Northwest Arctic
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Ambler advances, but the U.S. stake in its developer hasn't closed
Ambler Road permits are back in force and the project is advancing, but the U.S. government's planned stake in developer Trilogy Metals still hasn't closed.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Utqiagvik weighs a change to how it taxes marijuana
Utqiaġvik might tax your weed. The council won't say how much, and neither will the packet.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
A war half a world away is about to freeze into rural Alaska's winter fuel bills
Rural Alaska buys a year of fuel in one summer barge delivery, so the Iran-driven price spike will lock into winter bills — with heating fuel hitting $15/gallon in some villages and the state's main subsidy covering none of it.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago4 min read
A fisherman found the stranded boaters before the Coast Guard could launch
A local fisherman found two overdue boaters stranded on a sandbar near Toksook Bay before the Coast Guard could even launch, a familiar story in Western Alaska.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
NTSB: Bering Air crash that killed 10 was a chain of preventable failures
The NTSB found the Bering Air crash that killed 10 near Nome resulted from a chain of preventable failures — an overweight plane the company routinely flew heavy, severe icing, and a pilot overloaded in the final minutes.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
NANA's fall payout works out to about $1,687 for an original shareholder
NANA's fall payout is $16.87 a share — about $1,687 for an original shareholder with 100 shares. Update your information by Nov. 6 to be paid on time.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Judge declines to block 1.4 million-acre Alaska land transfer
A judge won't freeze Alaska's claim to 1.4 million acres of federal land, pushing the state past 96 percent of its 1959 statehood entitlement. The lawsuit lives on.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Eight welders certify in Nome as a $400 million port job looms
Eight Bering Strait adults certified in welding in Nome just as a $399 million port expansion gears up to need exactly that skill. And nobody had to leave the region to train.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
A tiny fire near Koyuk has smoldered under investigation for a month
A quarter-acre fire 51 miles northeast of Koyuk has been under investigation for over a month, with no cause identified and no threat to homes or subsistence areas reported.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
Unalakleet's new greenhouse sends its first harvest to the elders
Unalakleet's new greenhouse is sending its first harvest to village elders — and the schoolkids who named the potatoes will be back in fall to pick them.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Retiring judge's Arctic caseload lands in an unassigned court queue
A retiring Arctic judge's entire caseload but eight cases now sits in an unassigned queue, with no new judge named and no word on hearing dates across three hub communities.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
The water keeps coming back to Kotzebue Sound
Kotzebue Sound is getting its second high-water warning in two days — small rises on a coast where the flooding keeps getting worse.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Minor Chukchi surge hits Kivalina and Red Dog Dock
A minor Chukchi surge Sunday is small by 2022 standards, but it hits Kivalina and Red Dog Dock, where erosion and flooding are already permanent problems.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
State weighs 30-year lease for St. Michael barge dock
No roads reach St. Michael, so everything arrives by barge. The state is now weighing a 30-year lease for the dock it lands at.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
High surf and minor flooding for Alaska's west coast through Thursday
A Bering Sea low is pushing high surf and minor flooding into Alaska's west coast through Thursday night, with water 1 to 3 feet above the normal high tide line.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
A permitting bill could open the federal fast lane to Alaska projects
A bill would drop the federal fast-track permitting threshold to $50 million — opening the program to Alaska projects too small to qualify until now.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago2 min read
Anchorage Assembly members frame Fairview grant as a civil-rights question
Two Anchorage Assembly members are opposing a $750,000 behavioral health grant for Fairview, arguing it repeats a pattern of concentrating services in neighborhoods already burdened by discrimination.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago3 min read
Nome port's national security designation could save city $132 million in construction costs
A Senate bill could cut Nome's share of its Arctic port project from 35 percent to 10 percent, saving the city $132 million as construction begins this summer.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Alaska's unemployment map tracks one thing: the road system
Alaska unemployment ran 2.5% in Denali and 16.1% in Kusilvak this May. The split tracks one thing almost perfectly: whether a road reaches you.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Kawerak extends RFP deadline for construction management services in Bering Strait Region
Kawerak extended its deadline to July 31 for construction management firms to bid on transportation projects across the Bering Strait Region.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
Kotzebue chum fishery opened Sunday, but only one buyer is registered to purchase fish
Kotzebue chum fishery opened Sunday with five fishing windows, but only one buyer is registered to purchase fish this season.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
PRC benefits cover hearing aids, vision care, and travel for eligible Noatak residents
Noatak residents can use Purchased/Referred Care to cover hearing aids and vision care, plus travel help for specialty referrals. • Must get prior authorization and submit bills quickly to avoid delays or uncovered costs.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
Five Nome-area tribes sue Army Corps over Safety Sound gold dredge permit
Five Nome-area tribes sued the Army Corps of Engineers to block a gold dredge in Safety Sound, saying the agency approved the project without required environmental review.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
The SAVE Act now rides on the defense bill Alaska wants
The SAVE Act is now attached to the defense bill carrying Alaska's military money — putting Murkowski's opposition against Sullivan's biggest win in one vote.
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
ADF&G issues four commercial salmon emergency orders across Alaska Peninsula, Kuskokwim, and Kotzebue areas in three days
ADF&G issued four emergency orders in three days for salmon fisheries. • Sand Point and Port Moller openings target sockeye and mixed stocks. • Kuskokwim Bay and Kotzebue Sound orders adjust chum salmon harvest rules. • Fishermen must track shifting schedules as run conditions dictate changes.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Savoonga's voting barriers surface in Senate election-integrity debate
Sen. Murkowski cited Savoonga's $1,000 travel costs to register in person under the proposed SAVE America Act. • U.S. Department of Justice found Alaska violated disability-access voting rules in 2024. • Absentee ballot application deadline for 2026 Primary is August 8.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Kotzebue Sound fishing ban near airport runway takes effect with July 10 commercial opening
Kotzebue's first commercial salmon opening July 10 now runs under a permanent fishing ban near the airport runway that blocks both commercial and subsistence nets to keep birds away from planes.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
Peltola puts numbers on rural fuel crisis: $21 a gallon in Noatak, $15 coming for St. Mary's
Senate candidate Mary Peltola cited fuel prices of $21 a gallon in Noatak and $14 to $15 expected in St. Mary's, calling for Congress to investigate price gouging.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Senate bill would fast-track Army Corps engineering for Juneau's glacial flooding
A Senate bill would let the Army Corps of Engineers skip study steps and move straight to designing a permanent fix for Juneau's glacial lake flooding, which threatens nearly 1,900 homes each summer.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago3 min read
Shishmaref man charged with running moonshine still in dry community
A Shishmaref man faces five felony counts for operating a moonshine still and selling alcohol in the dry community, with potential exposure of 25 years in prison if convicted.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
King salmon sport fishing closed in Norton Sound fresh waters
Alaska closed sport king salmon fishing in Norton Sound fresh waters and requires immediate release of any hooked incidentally.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Alaska Supreme Court affirms termination of Native mother's parental rights over domestic violence
Alaska Supreme Court upheld termination of an Alaska Native mother's parental rights, ruling that four years of case-plan work did not address the domestic violence that endangered her disabled son.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago3 min read
Senate panel advances water bill with Alaska Native village sanitation, Nome port, and Juneau flood provisions
Senate panel approved a water bill directing $60 million yearly to Alaska Native village sanitation and fast-tracking Juneau's glacial flood response.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Frier vs. Chase: a rematch for Alaska's northernmost House seat
Alaska's biggest, coldest House district is a 2024 rematch: Rep. Robyn Frier vs. Kotzebue Mayor Saima Chase, both running hard on public safety.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
A gravel permit for the pipeline, and a question about what Alyeska pays
A routine permit lets Alyeska pull gravel from the Sag floodplain for pipeline upkeep — but not what the private pipeline giant pays the public for it. A senator's been asking.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
The fight to keep Red Dog alive past 2031
A routine nine-acre lease along the Red Dog haul road opens onto a much bigger question: how one of the world's richest zinc mines keeps going after its main pit runs dry around 2031.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
A Nome teacher heads to Stanford to rethink how schools teach
A Nome reading teacher is off to Stanford for a Ph.D. — studying how Inuit knowledge and values can be built into what schools actually teach.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago1 min read
Why an Arctic fiber company needs 30,000 yards of Dalton gravel
Quintillion wants 30,000 yards of Dalton Highway gravel to build a land backup for the Arctic's only fiber line — the one sea ice has cut twice, knocking whole communities offline.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
More than 200 Alaska watersheds have turned orange
Uh-ohh. More than 200 Brooks Range watersheds have turned orange in a decade as thawing permafrost releases iron and metals — rusting rivers that villages drink from and fish.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Higher-than-normal tides along western Alaska's coast through Tuesday
Higher-than-normal tides hit western Alaska's coast through Tuesday, up to 3 feet over the high tide line in Eastern Norton Sound. Move gear off the beach.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
