News / State Of Alaska
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House and Senate about $700 apart on this year's PFD
The Alaska Senate is moving toward a final vote on its draft state spending plan for the coming fiscal year, with senators expected this week to approve a budget that includes enough money to pay a 2024 Permanent Fund dividend estimated at $1,580.... Full story
Ferry system cuts back Lower 48 advertising due to poor fleet reliability
Problems with the Alaska Marine Highway System’s operations and aging fleet are so acute that marketing efforts to potential visitors outside Alaska are being intentionally scaled back, Marine Director Craig Tornga said during an online open house o...
Alaskans charged with illegal transport of Southeast crab
Three fishermen are facing federal charges of illegally transporting more than 7,000 pounds of crab harvested in Southeast Alaska to Seattle in hopes of getting better prices there. Instead, federal prosecutors say, much of the haul was wasted upon...
State House passes ban on children under 14 from social media
The Alaska House of Representatives voted by a wide margin and with bipartisan support on April 26 to ban children younger than 14 from using online social media. House Bill 254, from Homer Rep. Sarah Vance, also requires companies that provide... Full story
Senate wants to fix correspondence school funding dilemma; House divided
As the state Senate is launching a legislative push intended to quickly fix a looming problem with correspondence school programs in Alaska, the House of Representatives signaled that it is so split that it may need more than a year to act on the... Full story
Fish Conservancy sues over Columbia River salmon hatcheries
Another lawsuit with implications to Southeast Alaska commercial salmon fisheries was filed last month by the Wild Fish Conservancy, claiming that hatchery programs on the Lower Columbia River are harming the recovery of wild fish runs. The...
Court rules tribal health organizations largely immune from lawsuits
The Alaska Supreme Court overturned a 20-year-old precedent April 26 by ruling that Alaska Native tribal organizations can more easily receive the kind of sovereign legal immunity that individual tribes have. The 4-1 decision means that tribal... Full story
Report says low prices, competition hit Alaska seafood industry
The Alaska seafood industry remains an economic juggernaut, but it is under strain from forces outside of the state’s control, according to a report commissioned by the state’s seafood marketing agency. The report from the McKinley Research Gro... Full story
Native American translations being added to more road signs
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A few years back, Sage Brook Carbone was attending a powwow at the Mashantucket Western Pequot reservation in Connecticut when she noticed signs in the Pequot language. Carbone, a citizen of the Northern Narragansett Indian T...
Washington governor names anti-bycatch advocate to fishery council
Tribal and environmental advocates calling for a crackdown on salmon and halibut bycatch are set to gain a new ally on the federal council that manages Alaska’s lucrative Bering Sea fisheries. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee in March nominated Becca R... Full story
Report says low prices, competition hit Alaska seafood industry
The Alaska seafood industry remains an economic juggernaut, but it is under strain from forces outside of the state’s control, according to a report commissioned by the state’s seafood marketing agency. The report from the McKinley Research Gro... Full story
State will test robot to scare away birds, wildlife at Fairbanks airport
A headless robot about the size of a labrador retriever will be camouflaged as a coyote or fox to ward off migratory birds and other wildlife at Alaska's second largest airport. The Alaska Department...
State will stop using fish wheels to count Chilkat River salmon
After 50 years, the state will no longer use wooden fish wheels to count salmon on the Chilkat River north of Haines. That leaves the Taku River, south of Juneau, as the only Southeast river where the Alaska Department of Fish and Game will operate...
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...