Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 71
More than half of Alaskans born within the state have moved away, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. A state’s ability to retain native-born residents is an indicator of its economic health and attractiveness, and Alaska ranked near the bottom of the analysis conducted by University of North Florida professor Madeline Zavodny and two experts at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Using data from the Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey, they found Alaska retained 48....
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has again rejected a request to list Southeast Alaska's Alexander Archipelago wolves as endangered or threatened. The wolves, found in Southeast Alaska and British Columbia, range among the region's large, old trees and are a subspecies of gray wolves. Putting the wolves on the Endangered Species List, either as endangered or threatened, likely would have resulted in new restrictions on development, logging and construction in the region, and the state of... Full story
When U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg's flight from Juneau to Haines was rained out on Wednesday, he changed plans and did what Alaskans have done for decades: He boarded a ferry. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, traveled with Buttigieg and said the last-minute switch in travel plans "was a typical Alaska jump ball." It was an appropriate capstone to Buttigieg's three-day Alaska visit: a trip intended to emphasize the benefits of the Biden administration's infrastructure law,... Full story
Alaskans can now use larger and heavier recreational off-road vehicles on most state land without a specialty permit, a move intended to accommodate the growth of side-by-side off-road vehicles. In late July, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources issued new general permissions that allow vehicles up to 80 inches wide and up to 2,500 pounds on land managed by the DNR Division of Mining, Land and Water. Old restrictions, based on the size and weight of a 6×6 Argo, allowed vehicles of up to 1,500 pounds, DNR staff said in an explanation of... Full story
The spendable portion of the Alaska Permanent Fund is dwindling and could be exhausted entirely within three years, fund leaders were told during a regular quarterly meeting on Wednesday, July 12, in Anchorage. Deven Mitchell, CEO of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp., presented the results of limited modeling that estimates the fund’s performance over the next three years. Under the “low” scenario, the fund would be unable to pay for state services or dividends by summer 2026. The “mid” scenario calls for the spendable portion of the fund to b... Full story
Supporters of Alaska’s ranked choice voting system are again alleging that opponents of the system are violating state campaign law. On Monday, Alaskans for Better Elections filed a complaint against former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka, a nonprofit that she operates, and Alaskans for Honest Elections, which is campaigning to repeal ranked choice voting in Alaska. The complaint alleges that Tshibaka and her nonprofit, Preserve Democracy, have been lobbying and campaigning without registering with the commission or s... Full story
Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed Alaska’s $6 billion state budget into law Monday after vetoing more than $200 million from the document approved in mid-May by the Alaska Legislature. The governor’s biggest single cut was half of a $175 million one-time funding boost for K-12 public schools. Lawmakers intended the addition to partially compensate for inflation-driven cost increases. Because school districts have already had to set their budgets for the coming year, Dunleavy’s veto leaves some of them facing additional budget cuts or the prosp...
On Tuesday afternoon, cellphones across the state beeped with emergency tones as the Alaska State Troopers attempted to find two-year-old Karma Brown, who briefly went missing in Fairbanks. Brown was found safe within 40 minutes, but not before Alaskans from Adak to Metlakatla were alerted via the national Wireless Emergency Alert system. “The Amber Alert was deliberately sent statewide due to family connections of the suspect to multiple areas of the state. In most instances, Amber Alerts are sent within 300 miles of the location of the a... Full story
Alaska legislators, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and the commissioners in charge of state agencies will see pay raises after the Legislature missed the final deadline for a bill needed to block the increases. Starting July 1, Alaska’s governor will be paid approximately $176,000 per year, the lieutenant governor about $140,000, and commissioners will receive about $168,000 per year. Legislators will be paid $84,000 per year, up from $50,400, starting next January. The increases are the result of a convoluted series of events t... Full story
Seniors and people with disabilities who need extra care would be able to get help at home under a bill passed by the Alaska Legislature. The state House voted 39-1 to approve Senate Bill 57 last Monday, following 17-0 approval by the Senate on April 24. “One of the hallmarks of a society is the way that we care for those who may have a disability or who are in need of extra care,” said Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, and an advocate for the bill, which was introduced by Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration. If the final bill is appro... Full story
The Alaska Division of Elections improperly removed Al Gross, an independent candidate for U.S. House, from last year’s special election ballot, the Alaska Supreme Court said in a ruling published Friday. Gross withdrew from the race after finishing third among 48 candidates in the special primary election that was the first step in filling the House seat left vacant by the death of Congressman Don Young. Democrat Mary Peltola, who finished fourth behind Gross in the special primary, won both the special election in August and the regular g... Full story
Thousands of new mothers will receive extended Medicaid coverage under legislation proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy and passed by the Alaska Legislature on Wednesday. The Alaska House of Representatives voted 35-3 to approve Senate Bill 58, which now returns to the Senate for a procedural vote before being sent to Dunleavy’s desk for final approval. In a separate action, the House also approved a permanent extension to the state’s renewable energy grant fund. House lawmakers had previously approved a 10-year extension, and the Senate changed tha... Full story
A bill advancing in the Alaska Legislature would dramatically shorten the time needed to approve the logging of some state-owned lands, shrinking approval time from years to days in the most extreme cases. Proponents say the bill will alleviate fire danger and revitalize the state’s dwindling logging industry by expanding the amount of timber that can be sold from public land, but legislative and public critics have noted that the bill’s lack of specificity gives the commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources almost unlimited dis... Full story
In a pair of closed-door meetings with members of the Alaska Legislature on Tuesday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he is prepared to introduce a statewide sales tax as part of a long-term budget plan for the state. In his first term, the governor said he would not approve new taxes without a statewide vote — he didn’t include that caveat Tuesday. Legislators said the governor also did not immediately dismiss an income tax as he has in the past, but a spokesman for the governor denied that the governor would support one. “He said that every... Full story
The Alaska House of Representatives on Monday approved a $6.4 billion state operating budget for the 12 months that begin July 1, passing by a 23-17 vote a major hurdle needed for final acceptance of the state’s annual operating plan. “This bill is far from perfect … but it is a good-faith, collaborative effort, with strong input from the governor,” said Rep. DeLena Johnson, R-Palmer and co-chair of the House Finance Committee. The proposal passed by the House now goes to the Senate, which is preparing an alternative proposal whose first d... Full story
The Alaska House of Representatives voted Monday to increase the amount of money the state pays K-12 schools per student in the 2023-2024 school year. The vote came as legislators opened floor debate on the state’s operating budget for the 12 months that begin July 1. That debate is expected to continue Tuesday. In addition to boosting school funding, the House on Monday voted to restore funding for a proposal that would have the state take over a federal program that regulates construction permits in wetland areas, and it confirmed House l... Full story
A 2% statewide sales tax proposed by Rep. Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski, received its first legislative hearing last Wednesday night, with its sponsor saying he envisions it as a component of a long-term plan to bring state spending and revenue into balance. Other components of that plan, including a tougher state spending cap and a new formula for the Permanent Fund dividend, are also under discussion in the House Ways and Means Committee, which heard Carpenter’s bill. “I don’t take this lightly, of instituting or bringing forward a bill that would... Full story
The Alaska Legislature has passed a fast-track budget bill intended to immediately address problems with the state’s food-aid program for poor Alaskans and other immediate concerns. House Bill 79, proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, is intended to address the food-aid problem. It transfers $3.1 million from the state’s Medicaid program to the Division of Public Assistance, which oversees the program. It also allows the division to use $3.7 million in additional federal funding available for food aid. The Alaska Senate voted 20-0 on Monday to app... Full story
The Alaska House Education Committee voted 5-2 Wednesday morning to raise the amount Alaska pays K-12 schools per student, a figure known as the base student allocation. The decision followed five hours of public testimony — almost entirely in favor of the idea — Tuesday night in the Capitol. Advocates for public schools say an increase is needed to compensate for inflation-driven increases in the cost to educate Alaska students. Two members of the House’s predominantly Republican coalition majority voted in favor of the increase, a sign that... Full story
Dozens of Alaskans testified in the state Capitol on Monday, urging lawmakers to advance a new anti-discrimination measure that would protect Alaskans from being denied housing or access to public accommodations because of their sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. House Bill 99, from Rep. Jennifer Armstrong, D-Anchorage, is being considered by the House Labor and Commerce Committee, which heard two hours of public testimony, almost entirely in support of the idea. Members of the committee have received more than 1,000 emails... Full story
Anchorage Democratic Rep. Jennie Armstrong, one of three newly elected LGBTQ members of the Alaska Legislature, has introduced a new proposal to ban housing discrimination based on sex or sexual orientation. House Bill 99 was scheduled for a hearing Wednesday in the House Labor and Commerce Committee. The bill’s introduction on Wednesday came days after the Anchorage Daily News published an article noting that the state of Alaska had dropped a policy that banned most forms of discrimination against LGBTQ people here. Armstrong said this week t... Full story
The Alaska House of Representatives voted 35-1 on Wednesday to approve a letter urging state and federal officials to fight a lawsuit that could shut down a major king salmon fishery in Southeast Alaska. “This fishery has come under attack,” said Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, I-Sitka, and the sponsor of the letter, House Joint Resolution 5, which now goes to the Senate. The resolution has broad bipartisan support in the Alaska Legislature, where lawmakers view the issue as one about an outside group attacking Alaskans’ way of life. “This resolut... Full story
More than 90,000 pounds of canned Alaska pink salmon purchased and donated by the state of Alaska is being distributed as wartime relief in Ukraine. The cans were donated to the nonprofit World Central Kitchen and arrived in Ukraine this month after months of shipping and customs delays. They are the state's biggest contribution to Ukraine's defense against a Russian invasion that's now almost a year old. Though Alaska borders one of the combatants, the war has remained a back-burner issue in...
Alaska’s backlog of untested sexual assault examination kits has all but disappeared after a five-year, multimillion-dollar effort, according to a report presented to the Alaska Legislature. The kits, colloquially known as “rape kits,” are used to collect physical evidence after a sexual assault. Figures published by the Alaska Department of Public Safety and dated Nov. 1 show only 75 untested kits, all at the state crime lab. In 2017, a statewide survey found almost 3,500 untested kits across the state, many held by local police depar... Full story
The Biden administration will ban new logging roads and most development in much of Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday. The decision, which repeals a 2020 USDA action under the Trump administration, continues a quarter-century of action and counter-action over development in the region, which contains the world’s largest temperate coastal rainforest and is home to more than 72,000 people. “As our nation’s largest national forest and the largest intact temperate rainforest in the... Full story
