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, Jul 16
Democrats challenge Sonderling on overtime rollbacks, education transfers at HELP hearing
Senate Democrats challenged Keith Sonderling's nomination as Labor secretary over his rollback of overtime protections for millions of workers and his transfer of education programs to his department.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
BLM opens comment window on Alaska Native Vietnam-era veterans land allotment data collection
BLM is taking public comment by August 17 on renewing approval to process Alaska Native Vietnam-era veterans' land allotment claims affecting over 1,000 eligible veterans and heirs.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Peltola campaign opens grant program for Alaska artists
Mary Peltola's Senate campaign is offering grants to Alaska artists for new work, with applications due August 7 and selected pieces shown in an October 9 auction.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Conference draft keeps oil-and-gas pass-through tax, delays it to 2029
A House-Senate conference committee draft of HB 381 keeps a proposed income tax on oil-and-gas pass-through entities but delays collections to 2029.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago4 min read
DNR proposes mandatory back-fees for unauthorized use of state land
DNR is making back-fees mandatory for unauthorized installations on state land, eliminating discretion to waive them and creating potential costs for utilities and pipeline operators.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Anchorage's Assembly weighs censure — or removal — of George Martinez
The Anchorage Assembly votes Tuesday on two paths for George Martinez after a state ethics order — censure and close it, or launch removal proceedings. It's never done either in 50 years.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Wednesday, Jul 15
Alaska senators cast deciding votes to advance trade court nominee, 49-48
Alaska senators advanced a Trump trade-court nominee whose rulings could affect seafood exporters and the $90 million CDQ program supporting fishing communities.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
A Washington pharmacy fight could hit Alaska's military families hardest
Alaska is full of military families on TRICARE — and a D.C. fight over its pharmacy contract could hit here hardest, where losing a local pharmacy means a plane ride or unreliable mail-order meds.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
More from Politics & Government
Fairbanks man wanted on kidnapping, assault charges caught after foot chase
Alaska State Troopers caught Fairbanks man Kyle Curtin after a monthlong search and foot chase Wednesday, ending a manhunt for kidnapping and sexual assault charges.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
He overturned his termination but still lost his daughter
An Alaska dad proved the state wrongly terminated his rights — but still lost his daughter for good, because he missed a one-year deadline to challenge her adoption.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Akiachak man faces 7 felony charges in Bethel sexual abuse case
Alaska State Troopers arrested Akiachak man Lewis Lomack, 47, on seven felony charges tied to sexual abuse of a minor, and believe more victims exist. He is presumed innocent.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Bethel's lifeline dock is shifting — and its port commission can't get quorum
The dock that supplies the roadless Y-K Delta with fuel and freight is shifting and eroding — and its oversight commission hasn't reached quorum in 11 straight months.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Kodiak Island Borough opens candidate filing for October 6 election
Ever wanted to run for Office now is your chance, sport. Step on. up to the plate! Why even you could be a politician here in the fine town of Kodiak! Ever dreamed of having your name and lights?!
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Two teenagers die in head-on dirt bike collision on Prince of Wales Island
Two teenagers, Greyer Schwegel, 18, and Paul Lingley IV, 17, died in a head-on dirt bike collision on the Hollis Highway on Prince of Wales Island Tuesday evening.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Denali proposes a daily vehicle cap on its previously restricted road
Denali wants to swap its seasonal vehicle cap for a daily one — 160 a day on the restricted road. Comment by Friday if you've got thoughts.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
U.S. Senate stalls defense bill, freezing $2.6B for Alaska
The Senate blocked its defense bill — and $2.6B in Alaska military work with it — over the Iran war and Pentagon spending. Both AK senators voted yes.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 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
Begich votes to prohibit separate credit-card codes for gun stores
Begich helped pass a bill barring card networks from tagging gun-store purchases with a firearms-only code. In gun-heavy Alaska, that's a lot of receipts.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
EPA moves to stop Alaska's cold from shutting down diesel engines
Alaska cold can freeze a diesel's emissions fluid and cut its power mid-job. EPA wants to stop the shutdowns before someone's stranded at 40 below.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Anchorage has become Russian shorthand for a disputed Ukraine understanding
Russia keeps calling the 2025 Anchorage summit the birthplace of a Ukraine peace deal. The U.S. says it produced a proposal, not an agreement.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Permanent daylight time would push Anchorage's winter sunrise past 11 a.m.
If daylight saving goes permanent, Anchorage's winter sunrise slides to 11:14 a.m. and Fairbanks nearly to noon. Darker mornings, later afternoons — pick your clock.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Tuesday, Jul 14
Anchorage weighs $528,000 for addiction, homelessness, and disability care
Anchorage is set to accept ~$528,000 in grants for opioid treatment, homeless outreach, and disability services — the last one patching three years of state funding cuts.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Kodiak weighs selling four parcels, including its ballfields
Kodiak's Lands Committee will consider selling four borough parcels July 20, including Killarney Hills, a 16-acre site with two shared baseball fields that faces wetland and sewer obstacles.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
The federal unit handling Alaska's MMIP cases can't return a family's calls
The federal unit handling Alaska's missing and murdered Indigenous cases hasn't returned one family's calls in 10 months, a Crow Nation professor told Congress.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Wasilla's mayor is termed out, and the first candidate to replace her just filed
Wasilla's mayor is term-limited, so the seat's open this fall — and Stu Graham is first to signal a run, filing before the July 20–31 window even opens.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
A fall at a remote Alaska lighthouse turned an injury into a helicopter rescue
A tourist badly hurt her hip at the historic Sentinel Island lighthouse near Juneau and got a helicopter flight out. Kinda a two birds with one stone thing
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Four Kodiak residents vie for an open Assembly seat
Four Kodiak residents are up for an open Assembly seat, and the Assembly picks one Thursday night — winner sworn in on the spot, serving until October's election.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
As federal wetland protections recede, Anchorage rewrites its own rules
After the Supreme Court pulled federal protection off more than half the nation's wetlands, their fate now falls to states and cities — and no state has more wetlands than Alaska.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Manokotak man arrested on murder charge after fishing-site death
A Manokotak man died after being struck in the head with an anchor during a fishing-site altercation on June 26. Another Manokotak man faces murder and manslaughter charges.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago1 min read
Juneau's new casino, and the land the city can't reach
Juneau's first casino opened on sovereign Native allotment land, through a legal door ANCSA was built to close and the courts haven't settled. The city can't even regulate it.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
The $100 million question inside Alaska's gas-line bill
Should Hilcorp pay the oil tax ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips already do? It's worth $100M-plus a year — but critics warn taxing Cook Inlet's gas supplier could backfire.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
A fire no one is fighting has been fouling Fairbanks' air for weeks
Alaska's letting the Tatlanika Fire burn on purpose — too remote to be worth fighting — but its smoke has been parked over Fairbanks and Nenana for weeks anyway.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
NRA backs Sullivan after endorsing Peltola two years ago
Sullivan's touting his A+ NRA endorsement as proof Peltola's soft on guns — awkward, since the NRA endorsed Peltola herself two years ago.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Anchorage funded a program to fix 20 homes. It fixed one — and no one was penalized.
An Anchorage audit found a program paid to fix 20 homes fixed one, a shelter thousands of bed-nights short — and in three years the city never once made anyone pay for it.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
TCC and Interior Native Vote host candidate mixers in Fairbanks before August primary
Big ballot, tiny primary turnout, and free food — Tanana Chiefs Conference are putting Interior voters face-to-face with the candidates. Just register by Sunday first.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Frier vs. Chase: a rematch for Alaska's northernmost House seat
Alaska's biggest, coldest House district is a 2024 rematch: Rep. Robyn Frier vs. Kotzebue Mayor Saima Chase, both running hard on public safety.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Anchorage keeps deferring a public safety commission it can't agree on
Anchorage's proposed public safety commission got punted again — stuck on whether it should actually have power, what it would cost, and what problem it's even solving.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Northern Alaska's staffed wildfires wind down, but crews brace for more
Rain did what the crews couldn't and mopped up northern Alaska's last staffed fires — though with 2,000 lightning strikes a day, nobody's putting the shovels away.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Alaska runs on federal money, and a proposed rule change has people worried
Alaska leans on federal money for basics — water plants, shelters, emergency response — and nonprofits, cities, and Tribes warn a proposed federal rule change could make that funding less reliable.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Sullivan backs a contested Trump border judge; Murkowski doesn't vote
Sullivan voted to confirm a Trump judge for a Texas border court — one who wouldn't say under oath that Biden won 2020. Murkowski didn't vote, and hasn't said why.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
A Brooks Range hunting guide wants a permanent camp in the wild
A guide who flies hunters into the Brooks Range by Super Cub wants to trade his move-every-two-weeks tent camp for a permanent cabin in some of Alaska's most remote country.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
