Alaska

Ketchikan's long rebuild of the road toward Saxman inches ahead, with a waterside path and a tangle over land

Ketchikan's rebuild of the highway toward Saxman, adding a waterside path for walkers and bikers, drew more federal money as cost estimates keep swinging.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read

Juneau-area gillnetters get another opener, but directed king fishing stays closed on low abundance

Juneau-area gillnetters get another opener through Wednesday, but directed king fishing stays closed across four Southeast districts on low king numbers.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Follows: A weak sockeye return has managers ready to open a Juneau-area fishery on six hours' notice

Fire activity slows eastbound Alaska Highway traffic near Tok

A wildfire is affecting eastbound traffic on the Alaska Highway near Tok Tuesday morning. The road is open, with minor delays and emergency vehicles expected.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Man taken to hospital after stabbing at Boniface Parkway and Debarr Road

A stabbing in East Anchorage sent an adult man to the hospital with upper-body trauma Sunday, Aug. 16

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Auke Bay quarry wins bigger blasts and Saturday hours through 2036

An Auke Bay rock quarry can now blast 60 percent bigger, start earlier and work Saturdays, through 2036. No residents showed up to the hearing.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Juneau Assembly votes 6-3 to sell old City Hall to Sealaska Heritage Institute for $1.5 million

Juneau voted to sell its old City Hall to Sealaska Heritage for $1.5 million — for a planned $40 million Northwest Coast art-glass building downtown.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min read

A progressive firm's Alaska poll: two-thirds worry about the basics, and a simulated Senate race favors Peltola

A progressive firm's Alaska poll finds two-thirds of voters worried about affording the basics, and a modeled Senate race favoring Peltola over Sullivan.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Juneau denies Chilkat Vistas hillside plat after approval falls a vote short

Juneau's planning commission denied a hillside subdivision over landslide risk, two years after the Assembly struck landslide rules from the land use code.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Money for Alaska Native education keeps flowing, but no new competition has opened in nearly two years

Money for Alaska Native education keeps reaching current grantees, but no new competition has opened since late 2023, leaving no clear door for new applicants.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

EPA proposes $5,859 UniSea settlement over Dutch Harbor stormwater

EPA says UniSea's Dutch Harbor plant went years with a stale pollution plan and unpermitted flows toward Iliuliuk Harbor. The proposed penalty is $5,859

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Where to watch spawning salmon around Ketchikan this month

Want to watch Fish, it's like watching paint dry but consequences… Cool ones!

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Downtown Anchorage owners face $1.15 million in assessments for services the city doesn't cover

Downtown Anchorage property owners will pay about $1.15 million this year for their own snow removal, cleaning and security. Objections are heard Sept. 15.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

In five remote Chugach villages, health aides work without an X-ray, and new funding aims to change that

In five remote Chugach-region villages, health aides assess injuries without an X-ray. New funding through a tribal health organization aims to finally put imaging in their clinics.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read

Bethel health fair screens 48 for diabetes and promotes same-day services

Forty-eight people got diabetes screening at a three-hour Bethel health fair aimed at showing what YKHC can offer the same day a patient walks in.

by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

A weak sockeye return has managers ready to open a Juneau-area fishery on six hours' notice

A weak Speel Lake sockeye return near Juneau has managers ready to open a terminal fishery on six hours' notice. Escapement is below its goal range.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

Follows: A Petersburg-area drift gillnet fishery opens for about 40 hours

The state wants to renew a rent-free landfill lease for 55 years, on land it holds in trust for a village that never became a city

The state wants a 55-year, rent-free renewal of a landfill lease on land it holds in trust for South Naknek, a village that never became a city.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Three Hillside road districts are dipping into savings as maintenance costs outrun their funding

Three self-funded Hillside road districts are drawing $145,000 from their own savings for road maintenance, as costs outrun what they collect in taxes.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage shifts $3.46 million from Denali Street to a Fairview pedestrian boulevard

Anchorage dropped a Denali Street walking project and moved $3.46 million to Fairview, where Hyder Street would become a pedestrian boulevard.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

A Seward Highway rebuild that doubled to $1.4 billion is back on Anchorage's plan, over objections

A Seward Highway rebuild that doubled to $1.4 billion is back on Anchorage's plan on a 3-2 vote, over objections about cost, priority and public input.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Bethel shut off a home's water to stop raw sewage, and the resident turned it back on

Bethel cut off a home's water to stop raw sewage reaching the ground, but the resident turned it back on, and the sewage still has nowhere treated to go.

by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

Ambler district copper mine nears its first public comment period

A copper mine proposed 22 miles from Kobuk is moving through federal permitting. Residents could get their first chance to comment as soon as September.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago3 min read

Follows: Ambler advances, but the U.S. stake in its developer hasn't closed

The fate of the EPA veto blocking Pebble Mine is now in a federal judge's hands

A federal judge is deciding whether the EPA veto blocking Pebble Mine survives, a fight over Bristol Bay salmon with Alaska Native parties on both sides.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

The state gave Red Dog another decade of eased water limits as the mine looks to run longer

Alaska extended Red Dog's wastewater permit 10 years, to 2036, past the mine's own expected ore life, citing thawing permafrost with no available remedy.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Fifty-nine rural Alaska villages get federal money to defend their power systems from hackers

Fifty-nine rural Alaska villages are getting $1.73 million to harden their power systems against hackers. Some of those systems average four kilowatts.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read

Alaska's ranked-choice fight returns to the Supreme Court, months before a repeat repeal vote

Alaska's ranked-choice voting returns to the Supreme Court next week, the latest round in a years-long fight, with a repeal already on the November ballot.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Rain is coming to the Interior, and the small creeks will rise — but the big rivers are low enough to take it

Rain will raise the small creeks feeding the Koyukuk and Middle Yukon, but the big rivers are low enough to take it — a routine wet stretch, not a threat.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

An Iñupiaq firefighter from Noorvik died fighting a Minnesota wildfire, and two states lowered their flags

Leslie R. Washington, a 41-year-old firefighter from Noorvik, died Aug. 11 during a medical emergency while fighting the Bear Trap Fire in Minnesota.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Yentna River passes flood stage near Lake Creek with water expected in lodge cabins

The Yentna is over flood stage near Lake Creek, with water expected in cabins at two lodges. It should crest around 21 feet Tuesday morning.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Kodiak fights landfill bears with a second fence and a look at composting

Bears keep breaking into Kodiak's landfill, so the borough is fighting back two ways: a fence to keep them out and composting to cut the waste that draws them.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readFrom Aug 6

Mat-Su loses its fall silver harvest, with one river closed without even a count

Mat-Su loses its fall silver harvest on the Susitna and Little Susitna after four weak coho years — one river closed without a count, its weir washed out.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Sitka's sole finalist for city administrator is gone, and the Assembly is starting over

The sole finalist Sitka introduced for city administrator last month is gone, and the Assembly interviews two new candidates Friday, with no explanation given.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Level 3 GO evacuations ordered north of the Alaska Highway as the Mukluk Fire spreads near Tok

A fast-moving wildfire near Tok has forced residents north of the Alaska Highway to evacuate immediately, with winds gusting to 30 mph and critical fire conditions expected through Monday evening.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

A family gold operation wants four more seasons on Cache Creek, mined since the early 1900s

A family gold operation wants to work Cache Creek near Petersville for four more seasons, on ground mined by family outfits since the early 1900s.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage airport would let CLEAR sell a faster security line

Anchorage's airport wants to let a private company sell a faster spot in the security line. Objections are due on a Sunday, when the office is closed.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage water chemical contract returns $855,400 higher with no explanation

Anchorage's water treatment chemical will cost $855,400 more than the bid the administration backed two weeks ago. It sits on tonight's consent agenda.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Nome buses roll as Steadman Street reopening goes unconfirmed

Nome school buses roll this morning down a street the state said would reopen Friday. The state's own weekly update does not say whether it actually did.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Three Alaska Native groups demand answers on rural election staffing before Tuesday's primary

Three Alaska Native groups are demanding the state account for unfilled rural election-worker jobs and pay overdue per diem before Tuesday's primary, citing past precincts that never opened.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min read

Alaska's associate counselor license takes effect Friday, though the board's notice says otherwise

Alaska's counseling board still tells graduates the associate license isn't available. The regulations creating it take effect Friday, 13 months late.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Gas tax package still off the Senate floor as the special session nears its limit

Alaska Senate held a technical session Monday with no business and will not meet again until 2 p.m. Friday.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Tatlanika Fire still listed as 3.5 acres but agency reports put it above 31,000

Alaska 511 still lists the Tatlanika Fire at 3.5 acres, but state fire managers reported it at over 31,000 acres on August 13.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read