Alaska Black Caucus fights visitation ban at prisons
March 6, 2021
FacebookTwitterEmail
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) A visitation ban at all of Alaska s correctional facilities because of the coronavirus pandemic should be loosened, officials from the Alaska Black Caucus said.
Celeste Hodge Growden, president of the Alaska Black Caucus, said to reporters on Thursday that the organization had reached out to state officials multiple times to request looser restrictions, but the meetings had been repeatedly canceled.
The Alaska Department of Corrections had halted all in-person visitations at prisons and jails last March, when the virus was first detected in the state.
State officials had said that they implemented the safety precautions to prevent an outbreak at the state s crowded jails.
Print article A visitation suspension that was once put in place to protect people within Alaska’s correctional facilities is now doing the opposite, officials from the Alaska Black Caucus said Thursday. The caucus has been pushing for months to have visitation restrictions loosened in the state’s correctional facilities because of the impact it has on attorney-client communications. The Alaska Department of Corrections halted all in-person visitation last March when COVID-19 was first detected in the state. At the time, officials said they implemented safety precautions in hopes of minimizing the risk of virus spread in Alaska’s crowded jails. But by fall and winter, COVID-19 was spreading rampantly in the state’s correctional facilities.
Dunbar so far outraises competitors for Anchorage mayor s office by tens of thousands of dollars adn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from adn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Print article
We re making this important information available without a subscription as a public service. But we depend on reader support to do this work. Please consider supporting independent journalism in Alaska, at just $1.99 for the first month of your subscription. The Anchorage acting mayor’s office plans to further ease some of the municipality’s COVID-19 restrictions in a new emergency order to be announced this week. Capacity restrictions on hospitality businesses like restaurants and bars will change from 25% to 50%, Jason Bockenstedt, chief of staff for Acting Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson, said Wednesday night at an Anchorage Assembly meeting. The time limit for businesses serving alcohol will also change from 11 p.m. to midnight, he said.
Anchorage Assembly to consider city code for mask mandate
by The Associated Press
Last Updated Jan 27, 2021 at 9:26 am EDT
ANCHORAGE, Alaska An emergency order mandating the use of masks in response to the coronavirus pandemic could be turned into city code by the Anchorage Assembly.
Assembly members were expected to introduce ordinances Tuesday that could change mayoral emergency orders into local law, including a requirement for masks to be worn within indoor public places, Anchorage Daily News reported.
A mask ordinance would move the matter out of the control of the mayor’s office, regardless of whether the measure has the mayor’s support. A new mayor is expected to be chosen during the April 6 election and take office July 1.