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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Saturday, Jun 27
One Anchorage restaurant keeps getting caught serving with expired cards
Alaska cited six bars and restaurants for servers pouring with expired training cards — one Anchorage spot for the fifth time in four years, now risking its liquor license.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Rain offers Interior Alaska's fire crews a needed break
Rain and cooler air are headed for Interior Alaska this weekend — a real break for fire crews who've spent weeks protecting cabins, fish camps, and allotments.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Jade Fire reaches 40% containment near Ambler; Whakatna Fire controlled
Jade Fire near Ambler is 40% contained with unburned ground between the fire and the community landfill, while 22 smokejumpers freed from two controlled fires are now fighting new ignitions near Ruby.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Claman's exit narrows the Democratic field in Alaska's wide-open governor race
Alaska's 17-candidate governor scrum got a deadline to shrink. It shrank by one Democrat — while a dozen Republicans eyed each other and nobody blinked.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
McGuire campaign says Sara Rasmussen will replace Elizabeth Rexford as lieutenant governor running mate
Alaska's deadline could have thinned its 17-way governor race. It barely did: the GOP field stayed packed, and the headline move was just a McGuire running-mate swap.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
A new cruise terminal could rise in a humpback whale feeding ground near Juneau
The feds want comment on a Douglas Island cruise terminal whose two years of pile driving could "harass" 10 marine mammal species in a humpback feeding ground.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Smokejumpers battle two wildfires near Ruby as smoke reaches village
Smokejumpers and aircraft are battling two wildfires near Ruby that together cover 660 acres and are currently pushing away from the village and nearby Native allotments.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Alaska opens 10 wildfire investigations in 24 hours
Alaska opened 10 wildfire investigations in 24 hours across the state, from the Kuskokwim to the Brooks Range, all under an acre and still under investigation.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
More from Politics & Government
A Ketchikan stabbing, and the jail violence the public rarely sees
A man at the Ketchikan jail is charged with stabbing another inmate with pencils — a rare public glimpse of the kind of violence that is common behind bars and rarely reported.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Willow man, 85, missing since June 20; troopers seek tips
Alaska State Troopers seek tips on 85-year-old Willow resident missing since June 20; call (907) 352-5401 with information.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago1 min read
Starry Fire hits 70% containment; wetting rain expected Friday night
Starry Fire near Anderson hit 70% containment Friday as rain moves in, dropping evacuation status from GO to READY.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
A small fire near the Taylor Highway, and how Alaska fights it
A lightning-sparked fire is burning just off the Taylor Highway near Chicken — small, but close enough to defend a bridge and cabins while the rest is left to burn.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago1 min read
Two Delta Junction wildfires in monitor status; two near full containment
Over here, you got two fires. Over here you got two fires. That's four fires. What are you gonna do with four fires? Maybe just stick to two fires.
by Alaska News4mo ago1 min read
Nome man indicted on 47 counts of sexual abuse spanning 16 years
A Bethel grand jury indicted a former Nome foster parent on 47 counts of sexual abuse. State troopers believe more victims exist.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Trooper stop near Glennallen nets fentanyl charge, felon-with-firearm arrest
Bad boys, bad boys. what you gonna do?
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago1 min read
Friday, Jun 26
A judge says Alaska can't keep the second Dan Sullivan off the Senate ballot
A judge put the second Dan Sullivan on the GOP Senate primary ballot, beside the senator he's named like. The state had no "good-faith" rule to keep him off.
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
Alaska's gas-pipeline bill now carries a tax on Hilcorp and others
A permanent tax on pass-through oil companies like Hilcorp is riding inside Alaska's gas-pipeline bill — and it kicks in by 2028 whether the pipeline gets built or not.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
Alaska's gas-line tax bill stalls in committee
Lawmakers writing Alaska's gas-line tax deal voted down both versions of the bill — now they need special authority to build a compromise from the pieces.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Juneau fills its airport, harbor and ski-area boards
Juneau, the only U.S. capital you can't drive to, just appointed 11 unpaid volunteers to oversee its airport, harbors and ski hill — all without a single objection.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Kasilof man leads troopers on 4-wheeler chase, caught with 2017 felony warrants
Bryan Gheen, 50, of Kasilof fled a traffic stop on a four-wheeler Friday night and was arrested near Soldotna with felony warrants dating to 2017.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago1 min read
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Kenai's quiet stake in the gas-line bill
Only Kenai Borough's school-funding bill changes under the gas-line tax legislation — but the state's own modeling says the increase might sunset before it ever lands.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Jade Fire ignites near Kopshesut origin point, threatens Ambler landfill
You bought one fire was bad? How about two fires!
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Dunleavy vetoes nearly $90 million but leaves school funding intact
Gov. Dunleavy vetoed nearly $90 million from Alaska's budget, cutting increases for child care, Medicaid and local aid while leaving core school funding intact.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Anchorage's library puts Hoopla on a budget with new borrowing limits
Anchorage's library has put Hoopla on a budget: borrowing's been cut in half, and on busy days the app simply runs out of money and closes until morning.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
The number that quietly sets the state budget: a barrel of oil
Alaska's budget is a bet on oil — and the state's own forecast is banking on crude leaping to $91 a barrel by summer, so "coming out ahead" rides on a guess, not a high price.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Sullivan and Peltola, fighting over the same salmon
Sullivan introduced a bycatch bill he calls the most sweeping ever; Peltola, who's owned the salmon issue for years, counters with a tougher plan. The science is contested.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
New fire near Bettles strains crews
Twelve smokejumpers dropped on a new fire near Bettles — one more blaze stretching Interior crews thin as lightning keeps the dry north lighting up.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Thursday, Jun 25
Tom Begich goes after Dunleavy over vocational-training vetoes
Begich is hammering Dunleavy for vetoing job-training money while the state promises a pipeline built by Alaskans — a rare direct shot at the governor from the campaign trail.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Kodiak seiners back Kreiss-Tomkins for governor
A Kodiak seiners' group endorsed Kreiss-Tomkins for governor on a fisheries platform — though "restore balance to the Board of Fish" means very different things to different fishermen.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Anderson's mandatory evacuation is lifted, but the Starry Fire isn't out
Anderson's mandatory evacuation is lifted as the Starry Fire hits 60% containment. It's not out — crews are still mopping up, and the town is told to stay ready.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Tlingit & Haida Unveils Revitalized Veterans Totem Pole in Juneau
The Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes held a ceremony to unveil a revitalized veterans totem pole at Southeast Alaska
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Beluga Fire triggers nightly FAA flight restriction near Anchorage
FAA restricted airspace over the Beluga Fire northwest of Anchorage nightly through June 28 to protect firefighting aircraft from the surface to 2,000 feet.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
