Alaska

Alaska rural health notices pass $239 million with $30 million round

Alaska sent out $30 million more in rural health awards this week, funding a Girdwood telepharmacy, a Norton Sound scheduling hub and rural X-ray machines.

by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read

Follows: Alaska adds $16.8 million in rural health awards without naming who gets the money

An Alaska arts staffer built a free tool to describe images for screen readers

An Alaska arts council staffer built an AI tool that writes image descriptions for screen readers in 2023, then made it free for anyone to use.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Alaska urges flu shots now as influenza activity climbs

Flu is climbing in Alaska, where 36 people died last season and adults get vaccinated at less than half the national rate. Now is the window.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Sitka's savings for future repairs has shrunk three years running

Sitka's yearly set-aside for future infrastructure repairs keeps shrinking: $4 million, then $3.2 million, and $3 million proposed for Tuesday.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Most of Sitka's administrator search has happened in executive session

Sitka's sole finalist for city administrator dropped out in July. The Assembly decides Tuesday on a different candidate, possibly in closed session.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Follows: Sitka Assembly to interview municipal administrator applicant Gerrie Cotter on Sept. 10

Alaska reports 36 flu deaths in 2025-26 season, most in four years

Thirty-six Alaskans died of flu-related illness this season, the worst in four years. The vaccine didn't match the strains that circulated here.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Anchorage's required 2027 school contribution rises to about $138 million

Anchorage owes its schools $138 million next year and may give up to $108 million more. The board says no school closes for money either way.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Anchorage's property tax cap rises $18.5 million for next year

Anchorage's property tax cap rises $18.5 million next year to $381.7 million. Last year the city collected everything it was allowed, minus $325.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Sitka has been renting dumpsters without a rate in code

Sitka has been running roll-off dumpster service with no rate in city code. The Assembly is fixing that Tuesday, at $3,300 a month per container.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Troopers say Fairbanks driver hit 90 mph before DUI arrest

Troopers arrested a driver who ran lights through Fairbanks above 90 mph. City police, meanwhile, spent $593 of a $278,000 DUI enforcement budget.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Sullivan bill would have Congress ratify ANWR Coastal Plain permits

Sullivan's bill would have Congress ratify the ANWR leasing permits — a move that would largely put them beyond challenge in federal court.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Alaska leads the country in elder fraud complaints

Alaska led the country per capita in elder fraud complaints in 2024. Older Alaskans lost $8.17 million, most of it to fake tech support calls.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Arctic's warmest summer since 1950 included the rain that flooded the Susitna Valley

The July rain that flooded the Susitna Valley is now logged as an extreme event of the warmest Arctic summer since 1950, according to a new climate review.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Kenai Assembly asks state to ban cloud seeding, on consent agenda

A company seeded clouds over the Kenai Peninsula and the borough learned about it from a press release. Nobody has the authority to require otherwise.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read

Draft Southeast plan omits Juneau-Skagway road, comment closes Oct. 19

The road from Juneau to Skagway has been argued about for twenty years. The state's new plan for Southeast does not mention it even one time.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read

Alaska counts 900 fewer jobs in August as federal payrolls shed 1,300

Alaska lost 900 jobs in the year to August, with 800 private-sector gains offset by 1,700 public-sector losses, 1,300 of them federal. The federal shortfall has narrowed from 1,900 in April and has held at 1,300 since June. Unemployment was 4.3 percent.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

A hydro plant sat on state land five years after its easement expired

A hydro plant east of Palmer has sat on state land for five years with no authorization to be there. The state now proposes to lease it the ground.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readFrom Sep 14

Petition would vacate Eek Street; comment by Oct. 20 or lose the right to object

A public street in Eek would become private property of the city and AVEC, no one has said why, and anyone who wants to object later has to speak up by Oct. 20.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Chena River flood advisory extended through Sunday as crest forecast rises

NWS extended the Chena River flood advisory through 10 pm Sunday and raised the Moose Creek Dam crest forecast to 25.1 feet.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Follows: NWS forecasts up to 1.5 inches of rain in the Chena River basin

Two Fairbanks ordinances would loosen the cap on school district reserves

Fairbanks wants to loosen the cap on what its school district can bank. One ordinance would trim the rule, the other would kill it outright.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Juneau's flood protection should be everyone's bill, three members say

Juneau's flood protection should be paid for by everyone, not just the people on the river, three Assembly members say. The bond vote slipped to 2027.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Fairbanks weighs union labor agreements on its big construction projects

Fairbanks would require union-negotiated labor agreements on borough construction over $3.5 million, copying an Anchorage rule that warned it could raise costs.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Juneau's flood fix could top $600 million, and the city has $11 million

Juneau needs more than $600 million to hold back the glacial flood. It has $11 million so far, and no plan for where its share comes from.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readFrom Aug 31

Juneau staff recommend banning electric dirt bikes on all public property

Juneau staff recommend banning electric dirt bikes from all public property, citing safety concerns and comparing high-powered models to unlicensed motorcycles.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Juneau committee sends an unrequested $6 million state grant to the downtown Seawalk

Juneau got $6 million from the state it never asked for and is putting it toward the downtown Seawalk, enough to build the first phase without borrowing.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readFrom Aug 31

Juneau committee to weigh 10% tax on rental cars staged near cruise docks

Juneau is weighing a 10% excise tax on rental cars picked up near the cruise docks, which would push the total on some rentals to 24 percent.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Nome weighs what to do with the boats that never leave its port yards

Boats and dredges that haven't floated in years are clogging the Port of Nome's yards, and the Port Commission is weighing higher fees or clearing them out.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Spur demolition begins for Nome's planned Arctic deep-draft port

Kiewit has begun removing Nome's port spur. Phase 1A extends the causeway, while separate dredging will create the 40-foot basin.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Craig's council asked Washington to keep the Tongass roadless rule

A former Craig timber cutter says four decades of logging left less deer food on the forest floor, not more. His council agreed with him, 4-1.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Kotzebue's chum run beat the forecast; the state will not say by how much

Kotzebue's chum harvest beat the forecast, and the state will not say by how much. Nobody counted the fish upriver for the second year running.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Heavy rain and near-60 mph gusts hit Southeast Alaska this weekend

A Pacific storm hits Southeast Alaska this weekend with heavy rain and gusts near 60 mph, raising streams fast but not, forecasters say, to flood.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

A woman was killed at East 3rd and Orca, where the state mapped a cluster

A woman was killed by a driver who left the scene at East 3rd and Orca, on the edge of an area the state mapped as a pedestrian death cluster.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Alaska seafood groups call EU catch-tracking system a trade barrier

A European rule wants every fish traced back to its boat. Alaska catches salmon 100 boats at a time, and 16,000 tons sat in Dutch ports in May.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Alaskans with Credit Acceptance car loans may get debt cancelled under a $709.5 million settlement

Some Alaskans with subprime car loans are about to have the balance erased. The state cannot say how many, because other states run the payout.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

A Southeast power agency seeks to free a line from federal terms

SEAPA wants to pull a 30-mile transmission line out of its Swan Lake hydro license before a 40-year relicensing, keeping the line but shedding the terms.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

An order would presume hunting is allowed on Alaska's federal land

An executive order would presume hunting is allowed across some 92 million federal acres in Alaska. The subsistence priority is statutory and stays put.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Troopers find missing hunter near Tanana after weather grounded search a day

Alaska Wildlife Troopers found a missing hunter near Tanana on Wednesday after weather grounded the search a day earlier. He declined medical treatment and returned to camp.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

A jet fuel truck at JBER is out until at least the end of December

A truck that pumps 600 gallons of jet fuel a minute is sitting dead on the JBER flightline. The replacement engine is not due until late December.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Trump fishing order targets Gulf, Atlantic data disputes and could reach Alaska

Trump changed no Alaska catch limit. His national sportfishing order targets Atlantic and Gulf data disputes but could later reach Alaska rules.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Juneau's hatchery waters reopen six weeks ahead of schedule

Fishing reopens near Juneau's Macaulay hatchery six weeks early, six coho a day. The closure traced back to fish lost in a landslide in 2020.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Follows: Juneau loses two months of fishing to a 2020 landslide