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JUNEAU - The gray, two-story home with white trim toppled and slid, crashing into the river below as rushing waters carried off a bobbing chunk of its roof. Next door, a condo building teetered on the edge of the bank, its foundation already having fallen away as erosion undercut it. The destruction came over the weekend as a glacial dam burst in Alaska's capital, swelling the levels of the Mendenhall River to an unprecedented degree. The bursting of such snow-and-ice dams is a phenomenon...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The state board of education last Wednesday delayed action on a proposal that would bar transgender girls from participating on high school girls’ athletic teams in Alaska, with several board members saying they wanted more time to consider the issue. Opponents of the proposal called it discriminatory and unconstitutional and said it would likely lead to litigation. Supporters, including Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, said it is needed to ensure fairness in girls’ sports. The board heard more than 2 1/2 hours of publi...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Wednesday said he is proposing an additional $8.3 million over two years to help address caseload and staffing concerns for the state Public Defender Agency and Office of Public Advocacy. Budget amendments outlined by Dunleavy in a news conference Wednesday also include funding for positions to help address a backlog in applications for food stamp benefits and to prepare for Medicaid eligibility determinations. In December, Dunleavy released his budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year, and h...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took an unusually strong step Tuesday and blocked a proposed mine heralded by backers as the most significant undeveloped copper and gold resource in the world because of concerns about its environmental impact on a rich Alaska aquatic ecosystem that supports the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. The move, cheered by Alaska Native tribes and environmentalists and condemned by some state officials and mining interests, deals a heavy blow to the proposed Pebble Mine. The int...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Backers of a proposed copper and gold mine in southwest Alaska “tried to trick regulators by pretending to pursue a smaller project with the intention of expanding” after the project was approved, a report released Friday by a U.S. House panel says. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report ahead of its release. The report makes several recommendations, including environmental review process changes to “ensure holistic review of cumulative impacts of projects.’’ Mike Heatwole, a spokesperson for the Pebble Limi...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is extending until Dec. 2 the timeline to decide whether to proceed with proposed restrictions that would block plans for a copper and gold mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region. The agency, in a recent notice, said this would “help ensure full consideration of the extensive administrative record, including all public comments.” The public comment period ended Tuesday. EPA rules call for a decision on next steps within 30 days after public hearings though not before the end of a co...
WASILLA, Alaska (AP) — Alaska U.S. House candidate Sarah Palin called on fellow Republican Nick Begich to drop out of the race Monday, holding a news conference in the same place where on a holiday weekend more than a decade ago she announced plans to resign as Alaska’s governor. “He keeps calling me a quitter,” she told reporters, adding later: “And now he wants me, the one who is clearly the only true conservative in this race who can win, he wants me to quit! Now that’s the real joke. Sorry, Nick. I never retreat, I reload.” Monday was th...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska voters are facing an election unlike any theyve seen, with 48 candidates running to succeed the man who had held the states only U.S. House seat for 49 years. While some of the candidates in this weeks special primary have name recognition, including Sarah Palin and Santa Claus – yes, Santa Claus – many are relative unknowns or political novices – a fishing guide, a contractor, a gold miner who went to prison for allegedly threatening federal land managers. The huge number of candidates and the short timelin...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney say they will vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s historic elevation to the Supreme Court, giving President Joe Biden’s nominee a burst of bipartisan support and all but assuring she’ll become the first Black female justice. The senators from Alaska and Utah announced their decisions Monday night ahead of a procedural vote to advance the nomination and as Democrats pressed to confirm Jackson by the end of the week. GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine announced last week th...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) Sarah Palin on Friday shook up an already unpredictable race for Alaska’s lone U.S. House seat, joining a field of 50 other candidates seeking to fill the seat held for decades by the late-U.S. Rep. Don Young, who died last month. Palin filed paperwork Friday with a state Division of Elections office in Wasilla, said Tiffany Montemayor, a division spokesperson. Palin, a former Alaska governor who was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, has the biggest national political profile in the packed field that includes c...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - A former state lawmaker and an orthopedic surgeon each announced plans Monday to run for Alaska’s U.S. House seat following the death of Republican Rep. Don Young. Republican former state Sen. John Coghill said he filed to run in the race to fill the remainder of Young’s term, which ends in January. Al Gross’ campaign said Gross, an independent, would file Friday to run as a candidate to fill the remaining term and to seek a two-year term. Coghill said after praying about a possible run, he came away with the thought that...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Supreme Court ruled Friday that a state Senate district pairing part of east Anchorage and the Eagle River area by the board tasked with rewriting Alaska’s political boundaries constituted an “unconstitutional political gerrymander.” The court said it was affirming a finding by Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews regarding Senate District K. Two House districts equal one Senate district. The Senate district at issue pairs a House district that includes part of Anchorage’s Muldoon area with an Eagle River are...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Political parties “have no right to be gatekeepers to the ballot,’’ an attorney argued Tuesday in urging the Alaska Supreme Court to uphold a voter-approved electoral system that would end party primaries in the state and institute ranked-choice voting in general elections. Scott Kendall, who helped write the ballot measure, argued on behalf of the group behind the initiative, which narrowly passed in 2020. Laura Fox, an attorney for the state, joined Kendall in asking that the court uphold a lower court ruling in favor of...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced wide-ranging budget vetoes Tuesday amid a collapse in oil prices, citing expectations that many of the larger cuts, including aid for schools and local governments, would be offset through use of federal funds tied to COVID-19 relief. Some legislators questioned whether the money can be used that way. “There is no guarantee that the federal government will pick up the tab. This approach is incredibly troubling to me,”House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, a Dillingham independent, said in a state...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska lawmakers fell short of a self-imposed goal of completing their most pressing work Friday, with key measures, including a state spending package and bills related to the coronavirus, yet to be finalized. Friday marked Day 67 of a legislative session that, under the constitution, can run up to 121 days, with an option to extend further. But many lawmakers are eager to get home amid concerns with the coronavirus, and Friday was targeted by legislative leaders as a goal for completing work seen as more critical. Senate...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The Alaska Senate approved a budget provision Monday that would give residents a $1,000 payment as a way to blunt economic impacts from the coronavirus. The provision, an amendment to a larger state spending package, passed 12-7 after the Senate rejected a proposed $1,300 stimulus payment. The underlying budget passed 17-1 later in the day, with Republican Sen. Lora Reinbold voting in opposition. The House will have to decide whether to agree to what passed the Senate. If theHouse does not agree, differences typically a...
