Anchorage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tatitlek Management Services wins $2.8 million State Department maintenance order

Tatitlek Management Services won a $2.8 million State Department maintenance contract running through August 2027.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage approves a Muldoon Road marijuana store, over a dispute about how close it sits to a playground

Anchorage approved a Muldoon Road marijuana store 8-3, over objections about how close it sits to a playground and whether a stricter state buffer applies.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

A Caterpillar dealer wants to fill nearly 20 acres of south Anchorage wetlands to build a new store

A Caterpillar dealer wants to fill nearly 20 acres of south Anchorage wetlands for a store, proposing no mitigation.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

All-ability play center opens in Midtown Anchorage, partly with marijuana tax money

An outdoor play center built for children with disabilities has opened in Midtown Anchorage. The ribbon-cutting is Wednesday evening, with open play after.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Trump names Kyle Reardon to the Alaska judgeship vacant since 2024

Trump named Kyle Reardon to Alaska's federal judgeship, empty two years. In a 2025 bar poll, three-quarters of respondents couldn't say if he was qualified.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage wants to buy three new garbage trucks for about $1.47 million

Anchorage's trash utility wants three new garbage trucks for about $1.47 million, and a bulk-purchasing deal shaved roughly $282,000 off the sticker price.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

A Sitka Street railroad crossing rebuild will cost Anchorage $91,000 more than agreed

Anchorage's Sitka Street railroad crossing rebuild will cost about $91,000 more than agreed after high bids — a tab that falls on nearby property owners.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage approves $40,000 to update Merrill Field's airport layout plan

Anchorage approved $40,000, almost all of it federal, to update Merrill Field's airport layout plan after new flight procedures changed what it must show.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

A second person has been hurt in an Anchorage otter attack in three weeks

A second Anchorage resident in three weeks has been hurt by a river otter, and Fish and Game is telling paddleboarders and dog walkers to carry bear spray.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage firm has held FBI maintenance contract without competition since 2022

An Anchorage company owned by an Alaska Native corporation has kept the FBI's Washington Field Office running since 2022. This month: drains and roof hatches.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read

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

Alaska holds $357.7 million in open federal disaster grants and has spent about a fifth. One 2015 North Slope grant has paid out $6,176 in eleven years.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage Planning and Zoning bumped its entire August docket to September

Every land-use case on the Planning and Zoning Commission's August docket got bumped to September, a month's delay for anyone waiting on a rezoning or permit.

by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read

A routine Anchorage roads vote this week would also fund cameras at 82 more intersections

A routine Anchorage roads-money vote this week also quietly funds 82 more intersection cameras, in the middle of a public fight over police surveillance.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago4 min read

Anchorage will ship contaminated concrete to Oregon after the state tightened disposal rules, adding $850,000

Anchorage's school board approved $850,000 to ship contaminated school concrete to Oregon after the state tightened its rules on disposing of banned PCBs.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

The Anchorage School Board pledges no more closures next year, but one member says the last three were never explained

The Anchorage School Board pledged no closures next year as an olive branch to a grieving community, though one member says the last three went unexplained.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Follows: An Anchorage board member proposes a one-year pause on school closures

Anchorage School District adopts a single English curriculum for grades 6 through 10

Anchorage adopted one English curriculum for grades 6-10 on a 6-1 vote. The selection committee itself split 6-5, and one board member questioned the process.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage is weighing a trade of land it just bought for $2.35 million for four downtown parking lots

Anchorage is weighing a trade of land it just bought for $2.35 million for four downtown parking lots, over a state objection and around competitive bidding.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min read

ENSTAR seeks a Southcentral gas rate hike as two landlords move to dismiss the case

ENSTAR wants to raise Southcentral gas bills by about $9 a month, and two landlords are moving to get the rate case thrown out before its September hearing.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

An Anchorage firm runs facilities services for North Dakota's federal buildings

A company owned by Kodiak's Koniag corporation keeps federal buildings running across North Dakota, with the revenue flowing home to Alutiiq shareholders.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage jury finds man guilty but mentally ill in 2015 stabbing of his parents

A jury found Martin Victor IV guilty but mentally ill in the 2015 stabbing of both his parents. He cannot be paroled until treatment is complete.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

An Anchorage man will serve 30 years for sexually abusing children he babysat

An Anchorage man will serve 30 years in prison for sexually abusing multiple children under 13 whom he babysat, and must register as a sex offender for life.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

First Election Day Tapes from two statistically significant Anchorage precincts put Kreiss-Tomkins and Begich ahead of the field

All of our analysis these were the precinct that most closely aligned with statewide results, so Alaska news went out to get that information. This is not the statewide results.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Fish and Game plans to cut about 50 of its own rules by year's end

Alaska Fish and Game plans to cut about 50 of its own regulations under a Dunleavy order that supporters call streamlining and critics call gutting oversight.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska regulators may open the grid to far more home and community solar

Alaska regulators may raise the rooftop and community solar limit from 1.5% to 20% of a utility's demand, opening the grid to far more customer-owned power.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Northrim to buy Oregon bank, its first branches outside Alaska

Anchorage's Northrim Bank is expanding outside Alaska for the first time, buying an Oregon bank for about $167 million and 11 new branches.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage man arrested on 18 perjury and sex offender registry counts

An Anchorage man, Ronnie Wieber, 52, is held without bail on 18 counts alleging he failed to register as a sex offender and lied on his registration forms.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage Assembly to mark Women's Equality Day tonight

For the first time, the Alaska House is majority woman, with 21 of 40 seats, a milestone an Anchorage resolution marks tonight on Women's Equality Day.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

DOT says cameras don't read plates; vendor policy allows video storage

Alaska says new cameras in Palmer, Wasilla and Anchorage count people and cars, not plates — but the vendor's policy sets no limit on storing video.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Eagle River hillside lot could lose the development limits set in 2002

Eagle River limits set in 2002 on a 34 percent slope would come off Tuesday. A neighbor says the storm drains there already ice over the intersection.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Emmonak man charged with murder in fatal stabbing of Anita Hootch

Christopher Horn, 38, of Emmonak, was arrested and charged with murder in the stabbing death of Anita Hootch, 37, found dead at an abandoned steam house on August 14.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read