Politics & Government
RSSAlaska News covers state and local politics and government, including elections, ethics investigations, legislative action, and municipal decisions.
A three-bite Fairbanks dog gets strict conditions instead of euthanasia
A Fairbanks dog with three bites gets to live — under a locked kennel, leashing, neutering, and a behaviorist plan built to keep it off the euthanasia list.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska opens child care payment rules for provider comment Wednesday
Alaska opens its child care payment rules for provider comment Wednesday, including new federal attendance record requirements that came with 2024 funding.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Troopers seek Jacob Wallace, missing from Fairbanks facility since Saturday
Alaska State Troopers are seeking Jacob Wallace, a juvenile who walked away from the Presbyterian House in Fairbanks Saturday night and has not been located.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska's new counselor license ends the unlicensed wait for graduates
Alaska counseling grads spent years working unlicensed to earn a license. A new associate license, effective Aug. 21, lets them practice under a credential.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
Federal awards to Alaska pass $14 billion this fiscal year
Alaska has drawn $14 billion in federal awards this fiscal year — about $19,000 per resident — and added roughly $270 million of it in the past week.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
A missing Wasilla man was found alive in a car in Delta Junction
A Wasilla man missing since July 21 was found alive in Delta Junction — in a car that had sat parked for nearly a day before anyone checked.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska Supreme Court: divorce splits must account for who pays the taxes
The Alaska Supreme Court upheld most of a divorce judgment but sent back one question: who pays the capital gains taxes — because that changes the real split.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
A sleep clinic said it isn't medicine. The court disagreed.
The IRS says Alaska Sleep Clinic isn't a health business. The Alaska Supreme Court says it is — and the state's answer is the one on the tax bill.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read
Wasilla man, 83, arrested after allegedly pulling handgun on EMTs
Wasilla man Frank Bird, 83, was arrested on a warrant charging four counts of third-degree assault after he pulled a handgun on two EMTs and friends who came to help him after a fall on July 18.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
Supreme Court upholds the mail-ballot rule rural Alaska relies on
The Supreme Court upheld the late-arriving-ballot rule that much of rural Alaska relies on to vote. Primary by-mail applications are due Aug. 8.
by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read
Former Anchorage Assembly member Karen Bronga killed in Sterling Highway crash
Former Anchorage Assembly member Karen Bronga passed away in a vehicular accident on July 24
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Motorcyclist killed in left-turn crash at Geist and Loftus in Fairbanks
A motorcyclist died Saturday at the intersection of Geist Road and Loftus Road in Fairbanks after colliding with a vehicle turning left.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Troopers issue Silver Alert for missing 73-year-old near Fairbanks
Alaska State Troopers issued a Silver Alert for 73-year-old Rodney Rutherford, missing since 11:30 p.m. Friday near Murphy Dome Road northwest of Fairbanks. Call 907-451-5100 with information.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
BLM says Alaska's last 3.8 million statehood acres are the hardest
Alaska has 3.8 million acres left to claim under statehood entitlement, but the BLM says the remaining selections are tangled in complex land disputes that will be harder to resolve.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
One new rural Alaska prosecutor, against deep tribal-justice cuts
The DOJ is adding one rural Alaska prosecutor while proposing to cut the budgets that fund tribal police and victim services by roughly a quarter.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read
Driver ran from Fairbanks crash scene, troopers forward charges
A driver fled a two-vehicle crash in Fairbanks on foot Friday, July 24, and troopers forwarded charges after passengers and a witness identified him.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Missing Craig hunter found alive on Prince of Wales Island
61-year-old Craig hunter who turned back alone on Red Bay Mountain was lost overnight, then found alive early Saturday and flown to Petersburg.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Kodiak weighs sounding its tsunami sirens the moment a warning hits
Kodiak may set its tsunami sirens to sound the instant a warning hits, and let dispatch trigger them on local signs before any federal alert arrives.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Sitka Assembly reconsiders hatchery lease at Gary Paxton park
Sitka's Assembly takes another swing at leasing a chunk of the Gary Paxton park to a hatchery group, plus two more parcels up for private bids.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska's senators split on Iran war powers, and Murkowski missed the vote
Murkowski has repeatedly broken with Trump to rein in the Iran war. Thursday she missed the vote, and Sullivan again voted no. The motion failed 47-49.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Fatigue blamed in a Parks Highway rollover near Cantwell
A tired Florida driver rolled her vehicle near Cantwell on Thursday, the latest in a summer of crashes and closures on the Parks Highway. Injuries were minor.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Peltola campaign launches salmon video game attacking Sullivan over trawling
Mary Peltola's campaign built a browser game where you play a salmon dodging trawler nets. Subtle it is not.
by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Troopers waited two months after the traffic stop to make the arrest
Troopers stopped a Wasilla woman in May, took her car, and let the case build. They came back with a search warrant two months later.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Removing an Assembly member takes 94 days and a supermajority
Anchorage published the map for removing an Assembly member: 94 days, a two-thirds vote, and the city pays the accused member's legal bills either way.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
North Slope Police shooting in Utqiagvik under state investigation
North Slope Borough police shot and killed a 25-year-old Utqiagvik man early Thursday. State investigators say he pointed a rifle at officers.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Woman arrested on DUI charge after driving into a North Pole business
A woman drove through the wall of a North Pole business just after noon Thursday and was arrested on a DUI charge, Alaska State Troopers said.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Five Aleutians East Borough seats are up, and filing opens Aug. 24
Want to run for office in the Aleutians East Borough? You've got 12 days — Aug. 24 to Sept. 4 — for five seats, mayor included.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Sitka opens candidate filing for municipal election
Sitka has six seats up in October and the filing window closes Aug. 7 — including a School Board seat you only need 30 days' residency for.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Anchorage Assembly weighs how hard to investigate Martinez's travel
The Anchorage Assembly must pick between a quiet look at George Martinez's travel and a subpoena-backed investigation that could end in his removal.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska's interlibrary loan service moves to Juneau, with its funding uncertain
The 800 number rural Alaska libraries have called for 20 years is moving to Juneau — and if federal grant money dries up, it may not survive the move.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
The AI money came first. The data center moratorium came Thursday.
Days after AI money turned up in his filings, Kreiss-Tomkins called for a data center moratorium — one a governor has no power to directly impose.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
A power outage closed Anchorage state offices, public assistance included
A power outage closed the Ingra Street state offices in Anchorage at 1 p.m. Thursday, public assistance included, for the rest of the day.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
A 100 mph chase ended with a Palmer driver pinned against a tree
A 100 mph chase near Palmer ended with the driver upside down in a ditch, pinned against a tree. He was already wanted on four warrants.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
The CDC director vote is waiting on Lisa Murkowski
The Senate health committee couldn't vote on the next CDC director Thursday — Lisa Murkowski was out on a family emergency, and without her the votes weren't there.
by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read
Blanche brought Alaska $180 million. He may need Murkowski's vote.
Todd Blanche handed Anchorage the biggest settlement in its history this month. Now he needs Senate votes, and Murkowski hasn't said where she stands.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Oil is beating the forecast, and it still won't cover a dividend
Oil is running $11 a barrel above what the state budgeted. Sounds like a windfall — it wouldn't cover a single $1,000 dividend.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
State plans a gravel sale on the Parks Highway near Denali
Alaska is set to sell gravel from a Parks Highway site near Denali — under a system an ombudsman faulted in 2019 and the state declined to change.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska science runs on NSF money, and the money has slowed
NSF has awarded 55% fewer grants than at this point in 2024 — a problem for a state whose Arctic research, and its new $160 million minerals engine, run on NSF money.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read
Rural birth and nursing bills clear a Senate panel
A Senate panel advanced rural nursing and obstetrics bills — the kind that matter in a state where women fly to Anchorage a month before giving birth.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
House panel advances bill to let Alaska Native artists sell work with feathers
A Tlingit artist was made to strip the feathers off his own work and hand them to federal agents. A House committee just advanced the bill named for him.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read