Politics & Government
RSSPolitics & Government in Alaska is the activity of state and local elections, lawmaking and public administration. It covers campaigns, ballot measures, ethics and campaign finance, legislative and executive action, and municipal and borough council decisions across Alaska communities.
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Thursday, Sep 17
Anchorage delays surveillance rules as sponsors and mayor remain divided
Anchorage delayed its surveillance ordinance to Oct. 20. The crime center keeps operating under police policy while lawmakers reconcile rival rules.
by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read
Anchorage confirms drone deployment was omitted and checks for others
APD's manual drone log lost at least one deployment. Anchorage is checking for more omissions and owes the Assembly a revised report Oct. 6.
by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read
Wednesday, Sep 16
A jury convicted a former employee in a Trapper Creek killing
A Palmer jury convicted a former restaurant employee of first-degree murder in the 2023 killing of a 21-year-old server at a Trapper Creek lodge.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Cordova council votes 4-0 to negotiate hillside lot sale instead of taking bids
Cordova City Council voted 4-0 to negotiate directly with one interested buyer for a hillside lot instead of seeking sealed bids, overriding the Planning Commission's recommendation
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Cordova's code says give the dog back if the owner is standing there
Cordova's code tells an officer to hand the dog back if the owner is standing right there. The council thinks that may be a liability problem.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Chugiak fire chief to ask voters this spring for first mill rate increase since 2005
Chugiak's fire calls are up 27 percent, and the chief says it is not fires driving it. It is people without a doctor calling an ambulance instead.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Kaktovik's do-not-drink notice stays until sharper lab results arrive
Kaktovik's do-not-drink order is still in place. The North Tank starts refilling Friday, and new samples with finer detection limits are at the lab.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
State will bring free heavy equipment training to Cordova crews
Cordova's public works crews will train on heavy equipment at no cost through state-run courses held in town, filling a gap left by last year's travel budget cuts.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
More from Politics & Government
After the tow trucks left, one family could reach their own land
Fifty vehicles came off a half-mile of road in Big Lake. One family could finally drive to their own property. It took $42,000 and eleven dumpsters.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Sullivan diesel-derate bill advances Senate committee 10-9
A Senate panel advanced Sullivan's diesel-derate bill 10-9. It mandates cold-weather relief while EPA separately considers broader changes.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Alaska towns can build housing with this grant now, up to a point
Alaska communities can finally use block grant money to build housing. The most any one of them could put toward construction is about $170,000.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Two missing after boat overturns near Bethel
Two people are missing after a boat overturned near Bethel on Tuesday afternoon. Search and rescue efforts are ongoing.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Three students share the Anchorage Assembly's youth representative seat
Anchorage Assembly Chair Anna Brawley appointed three high school students to share the youth representative seat through April 2027, a nonbinding advisory role open to residents ages 16 to 19.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
ConocoPhillips' Disclosed Alaska Royalties Fell 58% in Two Years
ConocoPhillips paid $37.97 million in royalties on its federal Alaska leases last year, down 58 percent from 2023, partly on lower oil prices.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Kodiak Island Borough warns of wire transfer scam targeting zoning applicants
Scammers are posing as Kodiak zoning officials and demanding wire transfers. Nobody in history has ever been this eager to collect a permit fee.
by Alaska News1mo ago1 min read
Alaska joins the EMS compact Sunday, with several steps still required
Alaska joins the EMS compact on Sunday, but nobody can just show up and start working. The state is not in the national database yet either.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
About Politics & Government
Politics and government in Alaska takes in state and local elections, lawmaking and public administration. It covers campaigns, ballot measures, campaign finance, legislative and executive action, and decisions by municipal assemblies and borough and city councils.
Recurring questions include how campaigns are funded and who pays for outside spending and political messages, which candidates qualify for the ballot, and how state agencies write and repeal regulations. Local governments such as the Anchorage Assembly and the Ketchikan assembly weigh spending on roads, water systems and police programs.
The subject reaches across the Legislature, state agencies and municipal governments. Advisory boards and councils that take public comment on matters such as state parks and disability policy are part of it as well.
More from Politics & Government
The Senate questions Alaska's nominee for a long-empty federal judgeship
The Senate questioned Anchorage magistrate judge Kyle Reardon for Alaska's federal trial court, a seat empty since 2022.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Soldotna council candidate Conner refiles disclosure on the last day to file
Soldotna council candidate Nicholas Conner refiled his financial disclosure Tuesday, the last day of the filing period, after listing the wrong municipality on his original form.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Both Alaska senators back advancing a federal NIL bill
Murkowski and Sullivan both voted to advance a federal college athlete pay bill. Alaska has no NIL law of its own, so federal rules would apply directly.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Anchorage School Board spends $3 million on classrooms, deepening next year's deficit
Anchorage's school board voted to spend the $3 million on students this year. Next year's hole grew to $9 million and 20 fewer teaching jobs survive.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Mat-Su kept the Long Trail sign, and the $300,000 that came with it
Mat-Su took $300,000 and kept the trail sign some members worried would invite federal control. The borough's own attorney said it would not.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Tuesday, Sep 15
A Big Lake man was killed in Houston. A 72-year-old faces murder charges.
A 43-year-old Big Lake man was shot and killed in Houston on Monday night. A 72-year-old Houston man was arrested on murder and assault charges.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
The Senate blocked federal crypto rules. Alaska already wrote its own
The Senate blocked the first federal crypto rules, with both Alaska senators voting to advance them. Alaska wrote its own kiosk law in July anyway.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Anchorage teachers say losing building subs cost them prep time and safety
Anchorage teachers told the school board what losing building subs cost them. The board restored $3.7 million — without promising the subs come back.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Dillingham forum puts two open Southwest Alaska legislative seats on one stage
Two senior rural lawmakers are leaving, eight candidates want their seats, and seven are listed for a Dillingham forum.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
Kodiak may close an elementary school its building plan still invests in
Kodiak may close East Elementary in 2027. Three weeks before that was proposed, the board was handed a plan with $5.75 million of work for the building.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Your state parks gift certificate expires during a blackout you can't book in
Your Alaska State Parks gift certificate expires Sept. 30, but you can't book anything after Sept. 27. Those last three days are decorative.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Spend $3 million on students now, or save it for next year's hole
Anchorage's school board is deciding whether to spend $3 million on tutoring and staff this year or bank it against a deficit projected above $45 million.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Fairbanks woman, 68, fell from horse into Wood River and died; cause under investigation
Debra Waugaman Curnow, 68, of Fairbanks died Monday after falling from her horse while crossing the Wood River near Snow Mountain Gulch.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Appeals court orders dismissal of family's suit over Anchorage police shooting of Kristopher Handy
A federal appeals court ordered dismissal of the Handy family's lawsuit, ruling the four Anchorage police officers who killed Kristopher Handy in May 2024 are protected by qualified immunity.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
Former Ketchikan church elder pleads guilty to federal child sexual abuse material charge
A 74-year-old former Ketchikan church elder pleaded guilty to possessing over 1,000 images of child sexual abuse material and faces at least 10 years in federal prison
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
The program mapping Alaska's subsurface runs out at the end of the year
The federal program that nearly doubled Alaska's public geologic data expires this year. The bill to extend it is one of 25 in a committee with no vote set.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Senate panel will take up Native housing bill co-sponsored by both Alaska senators
The law that funds housing in Alaska Native villages is up for renewal. Overcrowding there runs about double the rate on tribal lands nationally.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Sullivan's bycatch bill reaches its first Senate committee test
Sullivan's bycatch bill gets its first committee test Wednesday. It mandates gear changes and monitoring, but doesn't ban trawling or set catch caps.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Nome cannot say whether a free shuttle van is a taxi
Nome's code does not say whether free shuttle vans count as taxis. The mayor says nobody has worked it out, and the sales tax turns on the answer.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Seventeen foreclosed Fairbanks properties sold, 25 drew no bid
Fairbanks sold 17 tax-foreclosed properties last month. One of them, assessed at $146,019, went for $12,120 — a hundred dollars over the minimum.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readFrom 
Juneau's city-owned ski area has carried EPA's most urgent water violation for six months
Juneau's city-owned Eaglecrest Ski Area has carried the EPA's most urgent drinking water violation for six months, with no record of it being resolved.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Park Service warns of ice collapse and tsunami waves at Aialik Glacier
National Park Service warns that unstable ice at Aialik Glacier terminus in Kenai Fjords can collapse without warning and trigger tsunami waves capable of causing severe injury or death.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Alaska would drop its claim to 480 acres for three Native Vietnam veterans
Alaska is giving up its claim to 480 acres near Haines so that three Alaska Native Vietnam veterans can get the allotments they applied for.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Juneau youth board reviews $3,605 in travel requests from two teen athletes
Two Juneau teenagers earned spots at competitions Outside and are asking the city for airfare. The fund they are asking from ended last year with $1,237 left.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
