News / State Of Alaska
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Changing climate expected to increase landslide risks in Alaska
As Wrangell continues to deal with the landslide that killed six people, Alaskans face a long-term challenge: How to prevent tragedies in the future as mountainous regions of the state become more unstable. “These landslides affecting Alaskans are... Full story
State Board of Fisheries votes down tighter regulation of sport chinook catch
The Alaska Board of Fisheries voted 4-2 against requiring in-season management to more effectively hold the sport fishery chinook catch within its harvest limit. The board voted on Friday, Dec. 1, at its meeting in Homer, which was primarily devoted...
State forecasts average pink salmon harvest in 2024
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced it expects Southeast Alaska commercial fishermen next year will harvest around 19 million pink salmon — close to an average number based on 63 years of commercial harvest data collected since Alaska...
Alaska Airlines agrees to buy Hawaiian Airlines
Alaska Airlines has agreed to buy Hawaiian Airlines in a $1.9 billion deal, putting it on track for a potential clash with the Biden administration that has shown wariness about consolidation in the airline industry. The combined company would keep...
Ferry system reverses trend, hiring more crew than it lost
The state ferry system has hired more crew members than have left the agency over the past four months, Marine Director Craig Tornga told a public advisory board on Friday, Dec. 1, a rarity for the system which has been plagued by a net outflow of...
Petition asks that state ferry system rename the LeConte
A petition is being circulated, asking the state ferry system to change the name of the LeConte, the latest in a series of efforts around the country to strip the names of people who enslaved others from public spaces. The change.org petition,...
Global fish farming industry tries to clean up its waters
If it still seems strange to think of fish growing on farms, it shouldn’t. The global industry has had to grow. Demand for seafood is soaring and will continue to rise. But the oceans are giving up all they can: Production of wild fish around the...
Southeast subsistence council comments on review of potential mariculture sites
Subsistence representatives for Southeast have weighed in on a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration planning process that is working to identify potential sites for commercial seaweed, kelp and shellfish farms in Alaska waters. In its...
Tribes call for continued protection of federal lands in Western Alaska
Nearly 80 Alaska tribes are calling on the Biden administration to retain decades-old protections for 28 million acres of land scattered across large swaths of Alaska. The administration is conducting an environmental review to weigh the impacts of...
Hemp industry sues state to block rules against selling their products
A coalition of hemp growers and manufacturers has sued the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, claiming that new limits on intoxicating hemp products are unconstitutional. The lawsuit, by the Alaska Industrial Hemp Association and four... Full story
Federal report cites threats to Alaska from climate change
Alaska is warming at two or three times the U.S. rate, with impacts ranging from individuals’ health and safety to the military security of the nation, according to a new federal report. The Fifth National Climate Assessment, a multiagency scientif... Full story
Sitka rejects second petition to limit cruise ship visitors
The Sitka city clerk has rejected a second application to gather signatures for putting an initiative on the 2024 ballot to limit the number of cruise ship visitors to the Southeast community. City Attorney Brian Hanson recommended rejection of the...
Prosecutors say California inmate directed large Alaska drug ring
From a prison cell in California, federal prosecutors allege, a 56-year-old inmate directed an Alaska drug trafficking ring that in recent years smuggled huge quantities of fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine to some of the state’s smallest...
Coast Guard crew rescued from crash near Petersburg
The U.S. Coast Guard said two of four crew members injured in a helicopter crash near Petersburg during a search and rescue mission late at night Nov. 13 have been released from the hospital. The...
Sitka assembly uses sales tax revenues to give $300 to every utility customer
The Sitka assembly has approved a one-time payment of $300 to all residential utility customers, spending more than $1 million of the city’s higher-than-expected sales tax haul this past fiscal year. The ordinance passed on a 5-2 vote on Nov. 14....
Lt. Gov. Dahlstrom running for U.S. House against Peltola
Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom is running for Alaska’s lone seat in the U.S. House, challenging Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola in the 2024 election. In her campaign announcement on Nov. 14, Dahlstrom dubbed herself “a conservative Republican, law...
Alaska's minimum wage will go to $11.73 on Jan. 1
Alaska’s minimum wage will increase on Jan. 1 from $10.85 to $11.73 an hour, in accordance with a law put in place by a 2014 citizen initiative, the state Department of Labor announced. The law mandates regular increases in the minimum wage to... Full story
State may lower minimum age for prison guards to 18
The state council that sets and enforces standards for employment, training and certification of law enforcement officers in Alaska has approved a proposal to lower the minimum age of state prison guards from 21 to 18 years old. The proposal requires...
State forecasts 2024 Bristol Bay sockeye run to decline from recent record highs
After recent years of record or near-record runs and harvests, Bristol Bay sockeye salmon numbers are expected to return to more average levels next year, according to state biologists. The 2024 Bristol Bay sockeye salmon run is expected to total 39... Full story
Researchers explore deep, remote waters around Aleutian Islands
For the team aboard the Okeanos Explorer off the coast of Alaska, exploring the mounds and craters of the sea floor along the Aleutian Islands was a chance to surface new knowledge about life in some...
State loses challenge to special COVID-era hunt for Kake residents
A federal judge in Anchorage has ruled that U.S. government officials did not overstep the law when they allowed an emergency hunt near Kake during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision, published Nov. 3 by Judge Sharon Gleason, is...
Judge rejects challenges to biggest Alaska oil project in decades
A federal judge has upheld the Biden administration’s approval of ConocoPhillips’ $8 billion Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope, a decision that environmental groups swiftly vowed to fight. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason rejec...
Backlog returns for approving food stamp benefits
More than a year after the state Department of Public Assistance first fell behind with processing food stamps benefits for thousands of Alaskans, the agency is again reporting lengthy delays for new and returning applicants. As of late last month, a...
Landmark Lingit-language children's book published
The title translates to "orphan" in English, but people celebrating the release of the Lingít-language children's book "Kuhaantí" emphasized the project is very much a multigenerational family...
University fisheries program attracts more students, and not just from Alaska
Now in its 15th year, the applied fisheries program at the University of Alaska Southeast draws students from across the state and across the country. Not just ocean states like Florida, but the Great Lakes state of Wisconsin, and even landlocked...