Economy & Business
RSSAlaska News covers state economic issues including cannabis banking, state dividends, and business development opportunities.
Eagle River hillside lot could lose the development limits set in 2002
Eagle River limits set in 2002 on a 34 percent slope would come off Tuesday. A neighbor says the storm drains there already ice over the intersection.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Ketchikan's long rebuild of the road toward Saxman inches ahead, with a waterside path and a tangle over land
Ketchikan's rebuild of the highway toward Saxman, adding a waterside path for walkers and bikers, drew more federal money as cost estimates keep swinging.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min readAI
Overnight drilling comes to Ketchikan's aging viaducts, part of a plan to repair them now and replace them later
Overnight drilling comes to Ketchikan's two 1950s viaducts, which carry 14,000-plus vehicles a day, as the state plans to repair them and replace them later.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min readAI
Auke Bay quarry wins bigger blasts and Saturday hours through 2036
An Auke Bay rock quarry can now blast 60 percent bigger, start earlier and work Saturdays, through 2036. No residents showed up to the hearing.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Juneau denies Chilkat Vistas hillside plat after approval falls a vote short
Juneau's planning commission denied a hillside subdivision over landslide risk, two years after the Assembly struck landslide rules from the land use code.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Three Hillside road districts are dipping into savings as maintenance costs outrun their funding
Three self-funded Hillside road districts are drawing $145,000 from their own savings for road maintenance, as costs outrun what they collect in taxes.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Anchorage shifts $3.46 million from Denali Street to a Fairview pedestrian boulevard
Anchorage dropped a Denali Street walking project and moved $3.46 million to Fairview, where Hyder Street would become a pedestrian boulevard.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min readAI
A Seward Highway rebuild that doubled to $1.4 billion is back on Anchorage's plan, over objections
A Seward Highway rebuild that doubled to $1.4 billion is back on Anchorage's plan on a 3-2 vote, over objections about cost, priority and public input.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min readAI
Ambler district copper mine nears its first public comment period
A copper mine proposed 22 miles from Kobuk is moving through federal permitting. Residents could get their first chance to comment as soon as September.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago3 min readAI
The fate of the EPA veto blocking Pebble Mine is now in a federal judge's hands
A federal judge is deciding whether the EPA veto blocking Pebble Mine survives, a fight over Bristol Bay salmon with Alaska Native parties on both sides.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min readAI
The state gave Red Dog another decade of eased water limits as the mine looks to run longer
Alaska extended Red Dog's wastewater permit 10 years, to 2036, past the mine's own expected ore life, citing thawing permafrost with no available remedy.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min readAI
Fifty-nine rural Alaska villages get federal money to defend their power systems from hackers
Fifty-nine rural Alaska villages are getting $1.73 million to harden their power systems against hackers. Some of those systems average four kilowatts.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min readAI
A family gold operation wants four more seasons on Cache Creek, mined since the early 1900s
A family gold operation wants to work Cache Creek near Petersville for four more seasons, on ground mined by family outfits since the early 1900s.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Anchorage airport would let CLEAR sell a faster security line
Anchorage's airport wants to let a private company sell a faster spot in the security line. Objections are due on a Sunday, when the office is closed.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Anchorage water chemical contract returns $855,400 higher with no explanation
Anchorage's water treatment chemical will cost $855,400 more than the bid the administration backed two weeks ago. It sits on tonight's consent agenda.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min readAI
Nome buses roll as Steadman Street reopening goes unconfirmed
Nome school buses roll this morning down a street the state said would reopen Friday. The state's own weekly update does not say whether it actually did.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
State's latest fuel survey put Alaska gasoline at $6.63 a gallon, and it is seven months old
State fuel data shows Alaska gasoline averaged 6.63 dollars in January. This report is seven months old and prices have risen.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
The state wants $293M to rebuild 5th and 6th, but the funding isn't settled
The state wants Anchorage to program $293 million to rebuild 5th and 6th avenues downtown, but where the money comes from is unsettled.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Federal charter keeps water sampling going on the Unuk, downstream of three British Columbia mines
A $15,510 charter keeps USGS crews sampling the Unuk River this fall. Three large British Columbia mine projects sit in development upstream.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
An Iñupiaq village corporation from Wainwright is plugging orphaned wells in Wyoming
Olgoonik, an Iñupiaq village corporation from Wainwright now grown into a global federal contractor, won a $210K contract to plug abandoned wells in Wyoming.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
A $3.73 million contract will fix water intrusion at the Anchorage VA
A $3.73 million federal contract will fix water intrusion at the Anchorage VA Medical Center — a year of work by a Palmer firm, starting in September.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min readAI
FAA plan would give a Cook Inlet oil-field airstrip its first instrument approaches
Hilcorp's Trading Bay airstrip may soon take planes in bad weather. The FAA notice announcing it gets the airport's name wrong and its boundary wrong twice.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Usibelli seeks five more years at Two Bull Ridge near Healy, and the state is revising the cleanup bond
Usibelli's Two Bull Ridge mine near Healy is nearing the end of its pits, and as it seeks a five-year renewal, the state is revising its $5.4M cleanup bond.
by Alaska Newsadded 1mo ago2 min readAI
Goldbelt subsidiary takes $821,000 in State Department work with no stated purpose
A Goldbelt subsidiary in Juneau picked up $821,000 in State Department staffing work in three weeks. Neither posting says what the work is for.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min readAI
Homer planning commission asked to name Spit erosion, public works campus and harbor floats as top capital projects
Homer's planning commission votes Wednesday on three capital projects to recommend to city council: Spit erosion protection, a new public works campus, and $2.2 million in harbor float repairs.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Anchorage firm gets $77,900 more work at the Phoenix building it maintains
Anchorage firm Tunista Logistics Solutions won two federal repair contracts worth about $77,900 for a Phoenix building, part of a pattern of Alaska companies winning GSA work outside the state.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min readAI
CDC orders $1.4 million more Atlanta construction from an Anchorage firm
CDC awarded Anchorage firm MTNT Construction $1.4 million in federal construction orders over five days in August, but the agency did not disclose what the work is for or where it will happen.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min readAI
Alaska will build software to help inspect its bridges
Alaska's transportation department won a $126,917 federal grant to build computer vision tools that read bridge photos and flag defects for inspectors.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min readAI
Koniag subsidiary lands State Department writer work, up to $1.6 million
Koniag Professional Services won a State Department contract worth up to $1.6 million to staff a writer and editor position, though the job is based in Virginia, not Alaska.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Ouzinkie village corporation wins courthouse contracts in Florida
A village corporation from a 110-person Alutiiq island is fixing courthouse restrooms in Florida. One of the five awards bought only a new contract number.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Bradley Lake expansion has carried three price tags in four months as the comment window closes
The Bradley Lake expansion has been priced at $400 million, $420 million and $435.9 million since April. Alaskans have until Aug. 28 to weigh in.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min readAI
HUD awards $85,520 to Anchorage disability housing provider
HUD awarded Anchorage disability housing provider AASC Housing II Inc. $85,520 to subsidize rent for very-low-income residents with disabilities.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
$1.54 million in federal rent aid for Kotzebue's four subsidized elder apartments
HUD awarded $1.54 million to Tupqich Elder Apartments in Kotzebue to cover operating costs for very-low-income seniors, who pay 30 percent of their income toward rent.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Skagway ferry port closed indefinitely; state gives no repair timeline
Skagway's ferry dock is broken and the port is closed indefinitely. The state's entire public explanation fits in one undated website alert.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Hoonah and Ketchikan dock projects renew marine mammal permits without breaking ground
Two Southeast dock projects keep renewing federal permits to make noise underwater. The permits keep expiring. The water remains undisturbed.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Trucks keep hitting the Tudor Road overpass. The rebuild is years out
Federal Highway Administration added $912,130 to rebuild the Seward Highway and Tudor Road interchange, one of Anchorage's busiest, with construction now targeted for 2029 or 2030.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Alaska takes a first step toward new air permits for Hilcorp's Nikaitchuq oil field
Alaska took a first step toward new air permits for Hilcorp's Nikaitchuq oil field, as North Slope officials push for air monitoring in nearby villages.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
An Anchorage firm will repair the State Department's headquarters
An Anchorage Alaska Native-owned firm won a federal order for emergency repairs to the State Department's headquarters — one of three out-of-state jobs.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Crews dug out Alaska's remote seasonal highways for summer, meeting in the middle of the Denali
Alaska cleared its remote seasonal highways for summer, with crews meeting in the middle of the 135-mile Denali Highway. A $1.25M federal grant paid for it.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Juneau's task force weighs crowding fixes amid a bigger question on how much tourism is enough
Juneau's tourism task force votes Thursday on downtown crowd fixes — a roundabout, crossing guards, Seawalk changes — the visible edge of its bigger question: how much cruise tourism is enough.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
