Alaska state government's executive branch, headed by the Governor and 15 cabinet departments. Oversees education, public safety, transportation, health, commerce, and natural resource management for the 49th state.
Photo by Bernt Rostad, via Flickr · Photo source · CC BY 2.0
alaska.gov ↗Alaska
Inside State of Alaska
Places and topics in this news
Numbers are stories in the last 30 days.
Have a story about State of Alaska? Send a tip
Thursday, Jul 23
Anchorage Assembly weighs how hard to investigate Martinez's travel
The Anchorage Assembly must pick between a quiet look at George Martinez's travel and a subpoena-backed investigation that could end in his removal.

Fish Creek dipnet fishery opens Sunday for Alaska resident dipnetters
More fishing more fish

The AI money came first. The data center moratorium came Thursday.
Days after AI money turned up in his filings, Kreiss-Tomkins called for a data center moratorium — one a governor has no power to directly impose.

Bristol Bay sockeye limit stays at 10 fish through year's end in Wood River and Nushagak-Mulchatna drainages
Bristol Bay doesn't seem to be having the problems with fish the rest of the state is.

High water has Southcentral anglers waiting it out
Flooding has Southcentral anglers mostly sidelined — weirs underwater, creeks blown out, and 12-foot waves hitting the Kenai dipnet beaches.

A power outage closed Anchorage state offices, public assistance included
A power outage closed the Ingra Street state offices in Anchorage at 1 p.m. Thursday, public assistance included, for the rest of the day.

A sinkhole swallowed a Seward Highway lane, and that lane is closed for a month
A sinkhole ate a northbound lane of the Seward Highway at Potter Marsh. Crews are on it around the clock — and it stays closed until August 24.

A 100 mph chase ended with a Palmer driver pinned against a tree
A 100 mph chase near Palmer ended with the driver upside down in a ditch, pinned against a tree. He was already wanted on four warrants.

Chatanika River whitefish spear lottery opens July 27
Everyone loves the lottery - this one for Fish

Alaska's trade school in Seward can't turn out graduates fast enough
Alaska's vocational school in Seward made USA TODAY's national top-schools list again — and most of its students have jobs lined up before they even graduate.

State plans a gravel sale on the Parks Highway near Denali
Alaska is set to sell gravel from a Parks Highway site near Denali — under a system an ombudsman faulted in 2019 and the state declined to change.

Ketchikan Creek opens to dip netting for hatchery king salmon
Kings are closed across much of Alaska, but Ketchikan Creek just opened to dip netting for hatchery Chinook. Wild ones go back. Residents only, net in hand.

Two Dan Sullivans, and a ballot solution the state wrote itself
The court put the second Dan Sullivan on the ballot but left the labeling to the state — and the state's fix leaves him the only candidate of 16 with no party listed.

Alaska asks 3,500 voters to confirm citizenship weeks before the primary
Alaska flagged 3,500 voters as possible noncitizens and made them inactive weeks before the primary. A phone call fixes it — if the letter arrived in time.

Aleutians East newsletter flags fisheries as defining issue in 2026 Alaska races
Aleutians East Borough won a legal fight over salmon fishing rules in May and is now directing voters to check where candidates stand on fisheries in the 2026 governor, Senate, and House races.

Southeast's Dungeness season closes early on a 25-year-low harvest
Southeast's summer Dungeness season closes three weeks early Saturday on the worst harvest estimate in 25 years. Sea otters are part of the long story.

Coming up
State Bond Committee Meeting
Telephonic meeting, call-in (907) 202-7104, Conference ID: 633 711 677#
Meeting
Alaska LNG Project Right-of-Way Lease Conversion - In-Person Public Hearing
Hearing
Public Comment Deadline: State Underground Storage Rights Claim
Public notice
Local Government Protest Deadline: Eden Growth Group LLC Marijuana License Renewal
Public notice
Effective: Alaska; Wildlife, Harvest, and Access
Public notice
About State of Alaska
Photo by Bernt Rostad, via Flickr · Photo source · CC BY 2.0
alaska.gov ↗Alaska
The State of Alaska is the executive branch of Alaska state government, headed by the Governor and organized into cabinet departments. Those departments oversee education, public safety, transportation, health, commerce and natural resource management across the state.
State agencies issue permits, leases and land decisions, regulate liquor licenses and utilities, plan highway projects and rank school construction requests. Its stories return to public comment on state proposals, from roundabouts and gravel sites to water rights and the statewide transportation plan, and to the work of the Alaska State Troopers.
Boards and authorities attached to the state, such as the Board of Fisheries, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska and the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, make many of its decisions. The state also runs statewide elections and works with tribal organizations on village public safety.
More from State of Alaska
Wednesday, Jul 22
A Parks Highway gas station, ahead of the state's traffic review
Wasilla may approve a new Parks Highway gas station before the state finishes deciding whether its driveway onto the highway is safe.

Sockeye keep the drift fleet fishing while the Kenai's kings stay closed
Kasilof sockeye escapement is way past the top of its goal, so the drift fleet got another opener. The Kenai's kings are so weak the sport season never opened.

Two women reported overdue near Glennallen were, per troopers, 'just out enjoying Alaska'
Two women reported overdue near Glennallen turned out to be perfectly fine — or as the trooper dispatch put it, they "were just out enjoying Alaska."

Petersburg pushed back when the state pulled Sullivan off the ballot
Newly released letters show Petersburg residents demanding the state show its evidence for pulling their neighbor off the Senate ballot.

Alaska elections hearing reveals FBI contact, no precedent for 'good faith' test
State election officials admit they used a new good-faith test only on one candidate. They still refuse to explain why the FBI called.

Three salmon runs are down at once on Prince of Wales
Kings, coho, and pinks are all below average on Prince of Wales, and coho harvest is half last year's. The island needs rain to move fish into the creeks.

Past three miles, Alaskans fish like nonresidents
Alaskans lose resident fishing limits the moment they cross into federal water — and keeping a big lingcod inshore can shut you out of the EEZ entirely.

85 mph on a stretch of road marked for its fatal crashes
Troopers say a Sterling man ran his dirtbike 85 in a 45 — on a stretch of the Sterling Highway flagged for its fatal crashes — then briefly declined to pull over.

Chitina's dipnet window shrinks to 48 hours as sockeye falter
Chitina dipnetters get 48 hours next weekend, half the window two weeks ago, after last week's sockeye count came in 26,000 fish short.

Too few goats, too easy to reach: South Baranof stays closed
South Baranof stays closed to goat hunting a second year running — too few goats, and too easy to get to, which is exactly the problem.

Delta Junction man cited for fishing closed waters and gillnet violation in Nushagak
A Delta Junction man was cited for fishing in closed waters and violating gillnet rules in Bristol Bay on July 4, one of 11 citations troopers issued during peak sockeye season.

Alaska corrects fiscal year 2027 waiver rate chart as 3.2% Medicaid increase takes effect
Alaska corrected a rate chart for Medicaid home and community services after finding an error, but the underlying 3.2% payment increase that took effect July 1 remains unchanged.

Nenana River erosion threatens Alaska Railroad mainline; DNR proposes 6-acre land sale near Healy
Alaska is selling 6 acres of state land to the Alaska Railroad so it can move its mainline tracks away from the eroding Nenana River near Healy. Comments due August 14.

Hilcorp seeks 50 megawatts of new power at Milne Point
Hilcorp wants about 50 megawatts of new turbine power at Milne Point — three big turbines and 185,000 gallons of fuel. Comments close 30 days from July 18.

Tuesday, Jul 21
A new committee would review how the Permanent Fund measures itself
How the Permanent Fund grades itself is contested — and trustees will weigh a new committee to review the benchmarks that decide the answer.

A storm hits Norton Sound just before Friday's gillnet opening
A Bering Sea storm hits Norton Sound Thursday with 45 mph gusts and 9-foot seas, a day before a 24-hour commercial gillnet opening.

Calista seeks airport land at Kwethluk, Napakiak to bring hardwired broadband
Calista Corporation wants to build broadband shelters on airport land in Kwethluk and Napakiak to bring hardwired internet to both villages.

He listed two Alaska move-in dates. Then he quit the race.
A Kenai-area candidate filed two different Alaska move-in dates on two candidacy forms. Asked to prove one, he withdrew the next morning.

No Juneau beach is tested for the toxin in clams
No Juneau-area beach is regularly tested for the toxin in clams that can stop your breathing — and cooking does not destroy it.

Sterling man shoots neighbor's generator, returns armed and drunk, threatens troopers' children
A Sterling man wanted his neighbor's generator. The neighbor said no. Troopers say the generator ended up full of bullet holes.

Five muskoxen are stuck on a 15-acre island, so Alaska is opening a hunt
Five muskoxen wandered onto a 15-acre island with no water and no way off. Alaska can't afford to move them, so it's opening a hunt instead.

Alaska courts require TrueFiling for CINA cases starting August 17
Alaska courts require all lawyers to file Child in Need of Aid cases through TrueFiling starting August 17, replacing email and fax. Training dates have not been announced.

State opens 30-day window on nearly 1,700 acres of Petersville mining leases
Alaska opened a 30-day window for objections to seven mining leases covering 1,680 acres near Petersville, with the deadline September 19.
Supreme Court to hear Alaska bush pilot's fight over $95,000 plane seized for a six-pack
Supreme Court will hear whether Alaska can seize a bush pilot's $95,000 plane because a passenger carried beer to a dry village.
