This story is co-published by the Wrangell Sentinel and Northern Journal. An Indigenous community is locked in a debate about the pros and cons of a major new mine on their traditional lands — and a big cash payment promised by the developer. There is strong support, and fierce opposition. A lot of money to be […]

The U.S. Department of the Interior is considering whether to change Alaska’s unique system of hunting and fishing, which gives rural residents priority on federal land in Alaska. According to a notice published Dec. 15 in the Federal Register, the Interior Department is conducting “a targeted review” of the program mandated by the Alaska National […]

The new $900 billion military spending law signed by President Donald Trump last week includes special benefits for soldiers and Coast Guardsmen in Alaska, hundreds of millions in new construction within the state, and a continued push to reactivate the U.S. Navy base at Adak. “It’s safe to say that this is the biggest bill […]

It’s the season of warm wishes, goodwill, families and friends. It’s a time for sharing old memories and making new memories with the new year. It’s a break in everyday life to remember the past and think about the future. Too bad Alaskans need to be thinking about how the state will come up with […]

For Alaska’s fishing industry and fishing-dependent communities, 2025 was a year of turmoil and uncertainty, much of it imposed by ideological pursuits from the new Trump administration. The short-lived agency called the Department of Government Efficiency hacked away at federal funding for science across the board. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in particular was […]

One of Rep. Nick Begich III’s uncles is endorsing his main Democratic opponent, Matt Schultz, in next year’s election. Tom Begich’s name was atop a list released to the Alaska Beacon by Schultz’s campaign this month. Begich’s endorsement of his nephew’s opponent won’t surprise people familiar with Alaska politics — he’s a longtime figure in […]

This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. An arctic wind cut across Prudhoe Bay, sending spindrifts swirling as Energy Secretary Chris Wright stepped onto a podium hastily erected among oil wells and pump stations. The gray summer sunlight scattered over ice-rimmed ponds, shadows gathering in the hollows of […]

The United States is currently building a fleet of at least 100 B-21 Raider bombers at a cost of $692 million each.  According to the Air Force, “The B-21 will form the backbone of the future Air Force bomber force consisting of B-21s and B-52s. Designed to operate in tomorrow’s high-end threat environment, the B-21 […]

An Inupiaq elder teaches his great-grandson to hunt in rapidly warming Northwest Alaska where thinning ice, shifting caribou migrations and severe storms are reshaping life. A mining road recently …

The Trump administration on Friday affirmed a controversial federal Cook Inlet oil and gas lease sale held at the end of 2022, asserting that impacts to endangered beluga whales and other resources were adequately considered and no changes in the leasing plan are needed. In a Federal Register notice scheduled to be published on Monday, […]

A years-old mistake by the Alaska Department of Motor Vehicles voter registration program has endangered the citizenship of two prominent Kodiak residents and could cause them to be deported, according to a newly filed lawsuit in Alaska’s federal court. The suit, filed Thursday by Eva Benedelova and Pavel Benedela in the U.S. District Court for […]

A couple of months ago, I was reporting on the typhoon that hit Western Alaska and stopped by a news conference convened by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. I was there to ask him about long-term plans for protecting vulnerable coastal villages. But the governor diverted my focus by talking about Donald Trump and the president’s concern. […]

Lawmakers in several states are working to expand medical debt protections for patients, even after the Trump administration reversed course and told states they don’t have authority to take action on credit reporting. In Alaska and Michigan, legislators are nonetheless advancing bills to keep medical debt off consumer credit reports. The attorneys general of California […]

The Alaska Department of Corrections has reported 18 people have died in custody of the state’s prisons and jails so far this year – on par with the state’s highest death count in 2022. Advocates and lawmakers say the number is “devastating” and “preventable,” and are calling for the reinstatement of an independent oversight body […]

Alaska Attorney general-designee Stephen Cox is asking two of Alaska’s largest electrical utilities to reconsider years-old charity programs that have benefited local nonprofits. In a pair of letters sent to Golden Valley Electric Association and Matanuska Electric Association on Thursday, Cox says he believes their charitable round-up programs may violate state law and the U.S. […]

PALMER — The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly this week voted to indefinitely delay a resolution that would have allowed formal talks with a group seeking to annex the Chugiak-Eagle River area into the Mat-Su Borough. The resolution would have authorized the borough to enter into official “discussions and considerations” with Chugiak and Eagle River residents who […]

The Covid-19 pandemic was an overwhelming event in Alaska, and a new state report describes how Indigenous residents, the elderly and Asian people and Pacific Islanders suffered the most as the state’s experience with the disease transitioned through different phases. From the time the first Alaska case was detected on March 12, 2020, to the […]

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration is proposing to divert money from a program intended to compensate North Slope communities for the side effects of oil and gas drilling on federal land near them.  As Dunleavy prepares to unveil a long-term fiscal plan, the state is proposing to use at least some of that money across […]

A Republican push to make drilling cheaper on federal land is creating new fiscal pressure for states that depend on oil and gas revenue, most notably in New Mexico. President Donald Trump’s …

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