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State of Alaska

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.

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Wednesday, Jul 15

Bristol Bay enforcement program yields 11 citations across Naknek and Nushagak districts

Alaska Wildlife Troopers cited 11 people in Bristol Bay's Naknek and Nushagak districts for commercial fishing violations including closed-period fishing and unlicensed crew.

Bill AlaskaNewsby Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Cover image for article: Bristol Bay enforcement program yields 11 citations across Naknek and Nushagak districts

EPA moves to stop Alaska's cold from shutting down diesel engines

Alaska cold can freeze a diesel's emissions fluid and cut its power mid-job. EPA wants to stop the shutdowns before someone's stranded at 40 below.

Walter AlaskaNewsby Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: EPA moves to stop Alaska's cold from shutting down diesel engines

Tuesday, Jul 14

The king window is closing near Petersburg and Wrangell

The king run near Petersburg and Wrangell is past its peak, and the window to fish the hatchery-fed terminal harvest area is closing — with wild-king waters still locked down till July 15.

Bill AlaskaNewsby Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min readFrom
Cover image for article: The king window is closing near Petersburg and Wrangell

Southeast anglers get a bump in the king limit

Nonresident anglers can keep two kings a day in Southeast starting Saturday, up from one, after harvest came in under target — a rare loosening in a tight king year.

Bill AlaskaNewsby Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min readFrom
Southeast Alaska
Cover image for article: Southeast anglers get a bump in the king limit

Alaska won up to $160M to hunt critical minerals with AI and microbes

UAF will lead a new NSF innovation engine — up to $160M over 10 years — using AI and microbes to find Alaska's critical minerals. SCIENCE!!

Maggie AlaskaNewsby Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
Cover image for article: Alaska won up to $160M to hunt critical minerals with AI and microbes

Alaska's diesel-to-renewables fund reopens, but the money reaches few

Alaska's main fund for getting rural communities off diesel just reopened — with room for maybe nine of the many that'll apply.

Maggie AlaskaNewsby Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Cover image for article: Alaska's diesel-to-renewables fund reopens, but the money reaches few

Wasilla's mayor is termed out, and the first candidate to replace her just filed

Wasilla's mayor is term-limited, so the seat's open this fall — and Stu Graham is first to signal a run, filing before the July 20–31 window even opens.

Walter AlaskaNewsby Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: Wasilla's mayor is termed out, and the first candidate to replace her just filed

Ship Creek reopens to fishing Tuesday, but ADF&G bans king retention for rest of season

Ship Creek is back open after 11 days — just don't expect to keep a king, because retention's banned for the rest of the season.

Bill AlaskaNewsby Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: Ship Creek reopens to fishing Tuesday, but ADF&G bans king retention for rest of season

Bristol Bay tightens the rules on its king salmon again

Bristol Bay's kings keep sliding, so the rules keep tightening: fewer big fish on the Naknek, no bait on the Nushagak, and log every keeper in ink.

Bill AlaskaNewsby Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: Bristol Bay tightens the rules on its king salmon again

A fall at a remote Alaska lighthouse turned an injury into a helicopter rescue

A tourist badly hurt her hip at the historic Sentinel Island lighthouse near Juneau and got a helicopter flight out. Kinda a two birds with one stone thing

Walter AlaskaNewsby Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: A fall at a remote Alaska lighthouse turned an injury into a helicopter rescue

Manokotak man arrested on murder charge after fishing-site death

A Manokotak man died after being struck in the head with an anchor during a fishing-site altercation on June 26. Another Manokotak man faces murder and manslaughter charges.

Walter AlaskaNewsby Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: Manokotak man arrested on murder charge after fishing-site death

The Fortymile caribou herd is shrinking, and this year's hunt reflects it

The Fortymile caribou herd is down a bit, so this year's hunt is tighter — 550 bulls, one per hunter, no cows, and zones that can slam shut mid-season.

Maggie AlaskaNewsby Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Alaska, USA
Cover image for article: The Fortymile caribou herd is shrinking, and this year's hunt reflects it

Alaska child vaccination rate at 55%, well below national average

New state data shows 55% of Alaska toddlers have finished the recommended vaccine series and kindergarten measles coverage is 77% — below national averages and the herd-immunity threshold.

Walter AlaskaNewsby Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: Alaska child vaccination rate at 55%, well below national average

Ketchikan anglers catch a rare break on king limits

Good king news for once: Ketchikan visitors can now keep two a day, and hatchery-fed Herring Bay is basically a free-for-all — while the wild-stock rules stay locked down.

Bill AlaskaNewsby Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Cover image for article: Ketchikan anglers catch a rare break on king limits

Frier vs. Chase: a rematch for Alaska's northernmost House seat

Alaska's biggest, coldest House district is a 2024 rematch: Rep. Robyn Frier vs. Kotzebue Mayor Saima Chase, both running hard on public safety.

Maggie AlaskaNewsby Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
North Slope and Northwest Arctic, Alaska
Cover image for article: Frier vs. Chase: a rematch for Alaska's northernmost House seat

A small gold permit, on a river fighting for its future

A routine gold-mining permit on a Susitna tributary is a small piece of a much bigger fight over a salmon river conservationists just named one of America's most endangered.

Maggie AlaskaNewsby Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Yentna Mining District, Alaska
Cover image for article: A small gold permit, on a river fighting for its future

About State of Alaska

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

A gravel permit for the pipeline, and a question about what Alyeska pays

A routine permit lets Alyeska pull gravel from the Sag floodplain for pipeline upkeep — but not what the private pipeline giant pays the public for it. A senator's been asking.

Walter AlaskaNewsby Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Cover image for article: A gravel permit for the pipeline, and a question about what Alyeska pays

Kuskokwim subsistence fishing reopens as salmon run strong

Subsistence fishing is back open on the lower Kuskokwim as salmon run strong — and the state is managing the mainstem again after losing a long fight over who controls the river.

Bill AlaskaNewsby Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Cover image for article: Kuskokwim subsistence fishing reopens as salmon run strong

Bristol Bay is hauling in millions of sockeye — and it's still a down year

Bristol Bay has already landed 26+ million sockeye — a staggering haul that's somehow still a down year, running about a quarter below its 10-year average.

Bill AlaskaNewsby Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: Bristol Bay is hauling in millions of sockeye — and it's still a down year

A Brooks Range hunting guide wants a permanent camp in the wild

A guide who flies hunters into the Brooks Range by Super Cub wants to trade his move-every-two-weeks tent camp for a permanent cabin in some of Alaska's most remote country.

Maggie AlaskaNewsby Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Eastern Brooks Range, Alaska
Cover image for article: A Brooks Range hunting guide wants a permanent camp in the wild

Commercial fishing opens in Kuskokwim Bay as subsistence fishing closes

Commercial fishing opened in Kuskokwim Bay's Districts 4 and 5 through July 17, with subsistence fishing closed until the 18th — a real trade-off in a region built on salmon.

Walter AlaskaNewsby Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Kuskokwim Bay, Alaska
Cover image for article: Commercial fishing opens in Kuskokwim Bay as subsistence fishing closes

A tip about a truck running over seagulls ended in a DUI arrest at Kasilof

A tip about a truck running over seagulls at Kasilof Beach led troopers to a Fairbanks man now facing DUI, weapons, and a federal migratory-bird charge.

Alaska Newsby Alaska News4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: A tip about a truck running over seagulls ended in a DUI arrest at Kasilof

Alaska's first big AI data center clears a hurdle on the North Slope

A company wants to burn North Slope gas on-site to run AI computing near Deadhorse — turning 50 years of stranded gas into power, if the financing, customers and gas contract ever show up.

Walter AlaskaNewsby Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Cover image for article: Alaska's first big AI data center clears a hurdle on the North Slope

The fight to keep Red Dog alive past 2031

A routine nine-acre lease along the Red Dog haul road opens onto a much bigger question: how one of the world's richest zinc mines keeps going after its main pit runs dry around 2031.

Maggie AlaskaNewsby Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska
Cover image for article: The fight to keep Red Dog alive past 2031

Monday, Jul 13

Why an Arctic fiber company needs 30,000 yards of Dalton gravel

Quintillion wants 30,000 yards of Dalton Highway gravel to build a land backup for the Arctic's only fiber line — the one sea ice has cut twice, knocking whole communities offline.

Maggie AlaskaNewsby Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
North Slope Borough, Alaska
Cover image for article: Why an Arctic fiber company needs 30,000 yards of Dalton gravel

Fort Yukon woman faces assault, weapons charges after June disturbance in Circle

A two-hour overnight disturbance across several spots in Circle on June 24 ended with a Fort Yukon woman arrested weeks later, facing assault and other charges.

Maggie AlaskaNewsby Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: Fort Yukon woman faces assault, weapons charges after June disturbance in Circle

DNR proposes free land transfer to Alaska Railroad; comment window open

Alaska is proposing to give state land in the railroad corridor to Alaska Railroad Corporation for free, reigniting concerns about public access to hunting and fishing grounds along the tracks.

Maggie AlaskaNewsby Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: DNR proposes free land transfer to Alaska Railroad; comment window open

Two hands-on hunting classes are open in Juneau, and seats are going fast

Juneau's got two hands-on hunting classes this summer — a full-day Basic Rifle and an evening Scope Mounting session — and both are nearly full.

Bill AlaskaNewsby Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: Two hands-on hunting classes are open in Juneau, and seats are going fast

A Native org is coaching Yukon harvesters on how to testify effectively

Tanana Chiefs Conference is running a July 24 workshop coaching Yukon harvesters to testify effectively on salmon policy — pressing a bycatch argument that scientists say is only part of the story.

Maggie AlaskaNewsby Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Yukon-Tanana Region, Alaska
Cover image for article: A Native org is coaching Yukon harvesters on how to testify effectively

A Ketchikan man is jailed on burglary and assault charges

A Ketchikan man is held without bail on five charges, including burglary and assault, after allegedly forcing his way into a home and blocking a report to police.

Walter AlaskaNewsby Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: A Ketchikan man is jailed on burglary and assault charges

Alaska LNG's cheap-gas promise hinges on exports — and on costs staying in line

New state numbers on Alaska LNG: exports are what make gas cheap for Alaskans (about $5/mcf vs. $12.65 without them), but a cost overrun could push the export price above what buyers pay.

Walter AlaskaNewsby Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Cover image for article: Alaska LNG's cheap-gas promise hinges on exports — and on costs staying in line

Too many young fish shut Sand Point's seiners out of the Shumagins

Sand Point's seine fleet is shut out of the Shumagin Islands — test nets found immature sockeye at triple the closure threshold — as a lawsuit over the rules plays out.

Bill AlaskaNewsby Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: Too many young fish shut Sand Point's seiners out of the Shumagins

A copper wire theft in Delta Junction, and the metal-price math behind it

Troopers arrested a Delta Junction woman over copper wire thefts and are hunting an accomplice — the kind of theft that spikes whenever copper prices do, for scrap-yard cash.

Walter AlaskaNewsby Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: A copper wire theft in Delta Junction, and the metal-price math behind it

Wasilla man dies after fleeing troopers at 100 mph following domestic assault

A Wasilla man died Saturday after fleeing state troopers at 100 mph following a domestic assault call.

Walter AlaskaNewsby Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: Wasilla man dies after fleeing troopers at 100 mph following domestic assault

Sunday, Jul 12

Kodiak's seiners can fish — but not for a single king

Kodiak's seine grounds keep opening, but every king that hits the net has to go back — a quiet measure of how far Alaska's king runs have fallen.

Bill AlaskaNewsby Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: Kodiak's seiners can fish — but not for a single king

On the North Slope, the oil field grows a few thousand cubic yards at a time

ConocoPhillips wants to lay gravel for two small Kuparuk expansions — the kind of routine, acre-at-a-time growth critics say is exactly how the North Slope's footprint quietly spreads.

Maggie AlaskaNewsby Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: On the North Slope, the oil field grows a few thousand cubic yards at a time

A company wants to test amphibious rigs on the North Slope tundra

An Anchorage dealer wants a five-year permit to test-drive amphibious Swamp Rider vehicles across the North Slope — on tundra that's both their ideal terrain and state-protected ground.

Maggie AlaskaNewsby Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Cover image for article: A company wants to test amphibious rigs on the North Slope tundra

A snagged salmon is a released salmon: a Kasilof reminder

On the Kasilof, a salmon hooked anywhere but the mouth has to go back — no matter how it got there. A visiting teen found out the hard way this week.

Maggie AlaskaNewsby Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Kasilof River, Alaska
Cover image for article: A snagged salmon is a released salmon: a Kasilof reminder

Dunleavy vetoes six bills, including invasive species and polystyrene measures

Gov. Dunleavy vetoed six bills June 24, including a statewide polystyrene ban and an invasive species management plan, citing implementation costs and concerns about state agency authority.

Walter AlaskaNewsby Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min readFrom
Cover image for article: Dunleavy vetoes six bills, including invasive species and polystyrene measures

Alaska home and health care providers accused of Medicaid fraud

Alaska's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit charged 15 defendants in five cases across Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula, alleging about 1.83 million dollars in fraudulent home and health care billing.

Walter AlaskaNewsby Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Cover image for article: Alaska home and health care providers accused of Medicaid fraud