Alaska

Nonresident lingcod retention reopens at Prince of Wales; yelloweye stays closed

Nonresident anglers around Prince of Wales Island can keep lingcod again starting September 1, but yelloweye rockfish stays closed to them through year-end under federal harvest limits.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Alaska's youngest students are improving in math and reading. Older grades aren't.

Alaska's youngest students are gaining in math and reading, but older grades have stalled — and most students still aren't testing proficient in either.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

University of Alaska draws $8.7 million Education Department payment running through 2031

The University of Alaska will receive $8.69 million in federal money through 2031, and the award record does not say what it is for.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read

Alaska rule would limit cannabinoids to licensed grows, approved hemp

Alaska regulators want to force all cannabinoids in legal pot products to come from state-licensed grows. This move aims to stop cheap out-of-state hemp from undercutting local businesses.

by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read

Alaska wants to change how it measures edible pot strength — and some legal products may not pass

Alaska wants to change how it measures edible pot strength — and the new math could push products legal today over the limit, without the products changing.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

HEX plans to triple its gas deliveries, enough to cover a tenth of demand

HEX plans to triple its contracted gas to ENSTAR by 2027. Even so, it would cover roughly a tenth of Southcentral demand as Cook Inlet keeps declining.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read

Troopers arrest two after 4-wheeler pursuit near Wasilla's Sage Road

Alaska State Troopers arrested two people after a four-wheeler fled near Wasilla on Wednesday night, one wanted on an outstanding warrant.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Before you head out this fall, tell someone where you are going

Leave a trip plan before you head out, Tanana Chiefs Conference says. Volunteer crews searching 235,000 square miles need to know where to look.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Wasilla is hiring someone to write its next road plan, and a new parks plan too

Wasilla's 20-year road plan ran out this year, and the city is about to hire someone to write the next one. Its parks plan dates back to 2011.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

He fought the fire that destroyed his Kaktovik school. Now he's helping to rebuild it.

Kaktovik crane operator Roy Robert Fischer-Akootchook, who fought the 2020 school fire, now operates equipment on its rebuild, with the new gym open since December 2025.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Interior Alaska's tribal health system is recording patient visits with AI

Tanana Chiefs Conference clinics are recording patient visits with an AI scribe. Patients can say no, and TCC says the recordings are deleted after 90 days.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska raised the age of consent, and school districts have new duties

Alaska raised the age of consent to 18 in July. School districts now must report such conduct to police, notify parents, and file with the state.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

The Nulato Hills Crew fights fire with hand tools, from five villages

BLM awarded Nulato Hills Enterprises a second $495,000 contract to run a seasonal wildland fire crew through March 2031, drawing firefighters from five Interior villages.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Interior awards $8,360 for helicopter service to Tincan and Indian Pass snow sensors

Interior awarded $8,360 to Alpine Air Alaska to maintain two remote snow sensors that feed avalanche forecasts for Turnagain Pass and Indian Pass through October.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Dozens of earthquakes struck one patch of seafloor near Nikolski

Three dozen quakes struck one patch of seafloor southwest of Nikolski in about a day. No tsunami danger, and the Aleutians are not in Alaska's warning system.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Fourteen states weighed in on whether an Alaskan belonged on Alaska's ballot

Fourteen states, the Alaska GOP and a national election law group filed briefs against a Petersburg man's candidacy. Two Alaskans filed for him, on their own.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

A decade in, Alaska's marijuana industry is squeezed by taxes as the state rewrites the rules

A decade in, Alaska's marijuana industry is squeezed by taxes and falling prices. Operators owe millions in back taxes as the state rewrites the rules.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago3 min read

Golden Valley is still getting paid for a storm from Christmas 2021

Golden Valley Electric is still being reimbursed for a 2021 windstorm, with FEMA committing another $1.36 million four years and eight months later.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Follows: Alaska has spent a fifth of its open federal disaster money, with six weeks on the clock

Alaska's smallest fire year since 1995 was also one of its most destructive

Alaska's quietest fire season in 30 years still took 50 homes at Tok, in a fire a climate specialist calls among the most destructive in state history.

by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Fifty homes destroyed at Tok in Alaska's lightest burn year since 1995

The Mukluk Fire destroyed more than 40 homes at Tok during Alaska's lightest burn year since 1995, making it one of the most destructive fires in state history despite record-low statewide acreage.

by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Follows: Cause of Tok's Mukluk Fire stays officially under investigation

Anchorage would trade away land it bought five years ago for $2.35 million

Anchorage would trade away land it paid $2.35 million to buy in 2021, before its own study of the site is finished and over a state objection.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

The Permanent Fund earned $8.2 billion and none of it went into protected principal

The Permanent Fund earned $8.2 billion last year and moved none of it into the part of the fund Alaskans cannot spend. That is two years running.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Juneau weighs taxing nonprofit sales to help close its budget gap

Juneau is weighing whether nonprofits should pay sales tax like small businesses — a move that could raise $3.3 million but squeeze groups like the symphony.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Charter halibut committee meets online Sept. 30; comment accepted beforehand

Federal regulators meet Sept. 30 to discuss charter halibut permit policy that affects Alaska's guided fishing industry, which accounts for most of the state's sport halibut catch.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Alaska's only blood bank is critically short of O and AB blood; six centers are taking donors

Blood Bank of Alaska needs O and AB blood types urgently, with only 2 percent of Alaskans donating annually despite serving 21 hospitals statewide.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Alaska would change who can question the medical report in a workers' comp fight

Alaska is rewriting how injured workers' claims get fought: who can question the doctor who wrote the report, and how the lawyer gets paid.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Seward Lagoon youth-only coho fishery extended through Oct. 5

Kids 15 and under can fish coho at Seward Lagoon through Oct. 5, two months longer than usual, while adults stay out.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Army plans to return four Alaska children's remains from Carlisle

The Army began disinterring four Alaska Native children from a Pennsylvania cemetery in September to return their remains to families, more than 120 years after they died at a federal boarding school.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Copper River dipnet and subsistence fishing runs through Sept. 30

Copper River dipnetters have until Sept. 30 to fish, closing out a below-average sockeye year — and the river gauge is down, so check conditions first.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Kodiak's school board has met four times over something it will not name

Kodiak's school board has met four times in 18 days on a personnel matter identified only as "KAP," entirely in closed session, with no minutes published.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

UAF launches a fellowship to grow Alaska Native leaders in food and agriculture

UAF is launching a program to grow Alaska Native leaders in food, farming and natural resources — fields where Native people are badly underrepresented.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Tanana has a health center again, 44 years after its hospital closed

Forty-four years after its hospital closed, Tanana has a new health center with a lab, pharmacy, radiology and a two-bay morgue, in a village of about 230.

by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Red Dog is one approval away from a new corporate owner

Teck Resources, owner of the Red Dog zinc mine near Kivalina, awaits one final regulatory approval before its merger with Anglo American closes, likely between September 2026 and March 2027.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Washington bought into Ambler. The payoff depends on the road being built

The federal government will own about 10 percent of Trilogy Metals, but cannot cash in most of its stake until the Ambler road is built.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago4 min readFrom Aug 28

Kenai man says a gravel company mislabeled a salmon stream on his land

A Kenai man says a gravel company mislabeled a salmon stream on his property to avoid a 50-foot buffer — and dug up that buffer without permission.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min readFrom Aug 12

Some Anchorage homes went a month without running water last winter

Some Anchorage homes went a month without running water last winter. Frozen lines hit triple the usual number, and thawing them is the customer's expense.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readFrom Aug 20

Three Sterling streets end at the river, and the neighbors have had enough

Three Sterling streets dead-end at the Kenai River on public easements, and neighbors report trespass, human waste and an armed confrontation.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min readFrom Aug 12

Mat-Su cut school walking paths from its short-term road list

Mat-Su dropped walking path projects at two elementary schools from its short-term transportation list, replacing them with road reconstruction and paving.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min readFrom Aug 17

Cordova would get one ferry sailing a month this winter, and none in January

Cordova would get one ferry round trip a month this winter instead of none. January still has no service, and February hangs on how fast a shipyard works.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Follows: Cordova faces a thin ferry winter with four vessels in overhaul

Anchorage board weighs dropping a shared-driveway rule for two Lake Otis lots

Anchorage Platting Board hears a request Wednesday to let two Lake Otis Parkway lots have separate driveways instead of sharing one.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read