Alaska

Wasilla's road plan expired on a population forecast 38 percent too high

Wasilla's road plan expired, its parent comprehensive plan was repealed in 2011, and it assumed 3,700 more residents than the city actually has.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Seward Highway and Tudor Road interchange design study goes to Anchorage hearing Nov. 2

The state wants to rebuild the Seward Highway interchange at Tudor Road. It goes to a public hearing Nov. 2, with most of the funding still unbuilt.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Alaska DNR issues four land decisions for University of Alaska land grants

Alaska issued four land-transfer decisions in four days ahead of a December deadline, over unanimous opposition. At Medicine Lake, the opposition won.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

A magnitude 6.5 quake hit west of Nikolski, the third big one this year

A magnitude 6.5 quake hit west of Nikolski with no tsunami and no expected damage — the third magnitude-6 quake near the village this year.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Port of Alaska must ship contaminated soil out of state after storm drain dig

Crews at the Port of Alaska hit soil dirtier than testing predicted. It's now headed out of state, on a project with a grant deadline attached.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Congress weighs $500 million in tribal water money Alaska can't reach

Congress is moving $500 million for one California tribe's water rights, a kind of federal money that Alaska's tribes, by their legal status, can barely reach.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read

Unalaska student wins national naval history award for Angoon bombardment project

Unalaska student River Zaochney won a national Naval History Award for a project on the 1882 Navy bombardment of Angoon, a Tlingit village the Navy formally apologized for in 2024.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Visitors keep walking into Seward's industrial port

Cruise passengers in Seward keep wandering into the industrial port instead of onto the sidewalk. The city is paying $79,920 to sort out the signs.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

House subcommittee hears testimony on conveying 21,578 Denali acres to Doyon

Doyon selected a sacred rock formation in Denali as its own in 1978. Forty-eight years later, Congress is still deciding whether to hand it over.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Alaska's population holds steady to 2055. Kodiak loses a quarter of its people.

Alaska's population barely changes by 2055. Kodiak's drops 26 percent. A flat statewide average hides what happens to individual communities.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

A free crisis intervention course in Wasilla has 30 seats next month

Thirty free seats in a crisis intervention course in Wasilla next month, and Mat-Su officers and first responders get first crack at all of them.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Bait allowed again on lower Klawock River as fall coho move in

Bait fishing reopened on lower Klawock River from September 15 through October 15 as fall coho arrive, though upstream areas remain lure-only year round.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Eshamy District salmon season closes Friday night

Eshamy closes Friday night on a season in which nobody reported catching anything for two weeks, under a fishing cap set by an allocation formula.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Copper River coho periods stretch to 36 hours next week

Copper River gillnetters get 36-hour openings Monday and Thursday, up from 24-hour periods, after a delta survey counted 40,780 coho above the expected range, following a difficult summer.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Juneau taxpayers at large would carry $4.7 million of the Mendenhall barrier bill as a quarter of the district objects

Juneau Assembly appropriated about $1 million in tribal and FEMA grants for additional phases of Mendenhall River flood barriers and 2024 flood response after an August 2024 glacial outburst flood damaged roughly 290 residences.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Follows: Juneau would shift $4.5 million from barrier construction to repairs and debt

Nonresident rockfish retention stays closed in Ketchikan waters

Nonresident anglers in Ketchikan cannot keep yelloweye, quillback, canary, China, copper, tiger or rosethorn rockfish through year-end, though Alaska residents may keep one a day.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Three of 20 Alaska aviation accidents since July 19 were fatal

Twenty aircraft have crashed in Alaska in eight weeks. Three were fatal. The state's accident rate runs more than twice the national average.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Anchorage Assembly shelves mayor's homebuyer tax break 11-1

Anchorage Assembly indefinitely postponed a 10-year property-tax exemption for first-time buyers of newly built homes on an 11-1 vote, with members questioning the proposal's target and who would benefit.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Follows: Anchorage's new-home tax break would reach pricier houses under a revision

Anchorage housing overlay hearing carries to Oct. 6 after divided testimony

Anchorage heard nearly 90 minutes of divided housing testimony, then ran out of time. The 30,000-parcel overlay returns Oct. 6

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Follows: Anchorage wants 10,000 homes. Its zoning fight is over where they can fit.

Anchorage delays surveillance rules as sponsors and mayor remain divided

Anchorage delayed its surveillance ordinance to Oct. 20. The crime center keeps operating under police policy while lawmakers reconcile rival rules.

by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read

Follows: Mayor's substitute puts Anchorage's surveillance network before the Assembly Tuesday

Anchorage confirms drone deployment was omitted and checks for others

APD's manual drone log lost at least one deployment. Anchorage is checking for more omissions and owes the Assembly a revised report Oct. 6.

by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read

Follows: APD's new drone notice leaves annual-report questions unanswered

An Anchorage firm will run Job Corps in the South Bronx and Brooklyn

The Labor Department tried to shut down Job Corps last year and lost in court. Now it's signing new contracts, and an Anchorage firm got two in New York City.

by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min read

Bethel council to vote Sept. 22 on paying utilities for Atsaq Place supportive housing

Bethel City Council votes Sept. 22 on paying water, sewer and waste utilities for Atsaq Place supportive housing, a 24-unit shelter for people experiencing homelessness.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

A jury convicted a former employee in a Trapper Creek killing

A Palmer jury convicted a former restaurant employee of first-degree murder in the 2023 killing of a 21-year-old server at a Trapper Creek lodge.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

The snow crab limit is going up. There aren't more crab.

The Bering Sea snow crab catch limit would rise 13% this winter — not because there are more crab, but because scientists cut the safety margin in half.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read

Cordova council votes 4-0 to negotiate hillside lot sale instead of taking bids

Cordova City Council voted 4-0 to negotiate directly with one interested buyer for a hillside lot instead of seeking sealed bids, overriding the Planning Commission's recommendation

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Follows: Cordova commission backs sealed proposals for Davis Avenue hillside lot

Cordova's code says give the dog back if the owner is standing there

Cordova's code tells an officer to hand the dog back if the owner is standing right there. The council thinks that may be a liability problem.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Chugiak fire chief to ask voters this spring for first mill rate increase since 2005

Chugiak's fire calls are up 27 percent, and the chief says it is not fires driving it. It is people without a doctor calling an ambulance instead.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

A fishing advocate warns Kenai over an undersea Cook Inlet data center

A fishing advocate told the Kenai council the federal application for an undersea data center off Nikiski has no thermal modeling, in endangered beluga habitat.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Follows: Massachusetts firm seeks study permit for a 66-pod undersea data center in Cook Inlet

Kaktovik's do-not-drink notice stays until sharper lab results arrive

Kaktovik's do-not-drink order is still in place. The North Tank starts refilling Friday, and new samples with finer detection limits are at the lab.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Follows: Kaktovik flushes millions of gallons of glycol-tainted water after plant mistake

State will bring free heavy equipment training to Cordova crews

Cordova's public works crews will train on heavy equipment at no cost through state-run courses held in town, filling a gap left by last year's travel budget cuts.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Cordova's winter ferry hope hinges on a Whittier dock question

Cordova Mayor Kristin Smith plans to meet with Alaska's transportation commissioner Tuesday to discuss winter ferry service and road safety issues.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Mat-Su picks a pricier road route over its advisors and landowners

Mat-Su picked a $21–31 million road route over a $9–10 million one, against every advisory body and landowners who won't sell, on a vote that first failed.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Fish board committee to review Traditional Knowledge report process Sept. 25

Fish board members will review how Traditional Knowledge reports are handled Sept. 25. The notice proposes no change to Traditional Knowledge's place in regulation.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

After the tow trucks left, one family could reach their own land

Fifty vehicles came off a half-mile of road in Big Lake. One family could finally drive to their own property. It took $42,000 and eleven dumpsters.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Sullivan diesel-derate bill advances Senate committee 10-9

A Senate panel advanced Sullivan's diesel-derate bill 10-9. It mandates cold-weather relief while EPA separately considers broader changes.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Alaska towns can build housing with this grant now, up to a point

Alaska communities can finally use block grant money to build housing. The most any one of them could put toward construction is about $170,000.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Bethel flooding is forecast to return with Thursday morning's tide

The Kuskokwim River pushed water into low-lying Bethel this week and is expected to rise again Thursday, as onshore winds hold it back from draining.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Two missing after boat overturns near Bethel

Two people are missing after a boat overturned near Bethel on Tuesday afternoon. Search and rescue efforts are ongoing.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Two men die in a plane crash near Aniak, Troopers say

Two men were killed when a small plane crashed after taking off from a moose camp near Aniak, Alaska State Troopers said.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read