Alaska

Alaska State Fair plans $10 million Borealis Theatre rebuild

The Alaska State Fair is rebuilding its Borealis Theatre, growing the concert venue from 5,200 to 6,500 with a bigger stage, better sound and a steeper lawn.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage will decide whether two Eagle River properties can drop old development limits

Anchorage decides in September whether two Eagle River properties can drop decades-old limits, one to allow apartments, one to free up a business lot.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Ordinance would make police ask before buying surveillance tech

Anchorage police would need Assembly approval to buy surveillance technology, and the city could not join outside data-sharing networks, under a new ordinance.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Three Cook Inlet gas storage plans pending for winter demand

Cook Inlet's gas problem isn't only supply, it's winter. Alaska is weighing three plans to bank gas underground and draw it down in the cold months.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska tells BlueCrest to produce Cook Inlet gas by 2027 or give up the lease

Alaska ordered BlueCrest Energy to begin producing gas from its Cook Inlet lease by March 2027 or forfeit it, as the region's gas supply shrinks and the company has sat idle for years.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

A $400 million expansion of Bradley Lake hydro would power about 30,000 homes and cut Southcentral's gas use

A $400 million Bradley Lake hydro expansion would power about 30,000 homes and offset 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas a year, easing Southcentral's gas crunch.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

A $413 million cable would give Kenai and Anchorage a second power link

One transmission path links Kenai to Anchorage. A $413 million subsea cable would add a second, if AEA can raise the half that isn't federal.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

USDA proposes lifting roadless rule protections on Tongass and Chugach

USDA proposes ending the 2001 Roadless Rule on Alaska's Tongass and Chugach forests, opening 9.3 million acres to potential road building and logging under local forest plans. Comments due Sept. 21.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Kotzebue chum fishermen got a second buyer for the season's last week

Kotzebue chum fishermen had two buyers for the season's final six openings, after weeks with one. The regulatory season closes Aug. 31.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

Follows: Kotzebue chum fishermen get a better price but have just one buyer left

Peterson Avenue closes this weekend for a utility line, detour in place

Peterson Avenue near Halibut Point Road closes this weekend for a utility line across both lanes. There's no set detour, so follow the signs and flaggers.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

There's a narrow window to ask Alaska's fish board to take up new topics

A narrow window closes Aug. 28 to ask Alaska's fish board to take up new topics, but the bar is high: it accepted just two of nine such requests last year.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Alaska's audit watchdog gets a new leader, inheriting a fisheries probe and a new power over the governor

Alaska's audit watchdog gets a new leader as Kris Curtis retires. Mark Lundahl inherits a Board of Fisheries probe and a new power over oil-tax records.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Skagway's national park hosts a leashed-dog tour for National Dog Day

Skagway's Klondike Gold Rush park is hosting a free leashed-dog walking tour Aug. 26 for National Dog Day — a nod to the stampeders' sled dogs, with rangers and small tokens along the way.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage opens contract talks with one of its unions

Anchorage has opened contract talks with the Teamsters union representing some city workers, whose current deal, with 3.3% annual raises, expires at year's end.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage may move a national bike route off its highways and onto the coastal trails

Anchorage may reroute a national bike route off its highways onto the Coastal and Ship Creek trails, part of a push to move cyclists onto lower-stress paths.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

A fight over Alaska's elections, including over outside money, is itself funded almost entirely from outside Alaska

The fight over Alaska's ranked choice voting — including over outside dark money — is itself funded almost entirely from outside Alaska, on both sides.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

The Permanent Fund's dividend account is running about $400 million ahead

The account that pays the Permanent Fund dividend held about $400 million more than it needs, a 7% cushion. No inflation proofing was appropriated for 2026.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Bering Straits firm wins environmental work at four Air Force bases

An Anchorage firm owned by Norton Sound shareholders will run environmental compliance at four Air Force bases, two of them nuclear-mission installations.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read

Peltola out-raised and out-spent Sullivan, and enters the general election with less cash

Peltola and Sullivan both advanced from Alaska's primary and will meet in November's ranked-choice general. Peltola raised more; Sullivan has more cash on hand.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

An Anchorage marijuana grower has to pay its back taxes before it can keep growing

An Anchorage marijuana grower owes the city about $12,761 in back taxes — and until it pays and passes an inspection, it can't fully renew its grow license.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Kamala Harris tried to help Mary Peltola, and both Alaska campaigns pushed back

Kamala Harris raised money for Mary Peltola. Peltola's campaign said it didn't ask, and Sullivan's campaign attacked Harris rather than Peltola.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

A decade after Alaskans legalized weed, the industry is thinning out

A decade after Alaska legalized weed, the industry is thinning out, with growers folding under a decade-old tax. License renewals are due at month's end.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

An advocacy group argues that cutting the dividend is a hidden tax. Whether it is depends on a question Alaska has never settled.

An advocacy group calls dividend cuts a hidden tax, but whether that's the right word turns on an unsettled question of what the PFD fundamentally is.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min read

Bethel weighs letting its manager file lawsuits without council approval

Bethel is weighing whether to let its manager file routine lawsuits without a council vote, moving some legal authority from the elected body to city staff.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Bethel would move sand shed money to road salt and water plant engineering

Bethel wants to move about $55,000 from fixing its sand shed to buying road salt and helping engineer a water plant. The council takes public comment Tuesday.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Troopers recover stolen Durango sold for parts at Fairbanks home

A stolen Dodge Durango turned up in pieces at a Fairbanks home after its parts were listed for sale online, and troopers matched the VIN and made an arrest.

by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read

Alaska EMS clinicians will need fingerprint background checks as the state joins a national compact

Alaska's paramedics and EMTs will need fingerprint background checks Sept. 20 as the state joins a national EMS compact, with a lower fee for rural volunteers.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska's main power grid is getting its first mandatory cybersecurity rules, but not for years

Alaska's main power grid is finally getting mandatory cybersecurity rules, but none takes effect until 2027 at the earliest, phasing in slowly through 2029.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Homer Electric members will be able to buy into shared solar starting in February

Homer Electric members can buy into shared solar or wind starting around mid-February. Subscribers will pay a monthly fee nobody has put a number on yet.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

NOAA is still testing groundwater in the Pribilofs, decades after it left

NOAA is paying $186,644 to keep sampling groundwater in the Pribilofs, cleanup left over from 116 years of federal control of the fur seal harvest.

by Alaska News2mo ago2 min read

King salmon fishing is over for the year in the Upper Copper River drainages

King salmon fishing in the Upper Copper River drainages is done for 2026. Permit holders must report online by Aug. 31 even if they never fished.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Salmon dying off in Prince of Wales drainages amid low, warm water

Salmon are dying off in several Prince of Wales Island streams, where low, warm water from drought has killed fish and stranded survivors in shrinking pools.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Record cold pushed Anchorage's gas demand to an all-time high, just as the supply is running out

Record cold drove Anchorage-area gas demand to a record as Cook Inlet supply shrinks, and the utility projects a 3 billion cubic foot shortfall next winter.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Girdwood petitioner seeks stream setback variance for house and bridge

A Girdwood developer seeks permission to build a house and bridge closer to a salmon stream than borough code allows. The Zoning Board hears the case Oct. 8.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

A declining Fortymile caribou herd, short hunts, and a dispute over timing

A declining Fortymile caribou herd has forced short, tightly capped hunts. Tribes say the state's timing this year cut into the federal subsistence priority.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Peltola's first general election ad, out a day after the primary, runs against her own party.

The day after advancing from the primary, Peltola's campaign announced a TV ad about breaking with Democrats, citing her low party loyalty as a credential.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska joins a national EMS system, but local ambulance service won't change

Alaska is joining a national EMS agreement that lets medics work across state lines. For most people, the reassuring part: your local ambulance won't change.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Wasilla staff float options to broaden the city sales tax, no vote yet

Wasilla staff are floating ways to widen the city sales tax, from renters to nonprofits to charitable gaming. It's a report Monday, not a vote.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Three years and three permits later, Ketchikan's airport ferry still has no backup berths

Ketchikan's airport ferry docks at one set of berths with no backup. Three years and three federal permits later, the state hasn't driven a pile.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage will pay to steer people toward treatment instead of jail, using opioid-settlement money

Anchorage's Assembly voted 11-0 to pay True North Recovery about $398,000 to steer people toward treatment instead of jail, using opioid-settlement money.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read