Southcentral

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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska rule would limit cannabinoids to licensed grows, approved hemp

Alaska regulators want to force all cannabinoids in legal pot products to come from state-licensed grows. This move aims to stop cheap out-of-state hemp from undercutting local businesses.

by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read

Alaska wants to change how it measures edible pot strength — and some legal products may not pass

Alaska wants to change how it measures edible pot strength — and the new math could push products legal today over the limit, without the products changing.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo 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.News2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

A decade in, Alaska's marijuana industry is squeezed by taxes as the state rewrites the rules

A decade in, Alaska's marijuana industry is squeezed by taxes and falling prices. Operators owe millions in back taxes as the state rewrites the rules.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago3 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 AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Follows: Port of Alaska seeks road realignment for Chugach Electric substation

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 AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Fifty homes destroyed at Tok in Alaska's lightest burn year since 1995

The Mukluk Fire destroyed more than 40 homes at Tok during Alaska's lightest burn year since 1995, making it one of the most destructive fires in state history despite record-low statewide acreage.

by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Follows: Cause of Tok's Mukluk Fire stays officially under investigation

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 AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

The Permanent Fund earned $8.2 billion and none of it went into protected principal

The Permanent Fund earned $8.2 billion last year and moved none of it into the part of the fund Alaskans cannot spend. That is two years running.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Alaska's only blood bank is critically short of O and AB blood; six centers are taking donors

Blood Bank of Alaska needs O and AB blood types urgently, with only 2 percent of Alaskans donating annually despite serving 21 hospitals statewide.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Alaska would change who can question the medical report in a workers' comp fight

Alaska is rewriting how injured workers' claims get fought: who can question the doctor who wrote the report, and how the lawyer gets paid.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min readFrom Aug 12

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 AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readFrom Aug 20

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 AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min readFrom Aug 12

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 AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min readFrom Aug 17

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 2mo ago2 min read

Follows: Cordova faces a thin ferry winter with four vessels in overhaul

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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo 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.News2mo ago2 min readFrom Aug 25

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 AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Wasilla man arrested at Anchorage courthouse on sexual abuse warrant

A 59-year-old Wasilla man was arrested Sept. 1 on an outstanding warrant and faces multiple counts of second- and third-degree sexual abuse of a minor.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Alaska schools warned on parental consent for surveys and student records

Alaska schools could risk federal funding if they survey students on sensitive topics without written parental consent, or withhold records parents can see.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage will weigh housing density, not just price, when it sells land

The Anchorage Assembly voted 11-0 to tell the city to weigh housing density and affordability, not just price, when it disposes of municipal land.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Chugachmiut's Sugt'stun language game gets new gameplay footage

Nunaka means my village in Sugt'stun. It is also a free game teaching the language to children in a region where fluent speakers are dwindling.

by Alaska News2mo ago2 min read

Kenai Elks Lodge RV spaces get a city permit after years without one

Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission approved a conditional use permit for six RV spaces at the Elks Lodge that operated without one for years.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

Mat-Su explores building the troopers a new home and leasing it back

Mat-Su is exploring building troopers a $13 million facility and leasing it back. Troopers now work from six buildings never designed for police work.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Motorcyclist critically injured in Kalifornsky Beach Road crash near Kasilof

A motorcyclist struck a turning pickup truck on Kalifornsky Beach Road near Kasilof on Monday and was flown to Seattle with life-threatening injuries.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Kodiak Assembly takes up its vacancy rewrite Thursday, with the public hearing Sept. 17

Kodiak Island Borough Assembly will introduce Thursday an ordinance that would start the clock for filling vacant seats the day a resignation is accepted and allow electronic applications.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read