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Lee objection blocks Murkowski-Merkley bill on presidential memorials
Senator Mike Lee blocked a bill requiring congressional approval to demolish presidential memorials. Senator Lisa Murkowski backed the measure.
by Alaska News2h ago1 min read
HUD raises upfront fee on Section 184 home loans for Native borrowers starting Oct. 1
Native American and Alaska Native families using HUD's Section 184 home loans pay a 1.5% upfront fee starting Oct. 1, up from 1%. That's $1,500 on $300,000.
by Walter AlaskaNews2d ago2 min read
The Greenland defense deal cites Golden Dome, the missile shield already anchored in Alaska
The U.S.-Greenland defense deal cites Golden Dome, a missile shield Congress funded but can't get spending details on. Its Senate sponsor is Dan Sullivan.
by Melinda Communities.News5d ago2 min read
FDA nominee Overton commits to Alaska food inspections and salmon labeling but not mifepristone access
Trump's FDA pick told Murkowski yes on Alaska food inspectors and salmon labels. On mailing abortion pills to rural Alaska, she made no promises.
by Walter AlaskaNews5d ago2 min read
Senate Indian Affairs Committee advances Native housing rewrite to full Senate
A Senate committee advanced a rewrite of the law funding village housing. It would let aid reach teachers and nurses who earn too much to qualify now.
by Maggie AlaskaNews5d ago2 min read
Senate panel told it must rewrite the nuclear waste law before disposal sites can proceed
Six states have signed up to host nuclear waste. The $51 billion meant to pay for it may already be spent, the committee chair said out loud.
by Walter AlaskaNews6d ago2 min read
Alaska's universities fall outside parts of an advancing college sports bill
A college sports bill is moving in the Senate with both Alaska senators behind it. UAA and UAF play Division II, so only some of it would reach them.
by Walter AlaskaNews6d 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 AlaskaNews1w ago3 min read
A House committee cited Alaska while advancing a drilling bill for elsewhere
A House committee voted to drop federal drilling permits on 4 million acres. None are in Alaska, but the chairman held up Alaska as the model.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago2 min read
Alaska ended childhood liver cancer, and Washington noticed
Alaska Native children once had the world's highest rate of liver cancer. A newborn vaccine ended it, and Washington is now citing that as the model.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read
Federal orders reach Alaska's beef labeling and processing gaps
Alaska has 19,000 cattle, and just 772 went through federally inspected plants here last year. Two executive orders take up labeling and processing.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago3 min read
A court struck down a fishery council's power. Alaska's council has the same one.
A court found a Gulf fishery council's veto unconstitutional — and Alaska's council holds the same power, behind the CDQ program and other fishing regimes.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago3 min read
Wright and Dunleavy insist the Alaska LNG project is alive
At an Anchorage conference, the U.S. energy secretary and Gov. Dunleavy insisted the stalled Alaska LNG project is alive, pointing at different obstacles.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
Supreme Court lets Trump's mail-voting order advance, but Alaska's rules are unchanged for now
The Supreme Court let Trump's mail-voting order advance but didn't rule it legal. Alaska's voting is unchanged for now; a separate order blocks the key piece.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
Sullivan joins a national fight to strip California of its power to set tougher emissions rules
Sullivan has joined a national push to strip California of its power to set tougher emissions rules — a fight reaching 17 states, and one courts may decide.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Senate passes Russia sanctions bill 86-11; Murkowski and Sullivan vote yes
Senate passes Russia sanctions bill 86-11 with Murkowski and Sullivan voting yes, clearing the way for tariffs up to 500% on Russian goods and targeting energy sales to China and India.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A program that lets people with ALS try experimental treatments just got five more years
A federal program that lets people with ALS try experimental treatments when they can't join a clinical trial just got five more years, in a bill Sen. Murkowski led through the Senate.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Sullivan files resolution to overturn EPA decision on California at-berth ship emissions
Sullivan filed a resolution to block California's at-berth ship emissions rule — one that could limit the state's power to set tougher emissions rules.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Murkowski presses Interior on who's paying for Trump's Smithsonian signs
Sens. Murkowski and Merkley are pressing Interior on who's paying for Park Service signs, ordered by Trump, that would criticize a Smithsonian museum's own exhibits.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Sullivan plans to add an ad-transparency bill to kids' safety package
Sullivan plans to attach his ad-transparency bill — platforms would report on public-service ads and promote mental health help — to a kids' safety package.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Senate bill co-led by Murkowski targets AI chatbot toys' risks to children
AI toys can be sold with no testing of what their chatbots tell kids — and testing found some explaining where to find pills and matches. A bipartisan Senate bill, co-led by Murkowski, targets that gap.
by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read
Betting apps take bets in Alaska as a Senate panel weighs the fallout
Prediction-market apps are taking sports bets in Alaska, where betting isn't legal. How much you wanna bet that it sticks around?
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
For Alaska's rural broadband, federal permits are the bottleneck
Alaska has over $1B to build rural broadband. In a state 60% federal land, industry says the real holdup isn't money — it's getting permits to build.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read
A federal tax break for K-12 teachers may finally reach Alaska's preschool teachers
A federal bill would give Alaska's underpaid preschool and daycare teachers the same supply tax break K-12 teachers get. Both Alaska senators backed it.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
The CDC director vote is waiting on Lisa Murkowski
The Senate health committee couldn't vote on the next CDC director Thursday — Lisa Murkowski was out on a family emergency, and without her the votes weren't there.
by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read
Alaska science runs on NSF money, and the money has slowed
NSF has awarded 55% fewer grants than at this point in 2024 — a problem for a state whose Arctic research, and its new $160 million minerals engine, run on NSF money.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read
House panel advances bill to let Alaska Native artists sell work with feathers
A Tlingit artist was made to strip the feathers off his own work and hand them to federal agents. A House committee just advanced the bill named for him.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
VA research is losing staff and trials as Senate panel presses on $43M cut
No state has more veterans per capita than Alaska, which makes a Senate fight over VA research cuts a fight about roughly 1 in 10 Alaskans.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Alaska veterans fly to Seattle for cancer care. The Senate is arguing over why.
Alaska has more veterans per capita than any state and no VA cancer center. A Senate fight over precision oncology money decides who gets care close to home.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
The program mapping Alaska's unknown ground expires this year
Most of Alaska's interior has never been mapped with modern tools. The federal program that's been fixing that runs out at the end of this year.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
A cattle parasite Alaska will never see could still cost Alaskans
Screwworm can't survive an Alaska winter, but Alaskans buy beef from the herds it threatens — and we're last in line on price.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
The sea lions in Congress's salmon bill breed in Southeast Alaska
A House bill would expand sea lion removals to protect Columbia River salmon. The Steller sea lions involved breed on rookeries in Southeast Alaska.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read
Alaska's senators voted to let a Medicare AI pilot keep running
Alaska's senators voted last week to let an AI-driven Medicare prior-authorization pilot keep running, and backed a defense bill that stalled anyway.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Space Force nominee warns China's counter-space buildup is moving at 'breathtakingly fast' pace
A Space Force nominee told senators China is building anti-satellite weapons at alarming speed, justifying a proposed $71.1 billion budget that would nearly double the service's spending.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Democrats challenge Sonderling on overtime rollbacks, education transfers at HELP hearing
Senate Democrats challenged Keith Sonderling's nomination as Labor secretary over his rollback of overtime protections for millions of workers and his transfer of education programs to his department.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
A Washington pharmacy fight could hit Alaska's military families hardest
Alaska is full of military families on TRICARE — and a D.C. fight over its pharmacy contract could hit here hardest, where losing a local pharmacy means a plane ride or unreliable mail-order meds.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Permanent daylight time would push Anchorage's winter sunrise past 11 a.m.
If daylight saving goes permanent, Anchorage's winter sunrise slides to 11:14 a.m. and Fairbanks nearly to noon. Darker mornings, later afternoons — pick your clock.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
The federal unit handling Alaska's MMIP cases can't return a family's calls
The federal unit handling Alaska's missing and murdered Indigenous cases hasn't returned one family's calls in 10 months, a Crow Nation professor told Congress.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Sen. Lindsey Graham dies; Alaska's senators mourn a colleague
Sen. Lindsey Graham has died suddenly, and Alaska's Murkowski and Sullivan — who served alongside him for years — are among those mourning a prominent Senate Republican.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska's best shot at a new federal fertilizer grant is an idle Nikiski plant — if it can get the gas
A new $500M federal program funds fertilizer plants. Alaska's one real candidate — the idled Nikiski plant — is stuck on Cook Inlet's gas shortage, not on money.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read
