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Cordova wary as pipeline operator seeks a fast-tracked 30-year renewal
Alyeska seeks early renewal of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline permit with a faster review. Cordova wants a shorter term and money set aside to decommission aging infrastructure.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Cordova raises its tax on rooms, rentals and alcohol to 14 percent
Cordova raised its tax on hotel rooms, alcohol, tobacco and rentals to 14 percent, and pulled boat rentals into it. Collections are running behind last year.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Kenai man says a gravel company mislabeled a salmon stream on his land
A Kenai man says a gravel company mislabeled a salmon stream on his property to avoid a 50-foot buffer — and dug up that buffer without permission.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Some Anchorage homes went a month without running water last winter
Some Anchorage homes went a month without running water last winter. Frozen lines hit triple the usual number, and thawing them is the customer's expense.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Three Sterling streets end at the river, and the neighbors have had enough
Three Sterling streets dead-end at the Kenai River on public easements, and neighbors report trespass, human waste and an armed confrontation.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Mat-Su cut school walking paths from its short-term road list
Mat-Su dropped walking path projects at two elementary schools from its short-term transportation list, replacing them with road reconstruction and paving.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Northrim's Oregon deal is on the record. The approvals are not.
Northrim's $167.3 million Oregon bank purchase is on the record, and none of the four regulatory approvals it needs has surfaced publicly.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
A power surcharge in Manley Hot Springs would nearly triple
The fuel surcharge on Manley Hot Springs electric bills would nearly triple under a new filing, while state rural power assistance stays where it is.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
One donor has supplied two-fifths of what a progressive Alaska fund raised this year
One Anchorage physician has supplied two-fifths of a progressive independent expenditure fund's money this year. Alaska caps no such gift.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
A fourplex would install no landscaping under this Anchorage ordinance
A builder putting four homes on an Anchorage lot would install no landscaped buffer under an ordinance up for public hearing Oct. 6.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Kenai voters will decide on a homeowner tax break worth about $326 a year
Kenai voters decide in November on a homeowner tax exemption worth about $326 a year. It would cost the city roughly $434,000 annually in revenue.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Anchorage police force falls hardest on Alaska Native residents
A review found Anchorage police use force disproportionately on Alaska Native residents, more than comparable cities — and likely overstated what they've fixed.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago4 min read
Extending the Coastal Trail north may take a land deal, not an easement
Anchorage wants to extend the Coastal Trail north across Eklutna land. The corporation would rather sell or trade than grant an easement, citing trespassers.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Clay Koplin will lead Matanuska Electric starting in January
Clay Koplin, who has run Cordova Electric for nearly 20 years, takes over Matanuska Electric Association in January as Tony Izzo retires.
by Melinda Communities.News3w ago2 min read
Anchorage Assembly keeps a non-binding housing resolution moving
The Anchorage Assembly refused to delay a housing resolution that, by its own sponsor's account, does not require anyone at all to do anything.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
A gravel company can dig below the water table on Beaver Loop
A gravel company can dig two pits below the water table on Beaver Loop Road, over a neighbor's objections about his wells and the noise.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Cordova weighs a model where you own the house but lease the land
You own the house and a trust owns the ground under it, and you pay $50 a month for the ground. Cordova is weighing whether that math works.
by Melinda Communities.News3w ago2 min read
Planners urged cutting the overlay's R-1 height break. The sponsors kept it.
Anchorage planning staff told the sponsors of a housing overlay to drop its special height rules for single-family zones. The sponsors kept them.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago3 min read
Kodiak's landfill is out of compliance because bears keep getting in
Kodiak gave every household a bear-resistant cart. Bears keep getting into the landfill anyway, and the borough wants to talk about it privately.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Anchorage's planning director could approve bigger encroachments alone
Anchorage's planning director could approve setback encroachments three times larger than now allowed, without the public hearing a variance requires.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Anchorage weighs a variance for a 1998 setback encroachment
A house on Chandalar Drive in Anchorage has stood 1.3 feet inside its required setback since 1998, and the city is being asked to let it stay.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
HEX plans to triple its gas deliveries, enough to cover a tenth of demand
HEX plans to triple its contracted gas to ENSTAR by 2027. Even so, it would cover roughly a tenth of Southcentral demand as Cook Inlet keeps declining.
by Melinda Communities.News3w ago2 min read
Troopers arrest two after 4-wheeler pursuit near Wasilla's Sage Road
Alaska State Troopers arrested two people after a four-wheeler fled near Wasilla on Wednesday night, one wanted on an outstanding warrant.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Wasilla is hiring someone to write its next road plan, and a new parks plan too
Wasilla's 20-year road plan ran out this year, and the city is about to hire someone to write the next one. Its parks plan dates back to 2011.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Interior awards $8,360 for helicopter service to Tincan and Indian Pass snow sensors
Interior awarded $8,360 to Alpine Air Alaska to maintain two remote snow sensors that feed avalanche forecasts for Turnagain Pass and Indian Pass through October.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Port of Alaska advances a new substation to power its next cranes
The Port of Alaska is building a new substation to power its next-generation cranes — and it has to be running by 2028, or the cranes can't operate.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Alaska would give 20,000 acres near Houston to a state authority for free
Alaska proposes giving nearly 20,000 acres near Houston to a state development authority at no cost, and waiving its right to reclaim the land.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Anchorage would trade away land it bought five years ago for $2.35 million
Anchorage would trade away land it paid $2.35 million to buy in 2021, before its own study of the site is finished and over a state objection.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Charter halibut committee meets online Sept. 30; comment accepted beforehand
Federal regulators meet Sept. 30 to discuss charter halibut permit policy that affects Alaska's guided fishing industry, which accounts for most of the state's sport halibut catch.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Seward Lagoon youth-only coho fishery extended through Oct. 5
Kids 15 and under can fish coho at Seward Lagoon through Oct. 5, two months longer than usual, while adults stay out.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Copper River dipnet and subsistence fishing runs through Sept. 30
Copper River dipnetters have until Sept. 30 to fish, closing out a below-average sockeye year — and the river gauge is down, so check conditions first.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Kodiak's school board has met four times over something it will not name
Kodiak's school board has met four times in 18 days on a personnel matter identified only as "KAP," entirely in closed session, with no minutes published.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Anchorage's next mayor to earn about $183,000, a 26 percent raise
Anchorage's next mayor will make about $183,000, a 26 percent raise — though it won't take effect until whoever wins the April 2027 election.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3w ago1 min read
Cordova would get one ferry sailing a month this winter, and none in January
Cordova would get one ferry round trip a month this winter instead of none. January still has no service, and February hangs on how fast a shipyard works.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3w ago2 min read
Anchorage board weighs dropping a shared-driveway rule for two Lake Otis lots
Anchorage Platting Board hears a request Wednesday to let two Lake Otis Parkway lots have separate driveways instead of sharing one.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Troopers search by air and ground for missing hunter near Halibut Cove
Alaska State Troopers are searching by air and ground near Halibut Cove for a solo hunter who stopped communicating with his wife Monday evening and has not been found.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Anchorage trails plan keeps Muldoon trail but drops JBER from its name
Anchorage kept the Muldoon trail in its revised plan but dropped JBER from the name after the military base cited security concerns during public comment.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Anchorage trails plan adds inland fallback route for stalled Kincaid-to-Potter Marsh trail
Anchorage planners added an inland route option to a stalled coastal trail between Kincaid Park and Potter Marsh, blocked since the 1990s by private land and wildlife refuge concerns.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
A $293 million plan would rebuild and narrow Anchorage's downtown couplet
A $293 million rebuild of Fifth and Sixth avenues would narrow the couplet that funnels traffic through downtown Anchorage. No one commented at the meeting.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Anchorage's wetlands plan describes a permit the city cannot issue
Anchorage's wetlands plan still assumes the city issues its own fill permits. It has not since 2021, and a patch goes to the Assembly Tuesday.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read