The Alaska House of Representatives, following in the path of the state Senate, has approved a small construction and renovation budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The vote on Senate Bill 57, the annual infrastructure bill — formally known as the capital budget — was 21-19, along caucus lines. When oil prices […]
Funding for child services in Alaska is unresolved as the Legislature nears the end of its annual session, and a committee will decide how to reconcile very different budget proposals from the House and Senate. The House of Representatives proposed several significant increases to funding in their version of the operating budget, while the Senate’s […]
An Anchorage business owner, Republican campaigner and former talk radio host is running to be Alaska’s next governor. Bernadette Wilson announced her campaign on Tuesday with a video broadcast from the steps of the Alaska Capitol and has filed a letter of intent with the Alaska Public Offices Commission. She joins Republican former state Sen. […]
Four days after the Alaska House of Representatives declined to honor conservative political writer Suzanne Downing with a legislative citation, the Alaska Senate narrowly voted to allow the citation to go forward. Hours later, the House declined to reconsider its decision, effectively killing the citation. Downing, the founder of the website Must Read Alaska, is […]
As a nearly 50-year advocate for the Trans Alaska Gasline, many are asking for my assessment of the current status of the project. There is no doubt we have seen momentum rise and fall over several decades but right now momentum is clearly on the rise with President Trump once again focusing on Alaska’s project. […]
A state judge has blocked the Alaska Department of Fish and Game from conducting a controversial predator control program, ruling that the department acted “in bad faith” when it launched this season’s planned bear kills on Saturday. Superior Court Judge Christina Rankin, in a ruling issued late Monday, granted a temporary restraining order sought by […]
Almost 20 years after eliminating Alaska’s public pension program, the House of Representatives has voted to open a new pension system for municipal and state workers. With proponents saying the state’s existing, 401(k)-like retirement system is ineffective and a deterrent for hiring and retention, the House voted 21-19 late Monday to approve House Bill 78. […]
Dan Seavey, who helped organize the first Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and whose son and grandson have each won the famous Alaska race multiple times, has died. He was 87. Seavey's son, Mitch, says …
Alaska would be on the same time zone as Seattle for four months of the year, if a bill passed Monday by the Alaska Senate becomes law. The Senate voted 18-2 to pass Senate Bill 26, which would eliminate daylight saving time in Alaska and ask the federal government to put Alaska on Pacific Standard […]
Alaska regulators have assessed a $49,000 fine against Hilcorp for lapses in Cook Inlet offshore well management. The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission said on Monday that Hilcorp, the dominant operator in the Cook Inlet basin, failed to meet an annual deadline to discuss its well plugging and abandonment activities. That annual meeting was […]
Here it is, torn from the battered and abused pages of the Bill of Rights: “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” No question about it. We Alaskans […]
Just 140 miles south of the Arctic Circle, far from any major industrial or population centers, Alaska’s second-largest city has struggled for decades with some of the nation’s worst winter air pollution. Now years of work to clear particulate pollution from the air in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the approximately 7,500-square mile district encompassing […]
It is one of Alaska’s favorite Mother’s Day traditions, getting up close and personal with animals that have survived the ice age. All moms get a flower and free admission Sunday at the Musk Ox …
A Washington state-based conservation group filed a lawsuit this week in an effort to speed up the federal government’s review of a proposal to list king salmon as threatened or endangered across the Gulf of Alaska. The Wild Fish Conservancy filed its lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., saying that the National […]
This week is National Small Business Week, a time to celebrate the entrepreneurs who keep our communities vibrant and full of opportunity. In Anchorage, we’re lucky we don’t have to look far to see that spirit in action. Just last week, a room full of small business owners, proud families, and community members gathered in […]
Alaska’s state-owned investment bank could get permission to start oil exploration work in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as soon as the third quarter of this year, according to court documents filed Friday in Anchorage. In a status report on a series of lawsuits seeking to block oil development in the refuge, attorneys representing the […]
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said Friday it will resume its predator control this weekend in Western Alaska, despite a court ruling two days earlier that determined the program remains in violation of the state constitution. The program, which is using aircraft to kill bears in the area used by the ailing Mulchatna […]
Critics of a mining project that’s long stirred political debate in the Southeast Alaska town of Haines are celebrating an announcement that the development is on the market — just months after its owner acquired it. A small, Vancouver-based company, American Pacific Mining Corp., assumed full ownership of the Palmer Project late last year. At […]
The Alaska House of Representatives has issued messages honoring high school sports teams, Olympic gold medalists, farmers, anniversaries, and even notable animals. In an unusual move on Friday, it declined to bestow honors on conservative political commentator Suzanne Downing. In a 21-17 vote, the House tabled a citation from Rep. Jamie Allard, R-Eagle River that […]
Hilcorp has bought out one of the last small independent natural gas operators in the Cook Inlet basin outside of Anchorage — furthering consolidation among the companies that supply urban Alaska with the fuel needed for home heating and electricity generation. Subsidiaries of Gardes Holdings, a Louisiana-based oil business, had operated the North Fork unit […]