Members of the Senate Judiciary committee put questions to a governor’s nominee for the Alaska Police Standards Council about her social media posts during a confirmation hearing Wednesday. Veronica Lambertsen defended conspiracy theories around the Holocaust, blood-harvesting from children and the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Lambertsen has been nominated by Gov. Mike […]
A group of state and national civil rights groups has filed a lawsuit against the Alaska Division of Elections challenging the decision to share Alaska’s voter rolls with the U.S. Department of Justice as unconstitutional. The lawsuit filed on Wednesday charges the division with violating the right to privacy enshrined in the Alaska Constitution when […]
No mining proposal in recent Alaska history has generated more concern for the state’s salmon runs than the Pebble project. The huge copper and gold deposit extends into multiple salmon-bearing watersheds, and sits upstream from Alaska’s most lucrative salmon fishery. But now, in a new court filing, Pebble’s developer says just a tiny number of salmon […]
All over the world, nations are grappling with the ripple effects of the war in Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery for the global oil market. In the United States, however, President Donald Trump has emphasized that the country imports little oil through the strait, arguing that it “doesn’t […]
The Alaska House of Representatives advanced a bill Wednesday that aims to address a lack of oversight for minors treated at psychiatric facilities in Alaska. The bill would mandate an annual report on conditions and treatment at such facilities from the state’s Health Department, as well as unannounced biannual inspections. Rep. Maxine Dibert, D-Fairbanks and […]
Voting and civil rights groups are suing Alaska elections officials, alleging their sharing of the state’s voter registration list with the U.S. Department of Justice is unconstitutional. The …
The Alaska House of Representatives advanced a bill Wednesday to add a fifth superior court judge in the third judicial district in an effort to lower judge’s caseloads and provide justice to Alaskans in the state’s busiest court. If the bill becomes law, the number of superior court judges statewide would increase from 45 to […]
On Friday afternoon in downtown Anchorage, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, arrived at the Arctic Encounter Summit at the Dena’ina Convention Center, an annual gathering of policymakers, business leaders and international officials focused on Arctic strategy. A day after welcoming news that two additional U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers would be homeported in the state — a […]
With only four weeks left of the legislative session, the Senate Judiciary Committee has merged several bills into a wide-ranging omnibus crime bill. Even with the tight timeline, some lawmakers are optimistic about its chances for passage before the end of the session. The new draft omnibus crime package combines ten bills ranging from raising […]
The Alaska House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday banning restaurants from providing food in polystyrene foam containers. Representative Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, introduced the bill to address what he called an “alarming problem” of plastic pollution. Josephson cited a statistic from the Ocean Conservancy, an environmental advocacy nonprofit, that found polystyrene foam is found in […]
Time and again, colleagues told bear biologist Beth Rosenberg that her quest to develop a new and less invasive way of identifying and studying Alaska’s brown bears was a futile one. There were simply too many obstacles, too many unknowns, to overcome. “It just won’t work,” she heard repeatedly. Inspired by her hero, the acclaimed […]
The state agency leading some of Alaska’s most polarizing development projects has approved a new communications budget, saying it needs to do a better job telling its own story amid attacks from critics. The state-owned Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority is run by a former chief of staff to Gov. Mike Dunleavy and is […]
The Alaska Senate advanced a resolution Monday to preserve three work visas to support Alaska’s economic security. Alaska relies on J-1 visas to fill teacher positions, H-1B visas for highly skilled workers and the H-2B program for temporary nonagricultural workers in tourism, health care and seafood processing industries and for teachers. Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, […]
Sponsors for the proposed 807-mile Alaska gas pipeline and liquefied natural gas processing and export facilities are seeking additional massive public subsidies to make the project viable. Even fallout from the largest “oil disruption in history” isn’t enough to overcome the need. Although President Trump initially boasted that the Alaska LNG export project would be […]
The Alaska Beacon team took home five awards from the Alaska Press Club contest for our coverage in 2025. As we cover statewide news with a government and politics lens, we are especially honored that James Brooks’ reporting earned a first place award in the Reporting on Government and Politics category. His story uncovered that […]
The Alaska Senate passed a bill Monday that would ban public schools in Alaska from serving certain food dyes in school breakfasts or lunches. Lawmakers expressed concerns that certain petroleum-based food dyes in processed foods have unhealthy side effects on children. Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, the sponsor of Senate Bill 187, said Monday, “We like […]
Multiple law enforcement agencies arrested seven people in Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Valley last week on charges of sex trafficking after a yearlong investigation found that multiple massage parlors were fronts for criminal enterprises. “Human trafficking criminal enterprises operate in plain sight while victims are exploited for labor, services and commercial sex acts through force, […]
An Anchorage mother whose son died from a fentanyl overdose is continuing to champion national and statewide action to raise awareness around the dangers of the synthetic opioid and prevent future deaths. On Wednesday, Sandy Snodgrass was recognized with a legislative citation of honor at the Alaska State Capitol by Anchorage Democratic Senator Bill Wielechowski […]
In February 2025, to the shock of University of Alaska faculty, staff and students, the University of Alaska Board of Regents passed a motion that banned the use of the words “DEI,” “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion,” reversing decades of work by the universities to better serve Alaska and its diverse population. The decision forced staff to […]
Two U.S. Army soldiers have been injured after encountering a brown bear during training in Anchorage. The incident happened Thursday while they were participating in a land navigation event in …