Alaska News Daily Brief, Sunday, November 8

Alaska News for Sunday, November eighth. Yesterday afternoon the highest point on the Dalton Highway was still open. By evening the gates were shut. It's a quieter Sunday, but not everything held still overnight.

0:14Anchorage Assembly chair proposes conditional protest of Midtown hotel's liquor license

Anchorage Assembly Chair Anna Brawley wants to put conditions on a new liquor license for a Midtown hotel, rather than block it outright. It's the Courtyard by Marriott on A Street. That's the 141-room building that burned during construction in twenty nineteen and has sat empty ever since. The license would cover a restaurant and the hotel itself. The hotel says its dining room would serve registered guests and the people they invite. It doesn't plan to stock alcohol in the rooms. Under Brawley's proposal, the city's objection would stand until the hotel meets certain city requirements. The notice doesn't say which ones are still outstanding. But the Assembly has done this before. In other conditional protests this year, the city objected over unpaid taxes or missing fire and health certificates. Last month, the Crazy Horse and Eagle River Alehouse both drew protests over fire and tax issues. In those cases, the city clerk could lift the protest once the business fixed the problem. The hotel's zoning permit to serve alcohol went before the Assembly in August. Mayor Suzanne LaFrance's administration recommended approving it. The city mailed out 121 notices about that permit and got no comments back. Public testimony on the license is November 17th at 6 p.m. at the Loussac Library. You can just show up to speak. Written and phone testimony are due by 5 p.m. the day before. Those go through the Assembly's online form.

1:42University of Alaska says 29 federal grants worth $86.2 million have been restored

At the University of Alaska, officials say 29 federal grants worth a combined eighty-six point two million dollars have been restored. That figure is from a one-page slide prepared for the Board of Regents meeting on November 5th. The slide says the university system no longer has any frozen or delayed federal grants. But the same slide reports 32 federal grants have been terminated since twenty twenty-five. Those had sixteen point seven million dollars left unspent. Subtracting one number from the other won't give you a net gain or loss. The restored grants are counted by their full value. The terminated ones are counted only by what was left in them. The slide also doesn't say whether the restored grants are some of the terminated ones or a separate group. It doesn't name the grants, the federal agencies, or the campuses affected. It does give credit to one person. The slide calls U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan the university's lead champion. It says Sullivan is responsible for the vast majority of the university's success restoring grants. The university has been through a federal freeze before. In early 2025, a White House budget office memo paused federal grants and contracts through mid-February. Court rulings halted that freeze. The university said then that its federally funded programs could keep going without disruption.

3:18State closes Dalton Highway over Atigun Pass due to high avalanche activity

Up on the Dalton Highway, Atigun Pass is closed because of avalanche danger. The state transportation department shut the gates at mile 239 and mile 250 at 5 o'clock Saturday evening. Atigun is the high point of the Dalton. Crews reported high winds up there, with blowing and drifting snow and low visibility. The pass saw a 37 mile an hour gust Saturday afternoon. The weather service had forecast 1 to 2 inches of snow on the Dalton summits through this afternoon. The road was set to stay closed overnight. Crews planned to check conditions this morning and reopen when it's safe. There's no reopening time yet. Transportation Commissioner Ryan Anderson told a U.S. Senate committee in March that Atigun closures can last about 48 hours while crews size up the hazard. This is the stretch where the state uses trained crews and military artillery to bring slides down on purpose. Crews did that work there on October 23rd, and another alert went out on October 31st. The state's own Dalton Highway page warns that avalanches at Atigun Pass can strand travelers for days. Alaska 511, the state's road conditions service, has current conditions for anyone headed north.

4:35NANA company in line for $2.3 million grant to design hydro for three villages

A few more, quickly, from around the state. In the Northwest Arctic, NANA's public benefit company is in line for two point three million dollars in federal money. It would pay to design a hydroelectric project and power line for Ambler, Shungnak and Kobuk. The project could someday help those villages rely less on diesel. The money is for design only. No decision has been made to build anything, and the grant isn't final yet.

5:04Valdez schools superintendent warns health insurance could rise 40% in April

In Valdez, the schools superintendent warns the district's health insurance could jump as much as 40% in April. If claims stay high, that's about one point five million dollars more. He hopes one-time money the district hasn't allocated yet can help bridge the gap.

5:20Homer councilmember wants to put the city's health insurance broker back on a flat fee

In Homer, the city's health insurance broker gets paid more when the city's premiums go up. One councilmember wants to go back to the flat fee Homer paid until twenty twenty-one. The idea is that the broker shouldn't gain when the city pays more.

5:34Outgoing Homer mayor proposes a new rule for how much money the city keeps in reserve

Homer's outgoing mayor also wants to change how much money the city keeps in reserve. Her proposal is three months of spending instead of four months of revenue. She's bringing it the same night her successor is sworn in.

5:47GCI expects to close soon on its purchase of the Arctic coast's only fiber line

GCI expects to close soon on buying the only fiber line to Alaska's Arctic coast. Its competitors buy capacity on that same line. The Federal Communications Commission set conditions on pricing, but rivals are still worried.

6:01Scientists recommend lower skate catch limit as Aleutian leopard skate declines

Out in the Bering Sea, scientists want a lower catch ceiling for skates in twenty twenty-seven. They flagged one Aleutian skate species whose numbers in surveys have dropped 89% since twenty ten.

6:13Wrap-up

Also on the site this morning: northern lights are possible across much of Alaska tonight if the clouds cooperate, and scientists want a lower Bering Sea cod limit after a survey turned up the fewest cod in decades. That's all for this edition of the Alaska News daily brief. The full stories, and more, are at Alaska News dot com. And that's the way it is, Sunday, November eighth, twenty twenty-six.