Government
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Anchorage Assembly unanimously passes veteran-owned business preference ordinance
Anchorage Assembly unanimously passed a veteran-owned business preference for city contracts, letting qualifying vets match the lowest bid rather than automatically winning at higher cost.
by Walter AlaskaNews6d ago2 min readAIAnchorage
Von Imhof Launches Anchorage Mayoral Bid With 'Fix and Grow' Platform
Former state senator Natasha Von Imhof launched a campaign for Anchorage mayor against incumbent Suzanne LaFrance. The election is scheduled for April 6, 2027.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAIAnchorage, Alaska
Alaska ethics overhaul adds deadlines, whistleblower shield, and mandatory referrals
Alaska's Legislature passed HB 298, adding hard deadlines to ethics complaints and requiring the ethics committee to refer criminal activity to law enforcement.
by Walter AlaskaNews21h ago2 min readAIAlaska
Alaska's ethics committee wants out of harassment training so it can get back to ethics
Alaska's ethics committee voted to hand off harassment training, saying it's crowded out real ethics instruction. The training continues — just not under them.
by Walter AlaskaNews4d ago2 min readAIJuneau, Alaska
Anchorage approved three ice-arena contracts. The office that oversees them has one employee.
Anchorage approved three ice-arena contracts — then admitted the office overseeing them has one employee and no finalized policy. Audits had flagged the gap before.
by Walter AlaskaNews4d ago2 min readAIAnchorage, Alaska
An ethics panel found probable cause that Rep. Sarah Vance misused her office to pressure a newspaper
An ethics panel found probable cause Rep. Sarah Vance used state resources to pressure the Homer News, which then pulled the article and dropped the reporter's byline.
by Walter AlaskaNews4d ago2 min readAIHomer, Alaska
Cordova City Hall closes July 3; trash pickup shifts to July 6
The City of Cordova will close City Hall and the Refuse Transfer Station on Friday, July 3, for Independence Day. Residents with Friday trash pickup should set out their bins Monday, July 6 instead.
by Walter AlaskaNews1d ago1 min readAICordova, Alaska
Anchorage Assembly members call on Martinez to resign after APOC ruling
Two Anchorage Assembly members called on George Martinez to resign after an APOC ruling found he willfully used campaign funds for personal benefit and lied under oath.
by Walter AlaskaNews6d ago3 min readAIAnchorage
North Slope Assembly approves $62.5M water-sewer contract with UIC Municipal Services
NSB approved a five-year, $62.5 million contract Tuesday with UIC Municipal Services to operate water and sewer systems in seven villages til 2032
by Alaska News3w ago1 min readAIUtqiaġvik, North Slope Borough, Alaska
Alaska's new ethics law puts legal teeth behind gift-travel rules
Alaska's rewritten ethics law took effect June 24 without Dunleavy's signature. Its big change: gift-funded travel now needs a documented purpose, or you repay it.
by Walter AlaskaNews4d ago2 min readAIJuneau, Alaska
A refusal to explain a gift-funded trip exposed a hole in Alaska's ethics rules
A legislator and a staffer took a gift-funded Arctic Winter Games trip, then wouldn't explain why — exposing that the ethics committee had no power to make them.
by Walter AlaskaNews4d ago2 min readAIJuneau, Alaska
What the Senate Changed in the Gas-Line Deal
The Senate's gas-line rewrite caps your gas price, leashes the state's pipeline agency, and lets the boroughs pocket most of the tax money for decades before the state takes its cut.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago3 min readAIAlaska
Alaska Earth Sciences ask DNR for fuel cache permit in western Alaska Range
Alaska Earth Sciences seeks a permit to place 11 fuel caches in the western Alaska Range this summer, storing up to 55 gallons of jet fuel at each site. Public comments are due June 3 to DNR.
by Alaska News3w ago1 min readAIAlaska Range1
Alaska's candidate withdrawal deadline is June 27. After Saturday, the August 18 primary ballot is largely set
Alaska's crowded 2026 governor race faces a June 27 withdrawal deadline. With 18 tickets filed and only four primary slots available, a divided Republican field could cost the right general-election slots even if conservative voters remain numerous.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAIAlaska
Alaska Charges 15 in $1.8 Million Medicaid Fraud Sweep
Alaska has charged 15 people in five Medicaid fraud cases totaling $1.8 million — though every count is, for now, an allegation no court has tested.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAIAlaska
Juneau clerk certifies 1% seasonal sales tax petition, Assembly has 45 days to act
Juneau citizens got a 1% seasonal sales tax to the brink of the ballot. The Assembly has 45 days to pass it or let voters do it.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAIJuneau, Alaska
Dunleavy called a second special session over the unresolved LNG tax bill
Long Friday in Juneau: LNG tax bill stuck, second special session called, two vetoes overridden, three failed. Round three starts Saturday.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago3 min readAIAlaska
Fairbanks subcommittee drafts new Chena River plan with freeze, salmon, and flood goals
Fairbanks subcommittee drafted chapters on restoring winter ice to the Chena River, managing flood risk, and protecting cultural history as part of an updated riverfront plan.
by Walter AlaskaNews2d ago2 min readAIFairbanks, Alaska
North Slope Borough Assembly approves $6.6 million in grant appropriations
Grants included $2m for Wildlife programs, nearly $1m for home leveling in Nuiqsut, etc.
by Alaska News3w ago1 min readAIUtqiaġvik, North Slope Borough, Alaska
The Alaska State Museum throws a free 10th-birthday party
The building that holds Alaska's museum, library, and archives turns 10 — and Juneau's invited to the free birthday party Saturday, planetarium and cake included.
by Walter AlaskaNews5d ago1 min readAIJuneau, Alaska
Gas Line Developer Warns Tax Hike Would Delay Project, Jeopardize 2029 Deadline
Glenfarn Alaska LNG told House Finance that the 15-cent volumetric tax in the Resources Committee version would delay the project's final investment decision and threaten the 2029 completion timeline, calling the rate economically unworkable.
by Alaska News1mo ago4 min readAIAlaska
A New El Green-Go's Is Coming to East Anchorage
East Anchorage is getting another El Green-Go's — the liquor license has cleared every hurdle, and only a quiet July 21 deadline stands in the way.
by Walter AlaskaNews5d ago2 min readAIAnchorage
Alaska Legislature Passes Bill Recognizing Gold, Silver as Legal Tender
The Alaska Legislature has passed HB 1, which recognizes gold and silver as legal tender and exempts precious metal transactions from local sales taxes, with the bill now awaiting Governor Dunleavy's signature.
by Alaska News1mo ago2 min readAIJuneau
Anchorage proposes second round of child care licensing code changes
Anchorage Assembly votes May 26 on second round of child care licensing cuts to remove rules that duplicate state standards. Changes include dropping annual physicals for children, eliminating nutrition rules already covered by state and USDA, and allowing more online training. City oversees 92 licensed homes and 98 centers with no new revenue impact expected.
by Cale Green1mo ago2 min readAIAnchorage
Anchorage's hockey community moves to take over its own arenas for $10 a year
Anchorage hockey is buying back its own rinks for $10 a year — and inheriting the maintenance bill that comes with them.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAIAnchorage
Anchorage mayor introduces two property tax incentive proposals to spur housing
Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance introduced two property tax breaks Tuesday to spur housing development in the city.
by Walter AlaskaNews6d ago2 min readAIAnchorage
Dunleavy was at Trump's signing reopening 500,000 square miles of Western Pacific to commercial fishing
The Alaska angle is about Antiquities Act precedent, not fishing grounds
by Cale Green2w ago2 min readAIAlaska
Departing Kodiak assemblyman warns: prepare for the Coast Guard boom
Kodiak Assemblyman Dave Johnson resigned with a warning to prepare for incoming Coast Guard icebreakers and fix housing. The Assembly will appoint his replacement July 16.
by Walter AlaskaNews4d ago2 min readAIKodiak Island, Alaska
AIDEA board approves $11 million dividend to state general fund
AIDEA board approved an $11 million dividend to the state general fund for fiscal year 2025, down $6 million from the prior year as the authority declared 42 percent of statutory net income instead of the maximum 50 percent.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAIAnchorage, Alaska
Anchorage veteran preference could exclude recent Afghanistan, Iraq vets
Anchorage Assembly is split on a veteran business preference for city contracts, with disagreement over whether to limit it to veterans discharged in the past five years and whether to require honorable discharge status.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAIAnchorage
Kenai River king salmon fishery closed through mid-August 2026
Kenai River king salmon fishing closed May 1 through August 15, 2026 under emergency order. Third consecutive year of full closure due to conservation concerns. Other species fishing allowed with single-hook lures only. Nearby Kasilof River open to limited hatchery king salmon fishing.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAINorthern Kenai Peninsula
A typo froze Sutton's wild rec area for eight years. Not anymore.
An eight-year-old wording error blocked any rules for Jonesville, Sutton's anything-goes rec area — born of a fatal shooting and bullets hitting homes. Alaska just fixed it.
by Walter AlaskaNews5d ago2 min readAISutton, Alaska
Anchorage transfers Heritage Land Bank parcel for natural burial cemetery
After land transfer from HLB, people are dying to get in there.
by Cale Green2w ago2 min readAIAnchorage
Alaska banned billboards. Every election, candidates test whether the law means them too.
Sign, sign, everywhere, a sign. Blockin' out the scenery. Breakin' my mind
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAIAlaska
Anchorage Assembly takes up wipes ban in city sewers June 23
Anchorage Assembly takes a first reading June 23 on an ordinance banning all disposable wipes from city sewers, with fines up to $1,000 per violation.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago2 min readAIAnchorage, Alaska
Anchorage Assembly postpones public safety commission to July
Assembly kicks can down the road on Public Safety Commission vote
by Cale Green2w ago2 min readAIAnchorage
A new landfill permit for Russian Mission is one piece of a much bigger Y-K Delta solid waste story
Russian Mission's getting a new landfill. The Y-K Delta solid waste story is much bigger than one permit.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAIRussian Mission, Alaska
Anchorage Assembly recognizes Gun Violence Awareness Day after contentious debate over statistics
Anchorage Assembly voted 9-3 to recognize June 5-7 as Gun Violence Awareness Weekend, rejecting an attempt to remove language about gun deaths and economic costs from the resolution.
by Cale Greenadded 1mo ago1 min readAIAnchorage
Anchorage Assembly considers removing duplicative child care licensing rules
Anchorage is moving to repeal four child care licensing rules and amend three more, arguing they duplicate state standards or have not worked, in hopes of easing a chronic shortage of child care centers.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAIAnchorage, Alaska
Alaska Passes Age of Consent Bill After Weeks-Long Senate Delay
Alaska raised age of consent from 16 to 18 after Senate delay sparked public outcry. • Omnibus crime bill also criminalizes AI-generated child abuse images and requires sex offender registration. • New rules make sexual assault by healthcare workers a standalone crime and expand parole board. • Lawmakers worried about compressed timeline but voted yes anyway.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min readAIJuneau, Alaska
