus strapped to his chest in case of a chemical attack. His job: monitor the skies and the embassy, report any helicopters shot down, and help coordinate rescue efforts for survivors in the water.
But nothing could prepare him for what he saw through those lenses.
A CIA officer helps evacuees up a ladder onto an Air America Bell 204/205 helicopter on April 29, 1975. This is what John Kersbergen was assigned to monitor from the USS Midway. Photo by Hubert van Es.
“I would pan over to the streets of Saigon, and there were women and children being hacked to death with machetes and shot in the back of the head,” he said, his voice heavy. “More people were slaughtered during the evacuation than in the whole 11-year war. The Viet Cong hated the South Vietnamese even more than us — they saw them as traitors.”
He wiped away tears in real time, helpless as the horror unfolded before him and knowing there was nothing he could do to help them. “The Viet Cong were like locusts going through a corn field.”
The helicopters came in constant waves, picking evacuees off the embassy rooftop and ferrying them to the Midway. Kersbergen and his shipmates helped rig a makeshift Jacob’s Ladder out of cargo nets and pallets, lowering it over the ship’s edge to rescue women and children climbing from fishing boats that were pulling alongside the carrier, overflowing with desperate refugees.
Between monitoring the skies and hauling people out of the water, the young sailor moved through the ship’s crowded hangar bay, tiptoeing between the bodies of crying children and terrified families.
Then came the “bird dog.”
A small, fixed-wing aircraft approached the Midway. — a two-seater O-1 Bird Dog piloted by a South Vietnamese officer carrying his wife and five children, including a baby. The plane had no arresting hook, no way to stop on a carrier deck. As it approached under enemy fire, the pilot dropped notes onto the deck — tied with rocks and fastened with rubber bands explaining his situation and asking permission to land. The first two notes blew over the deck but the third note made it. The pilot was requesting that room be made on the deck for him to land.
The Midway’s crew assembled a makeshift crash net at the catapults at the end of the flight deck, where jets are usually launched into the air. They pushed helicopters into the ocean to make room. The captain aimed the ship into the wind. Everyone on the deck held their breath. The plane touched down, bounced — once — and somehow came to a stop. Everyone present broke into cheering.
Out stepped the Vietnamese pilot. Then his wife with babe in arms. Then one child after another, seven people in total.
“We gave them cookies and candy and treated them like rock stars,” Kersbergen recalled. “After all the people we couldn’t save, here was one whole family we did save. That was everything.”
The aircraft they escaped in is now on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida.
But even after the evacuation, the trauma lingered. “The guilt I’ve carried for all the people we had to leave behind,” Kersbergen said. “Telling them we’d come back and knowing we never did — it was too dangerous. Knowing they were probably slaughtered.”
Then, nearly five decades later, came a moment of grace.
While driving for Uber in Anchorage, Kersbergen picked up a quiet Asian man at the airport. As they drove, the man noticed Kersbergen’s USS Midway cap.
“Did you serve on the Midway?” the man asked.
“Yes,” Kersbergen replied.
“Were you there in April of 1975?”
Again, yes.
The man paused. “I want to thank you,” he said. “My grandmother was one of the evacuees.”
Kersbergen, stunned, asked: “Did she come from the top or below?” — a reference to whether she’d arrived by helicopter or from the boats, climbing up that cargo net.
“Below,” the man answered.
That was all Kersbergen needed to hear.
At that moment, he realized he may have been one of the members of the team who helped save the man’s grandmother, a teenage girl at the time, the only member of her family to survive. The rest — her parents, siblings, aunts, uncles — were slaughtered by the Viet Cong. She had told her story countless times to her grandchildren in California so they would understand the price of their freedom.
“She told me never to take this country for granted,” the man said. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.”
Both men broke down in tears.
“For years, I had wondered if I made a difference,” Kersbergen said. “And in that moment, I knew. I did. I helped save a life.”
Fifty years later, the memories still haunt him of the chaotic evacuation of Saigon. But now, thanks to one simple Uber ride, John Kersbergen knows he also left Vietnam with something else—hope.
“Life begins at conception! Legal protection for the unborn, from Conception until natural death’ Democrats are the party of death! Only a madman would vote Democrat!”
We have heard this for a long time, and from many apparent pro-lifers, who are seemingly just fine with IVF, beginning with Donald Trump and JD Vance. These might include untold numbers of married couples who march against surgical abortion, even while they themselves contracept with low estrogen pills, which sometimes functions as a micro-abortion drug.
Many, upon learning that contraception not only diminishes the value of the preborn, but aborts them, have writhed in angst and sorrow on what they thought was merely preventing conception — only to discover that it often creates the destruction of a conceived human being made “in the image and likeness of God” — one of their own children.
Then we have the dishonest American Medical Association, that bastion of medical gravitas, which has redefined “conception” to mean “implantation”. This was done several decades ago in order to assuage the emotions of pro-life mothers who used Low E pills, distributed by Planned Parenthood as a “safer” alternative to regular pills, and also IUDs — intra-uterine devices — that used copper wires to create a hostile environment for conceived children, attempting to implant themselves in their mother’s womb.
All this was promoted in the 1950s and 60s by Planned P as a way to supposedly strengthen families: fewer children would mean quality children. And women would be free to enter the workforce! And leave their children to day care facilities. Something that Marxists had being doing for decades.
Satire: And, as we all know, divorce rates have dropped, children have become more secure, women are more revered than ever before, and men continue to have an equal hand in the guidance of the children.
Yet the news is currently good: The Trump Administration is dropping its support for federal funding of IVF. Aside from the fact that the idea of federal funding for IVF is utterly unconstitutional, it is also evil. It makes a mockery of the claim that, “Life begins at conception.” It mocks God, the Lord and giver of life, while pretending to be on His side. It gives fodder to the culture of death that accuses pro-lifers that they are selective about their own supposed beliefs.
It is not unreasonable to assume that this exposed inconsistency is a result of prayer on the part of prolifers, who love both Trump and the unborn, and wish for him to come into line with Divine Will. We all knew that Donald Trump was a flawed human being. He has a lot of company, along with the rest of us. How he and JD Vance learn the truth is irrelevant. The bottom line is, we all have gone that route — and repented.
Let us pray that Trump and Vance see this as a benign correction from God, and admit it. We will not win this fight unless and until we admit that contraception cheapens human life, that it sets the table for massive human extermination, and that we need to humble ourselves before God as we endeavor to bring our government — and nation — to the Truth, despite the failure of both Protestant and Catholic preaching.
The Catholic Church has not changed its teaching, but has abdicated preaching this truth among most of its bishops and priests. Now, evangelicals are awakening to how they have been deceived, and recognized that 100 years ago, their teaching mirrored what the official Catholic teaching has never wavered from. It is time that a new evangelization arises, that will unite Christan denominations:
Not only is surgical and chemical abortion wrong, but also … micro-abortion! Sleepers: awake! Preach the unpopular truth, which Christ never hesitated. Lose some, but gain even more.
And save your own souls in the process!
Bob Bird is former chair of the Alaskan Independence Party and the host of a talk show on KSRM radio, Kenai.
When it comes to commercial fishing in Alaska, the vessel name Bad Intentions turned out to be more than a catchy moniker — it was allegedly a mission statement.
A federal grand jury has indicted five experienced Southeast Alaska fishermen in a sweeping conspiracy to illegally harvest thousands of pounds of halibut, in violation of the Lacey Act. One of the boats at the center of the scheme? The F/V Bad Intentions.
Jonathan Pavlik, 43, of Yakutat, is accused of masterminding the operation, allegedly conspiring with Vincent Jacobson, 51, and Kyle Dierick, 36, both of Yakutat; Michael Babic, 42, of Cordova; and Timothy Ross, 58, of Washington. The indictment alleges the fishermen coordinated illegal halibut harvests near Yakutat from 2019 through 2023.
According to court documents, Pavlik and the others routinely broke federal law by reporting that halibut had been legally caught under their Individual Fishing Quota permits, even when some of them weren’t even aboard the fishing vessel during harvests, a requirement under federal regulations. In total, over 10,700 pounds of halibut were allegedly harvested and falsely reported.
The indictment goes on to detail a particularly brazen episode between August and October 2023, when more than 9,600 pounds of halibut harvested aboard the Bad Intentions were allegedly offloaded onto another vessel, the F/V New Era, and then falsely reported and sold.
Pavlik faces four counts of conspiracy, five counts of unlawful sale, and five counts of false labeling under the Lacey Act. His alleged co-conspirators — Jacobson, Dierick, Babic, and Ross — are each charged with one count of conspiracy.
If convicted, the defendants face up to five years in federal prison for each count and fines up to $250,000.
The case was investigated by NOAA’s Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement, Alaska Division, with assistance from the Alaska Wildlife Troopers. It is being prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska.
Initial court appearances are scheduled over the next two weeks before US Magistrate Judge Matthew M. Scoble in Anchorage.
In Alaska’s high-stakes fisheries, the rules are strict and the penalties are steep. If prosecutors win their case, the road to jail may be paved with Bad Intentions.
A pair of administrative orders by Gov. Mike Dunleavy seek to streamline government, reduce regulations, and create greater efficiencies and public transparency through the use of artificial intelligence. The two new administrative orders are aimed at overhauling how Alaska’s executive branch operates, with an emphasis on reducing regulatory burdens.
The first, dubbed the Government Efficiency Review, directs the Office of Management and Budget to conduct an annual review of all executive branch agencies. The goal is to identify cost savings, streamline state operations, modernize internal processes, and ensure that taxpayer dollars are used responsibly.
Initial focus areas include examining grants to non-state entities and accounts payable systems. The order also requires agencies to incorporate technology and artificial intelligence to improve public visibility into how state funds are spent.
“Alaskans expect their government to deliver essential services in the most efficient and responsible way possible,” said Governor Dunleavy in a prepared statement. “This order ensures we prioritize critical needs, eliminate waste, and safeguard the state’s financial stability.”
The second order establishes a Regulatory Reform Initiative, replacing earlier directives with a new framework intended to cut red tape and promote economic development. Under the order, all state agencies must review existing regulations and related materials and reduce regulatory requirements by 15% by the end of 2026, and by 25% by the end of 2027.
Among the initiative’s mandates:
Streamlining permitting procedures in the Departments of Natural Resources, Environmental Conservation, and Fish and Game;
Setting enforceable permitting timelines, with automatic approvals if deadlines are missed;
Publishing all agency guidance documents to the Alaska Online Public Notice System;
Creating a State Unified Regulatory Plan each year for transparency and coordination across agencies.
“Alaska must compete on the world stage,” Dunleavy stated. “This order eliminates unnecessary red tape, modernizes permitting, and promotes accountability—while maintaining strong protections for our people and environment.”
Both orders take effect immediately and apply to all executive branch agencies, boards, commissions, and public corporations.
Anchorage’s greenbelts are still persistent encampment zones, a city where summer brings not tourists but tarps, tents, and trash. Despite laws meant to prevent it, illegal camping sprawls unchecked across public lands. We give you an unfiltered look at the slow unraveling of Alaska’s largest city under Mayor Suzanne LaFrance and Democrat rule. These images tell the story:
Minnesota and Benson Blvd. outdoor living, walking distance to Starbucks.
The new tent encampment is between Starbucks and the Legislative Information Offices in the Wells Fargo Bank building.
Downtown Anchorage, along Flattop Pizza.
Nap time in downtown by Flattop Pizza.
While Mayor LaFrance pushed parents to bring children to a bike event in Town Square Park, vagrants moved over to the trees nearby, as an Anchorage Police officer keeps watch.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, whose department oversees the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the federal offshore leasing program, dealt the offshore wind industry a major blow this week by rescinding all designated Wind Energy Areas on the US Outer Continental Shelf.
The move is just the latest in a string of steps taken by the White House and the Department of Interior to carry out President Donald Trump’s oft-repeated campaign promise to bring an end to the offshore wind industry in the United States.
Since the advent of the Biden administration’s aggressive push to fast-track permitting approvals for massive industrial sites in the midst of known whale migration routes and prolific commercial fishing grounds, the offshore wind industry has been plagued by scandals and mishaps.
Commercial fishermen in the Northeast have complained loudly and filed lawsuits over claims the industry’s noisy operations and ship traffic has damaged their businesses.
The advent of construction of hundreds of towers higher than New York skyscrapers coincided with a huge increase in the numbers of whales and other marine mammal carcasses washing up on northeastern shores.
The collapse of a giant blade from a Vineyard Wind turbine caused huge amounts of dangerous shrapnel to wash up on local beaches, creating an uproar in Nantucket and other coastal communities.
Though offshore developers and Biden-era regulators at NOAA have denied claims related to fishing and whales, the reputational harm has been done. The damage caused by the blade collapse at Vineyard wind was too transparent even for the Biden White House and regulators to obscure, and the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement ordered operations to be shut down pending an investigation and cleanup efforts. That order was lifted in the waning days of Biden’s presidency on Jan. 17 as a final favor to the struggling industry.
There have been no similar favors from Washington, DC since Jan. 20, when Trump was sworn into office. His efforts to end Biden’s favored business started with a Day 1 executive order targeting both offshore and onshore wind, and a steady succession of additional orders and administrative moves has flowed from the executive branch in the past 6 months. Congress also got into the act in early July, with language in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act mandating a gradual rescission of wind industry access to Biden-era tax breaks and other subsidies.
Burgum has aggressively acted to pursue the President’s goals. Indeed, on July 29, the day before he rescinded Big Wind’s offshore designated areas, Burgum published a policy update which ends Biden-era preferences for offshore and onshore wind projects under federal jurisdiction.
The four policy actions contained in Tuesday’s notice include:
Ending preferential treatment for offshore and onshore wind projects.
Restoring the multiple use of public lands and waters doctrine observed by every president since it was established more than 120 years ago.
Providing stakeholders expanded engagement access mandated under the Administrative Procedures Act.
Ordering a study to review the wind industry’s impacts on migratory birds.
That final item could become especially damaging to the wind industry’s future given the practices at the state and federal levels of approving major wind projects in the midst of known migratory bird corridors. Even “red” states like Texas and some of the Great Plains states have ignored wind power’s known impacts on migratory birds to enable policymakers to virtue signal their green credentials to constituents.
As I wrote earlier this week, the President made his views about wind power clear again with his harangue during a press availability with EU President Ursula Von Der Leyen in Scotland, saying, “It’s the worst form of energy, the most expensive form of energy. But windmills should not be allowed…it’s not going to happen in the United States.”
That was on Monday, when the President would have no doubt been aware of the actions Burgum was about to take over the rest of the week. Now, with Burgum’s new measures going into effect at DOI, the future of the U.S. offshore wind industry is clear, and the outlook for onshore wind is only marginally less disastrous.
Elections do matter, and politicians in blue states and red states alike will have to find other ways to signal their glorious green virtues.
David Blackmon is an energy writer and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.
