Looking Back — April 29, 2025

This spring, an estimated 73,000 students in Alaska were scheduled to take the Alaska Measures of Progress tests in English language arts and mathematics for the first time. The tests replaced the Performance Based Assessment, which the state has had in place for several years.

Along with the implementation of the new online assessments this year, the number of parents opting their children out of the tests in the Fairbanks North Star Borough leapt dramatically.

According to the district’s executive director of technology, Janet Cobb, 128 students in the district were opted out of the tests — a tenfold increase from years past.

25 YEARS AGO

April 29, 2000 — Plenty of snow still covers the ground, but fire danger was officially listed as high on Friday by the Alaska Division of Forestry.

“That’s because it’s so windy,” said Alan Martin, a state forestry technician. “We’re projecting moderate danger [Saturday].”

While the fire season doesn’t officially begin until May 1, the Division of Forestry began issuing its daily fire danger warnings on Friday after determining that some grassy areas are now free of snow.

May 1 also marks the date burn permits are required for any open burning on land under state jurisdiction. A permit is required until Sept. 30.

State forestry officials in Fairbanks are expecting to issue more than 2,000 burn permits this year, based on past records. On average, the state issues between 1,500 and 2,000 permits annually. The permits are good for three consecutive years.

50 YEARS AGO

April 29, 1975 — Involvement in Vietnam ended in a long-planned but twice-delayed withdrawal today after President Ford ordered helicopters and Marines to bring out the remaining Americans from besieged Saigon.

The Pentagon said the armada of 81 U.S. military helicopters that carried out the evacuation was first delayed for about an hour shortly after it began because of an unexplained order that caused the helicopters to turn back before touching down in the Communist-encircled South Vietnamese capital.

A Pentagon spokesman said it was delayed a second time for 80 minutes at 1 p.m. EDT. The reason was not known for certain, but the spokesman said: “It’s probably because of crew fatigue. These guys have been going 13 hours straight.”

There were 150 Americans left at the U.S. Embassy in Saigon at the time, the spokesman said.

The number of South Vietnamese waiting there to be evacuated at the time of the second delay was not known, he said.

At 2:20 p.m. EDT, six helicopters departed the carrier Hancock to resume the evacuation.

75 YEARS AGO

April 29, 1950 — WASHINGTON — (AP) — A group of Senate Administration Democrats three support today behind the proposal to legalize the maritime unions’ hiring halls.

Democratic members of the Senate Labor Committee backed a subcommittee to report recommending such a step.

This was the first time a group of Administration supporters made a serious bid to revise part of the Taft-Hartley law, which, courts have held, outlaws hiring halls.

100 YEARS AGO

April 29, 1925 — With 60 children absent from school and many others either verging on being ill or just recovering, Dr. Sutherland ordered the schools closed Monday for a week in an effort to curb the flu situation that has developed in Fairbanks the past week.

The illness seems to confine itself mainly to children, for while there are many grownups ill with the grippe, the children seem to be the ones suffering the most. The doctors in town are busy day and night caring for their patients and endeavoring to keep the epidemic from spreading.

The picture show has been closed to the school children and they are also forbidden to attend any public gathering until the bad is lifted.