Southcentral

Districts learned about $115 million after school had already started

Alaska school districts learned they were getting $115 million the day after school started, because the money depended on oil revenue counted Aug. 31.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage school district proposes splitting $32 million in one-time state money

Anchorage schools will split $32 million in one-time state money, spending more than half this year and saving the rest to shrink a $40 million deficit expected next summer.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Follows: Anchorage schools will open a new listening effort with a $42 million shortfall

Anchorage band teacher tells school board he now teaches 330 students a day

Anchorage band teacher Dan Whitfield teaches 330 students daily after the district cut a part-time director position, leaving classes of 45 to 83 students with no jazz band or extra help.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Fifteen Anchorage Assembly members will have their spending accounts examined in a 9-2 vote

Fifteen Anchorage Assembly members will have their $24,000 spending accounts examined. Nobody will be required to answer the findings in writing.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Two candidates file on the last day for Kenai Peninsula Borough offices

Two more candidates filed on the last day for Kenai Peninsula Borough offices, including one seeking an Assembly seat that has been sitting vacant.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage's surplus school buildings could bring in money, the district says

Anchorage school officials say surplus buildings could generate revenue, among them Campbell STEM, closed in February and the subject of a dismissed lawsuit.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Fortymile caribou Zone 2 closes Sept. 5 as fall quota nears

Hunters in the roadless Fortymile range have until Sept. 5 to take a bull before Zone 2 closes — the fall quota of 100 is nearly met. Zone 3 stays open.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska rent increases were the smallest in five years, but Mat-Su and Kenai set records

Alaska rents rose again this year, but the pressure shifted. Mat-Su and the Kenai set records while Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau saw their smallest rises.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Dunleavy vetoed a faculty seat on the board that governs the University of Alaska

Dunleavy vetoed a faculty seat on the University of Alaska's governing board, citing conflicts of interest. The board already seats a student.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

A statewide suicide prevention activity is open to any Alaska resident through Sept. 10

ANTHC is running a free statewide suicide prevention activity through Sept. 10 with an online scavenger hunt, candle lighting, and a survey with Amazon gift card drawings open to all Alaska residents.

by Alaska News2mo ago2 min read

Hilcorp wants to plug five Cook Inlet wells for good

Hilcorp asked the state to dissolve a Cook Inlet unit and permanently plug five of nine wells at an offshore platform, as the basin runs short of gas.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

A barge of secondhand equipment is bringing a military antimony refinery to Port MacKenzie

A barge of secondhand refining gear is headed for Port MacKenzie to start a $43.4 million military project for a metal the US stopped mining in the 1990s.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago3 min read

Alaska's labor agency has management and a union teaching bargaining together

A city HR director and an IBEW business agent will teach Alaska public employers and unions how to bargain, together, at a state session this month.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Purse seining is finished for the year in Lower Cook Inlet

Purse seining ended for the year in Lower Cook Inlet. The Outer and Eastern districts closed at 10 pm Monday, and the advisory gives no reason.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

An Anchorage man will serve 20 years for abusing a 4-year-old relative

Judge Peterson sentenced Jose Dominguez Ballesteros to 20 years in prison Monday for sexually abusing a family member starting at age 4, with lifetime sex offender registration required.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

SSA awards Anchorage's Koniag IT Systems $2 million for print work in Durham and Baltimore

A Koniag subsidiary in Anchorage will print and mail Social Security cards for the next year, under two federal contracts worth about $2.06 million.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read

In 1997 Anchorage voters rejected automated camera enforcement. Its new surveillance system needed no vote.

Anchorage voters banned traffic cameras in 1997. A far more powerful police surveillance system just arrived with no vote — and the debate has been telling.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago4 min read

Matanuska Electric's next CEO inherits a gas contract that expires in 2029 and years of rising bills

Clay Koplin takes over as Matanuska Electric CEO on Jan. 7, 2027, as the cooperative braces for rising natural gas costs that could push member bills up 5% yearly for three years.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Alaska's governor race upended in a day: a disqualification, a last-minute filing, and a lone Democrat

Alaska's governor race flipped in a day: Treg Taylor was disqualified, his wife filed at the deadline, and it's now three Republicans versus one Democrat.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min read

Atlas Air would get five more acres of cargo ramp in Anchorage

Atlas Air would get three more cargo parking pads at Anchorage's airport, a little over five acres of ramp, at a rent of $38,847.47 a month.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

ICE is paying an Anchorage company to wire the 11th floor of a building in Washington

ICE is paying an Anchorage company $31,049 to wire the 11th floor of a federal building in Washington, D.C.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage had no ALS ambulance available about 70 times last year

Anchorage had no advanced life support ambulance available about 70 times in 2024, and no basic life support unit more than 315 times.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Kelp that washes up on Cook Inlet beaches can now be harvested and sold

Kelp that washes up on Cook Inlet beaches can now be harvested and sold, up to 86,000 pounds. Beachcombers are still capped at 10 gallons a day.

by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage Assembly takes up a $599,000 crime center purchase and surveillance limits

A $599,000 video wall for Anchorage's crime center returns to the Assembly Tuesday, alongside an ordinance that would write surveillance limits into city code.

by Alaska News2mo ago2 min read

Mat-Su assembly member puts possible school closures on Sept. 8 joint agenda

Mat-Su Assembly and School Board will discuss possible school closures Sept. 8 after enrollment dropped 2,153 students since 2018.

by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read

Kenai Peninsula planning commission to hear Cohoe road vacation Sept. 14

Kenai Peninsula planning commission will hear a petition Sept. 14 to vacate Keyros Avenue in Cohoe, with the borough assembly retaining veto power over any approval.

by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read

Haines woman seriously injured by bear on Mt. Riley Road

A Haines woman was seriously injured in a bear attack on Mt. Riley Road early Saturday, Aug. 29, after the animal may have been drawn by dumped food waste nearby.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Assembly candidate Berga discloses North Slope job, Kenai Fish stake

Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly candidate Nathan Berga disclosed North Slope oilfield income and ownership of a Soldotna fishing business in a financial filing Monday.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

ENSTAR raised its gas line relocation estimates and Mat-Su road budgets absorb the cost

ENSTAR nearly doubled its estimates on eight Mat-Su road projects. The borough has to absorb it, and there is no other gas utility it could call.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

Mat-Su Assembly rejects lowering its property tax cap to 7 mills

Mat-Su's Assembly rejected lowering its tax cap to 7 mills after the borough warned it would force $22 million in cuts — schools and ambulances included.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

Follows: A proposed cap would limit how high Mat-Su can set its property tax rate

Mat-Su sets aside Zero Lake Road land for a future shooting range

Mat-Su set aside land for a shooting range over a year of neighbor objections. One cabin owner's structure sits about 1,000 feet downrange.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

Kenai will pay a high school pool's utility bills to keep it open another year

Kenai will pay $46,400 of a high school pool's utility bill to keep it open one more year. The swim club's hourly rate more than doubles.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Dahlstrom will not certify Treg Taylor's nomination for governor

Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom will not certify Treg Taylor's nomination for governor, after APOC found his financial disclosure was not timely.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage tax appeal hearings continue into September, past the board's stated season

Anchorage property owners appealing their 2026 assessments face a backlog that could stretch to mid-November, with the Board of Equalization handling a record 1,953 appeals.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Follows: Anchorage's assessment appeal surge reaches hearings next week

Anchorage's rewritten emergency plan adds six annexes, voids all earlier versions

Mayor LaFrance signed a rewritten emergency operations plan that replaces all earlier versions and meets national standards. The Assembly reviews it Tuesday.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Cook Inlet Housing Authority chief backs Anchorage housing code changes his projects use

Cook Inlet Housing Authority's chief backed Anchorage's housing code changes Tuesday, crediting them for enabling his organization's Nest project.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Alaska seniors get free Summit on Aging seats, but must register in advance

Seniors 65+ and Alaskans with intellectual or developmental disabilities get free registration at the Oct. 15-17 Statewide Summit on Aging in Anchorage if they sign up in advance.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

An Anchorage firm maintains nine Florida federal buildings on a $25 million GSA deal

An Anchorage contractor won a $23,553 federal contract to fix a rusted floor and fire alarm at a Jacksonville courthouse, part of a nationwide backlog of $8.3 billion in delinquent repairs.

by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read

Right lane closes on E Tudor Road eastbound Monday for drainage work

The westbound Tudor lane closed since July reopens Monday. Savor it. A bigger dig near Lake Otis starts Sept. 12 and closes lanes in all directions.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Homer Spit seafood plant lease passes to Silver Bay at unchanged $69,877 rent

Homer City Council approved a lease transfer of the seafood processing plant on the Homer Spit to Silver Bay Seafoods-Valdez, LLC, keeping the annual rent at $69,877 through 2036.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read