Alaska

Spann sues state, governor and PFD director in Anchorage court

The creator of a 37,858-signature PFD petition has sued the state, representing himself. What the lawsuit is actually about is not yet known.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Juneau's JAMHI clinic gets $938,000 in congressionally directed funds to replace failing HVAC

Juneau has no road out. The clinic holding its primary care and behavioral health is getting federal money for failing HVAC and fire suppression.

by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min read

Alaska Native tribes begin five-year youth suicide prevention programs

Ten Alaska Native tribes and health organizations begin five-year youth suicide prevention programs next week, sharing about $4.1 million in federal money.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Homer's tsunami evacuation route is being raised and widened

The road Homer would use to get people off the Spit ahead of a tsunami is being raised and widened, with $1.17 million obligated toward it so far.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

FAA awards Sitka $2 million for seaplane base land and final design

Sitka has federal money to buy land and finish designs for a new floatplane base. The $34 million to actually build it hasn't turned up yet.

by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read

Kodiak's health center is getting its own heating unit, off the hospital's

Kodiak's community health center shares aging air handling with the hospital next door. A $300,000 earmark buys it a rooftop unit of its own.

by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read

Ketchikan Gateway Borough gets $347,000 to replace a South Tongass ambulance

South Tongass lost both its ambulances when the station burned in 2024. It has been driving an 18-year-old hand-me-down from Valdez ever since.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Fairbanks gets $728,000 in congressionally directed funds for a 14-stretcher ambulance bus

Fairbanks is buying a bus that can carry 14 patients on stretchers. The grant covers one year; crewing it after that is the city's problem.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Subsistence fishing reopens on the upper Yukon, village by village

Subsistence fishing reopens on the upper Yukon in stages from Sept. 26 to Oct. 6, timed so Canadian-bound fall chum pass each stretch of river first.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Follows: Subsistence salmon fishing reopens on the Tanana and Yukon after closures

Tanana subsistence and personal use fishing goes 24 hours

Tanana River subsistence fishing opens to full gear around the clock Tuesday, after six straight years of restrictions on a fall chum run that came back.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Follows: Strong chum run opens Tanana coho fishing and more gear this weekend

North Pole's bed tax collections are up 137% and headed for a record year

North Pole's bed tax collections more than doubled this year, likely because short-term rentals are finally paying up. A magazine also called it charming.

by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read

North Pole wants its next mayor to work part time, for $2,000 a month

North Pole's council voted to cut the next mayor's pay from about $80,000 a year plus benefits to $2,000 a month, flat. It is not final quite yet.

by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read

The line that powers Petersburg would leave federal license oversight

Petersburg gets its power over an 80-mile line from Tyee Lake. The agency running it wants that line out of its federal license, the second this year.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Palmer pilot and Michigan passenger killed in eastern Alaska plane crash

Two people died when a Piper Super Cub went down in eastern Alaska on Sept. 17, two days after a separate crash near Aniak killed two men.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readFrom Sep 17

Fairbanks rewrites Chena riverfront rules; its own 2019 warning was never acted on

A 2019 letter warned that Chena River homes built to code could lose their ground before the mortgage is paid off. Fairbanks is rewriting the plan now.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Juneau committee moves board recruitment plan out of resolution and into a letter

Juneau had 33 vacancies across its city boards. The plan to fill them was moved out of the resolution and into an attachment to a cover letter.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Bethel would lease city lots to a fiber contractor without taking bids

Bethel would lease six city lots to a fiber contractor for $201,600 without bids, and nothing in the packet shows how the price was set.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Bethel council to authorize $5,200 culvert easements the city signed months ago

Bethel City Council takes up an ordinance Tuesday authorizing $5,200 in perpetual culvert easements along Ptarmigan Road that the city manager already signed in May and June, with a public hearing Oct. 13.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Fairbanks trails panel wants tour operators permitted and paying 15% into a trail fund

Fairbanks has over 1,000 miles of trails and no rules for commercial tours on them. A draft would charge operators 15 percent, into a fund that does not exist.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

AIDEA's board takes six major projects into executive session in Kotzebue

AIDEA's board meets in Kotzebue with Ambler, Red Dog, ANWR and West Susitna on the closed agenda — listed by name, with nothing said about what's up.

by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min read

NWS tracks Bering Sea low that could raise Yukon Delta water 1 to 3 feet

A Bering Sea low pressure system could raise water 1 to 3 feet above normal along the southern Yukon Delta coast Thursday through Saturday, with an advisory in effect until Tuesday afternoon.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Troopers cite a Wasilla hunter over evidence of sex missing from his moose

A Wasilla hunter was cited near Eureka after troopers found his moose no longer had evidence of sex attached, a detail that turns a legal animal into a charge.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readFrom Sep 4

Goat hunt RG249 north of Valdez Arm closes

Goat hunting north of Valdez Arm closes Tuesday night, four months early. Hunters have reported five of the seven goat points allowed this season.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Peltola leads the poll. Sullivan leads the voters most likely to show up.

A bipartisan poll has Peltola ahead of Sullivan 53-47 after ranked choice, but the older voters most likely to actually turn out favor him 54-46.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read

Flags fly at half-staff Tuesday for former Ketchikan Rep. Cheri Davis

Flags fly at half-staff Tuesday for Cheri Davis, who spent a decade on the Ketchikan School Board before she represented the town in Juneau.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

A new poll has Kreiss-Tomkins ahead in the first round and the last

A bipartisan AARP poll has Kreiss-Tomkins at 40 percent and winning a ranked-choice simulation 55-45, but a quarter of voters ranked neither finalist.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Nelchina caribou could be hunted again in 2027 under a state proposal

Nelchina caribou hunters could get 150 Tier II bulls in 2027. The herd has more than doubled since 2023 but is still below the state's goal.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Wasilla group reports $93,850 in September spending for six Republican legislative candidates

A group funded entirely by a national Republican committee has spent $93,850 on six Alaska House races, including $50,800 to a Wyoming canvassing firm.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Sitka would make second houses easier to build in some zones and ban them in others

Sitka wants second small houses easier to build in some neighborhoods and off limits in others. Shotgun Alley asked for one and was told to wait.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read

Alaska's $7.74 billion transportation plan is open for public comment

Alaska's four-year, $7.74 billion transportation plan is open for comment until Oct. 29 — and the draft itself says that total isn't complete.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Federal environmental review begins for the Arctic copper mine near Kobuk

The Army Corps is starting its environmental review of the Arctic copper mine near Kobuk, with a final decision targeted for September 2028.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Juneau sets aside $4 million against a $12.9 million flood barrier loan

Juneau set aside $4 million Monday toward a $12.9 million state loan for HESCO flood barriers along the Mendenhall River, covering less than a third of the debt.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readFrom Sep 14

Past three miles, Sitka residents fish under nonresident rules

Cross three miles off Sitka and residents fish under nonresident rules, so a lingcod that's legal inshore can end your day in federal water.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readFrom Sep 18

Alaska sets October-to-May RSV window; Native toddlers again qualify for a second dose

More Alaska babies now qualify for a second RSV shot, including those born preterm or with Down syndrome. Parents may need to ask for it directly.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Denali's road work starts the day after the last bus of the season

Denali's last bus of the season ran Sept. 17. The very next morning, a $6.2 million contract to fix the roads those buses depend on began.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Flaggers still at Richardson Highway MP 210 as rock blasting wraps up

Crews blasted the last of an unstable rock outcrop off the Richardson Highway at Milepost 210, a year after the state flagged it. Traffic is still controlled.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Campfire and fireworks ban north of Fairbanks runs to Oct. 31

Campfires and fireworks stay banned on federal land north of Fairbanks through October 31 to prevent wildfires near homes and the NOAA facility.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

State agencies host Oct. 12-13 Anchorage conference on disability employment

State agencies host an Employment First Conference Oct. 12-13 in Anchorage to address why only 51% of Alaskans with disabilities work, compared to 77% without.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Scammers posing as MEA are threatening Mat-Su members with shutoffs

Scammers posing as MEA are calling members, some with their account numbers, threatening to cut the power. MEA says hang up and call 907-761-9300.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readFrom Sep 10

Troopers arrest driver on DUI charge after 105 mph stop near Fairbanks

Alaska State Troopers arrested a driver on a DUI charge after stopping them for driving 105 mph with signs of impairment on the Richardson Highway near Fairbanks on September 20th.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read