Economy & Business
RSSAlaska News covers state economic issues including cannabis banking, state dividends, and business development opportunities.
Sitka's Coast Guard cutter dock clears review; work set for 2026
Sitka's Coast Guard cutter dock cleared its environmental review, with waterfront construction set to run from 2026 to 2028.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min readAI
Electric bills would rise in Bethel, Yakutat and 50-plus rural communities
Electric bills would rise about 4.75% in Bethel, Yakutat and 50-plus rural communities under an AVEC proposal, on customers already paying several times urban rates.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
The 5th and 6th avenue rebuild just hit $370 million — and even planners are flagging "scope creep"
Anchorage's 5th and 6th avenue rebuild just hit $370 million with no clear way to pay for it — and even the city's planners are flagging scope creep.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Sitka Harbor Office closes at noon Friday, reopens Monday
Sitka Harbor Office closes at noon Friday and reopens Monday, leaving boat owners and fishers without walk-in service or phone access until then. Call 907-738-0835 for emergencies.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Anchorage asked to raise bus tire contract authority by $500,000
Anchorage needs up to $500K more for tires on its 63 city buses, which it leases rather than owns, as leasing and labor costs rise — funded by bonds and grants.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min readAI
A Whittier man trying to sell booze on a family glacier-tour boat
A Whittier man is fighting a plan to serve alcohol on the family Ptarmigan glacier-tour boat, which has run dry for decades. The Assembly decides by Aug. 15.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min readAI
Sitka's old pulp mill site keeps filling up — another lot goes out for development
Sitka is seeking a developer for another lot at its former pulp mill site — long mostly empty after the mill's 1993 closure, and now steadily filling up.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min readAI
Hughes $25 billion pitch: connect Alaska's railroad to Canada, and Nome to the Interior
Candidate Shelley Hughes wants to link Alaska's railroad to Canada and reach Nome — a roughly $25 billion pitch with no identified funding source.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Rural road access was Alaska's biggest federal award last week
Tribal transportation was Alaska's biggest federal award last week — $2.68 million for rural road access, in a state with fewer road miles than Connecticut.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Anchorage board vacates a Glen Alps public easement the city paid $130K to acquire
Anchorage's board gave a Glen Alps lot a public easement the city paid $130K for — over objections it's still access to big public land with few ways in.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
In Talkeetna, a debate over whether weather or a bridge is eroding the riverbank
Weather, or a rebuilt railroad bridge? As Talkeetna's bank erodes, one river-watcher says the bridge choked the river — and that's the fixable cause.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Alaska moves to open child care assistance to more working families
Alaska wants to raise the income ceiling for child care assistance from 85 to 105 percent of the state median, though it's contested whether the expansion needs new money.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
As Anchorage cements its role as a global cargo hub, the growth is colliding with its neighbors
Anchorage's cargo boom brings nighttime jet noise — and a new study warns the fixes might just shift it from one neighborhood to another, not end it.
by Alaska News1mo ago2 min readAI
Landowner gets variance to split land off Wasilla-Fishhook Road
A landowner near Wasilla-Fishhook Road, a route to Hatcher Pass, got a variance to split his land after the state barred new lots from tying directly into the road.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Hilcorp says opposing the tax isn't opposing the gas line
Hilcorp told the gas-line caucus that opposing a targeted tax on the company isn't opposing the pipeline, even as that tax deadlocks the bill in Juneau.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min readAI
Enstar tells Alaska Gas Line Caucus it could be 18 days short of gas this winter
Enstar told lawmakers it could run 18 days short of gas this winter if Cook Inlet supply stays low, but the Alaska LNG pipeline pitched to fix the problem won't arrive in time to help.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min readAI
Kenai council approves $775,000 for Sixth Street water, sewer, road work
Kenai City Council approved 775000 dollars for Sixth Street infrastructure. The project will serve new senior housing but stop short of future development sites.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Anchorage seeks 50 acres of JBER land for a waste-to-energy plant
Anchorage is asking Congress for about 50 acres of JBER land next to the landfill for a waste-to-energy plant, with the request riding in this year's defense bill.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
A plan would move Anchorage's bike route off the highways onto trails
Anchorage's official cross-country bike route runs on highway shoulders. A plan would move it onto the city's trails — the Seward corridor stays contested.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Coast Guard asks Homer to accept transfer of cutter support building
Homer City Council votes Aug. 24 on accepting ownership of a Coast Guard cutter support building. • The ordinance does not specify maintenance costs or operational details the city would assume. • Residents can testify at the 6 p.m. public hearing.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
New law ties Anchorage's federal housing grant to how fast it builds
Anchorage's biggest federal housing grant will now rise or fall with how fast the city builds, raising the question of whether it'll be punished for constraints it can't control.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
A landslide cut rail service to Denali after record Talkeetna rain
A landslide from record July rain cut off Alaska Railroad service to Denali north of Talkeetna, in a corridor already under a flood-and-erosion emergency.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min readAI
AEDC report: Anchorage strained, the military its bright spot
A new AEDC report says Anchorage is getting squeezed: shrinking job share, high costs, low confidence. The military's the bright spot, but housing's the catch.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Alaska Native-serving schools vie for $10 million in training money
Alaska Native-serving colleges and trade schools have until Aug. 24 to compete for up to $10 million in federal money to train skilled workers.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min readAI
Kenai mayor moves to shield home value from city property tax
Kenai's mayor directed the city manager to draft a residential property tax exemption after residents said assessments are climbing faster than relief.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
A new Nome dredge application enters the pipeline that just rejected a fiercely fought gold mine
A new suction-dredge application near Nome enters the same regulatory pipeline that just rejected IPOP's massive Bonanza Channel gold mine
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Kaktovik residents press North Slope Borough on cracked homes
Kaktovik and Nuiqsut residents told the North Slope Borough Assembly that homes are cracking and settling, and asked for repairs and new programs to address the damage.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago4 min readAI
A Hillside road district taps its own savings to fix its own roads
A self-funded Hillside road district would draw $150,000 from its own reserve to fix its roads rather than raise assessments, one of two doing so this summer.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Anchorage union deals would sweeten benefits amid a labor shortage
Two union contracts before the Anchorage Assembly would sweeten benefits — rehire leave credit, easier holiday pay, master's tuition — for a labor shortage.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
The road to Bear Valley Elementary would narrow, and won't fix the jam
The road to Bear Valley Elementary already backs up at pickup, so the plan is to make it narrower — which, the project admits, won't fix the jam.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Winter ferry bookings open on the system that's the only road many Alaska towns have
Winter ferry bookings are open on the Alaska Marine Highway — the federally funded "road" for the four-in-five Alaska towns with no highway — even as some communities say this winter's schedule is still too thin.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
A Hilcorp gravel-mine permit reflects the North Slope's expanding oil footprint
Hilcorp wants a new North Slope gravel mine — one small permit amid a gravel-demand surge as Arctic oil development expands and converts wetlands, one project at a time.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Alaska's freight system was built to ship oil out. Now it's about getting packages in.
Alaska's freight network is shifting from moving oil out to bringing online-shopping deliveries in, as pipeline throughput slides and e-commerce surges through Anchorage.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Homer electric members get a small break while Interior faces a big spike
Homer electric members are paying about $3.30 less since July 1 — a rare bit of good news, while Interior members brace for a 62% cost-of-power spike.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
A separated path toward Hatcher Pass would get walkers and cyclists off Palmer-Fishhook Road's dangerous shoulders
A planned 8.5-mile path would finally get walkers and cyclists off Palmer-Fishhook Road's white-knuckle shoulders — if the Mat-Su Borough can pull together the $4.5 million to build it.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
State weighs 19-year rent-free FAA lease at Hooper Bay Airport
Alaska is considering a 19-year rent-free lease for the FAA to install navigation and weather equipment at Hooper Bay Airport, one of six rural airports where the agency seeks similar no-cost deals.
by Alaska News1mo ago1 min readAI
A decade after a plan promised lower energy costs, Bering Strait villages are still studying the problem
A decade after a regional plan promised lower energy costs, Bering Strait villages are still studying the problem — as Kawerak seeks contractors to assess the diesel infrastructure keeping 20 communities running.
by Alaska News1mo ago2 min readAI
A Northwest think tank has ideas for Anchorage housing
A Seattle think tank that advocates for denser housing is recommending Anchorage zoning changes, one of which the city already adopted in 2025.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
A protected Potter Marsh hillside faces access questions at an Aug. 10 hearing
A 303-acre hillside feeding Potter Marsh is permanently protected, so the debate now is over access — where trails and parking go, and which neighborhood streets take the traffic. A 20-year plan gets a hearing Aug. 10.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Wasilla resident gets gas station to study sidewalk on school bus route
A Wasilla resident got a new gas station to study building a sidewalk on a street where kids walk to the bus. The commission also OK'd a youth mental health facility.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min readAI
