Economy & Business
RSSAlaska News covers state economic issues including cannabis banking, state dividends, and business development opportunities.
Wasilla weighs a plan to nearly double its airport runway
Wasilla wants to nearly double its airport runway in a $279 million, 20-year plan — a bid to serve bigger planes as the Mat-Su Valley keeps growing.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago3 min readAI
Aleut Ventures opens Frosty Fuels crew and fueling facility at Cold Bay Airport
Aleut Ventures opened a crew facility at Cold Bay Airport this September, adding lodging and ground support as part of a $1.25 million investment in North Pacific aviation infrastructure.
by Bill AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
No license covers driving a concrete mixer, so this Alaska company teaches it
No license covers driving a concrete mixer, so a North Pole company supplying Fairbanks concrete since the 1950s teaches the whole craft in-house.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 1w ago2 min readAI
Kodiak's manager wants to sell lakeside land. Its planners say keep it.
Kodiak's borough manager applied to sell land near Beaver Lake. The borough's own planning staff recommend keeping it, calling the ground too wet to build.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
Cordova weighs an $870,000 electrified bear fence for its landfill
Cordova is spending as much as $870,000 to keep bears out of its landfill. A resident says the cattle guards in the design are made for cows.
by Bill AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
Ketchikan borough seeks proposals for Herring Cove neighborhood plan
Ketchikan borough voted to hire a planning firm for Herring Cove, where 55,000 to 60,000 annual visitors overwhelm a site with no sidewalks, restrooms, or bear-proof trash bins.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago2 min readAI
Homer transfers its ice house lease to Silver Bay Seafoods
The Homer City Council approved transferring the Fish Dock Road ice house lease from OBI Seafoods to Silver Bay Seafoods, catching up to an existing change.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago1 min readAI
Anchorage weighs paving and expanding the Basher Trailhead lot
Anchorage would pave and expand the 16-car Basher Trailhead lot to 52 spaces. Staff back it but warn it could draw more cars if parking isn't priced.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
Juneau board to hear flood update as barrier upkeep costs climb
Juneau's Utility Advisory Board gets an update Thursday on last month's glacial flood, which damaged 12 homes, as barrier upkeep costs climb.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
Matanuska Electric posts its list of $451,000 in unclaimed capital credits
Matanuska Electric says more than $451,000 in capital credits sit unclaimed by current and former members, with one owed roughly $15,000.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago2 min readAI
An Anchorage housing ordinance does more than its title says
Anchorage's shop-house ordinance would also shrink the minimum commercial lot to about 2,700 square feet. The city says it outgrew its own title.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
Alyeska wants the pipeline on state land until 2064
Alyeska asked the state to renew the pipeline lease through 2064, eight years early. Its own letter argues the commissioner is required to approve it.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
AT&T's parking lot at the Anchorage port could stay until 2041
AT&T's parking and storage yard at the Anchorage port could stay through 2041, though rent has only been set for the first five of those 15 years.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
Juneau harbor board weighs charter passenger fee of $7.50, up from $2.05
Juneau's port director wants to raise the charter passenger fee at Statter Harbor to $7.50 per person, up from $2.05, to help fund harbor expansion.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
Kodiak is replacing hospital power switches nobody makes parts for anymore
Kodiak is replacing four 27-year-old power switches at the hospital that no longer have available parts, spending $151,155 on design work before construction begins.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
A $2 fix could cut $49,944 a year off Bethel's fitness center energy bill
Two dollars. That is what Bethel would have to spend to cut nearly $50,000 a year off the fitness center energy bill, according to an audit.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
The roof went on wrong at Bethel's gym expansion and has to come off
The roof and walls went on wrong at Bethel's gym expansion. They come back off at no cost to the city, and nobody has set a new completion date.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
Massachusetts firm seeks study permit for a 66-pod undersea data center in Cook Inlet
A Delaware company formed in January wants to put 66 data center pods and 350 tidal turbines on the floor of Cook Inlet. Comment closes Nov. 2.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
Anchorage Assembly ordinance restores parking permit rule its planning commission voted 8-0 to cut
Anchorage's planning commission voted unanimously to drop a parking lot restriction. The Assembly sponsors put it back in and will take it up Oct. 20.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
Kenai beautification panel floats $700,000 tennis and pickleball court rebuild
Rebuilding Kenai High's tennis courts into two tennis and four pickleball courts would run about $700,000, the parks director told a commission.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
Anchorage company wins patent for adjustable pipeline support
Two Anchorage inventors have patented a pipeline support you can raise or lower with a hand crank — a simple fix for supports that shift as permafrost thaws.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
State proposes 55-year Adak Airport lease, competing bids due Oct. 8
Alaska wants to lease airport land at Adak, a remote island now drawing military and space interest, for 55 years — one of the longest terms it allows.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
Anchorage could shrink its minimum lot size by two-thirds under a pending ordinance
Anchorage could cut its minimum single-family lot to a third of current size and let buildings cover 70 percent of it. The hearing is Sept. 15.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
Wells Fargo keeps shrinking in Alaska, where it's the only bank in six towns
Wells Fargo keeps closing Alaska branches — nine since 2019, the latest in Anchorage. In six Alaska towns it's the only bank, and could leave them with none.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago2 min readAI
Missing an unemployment filing could cost Alaska employers five times as much
Alaska employers behind on unemployment insurance paperwork could pay $2,927 per worker next year instead of $542. Third quarter reports are due Oct. 31.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
Unalaska wants $5 million to pave the road serving America's busiest fishing port
The country's largest fishing port by poundage is served by a gravel road. Paving it is now Unalaska's top request of Congress, at $5 million.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago2 min readAI
Unalaska makes its failing airport terminal a top funding priority
Unalaska made a failing airport terminal its top request for state money next year, moving it from last on the list to first.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago1 min readAI
Mat-Su moves to lease Port MacKenzie land to an antimony company
Mat-Su is moving to lease 42.78 acres of port land to an antimony company. The commission that recommended it published no minutes or vote count.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago3 min readAI
An Ahtna-owned company will demolish buildings at a West Virginia park
An Anchorage company owned by the Ahtna regional corporation will demolish abandoned buildings at New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia.
by Melinda Communities.News1w ago1 min readAI
Anchorage wants city land sales weighed by housing, not price alone
Anchorage land sales now come with a written case for the housing they produce. The guidance is nonbinding, but it changes what the Assembly weighs.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago1 min readAI
Wasilla's legislative ask leads with $10 million aviation training center at city airport
Wasilla asks state and federal lawmakers for $10 million to build an aviation training center at the city airport, leading a capital priorities list the Planning Commission reviews Tuesday.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
Anchorage clears a substation plat on quake-prone Port ground
Anchorage approved a plat for a new Chugach Electric substation at the Port on ground its own maps rate as highly likely to fail in an earthquake.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
The pipeline right-of-way comment window got another week
The public has until Sept. 17 to comment on whether the trans-Alaska pipeline keeps its federal right-of-way for 30 more years, after the Bureau of Land Management extended the deadline by a week.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago1 min readAI
Antimony plant equipment lands at Port MacKenzie before its air permit clears
Nearly 500 tons of gear has landed at Port MacKenzie for a plant to produce antimony, a defense mineral the U.S. lacks — but its air permit isn't approved.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago3 min readAI
An Anchorage company will run the ATF's supply operation
An Anchorage company won $5.3 million to run the ATF's supply operation. Its federal small-business certification expires six weeks into the contract.
by Alaska News1w ago1 min readAI
A Cordova tribe's company will rebuild the Labor Department Great Hall
A tribe based in Cordova, a town you can reach only by boat or plane, will rebuild the Great Hall at the U.S. Department of Labor headquarters.
by Melinda Communities.News1w ago2 min readAI
Sitka's search for housing land narrows to two small parcels
Sitka's search for city land to build housing on has narrowed to two small parcels — the sites with the most room to build are the hardest to develop.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago3 min readAI
Chugach Solutions gets $43,689 in FBI building maintenance orders
Chugach Solutions picked up $43,689 in no-bid orders to install fall protection and replace a generator breaker at the FBI's Washington office.
by Melinda Communities.News2w ago1 min readAI
Kodiak's hospital runs on power switches nobody makes parts for anymore
The power switches at Kodiak's hospital are 27 years old and out of production. Crews scavenge parts from other sites. The borough is now replacing them.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min readAI
The White House wanted the Denali Commission closed, and it grew instead
The White House proposed closing the Denali Commission. Congress funded it, and the agency ended up administering money many times its own budget.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago3 min readAI
