Southcentral region news
Anchorage votes Tuesday on $1.4M for police, including a surveillance center that logs cars, faces and movement — paid for with seized cash and federal money that never reaches the public budget, in the rare state whose constitution promises a right to privacy.

Weather, or a rebuilt railroad bridge? As Talkeetna's bank erodes, one river-watcher says the bridge choked the river — and that's the fixable cause.

Days before the final vote, the Bering Sea pollock fleet holds an Anchorage job fair — as salmon bycatch, and a new mandatory chum cap, roil the 2026 campaign.

Troopers arrested nine at Salmonfest, eight on felony drug distribution charges, though the dispatch names no one and gives no drug quantities.

Assembly Chair Anna Brawley will select one or more youth representatives from six high school finalists to cast non-binding votes on Assembly business from September through April.

Anchorage's cargo boom brings nighttime jet noise — and a new study warns the fixes might just shift it from one neighborhood to another, not end it.

The state may give a development authority nearly 20,000 acres north of Houston for data centers and industry. DNR sees jobs — but also reduced trail access.

A minority caucus will host an Anchorage gasline listening session with only supporters, as the effort sits stalled in a third special session with no bill.

Anchorage's board gave a Glen Alps lot a public easement the city paid $130K for — over objections it's still access to big public land with few ways in.

NWS Anchorage's flood warning for the Yentna River including Lake Creek runs until 1 p.m. Friday, and the warning says flooding is ongoing. The river passed flood stage Tuesday and was forecast to crest slightly above 22 feet early Wednesday, a window that has now passed.

A landslide from record July rain cut off Alaska Railroad service to Denali north of Talkeetna, in a corridor already under a flood-and-erosion emergency.

Alaska is proposing to transfer four more state land tracts to its housing agency without competitive bidding — part of an ongoing push to turn public land into housing development.

Anchorage is asking Congress for about 50 acres of JBER land next to the landfill for a waste-to-energy plant, with the request riding in this year's defense bill.

Anchorage's biggest federal housing grant will now rise or fall with how fast the city builds, raising the question of whether it'll be punished for constraints it can't control.

Seward faces 2 to 4 inches of rain Monday through Thursday, with flood and landslide risk — the second such threat weeks after a July flood warning.

Anchorage tied its wettest July on record and Talkeetna saw its wettest since 1922, part of a cool, soggy stretch and a recent run of unusually wet Julys.

Mat-Su Assembly declared a local emergency over Susitna River flooding in Talkeetna to unlock state aid for a permanent fix that could cost over $20 million.

Anchorage delayed creating a board to steer Chugach park-access spending, as neighborhoods and trail advocates split over who should control it. The Assembly decides Oct. 6.

A $1.5 billion Seward Highway rebuild has split Anchorage — the state says it's a safety fix for a deadly corridor; a coalition of critics says it's a highway-widening project that would scar Turnagain Arm.

Mike Rowe showed up in Homer to help hand Seward's trade school a $250,000 Wells Fargo gift for scholarships and instructors.

Ballot Measure 3 would add "only" to Alaska's voter law. Sponsors call it a gap worth closing before a court does it for them; opponents call it a doubt nobody needed.

A 303-acre hillside feeding Potter Marsh is permanently protected, so the debate now is over access — where trails and parking go, and which neighborhood streets take the traffic. A 20-year plan gets a hearing Aug. 10.

A rescued brown bear was moved from the Alaska Zoo after a fight left her hurt, and the backlash brought threats against the other bears, closing the exhibit.

Anchorage wants to turn the informal group steering its Chugach access tax money into a formal board with defined expertise — one that vets trailhead and road projects in public rather than privately.

Alaska will cover districts' travel to a September school safety summit in Anchorage — even as many face budget deficits and a staffing crisis.

Anchorage police found two adult males dead from gunshot wounds inside a residence in the 8000 block of East 5th Avenue early Tuesday. APD says the shooting was isolated and detectives are not seeking additional suspects.

A multiple-vehicle collision closed the Sterling Highway in both directions at Milepost 164 on Wednesday afternoon, according to a high-importance Alaska 511 alert. Traffic is detoured onto the Old Sterling Highway, and the closure is expected to last several hours.

An adult woman died and two juvenile passengers were taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries after a collision at E Northern Lights Blvd and UAA Drive early Tuesday, the Anchorage Police Department said. Police are seeking surveillance footage.

National Weather Service issued a Flood Watch for Seward from early Sunday through Tuesday morning as an atmospheric river brings 3 to 5 inches of rain to the Kenai Peninsula.

A Homer Spit seafood plant would pass to Silver Bay as it absorbs OBI statewide — a deal some fishermen and workers fear could erode local wages.

Alaska is opening Kenai lynx season Dec. 15–Feb. 28 while already predicting it'll close next year — the cats are heading toward the bottom of their boom-bust cycle.

A new AEDC report says Anchorage is getting squeezed: shrinking job share, high costs, low confidence. The military's the bright spot, but housing's the catch.

Cordova advanced a tax hike on rentals, tobacco, alcohol and marijuana, from 13% to 14%, aimed mostly at visitors, as sales tax collections run $250,000 behind last year.

Bears have made Cordova's landfill unsafe for workers, and the electrified fence meant to stop them is stalled after the city's engineer request drew zero responses.

Strong winds are hitting the Anchorage Hillside and Turnagain Arm, gusting up to 60 mph through Tuesday morning. Secure loose items — power outages are possible.

A sinkhole ate a northbound lane of the Seward Highway at Potter Marsh. Crews are on it around the clock — and it stays closed until August 24.

Anchorage's creeks are open for coho but locked down on kings, and on Ship Creek you can't even lift one out of the water before releasing it.

Anchorage Assembly rejected an investigation into Assembly Member George Martinez's travel Tuesday, 5-6, after Vice Chair Daniel Volland switched his vote citing flaws in the accusation.

Anchorage's official cross-country bike route runs on highway shoulders. A plan would move it onto the city's trails — the Seward corridor stays contested.

Get out of your house. Like, summers gonna be done soon. What're you waiting for?
