Southcentral
RSSSouthcentral region news
Cities & Areas
One place near Anchorage where you can still keep a king
ings are closed across the Mat-Su and Northern Cook Inlet — except Eklutna Tailrace, a stocked fishery where you can still take one home while the wild runs stay shut.

Lingcod is open outside Seward but closed inside Resurrection Bay
Lingcod season is open outside Seward, where fishing should be hot — but inside Resurrection Bay you can't even cast for one. And bring 'em back whole.

Alaska's development bank meets behind closed doors on the Arctic Refuge, a mining road, and a port
Alaska's state investment bank meets privately July 8 on its biggest bets — Arctic Refuge oil, the Ambler mining road, Port MacKenzie — with public money on the line.

The road rebuild behind Spenard's makeover
Anchorage is planning to rebuild Chugach Way — the road running through the heart of Spenard's revival, where old strip clubs and gas stations are becoming new housing.

Anchorage hunters can zero rifles at free sight-in day July 8
Alaska Fish and Game hosts a free rifle sight-in day July 8 at Rabbit Creek Shooting Park, 4 to 8 p.m., with a gunsmith and chronograph on site.

A Knik Arm bridge easement survives — and so does the debate
Anchorage kept a Knik Arm Crossing easement on a port plat — a small vote that keeps alive a long-debated bridge backers call vital resiliency and skeptics call unfunded.

Alaska plans to burn the Alphabet Hills to grow more moose forage
Alaska plans to set the Alphabet Hills ablaze this July on purpose. Burning old black spruce regrows the willow and birch that moose, caribou, and hunters rely on.

Passenger injures Trooper during Cooper Landing traffic stop
A passenger kicked an Alaska State Trooper on the Sterling Highway near Cooper Landing on Wednesday evening while resisting placement in a patrol vehicle during a sobriety stop.

Martha Fire near Soldotna contained at 5 acres
Firefighters contained the Martha Fire near Soldotna at 5 acres Wednesday evening, protecting homes within two hours of the first report

Anchorage let federal grant recipients off the hook, audit finds
An audit found Anchorage didn't penalize grant recipients who missed goals — one repaired 1 of 20 promised homes — just as the city moved to route millions more through the same office.

Wasilla woman charged after stabbing pedestrian on hood of moving vehicle
A Wasilla woman was charged with domestic violence assault after stabbing a pedestrian's hand while they clung to the hood of her moving vehicle on Meadow Lakes Loop Wednesday

In Cordova, a slow salmon season squeezes everything — even the Fourth of July
A slow Copper River season and a state funding veto are squeezing Cordova's budget — putting the pool, the museum and even the Fourth of July on the table.

Cordova's fishermen are getting a new dock — and losing "the slowest crane in harbor"
Cordova cleared the way for a new offloading dock at Camtu's Alaska Wild Seafoods — retiring what one council member called "the slowest crane in harbor."

Anchorage cuts a top City Hall job it just created
Anchorage is scrapping a senior City Hall post it created two years ago — the administration says it fixed the broken operations the job was invented to fix, so the job can go.

Crash closes New Seward Hwy southbound at Rabbit Creek Rd
Two people died Wednesday morning when three vehicles crashed into Potter Marsh on the Seward Highway south of Anchorage, closing the road for hours.

Fred Meyer owes Anchorage back taxes — so the city grabbed its liquor licenses
Fred Meyer owes Anchorage back taxes, so the city held its liquor-license renewals hostage until it pays — an unusual squeeze on a national chain, not a struggling small business.

Alaska's Medicaid self-audit deadline lands amid a fraud crackdown
Alaska is telling Medicaid providers to audit their own billing and repay overpayments — weeks after charging 15 people with about $1.83M in Medicaid fraud.

Ship Creek closes for 10 days as a king shortfall hits the hatchery
Anchorage's Ship Creek closes to all fishing July 3–13. A weak king return isn't meeting hatchery broodstock goals that supply fisheries across Southcentral, not just the creek.

A Russian Old Believer village fights to keep its school
Nikolaevsk — a Russian Old Believer village on the Kenai — may hand its shrinking school to a local nonprofit, a bid to keep education in the community as families drift away.

Why Anchorage's longest-held shelter animals are the ones most at risk
A $3,000 grant is small, but the problem behind it isn't: Anchorage's shelter keeps overfilling, and its longest-held, hardest-to-adopt animals are the ones most at risk.

Nearly $350 million to replace one ferry — Alaska's lifeline to the Aleutians
Alaska's about to spend nearly $350 million to replace one ferry — the 60-year-old Tustumena. A genuine Aleutian lifeline, but the low bid went to a Louisiana yard.

Two Kasilof dipnetters cited for dipnetting's most common mistake
Two Kasilof dipnetters were cited 12 minutes apart for the same slip: not recording their sockeye in ink — the most common dipnet ticket there is. Write it down.

Anchorage's airport is finally expanding its parking
Relief may be coming for one of Anchorage's everyday headaches: the airport is expanding its overflow parking lot, with the work due done by mid-November.

One dead, one critical in a K-Beach Road rollover near Soldotna
A 62-year-old Iowa man died and a second person was critically hurt when their van rolled on Kalifornsky Beach Road near Soldotna. The cause is under investigation.

New federal money for small meat processors could help Alaska lean less on imported food
New federal money for small meat processors could nudge Alaska, which imports nearly all its food, toward processing more of its own — $60M in grants is due Aug. 7.

The man who made the case for JBER's new water plant didn't live to see it open
JBER's new water plant now serves 40,000 people, replacing a system running since 1957. Mac Nason, who wrote the case that funded it, died in 2021 and never saw it built.

Seward pays to save the pool that made an Olympian
Seward is putting $200K a year toward keeping its community pool open — the same water that once trained a hometown Olympian. Small town, big save.

How Cordova's Fourth of July shuffles the week
Cordova's shifting its schedule for the Fourth: City Hall and the transfer station close Friday, trash moves to Monday, and the library and museum keep their own holiday hours.

Alaska's makers take over the museum lawn this summer
The Anchorage Museum lawn turns into an open-air Alaska makers market July 17 — ceramics, wood, jewelry, and the chance to meet the people behind the work.

A lake-island fire hands Mat-Su crews a boat-only problem
A small fire on a Flat Lake island forced Mat-Su firefighters to boat their crew across to reach it — routine flames, minus the road to get to them.

Kodiak fire department moves to fix a staffing crunch
Kodiak's Fire Protection Area No. 1 is short-handed enough that its board told the chief to build a new position — a people problem, not a money one, as volunteers get harder to find.

A remote Kodiak village tries tp fix its water
Karluk — a village 88 miles from Kodiak city, ringed by refuge — is replacing its failing water system, closing a gap most of America never has to think about.

A Tazlina man faces domestic violence and attempted robbery charges
Troopers arrested a Tazlina man on domestic violence and attempted robbery charges after a reported assault on the Richardson Highway. The charges remain accusations.

Dipnetting the Kasilof? Record and clip before you stash your fish
Record and clip each salmon before it goes in your cooler, or risk a summons like the Wasilla man cited at Kasilof on June 27.

In a quiet Kenai neighborhood, a fight over how many homes is too many
A developer wants townhouses and a six-plex on a quiet Kenai dead-end — the most density the zone allows — and at least one neighbor isn't sold on the traffic.

Anchorage man arrested after walking armed, drunk on Funny River Rd
Alaska State Troopers arrested Anchorage resident Garrett Andrews, 22, after he walked armed and intoxicated down Funny River Road near Soldotna on Friday night, forcing drivers to swerve.

Soccer came home this summer — Where to watch the World Cup in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is happening across North America with viewer-friendly Alaska timing, and Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau have free or easy watch parties through mid-July.

One Anchorage restaurant keeps getting caught serving with expired cards
Alaska cited six bars and restaurants for servers pouring with expired training cards — one Anchorage spot for the fifth time in four years, now risking its liquor license.

A fin whale's death near Seward reopens Alaska's vessel-speed debate
A pregnant fin whale that died of a vessel strike was found on a Royal Caribbean ship's bow near Seward. Investigators haven't said which vessel struck it.

A widely felt quake rattled Southcentral Alaska on Saturday
A magnitude 4.2 quake near Hope shook Anchorage and the Kenai on Saturday night. Early estimates ran higher, but the reviewed magnitude is small, and no damage was reported.
