State of Alaska

Alaska's youngest students are improving in math and reading. Older grades aren't.

Alaska's youngest students are gaining in math and reading, but older grades have stalled — and most students still aren't testing proficient in either.

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

Alaska raised the age of consent, and school districts have new duties

Alaska raised the age of consent to 18 in July. School districts now must report such conduct to police, notify parents, and file with the state.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Fourteen states weighed in on whether an Alaskan belonged on Alaska's ballot

Fourteen states, the Alaska GOP and a national election law group filed briefs against a Petersburg man's candidacy. Two Alaskans filed for him, on their own.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 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

Golden Valley is still getting paid for a storm from Christmas 2021

Golden Valley Electric is still being reimbursed for a 2021 windstorm, with FEMA committing another $1.36 million four years and eight months later.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Follows: Alaska has spent a fifth of its open federal disaster money, with six weeks on the clock

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

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

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

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

Southeast Alaska's king crab fishery will open, barely clearing the bar

Southeast Alaska's commercial red king crab season opens Nov. 1 with a 213,076-pound quota, the fourth opening since 2006 and the second in a row after years of closures.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 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 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

Unit 22C bull moose season closes 12 days early, after two days

Bull moose season in Unit 22C on the Seward Peninsula closes Sept. 2, twelve days early, after hunters are expected to fill the 30-bull quota in just two days.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 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 Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Alaska says school improvement grant reviews are delayed by staffing gaps

Federal money for Alaska's lowest-performing schools is stuck. The state office that reviews the applications is short-staffed, and deadlines have not moved.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Strong chum run opens Tanana coho fishing and more gear this weekend

Fairbanks-area personal use fishers can now use gillnets and keep coho salmon starting Friday, Sept. 4, after the state projects a strong fall chum run above target escapement.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Follows: Fairbanks's chum salmon fishery reopens on the Tanana on Friday

Southeast seiners get one 15-hour opening, in Sitka Sound

Southeast seiners get one 15-hour opening in Sitka Sound this week and nothing else. The fleet has thinned to 75 boats from 121 a week earlier.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo 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

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

Norton Sound summer crab harvest reaches 111% of quota

Norton Sound's summer king crab fishery landed $3.5 million worth of unusually big crab this year, even as the overall harvest limit fell 65 percent from 2025.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 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

Necker Bay's goat zone closes after two billies fill the quota

Two billies filled the quota and closed Necker Bay's mountain goat zone for the season, the second Baranof Island zone to shut this year.

by Bill 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 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 districts have three weeks to apply for hunter education money

Alaska school districts have until Sept. 18 to apply for hunter education grants of up to $50,000, with $500,000 available statewide.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Four groups keep full Medicaid after Oct. 1. Refugees and asylees are not among them.

Alaska is moving to cut full Medicaid coverage for refugees, asylees and trafficking victims starting Oct. 1 when federal funding for noncitizens ends, leaving them with emergency-only coverage.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Follows: New Alaska Medicaid work rules start in January 2027 — with broad exemptions

Alaska child care providers must file rates under categories the state has not adopted

Child care providers accepting state subsidies must report all rates in Alaska's AKCCIS portal by Sept. 30 or lose their program standing.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read