Economy & Business
RSSAlaska News covers state economic issues including cannabis banking, state dividends, and business development opportunities.
Anchorage takes another run at its missing-middle housing rules
Anchorage takes a second swing at missing-middle housing, letting corridor owners opt into duplexes-to-townhomes. Last year's version stalled on neighborhood pushback.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
As Cook Inlet gas runs short, Alaska moves to squeeze 38% more power from an existing dam
With Cook Inlet gas set to run short by 2027, Alaska wants to squeeze 38% more power from the existing Bradley Lake dam — raising the reservoir 16 feet and piping in glacier melt, no new plant required.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 1mo ago2 min readAI
Eielson airshow returns this weekend, with brief highway stops for the flyovers
Eielson's Arctic Lightning Airshow flies this weekend, free and open to all. Drivers on the Richardson Highway near the base should expect brief stops during the flyovers.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Wasilla is borrowing $6 million to expand its sewage plant
Wasilla is expanding its sewage treatment plant with new equipment, funded largely by a $6 million state loan that ratepayers will help repay over time.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
NANA's fall payout works out to about $1,687 for an original shareholder
NANA's fall payout is $16.87 a share — about $1,687 for an original shareholder with 100 shares. Update your information by Nov. 6 to be paid on time.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
NuCube, Alaska Fund launch NuAlaska nuclear initiative
NuCube Energy and Alaska Fund launched NuAlaska to develop nuclear microreactors for remote Alaska communities where fuel costs and weather make power expensive.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
A North Slope river keeps chewing toward the pipeline, and Alyeska keeps armoring it
For the second time this year, Alyeska wants to stack rock along the Sagavanirktok River to keep it from eroding toward the buried Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
A small Petersburg timber sale is a marker of the Tongass's long turn away from old growth
A young-growth-only timber sale near Petersburg is a small marker of the Tongass's contested, decades-long turn from old-growth clearcuts to second-growth logging. Bids due Aug. 25.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Wasilla weighs a facility meant to keep Alaska kids in Alaska
A Wasilla facility aimed at keeping Alaska kids from being sent out of state for behavioral health care went before the Planning Commission Tuesday.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Sterling Highway closed in both directions at Milepost 164 after collision
Sterling Highway closed in both directions at Milepost 164 after a multi-vehicle crash Thursday afternoon, expected to remain closed into the evening.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Juneau's flood barriers came from an Illinois stockpile
The walls guarding 1,900 Juneau homes from a glacial flood came from an Illinois stockpile. Locals paid for round one; the feds covered all $35 million of round two.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Tree closes all lanes of North Glenn Highway near mile 71
When a tree falls on the North Glenn and nobody is around to see it, can the highway be shut down at all?
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Eight welders certify in Nome as a $400 million port job looms
Eight Bering Strait adults certified in welding in Nome just as a $399 million port expansion gears up to need exactly that skill. And nobody had to leave the region to train.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min readAI
Oil-company seismic data is going public — the price of a state tax credit
Oil-company seismic surveys from Cook Inlet and the North Slope are going public — the eventual price of the state tax credits that funded them — as companies hunt for new gas in a declining basin.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min readAI
Cordova's broken pool feeds a push to merge its aging rec buildings
Cordova's pool sits broken with no reopening date — the sharp end of an aging-buildings problem now pushing the city to merge the pool and rec center.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
State would lease airport land at 18 cents a foot until 2076
Alaska wants to rent two acres at its busiest cargo airport for 18 cents a foot until 2076. A bargain for Anchorage, or a 50-year giveaway?
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Mat-Su forum tackles housing for after parents are gone
A Mat-Su nonprofit will present plans Thursday for small-scale housing for disabled adults, aimed at the families asking what comes after they're gone.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Klondike Highway closes overnight near Skagway for rockfall work
The Klondike Highway near Skagway is closed 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. on weeknights for rockfall work. Evening single-lane delays up to 10 minutes until 11.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
On Aurora Street, water mains are in but the sewer stops short
A new lot split on Aurora Street marks the edge of Anchorage's grid: water mains are in, public sewer isn't, and getting sewer means paying to extend the main.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Girdwood's parks plan eyes land its own housing plan wanted for homes
Girdwood's parks plan wants disc golf and a dog park on Glacier Creek land the town's housing plan set aside for homes. City staff say resolve that first. Hearing Aug. 3.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
South Anchorage rezone would allow industrial use in a residential area
A 3.8-acre South Anchorage lot could be rezoned from homes to heavy industrial. No project's been named yet — and that's what neighbors will want to know. Hearing Aug. 3.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Chugach wants to trade a planned greenway for heavy industrial zoning
Chugach Electric wants to erase a planned greenway near downtown Anchorage and rezone the land heavy-industrial. City planners say yes; the Assembly decides.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Cordova clears the way for Copper Brewing's 101-square-foot expansion
Cordova's Copper Brewing needs 101 square feet of city land for one more tank. The planning commission checked the snowplow routes and said yes.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Wasilla hiring event features employer with no listed openings
A nonprofit is recruiting at the Mat-Su Job Center on Wednesday. Its own careers page says every position is currently filled. Bring a resume anyway.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
A village's water grant score can hinge on whether the clerk took a class
A free state course Aug. 3–11 can boost a village's water and sewer grant scores — clerk training counts for up to 40% of project points. Sign up by July 31.
by Alaska News1mo ago1 min readAI
The new Richardson Highway bridge takes shape at Mile 346
The last girders are up on the new Richardson Highway bridge at Mile 346 — a rebuild aimed at reopening a key Valdez-to-Canada freight route to heavy loads.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Chena Small Tracts Road closed for the season as roundabout goes in
Chena Small Tracts Road is closed for the season while a roundabout goes in. West Fairbanks: your detours are Palo Verde, Amherst and Dartmouth.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
It's July, and it's snowing on the road to the Arctic
It's late July and it's snowing on Atigun Pass — the 4,739-foot Brooks Range crossing that's the only road to Alaska's North Slope.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Anchorage Platting Board to weigh Girdwood plat note removal Aug. 5
Anchorage Platting Board will vote Aug. 5 on removing a vegetation screening requirement from a Girdwood lot, which would free space for multifamily housing at 116 Kami Circle.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min readAI
Anchorage may let duplex owners sell half the house and its land
Anchorage may let duplex owners in single-family zones sell one unit and its land as its own lot — more housing, plus questions about running a split lot.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min readAI
Federal rule changes loosen protections for Alaska's listed species
New federal rules quietly loosen Endangered Species Act protections just as Alaska's development push accelerates, with belugas, polar bears and eiders in the balance.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
A sacred site promised in 1978 is being considered by Congress to go to Doyon
A sacred Athabascan site was promised to Doyon in 1978, then a national park grew around it. Congress is finally moving to hand it over.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Alaska is auctioning 18 Fairbanks-area timber sales
Alaska is auctioning 18 timber sales near Fairbanks next month — more than double last fall's round — and the cash-up-front rules favor established outfits.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Full-time St. Paul Island homeowners can get replacement fuel tanks
St. Paul Island homeowners can now get free replacement heating fuel tanks through a new community program, limiting eligibility to full-time residents.
by Alaska News1mo ago1 min readAI
New Canada tariffs land Aug. 19 with a narrow Alaska bite
New 50% tariffs on select Canadian goods start Aug. 19. Alaska's exposure: cement and hockey gear, not fuel and fish — but check your subheadings.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min readAI
Nominations open for Arctic shipping panel with reserved Alaska seats
Alaska Native tribes and coastal groups have until Sept. 22 to seek seats on a new federal panel shaping U.S. Arctic shipping policy as sea lanes open.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min readAI
Juneau's fifth cruise dock clears a federal hurdle
Juneau's contested fifth cruise dock cleared another hurdle: a federal permit for the pile-driving that will disturb sea lions in Gastineau Channel.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min readAI
NSF backs UAF-led critical minerals coalition with $15 million
Alaska holds 56 of the 60 minerals Washington calls essential. NSF is putting $15 million behind a UAF-led coalition to figure out how to get them.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min readAI
Draft settlement would protect ANWR leasing terms
A draft settlement would bar Washington from shrinking ANWR leasing below what Congress required, a win the state and Kaktovik's drilling backers wanted.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Mike Rowe helps mark a $250,000 gift to Seward's trade school
Mike Rowe showed up in Homer to help hand Seward's trade school a $250,000 Wells Fargo gift for scholarships and instructors.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
