Economy & Business

Anchorage commission backs Eagle River rezone over two neighbors' objections

Two Eagle River neighbors are fighting a rezone that would lift 2002 building limits on a lot they say floods and moose use. The Assembly hears it Sept. 15.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago2 min read

Thursday's lane closure at mile 89 on the Richardson Highway is off Alaska 511's list

Richardson Highway Lane Closed

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

A commission wants tougher riverbank protection than the developers asked for on a proposed Chena RV park

A Fairbanks commission wants tougher riverbank rules than a proposed Chena RV park's developers, and staff, sought — over how much to guard the water.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

One rough winter tore up Hillside roads, and self-funded neighborhoods are footing the bill

One rough winter tore up a Hillside neighborhood's roads enough that its self-funded maintenance budget would nearly quintuple, and other areas want the same.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Cordova, in a rainy region, asks residents to conserve water

Cordova, in one of Alaska's rainiest regions, is running low on water after a dry stretch and low snowpack — and the coming rain won't be enough to refill it.

by Alaska News3mo ago1 min read

Alaska trains construction workers, then struggles to keep them

Just 19% of Alaska's ironworkers and 44% of electricians are still in the trade five years on, a study found — a retention gap atop a worker shortage.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Dunleavy's LNG bill would swap a graduated S corp tax topping 9.4% for a flat 2%

Dunleavy cut the disputed oil-and-gas tax to a flat 2% in a revised LNG bill, trying to revive a stalled pipeline deal. The Legislature takes it up Aug. 20.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago3 min read

Federal money can now put a homeless family in a motel room to keep a kid in school

Federal guidance now lets Alaska schools use homeless-education money for a motel room when no shelter's available — a last resort to keep a child in school.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Anchorage planning commission approves Chugach substation rebuild over neighbor's objection

Anchorage planners approved Chugach Electric's Campbell Lake substation rebuild despite a neighbor's objection to transformers 25 feet from their home.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Follows: A Chugach substation rebuild draws a neighbor's concern over transformers near a home

Merrill Field gets nearly $954,000, mostly federal, to plan its future

Merrill Field would get nearly $954,000, mostly federal, to plan how the airport grows and update its layout, under two measures the Assembly takes up Tuesday.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Seward's shipyards are tooling up as the town becomes a Coast Guard port again

Seward's shipyards got $2.3M in grants as the town becomes a Coast Guard port again, with a fast response cutter and later an Arctic icebreaker bound there.

by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago2 min read

Landslide on Canadian side closes Klondike Highway at the border

A landslide on the Canadian side closed the Klondike Highway at the U.S.-Canada border Tuesday evening, cutting Skagway's road link to the Yukon during peak summer travel season.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Petersburg hospital board weighs buying housing to address staffing gaps

Petersburg Medical Center is exploring buying or building staff housing to fill nursing and technician jobs that now rely on expensive temporary workers.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Starplex recruits Alaska State Fair seasonal staff Aug. 18 in Wasilla

Starplex is hiring seasonal staff for the Alaska State Fair at a job fair in Wasilla on Tuesday, Aug. 18, with flaggers earning $25 an hour, parking staff $16, and event staff $15.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Petersburg planning commission to vote next month on one-year data center ban

Petersburg's Planning Commission votes September 8 on a one-year data center ban while the borough drafts permanent rules.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Anchorage airport noise study weighs which measures to recommend; public comment Aug. 25

Anchorage residents under the flight paths can comment Aug. 25 as the airport noise study picks what fixes to recommend, from flight-path changes to a jet ban.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Collision closes northbound Richardson Highway at Milepost 352, detour via Badger Road

Big crash road closed

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

A Wasilla runway extension eyes nearby homeowners' land, if the money can be found

A Wasilla runway extension could put nearby homeowners' land in the city's sights — and it may not qualify for the federal money that usually pays for it.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Juneau hangar owners say the airport's own repaving flooded them, and it won't say if that's true

Juneau hangar owners say the airport's own regrading and repaving caused flooding now rotting their buildings, and it won't say if its work is to blame.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read

Erosion is forcing Alaska to move the Noatak airport two miles west

The Noatak River has eroded to within about 160 feet of the village's airport — its only lifeline — so Alaska is moving the whole airport two miles west.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Anchorage and Fairbanks airports finish swapping PFAS foam out of crash trucks

Anchorage and Fairbanks airports replaced PFAS firefighting foam in their crash trucks with fluorine-free alternatives, cutting PFAS levels up to 99.999% in the tanks.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

A UAF fix for the battery-and-generator clash in village grids

When villages add batteries to diesel plants, the two can 'fight' and destabilize the grid — a UAF researcher is testing a fix to cut rural diesel use.

by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago2 min read

The state plans to sell Granite Construction gravel near Chickaloon, without competitive bidding

The state plans to sell Granite Construction 40,000 cubic yards of gravel near Chickaloon with no competitive bidding, on a Glenn Highway stretch it's repaving.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

The FAA is rewiring Alaska's air routes from beacons to GPS

The FAA is rebuilding Alaska's air routes, trading old ground beacons for GPS — and an Oct. 29 batch of changes gives King Salmon a better-connected path.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Girdwood's new parks plan rests partly on land the town doesn't clearly have the right to use

Anchorage's commission approved Girdwood's parks plan though parts sit on land the town hasn't secured: a lot on state ground and trails crossing the airport.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

A planned Anchorage road would cut into a Hillside couple's yard — so the commission hit pause

A planned Hillside road would cut 45 feet into an Anchorage couple's yard and move their well, so the commission paused the design pending a fresh survey.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

A new gold claim would push mining into a creek the government has spent a decade repairing for fish

A two-person gold operation wants to mine farther down a Fortymile creek the BLM has spent a decade repairing for fish — a decision that's Alaska's to make, in a Wild and Scenic River corridor.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago3 min read

Parks Highway drops to one lane at Nenana's Tanana River Bridge Aug. 18

Are you driving down that specific road, look at the story… Are you not driving down that specific road, probably not about you

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

A pilot survives an upside-down plane crash in the Kenai refuge

A pilot survived a crash that flipped his plane upside down in the trees of the Kenai refuge Sunday, then texted 911 himself to say he wasn't seriously hurt.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

UAA trains rural school workers to become teachers without leaving home

A UAA apprenticeship lets rural school workers become licensed teachers without leaving home, one answer to out-migration, though results aren't yet shown.

by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago1 min read

Senate majority to regulators: reconsider the rejected gas storage project, and make BlueCrest produce

Senate majority members want a rejected gas storage project revisited and an idle Cook Inlet lease produced — amid a fight over who fixes the gas crunch.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago3 min read

Lower Barracks Street closes Wednesday morning for Sitka crosswalk painting

Lower Barracks Street closes Wednesday morning from 8 a.m. to noon for volunteers to paint crosswalk art as part of Sitka's pedestrian safety project.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Alaska Senate Majority says gasline tax break waits on Glenfarne financial numbers

Alaska's Senate majority won't lock in the gasline tax break without firm cost numbers — now on Glenfarne and Dunleavy, as estimates range from $45B to $70B.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago4 min read

Cordova faces a thin ferry winter with four vessels in overhaul

Cordova, with no road out, faces a thin ferry winter as four Alaska Marine Highway vessels go into overhaul, one of them out for most of the season.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Deadhorse airport upgrade will fill nearly 79 acres of wetlands with no mitigation

A Deadhorse Airport upgrade at the North Slope's oil-field gateway will fill nearly 79 acres of wetlands — with no mitigation planned, the state says, for lack of any local program to do it through.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Alaska lacks the skilled workers for the LNG project, a report says

A state analysis says Alaska can't train enough workers for the LNG project — even as the state that funds much of that training warned of the gap in 2018.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Anchorage's camping ordinance produces plenty of compliance — but few people taking services, and homelessness still visible

Anchorage police contacted 1,085 people under the camping ban since August 2025, but only 72 accepted services, raising questions about enforcement paired with outreach.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Alaska Senate Majority sets Anchorage press availability on stalled gas session

Alaska's fourth special session on the gas pipeline tax has gone two weeks without a vote, as a looming Cook Inlet supply cliff raises the stakes.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Anchorage pushes for an emergency boat launch on Turnagain Arm after a drowning

After a drowning where rescuers had no way to launch a boat, Anchorage is pushing for federal money to build an emergency water-access point on Turnagain Arm.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago4 min read

Juneau moves to repair Mendenhall riverbank and protect flood-hit homes

Juneau moves to repair 1,300 feet of Mendenhall riverbank to protect flood-hit homes, one of several recovery measures on the agenda after the 2024 flood.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read