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Thursday, Jun 18
The Eklutna Gathering Center cleared Platting Board approval after 30 years
30 years in the making: Eklutna's Gathering Center got Platting Board approval Tuesday. Earthquake-ready design included
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
An escaped campfire grew to 89 acres near Sterling — cutting power and closing a road
An unextinguished campfire near Sterling grew to 89 acres, cut power, and closed Swanson River Road. Put out your campfires.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min readFrom 
Wednesday, Jun 17
Anchorage Assembly to vote on $11M Port construction management deal
Anchorage votes June 23 on $11M in Port engineering contracts. The Port handles 90% of Alaska's freight, so worth a look.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Anchorage Assembly to vote on $1.35M in supportive housing grants
Five Anchorage nonprofits would split $1.35M for supportive housing on June 23. The pandemic-era funding clock is still ticking.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Op-ed: Anchorage Homeschool Mom Urges Support for federal App Store Accountability Act
An Anchorage homeschool parent urges Alaska's senators and congressman to support the App Store Accountability Act, which would require parental consent before minors download apps.
by AlaskaPolicyVoice4mo ago3 min read
The Grandview Fire has closed Swanson River Road and burned 30 acres near Sterling
The Grandview Fire is at 30 acres near Sterling. Swanson River Road is closed, the canoe route is offline, no evacuations yet.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Juneau's federal court office keeps closing, with no end in sight
Alaska's capital has a federal court counter. Staffing it is apparently optional — closed again this month, with no word on when it reopens.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
MEA is building a 40-acre substation in Meadow Lakes for Mat-Su's growing grid
Mat-Su is getting a 40-acre substation in Meadow Lakes — major infrastructure for the fastest-growing Alaska region. Take that, Anchorage!
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
More from Southcentral
Federal fishery disaster relief of $99M headed to Alaska after years of waiting
Alaska took four of every five dollars in the nation's fishery-disaster aid — and none of it has reached anyone yet, with 13 more disasters still in line.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min readFrom 
State asks Kenai to join disease early-warning network
Kenai City Council approved joining a statewide wastewater monitoring network that tests sewage for disease outbreaks. The state covers all equipment costs and will sample Kenai's wastewater weekly.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Kodiak Borough OKs Water Upgrade for Village of Karluk
Kodiak Island Borough Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved a water treatment upgrade for the Native Village of Karluk, adding storage and lines for year-round drinking water.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Chugach and Glenfarne Alaska LNG signed a non-binding LOI — a step, not a contract
Chugach and Glenfarne signed a non-binding letter of intent. The pipeline still hasn't broken ground. One of many Chugach hedges.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Chugach is pursuing four hydroelectric projects to hedge against Cook Inlet gas decline
Chugach's gas-to-renewables shift has its first concrete entries: four hydro projects on four Southcentral creeks, 52 MW total.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Alaska's biggest utility may start importing the gas its own region once exported
Then on the sixth day, god said: "Let there be LNG" And it was goooooood
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Anchorage homeless residents tell Assembly: shelters worse than jail
Two sets of lived experience meet at Anchorage's homelessness debate: those in shelters and those who watched encampments grow.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
Anchorage Assembly reviews missing middle housing overlay for transit corridors
Anchorage has wanted denser transit corridors on paper since 2001 — this opt-in overlay is the city's latest test of whether residents actually mean it.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
About Southcentral
Southcentral Alaska is the region of the state centered on Anchorage, its population center and transportation hub. It spans the Kenai Peninsula, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet, and reaches communities such as Kenai, Soldotna, Homer, Seward, Cordova, Palmer, Wasilla and Eagle River.
Much of the region's civic life runs through the Anchorage Assembly, the Kenai Peninsula and Matanuska-Susitna borough assemblies, and city councils. Questions of housing and zoning come up often, along with who pays to extend water and sewer lines to building sites. School budgets, road safety on its highways and oil and gas operations in Cook Inlet also return.
The Kenai River and Cook Inlet tie the region to fishing, and the Parks Highway and Seward Highway link its communities. Windstorms that cut power and trooper reports from the Matanuska-Susitna area are common subjects as well.
More from Southcentral
True North dropped crisis services from Fairview plan after months of pushback
Fairview pushed back. True North revised. No more crisis services in the Fairview building — outpatient and a mobile van instead.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
A Senate vote on the federal lands maintenance fund has major Alaska stakes
The Senate is reauthorizing the fund that pays to fix trails and visitor centers across Alaska's federal lands. Murkowski's staff stayed up.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
Murkowski flagged Alaska parallels at a Senate deep-sea mining hearing
Pacific governors told the Senate BOEM ignores them. Murkowski said Alaska's facing the same thing.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
Alaska was selected for the federal CCBHC Medicaid Demonstration
Alaska's joining a federal Medicaid demo for full-service behavioral health clinics. Long overdue, given the state's gaps.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Legal memo says Daniel J. Sullivan appears eligible for U.S. Senate ballot
A Legislative Legal Services memo says Daniel J. Sullivan meets U.S. Constitution requirements for Senate and that the lieutenant governor likely lacked authority to reject his candidacy filing, though elections officials still list him as denied.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Kenai Peninsula Disability Pride Celebration set for July 18 in Soldotna
Kenai Peninsula Disability Pride Celebration comes to Soldotna Creek Park on July 18, 2026, marking the 36th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act with community organizations and local voices.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
A coho cap could close Cook Inlet's sockeye season early, fishermen warn
Cook Inlet boats are after sockeye, but the coho they catch by accident could shut the whole season — at a limit the feds set below their own scientists' advice.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min readFrom 
A residential block off Abbott Road is going commercial — one lot at a time
Dominos falling A city tries rezoning If they accept it
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Two Anchorage housing votes on June 23: a tax break and new fees on the same new homes
Anchorage's June 23: a tax break for starter-home buyers, plus new utility fees on the same construction. The math depends on builders.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
Mat-Su Says No to Swapping Property Tax for Sales Tax
Mat-Su weighed trading its property tax for a 6.5% sales tax — same money, different payers — and decided renters, shoppers, and an untested legal handcuff made it a bad bet for the ballot.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Anchorage Assembly considers removing duplicative child care licensing rules
Anchorage is moving to repeal four child care licensing rules and amend three more, arguing they duplicate state standards or have not worked, in hopes of easing a chronic shortage of child care centers.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Anchorage Disability Pride Celebration set for July 25 at Delaney Park Strip
Peer Power Alaska hosts a free Disability Pride Celebration on July 25 at Delaney Park Strip from noon to 4 p.m., featuring food, games, music, and a petting zoo with an ASL interpreter on site.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Anchorage Assembly to appropriate $1.75M federal port power grant
Anchorage Assembly votes Monday on a $1.75 million federal grant to harden the Port of Alaska's electrical systems against earthquakes and add backup power for cargo terminals.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Anchorage Assembly will vote June 23 on $214,684 for a pedestrian safety campaign
Anchorage is getting $214K in federal money for pedestrian safety outreach. The city's pedestrian fatality numbers say, maybe it's overdue?
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min readFrom 
Chugach Electric wants perpetual easements through two Anchorage parks
Anchorage Assembly votes Tuesday on giving Chugach Electric permanent easements through Russian Jack Springs Park and Ira Walker Park to bury aging power lines, affecting nearly 50,000 square feet of parkland at no cost to the city.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min readFrom 
Tuesday, Jun 16
Coast Guard seeks contractor for Kodiak rescue aircraft life-support gear
Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak is hiring a contractor to maintain life-support gear on rescue aircraft serving Alaska's deadliest fisheries, with proposals due June 29.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Cordova Harbor Commission votes against CAM 2 dock recommendation
Cordova Harbor Commission voted against recommending the city sell 4,100 square feet of waterfront to seafood processor CAM 2 for a private dock. • Commissioners cited navigation safety concerns at the tight harbor entrance and potential impacts on lighting and road infrastructure. • The proposal now goes to City Council, which may still approve the sale despite the commission's recommendation against it.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Senate Finance presses Alaska LNG spur line: who builds, who pays, who regulates
Senate Finance gets into the numbers of the LNG line in a hot and spicy day of meetings
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
Russian River Sanctuary opens early June 18 for sockeye season
Sunrise, sunset. Sunrise, sunset. Quickly - swim the fish.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Anchorage Press plans return, with Northern Journal folding into revived paper
Nathaniel Herz and Veri di Suvero are reviving the Anchorage Press, an alternative weekly that closed years ago, by folding Northern Journal into it and launching a print edition this fall with arts, culture and Alaska politics coverage.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago4 min read
Anchorage clinic offers kuspuk, beading, and talking circle classes
Southcentral Foundation's Traditional Healing Clinic in Anchorage offers Alaska Native cultural classes like kuspuk sewing, beadwork, and talking circles as part of its health care model that blends traditional healing with modern medicine.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Anchorage commission to review mayor's salary for first time since 2020
Anchorage's Commission on Salaries and Emoluments voted Tuesday to review the mayor's $145,392 annual salary for the first time since 2020, after noting some unionized city employees now earn more than their boss.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Anchorage Assembly weighs $254K economic development grant to AEDC
The Anchorage Assembly will vote on a $254,000 grant to the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation to fund economic development work through 2026, including a federal economic strategy.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min readFrom 
Anchorage Assembly to vote June 23 on $2.57M in HUD housing grants
Anchorage Assembly votes June 23 on a $2.57 million federal housing grant plan, but more than $1.2 million has no specific projects assigned yet and will be decided later.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min readFrom 
