News / State Of Alaska
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Legislators, governor wait for next court decision in lawsuit over correspondence funds
State legislators said they are unlikely to immediately act to address an Alaska Superior Court ruling that struck down key components of the state’s correspondence schools programs — and will wait for the Alaska Supreme Court to consider the iss... Full story
BLM says no to state plan for road into mining district
Citing what they characterized as unacceptable risks to wildlife habitat, water quality and the Native communities that depend on natural resources, the Biden administration on April 19 rejected the state’s controversial plan to put a 211-mile i... Full story
Federal managers vote to close all salmon fishing along California coast
In a devastating blow to California’s fishing industry, federal fishery managers unanimously voted April 10 to cancel all commercial and recreational salmon fishing off the coast of California for the second year in a row. The decision is designed t... Full story
Interior Department further restricts oil drilling on North Slope
The Biden administration said April 19 it will restrict new oil and gas leasing on 13 million acres of a federal petroleum reserve on Alaska’s North Slope to help protect wildlife such as caribou and polar bears as the Arctic continues to warm. T...
Pebble mine developer loses appeal over denied federal permit
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has dismissed an appeal filed by the Pebble mine developer in its effort to obtain a key permit needed to build the controversial copper and gold mine upstream of Southwest Alaska’s salmon-rich Bristol Bay. The d... Full story
Gray whale population recovering after years of die-offs
Federal researchers indicate the gray whale population along the West Coast is showing signs of recovery five years after hundreds washed up dead on beaches from Alaska to Mexico. The increase in population numbers comes after the National Oceanic...
Court strikes down state money for homeschooled students
An Anchorage Superior Court judge has struck down an Alaska law that allows the state to allocate cash payments to parents of homeschooled students, ruling that it violates constitutional prohibitions against spending state money on religious or priv... Full story
State House approves budget with one-time boost in school funding
The Alaska House has sent to the Senate a state operating budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 with an almost $2,300 Permanent Fund dividend that would be the single largest expenditure in the spending plan. The budget also includes $175...
Alaska House rejects proposal to put the PFD in state constitution
The Alaska House of Representatives on April 11 rejected a constitutional amendment that would have guaranteed payment of the annual Permanent Fund dividend. The final vote was 22-18, five votes short of the two-thirds majority required to advance... Full story
Land trust transfers Southeast property to Forest Service wilderness area
A designated wilderness area in the Tongass National Forest, the largest U.S. national forest, is now a little bit bigger, after a land purchase and transfer arranged by two conservation organizations. ‘ Five acres of land that was formerly p... Full story
Researchers uncover fate of thousands of Alaskans sent to Oregon mental hospital
Lucy Pitka McCormick's relatives cooked salmon, moose, beaver and muskrat over an earthen firepit on the banks of the Chena River, just outside Fairbanks, as they honored her life. They whipped...
Haines pays social media influencers to boost tourism
“Let me take you to one of my favorite places in Alaska that you’ve probably never heard of,” Danielle Marie Lister says in a recent Instagram video. Lister wears black bibs, a purple down jacket and thick white boots as she skips along the Haine...
Alaska among 11 states suing to block student loan debt relief
A group of Republican-led states, including Alaska, is suing the Biden administration to block a new student loan repayment plan that provides a faster path to cancellation and lower monthly payments for millions of borrowers. In a federal lawsuit...
Fishermen and communities in limbo as state-backed seafood company teeters
The fishing fleet in the Southwest Alaska town of King Cove would have been harvesting Pacific cod this winter. But they didn't: Skippers had nowhere to sell their catch. The enormous plant that... Full story
Lease of Peter Pan Seafoods plants doesn't help King Cove
A troubled, state-backed seafood processing company, Peter Pan Seafoods, has announced that it’s pursuing a deal to sell its plants to another business. But the news still leaves a key asset, the massive plant in the Alaska Peninsula village of K... Full story
State ferry system victim of aging vessels, lack of funding
The state ferry Tustumena is preparing for its 60th birthday party this summer. Over the years, the vessel has become a familiar and important part of life in communities between Homer and Dutch...
Project works to compile glossary of Indigenous environmental terms
In the language of the Gwich’in people of northeastern Alaska, the word for month known in English as July is Łuk choo zhrii, meaning “the month of king salmon,” said Rochelle Adams, an Indigenous advocate who grew up in Beaver and Fort Yukon.... Full story
Murkowski reiterates she cannot get behind Trump for president
Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has made headlines again with comments on her unwillingness to vote for former president Donald Trump, which puts her in an ever-shrinking group of GOP members opposing the party’s presumptive nominee for pr...
House passes bill to make church vandalism a felony
Vandalism directed at a church or other property used by a religious organization would become a felony in Alaska if legislation passed by the state House of Representatives becomes law. The House voted 35-5 on March 20 to approve House Bill 238,... Full story
House legislation would allow use of more cell photo data in search of lost people
Under legislation passed March 21 by the Alaska House of Representatives, police searching for a lost hiker could obtain cell phone and satellite phone location data without a warrant. The House approved House Bill 316 by a 38-1 margin after moving... Full story
Research says Alaska teacher salaries below Lower 48 average
Teacher salaries in Alaska are not competitive when compared to much of the Lower 48, according to new research from the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research. Alaska teachers are paid below the national a...
New federal opinion could put more land under tribal jurisdiction
A new legal opinion by the top attorney at the U.S. Department of the Interior has extended the land jurisdiction of Alaska tribes, upending decades of precedent and offering new opportunities for the state’s 228 federally recognized tribal g... Full story
Research says Alaska teacher salaries below Lower 48 average
Teacher salaries in Alaska are not competitive when compared to much of the Lower 48, according to new research from the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research. Alaska teachers are paid below the national a...
Federal grant will pay for longliners association effort to save fuel and money
The Alaska Longline Fisherman’s Association says the $514,000 federal grant it received for a feasibility study could lead to lower costs for the fishing fleet and a path to decarbonization of the industry. “This will inform our efforts to dec...
Governor wants to criminalize unpermitted street protests
Opponents of Gov. Mike Dunleavey’s proposal to criminalize unpermitted street protests and other activities that block passage through public places said it is unconstitutional, too vague and too broad to become law. If Senate Bill 255 or its c... Full story