People who might have been exposed to radiation from atomic weapons tests conducted in the Aleutians half a century ago have extra time to apply for compensation from a federal program, under the sweeping tax and budget bill passed by Congress and signed into law last week. The bill, which was signed by President Donald […]
The legislative package that President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4, 2025, has several provisions that will shrink the safety net, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, long known as food stamps. SNAP spending will decline by an estimated US$186 billion through 2034 as a result of several changes Congress made to the […]
Alaskans can request that their DNA and personal genetic information be deleted immediately by bankrupt genetic testing company 23andMe, under the terms of a recent legal settlement. State Attorney General Treg Taylor announced the option in a news release on the settlement on June 30. “I know there are a lot of people out there […]
Four years before Kimberly Gallagher enrolled in Medicaid herself, the public health insurance program’s rules prompted her to make an excruciating choice — to give up guardianship of her son so she could work as his caregiver. Now, another proposed twist in the rules could mean that, even though Missouri pays her to do that […]
The budget vetoes that Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued last month included millions of dollars proposed by the Legislature to bolster child care and early intervention services for children with disabilities or developmental delays. Dunleavy vetoed a proposed $1.86 million in additional funding for child care grant programs and place-based and home-based child care centers, […]
After a Fox News interview raised the possibility of Alaska building a “Bear Alcatraz” Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility, the office of Gov. Mike Dunleavy said on Tuesday that the state has no such plans. The Dunleavy administration statement was prompted by an inaccurate story by Newsweek that summarized the interview, asserting that the […]
The Alaska Court of Appeals has overturned an Anchorage man’s attempted murder conviction after finding that the trial judge improperly instructed jurors before they convicted the man. In a written order published Friday, the court reversed the conviction of Rigoberto Guillermo Walker and said that prosecutors may elect to retry him for attempted murder. If […]
The U.S. Supreme Court late Tuesday lifted lower court injunctions that had blocked attempts by President Donald Trump and his DOGE Service to restructure the federal government. Labor unions, advocates and local governments that sued to block the cuts said the president exceeded his authority with the executive order by moving to dismantle the federal […]
A lightning-sparked fire that has burned about 2,000 acres of Arctic Alaska tundra is the biggest wildfire on the North Slope in eight years. The Ikpikpuk Fire, which bears the name of a 195-mile river that flows north into the Arctic Ocean, was discovered on June 22. Though classified as active, it is unstaffed, meaning […]
Officials with the National Park Service are asking for the public’s help as they try to figure out how a humpback whale was injured by a boat in June. Pictures published by the park on July 1 show a humpback whale with a large gash behind its dorsal fin. The whale was photographed uninjured on […]
On July 1, Alaska’s new sick-leave and minimum wage increase law took effect. Approved by voters in November, it states that someone working at a business with 15 or more employees will earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 56 per year, unless the employer […]
At a book launch in May, Paul Herbert shared to a full theater at the Morris Thompson Cultural Visitors Center in Fairbanks how he met Chris Cannon, the author of the newly published book “In the Footsteps of the Traveller: The Astronomy of Northern Dene.” One evening after he had been out on a trail […]
ABILENE, Texas — Bolstered by $3.2 million from a former Midland oilman, this West Texas city of 130,000 people is helping the Lone Star State lead a national nuclear energy resurgence. Doug Robison’s 2021 donation to Abilene Christian University helped the institution win federal approval to house an advanced small modular nuclear reactor, which might […]
About half of what’s known as “the estimated undiscovered technically recoverable” oil lying below federal lands is in Alaska, as is more than a quarter of estimated natural gas, according to a new report from the U.S. Geological Survey. The national total estimate for this category of resources on federal lands is about 29.4 billion […]
Alaska’s lone member of the U.S. House of Representatives said Thursday that he had “no doubt” that he was going to vote for the Republican-drafted budget bill that passed the House on a 218-214 vote Thursday. In a phone call after the vote Rep. Nick Begich III, R-Alaska, said he was pleased that it provides […]
Authorities have found the body of a woman visiting Alaska’s capital city who did not return to her cruise ship from a hike she said she was taking. The Alaska Department of Public Safety said the …
This Fourth of July, I bought an American flag. As a refugee, I bought this flag not because America is perfect, but because of its promise. The first time I saw the American flag, I was nine years old. My family and I were at the Pakistan–Afghanistan border, preparing to return to Afghanistan after years […]
In a meeting with Republican members of the Alaska House of Representatives on Wednesday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy had what he called an “unorthodox” request. He asked that the 19 members of the House’s Republican minority caucus stay away from the first five days of a special legislative session he called for Aug. 2 in Juneau. […]
President Donald Trump’s administration has blocked the release of an estimated $6.2 billion in congressionally approved education funding through U.S. Department of Education grant programs, including what one group estimated to be $46.4 million appropriated for Alaska schools. The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development confirmed Thursday that the federal department notified states that […]
On a sandy beach in a state park in Ketchikan, a group of local beachcombers encountered something ominous: shells of two invasive European green crabs, shed as part of the creatures’ growth process. That discovery, made during a June 6 beach survey that was part of a class held by the University of Alaska Southeast […]