Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media

The Senate today unanimously passed a bill aimed at preventing suicide among veterans. U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said it’s an important bill for Alaska, which has the highest number of vets per capita and also the highest rate of suicide. "As an officer in the Marine Corps both on active duty and in the Reserves, I’ve personally witnessed the struggles, at times tragic, that some of our servicemen and women undergo," he said in a speech on the Senate floor. Download Audio

The budget President Obama sent Congress this week includes $1 million for the office of the federal coordinator for the Alaska natural gas pipeline. But the current coordinator, Larry Persily, says he’s still shutting down his offices in Anchorage and Washington, D.C. Download Audio

After Shell’s troubled 2012 drilling season in the far north, the Interior Department began working on Arctic-specific standards for offshore drilling. But those new standards aren’t done yet. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell says they won’t be in place to guide Shell’s planned return to the Chukchi Sea this year. "We’ll be holding them to the standards that we’ve held them to before, with upgrades and proof that they can do what they say they do before they’re allowed to go up there," Jewell told reporters in a press call today, primarily talking about the president’s budget for her department. Download Audio

The CEO of Royal Dutch Shell says the company intends to return to the Chukchi Sea this summer to drill exploratory wells. But CEO Ben van Beurden says Shell still needs permits, among other challenges. "So, will we go ahead? Yes, if we can," he said at a press conference in London. Download Audio

ConocoPhillips Alaska says it is “slowing the pace of investment” in its Greater Moose’s Tooth 1 project, in the northeast corner of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Company president Trond-Erik Johansen says they are “deferring the final investment decision.” Download Audio

Shell plans to restart its drilling work in the Chukchi Sea this summer. The company still needs federal permits and to resolve legal challenges.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski today failed to land her first counterpunch at the Obama administration’s new Arctic conservation policies. The Senate rejected an amendment that would’ve put a time limit on wilderness study areas. Download Audio

Sen. Lisa Murkowski today failed to land her first counterpunch at the Obama administration’s new Arctic conservation policies. The Senate rejected an amendment that would’ve put a time limit on wilderness study areas.

President Obama is withdrawing 9.8 million acres of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas from future oil and gas lease sales. Sen. Lisa Murkowski describes it as a gut punch to Alaska’s economy. Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell says the withdrawals are limited to small areas of the Beaufort, a 25-mile buffer along the Chukchi Coast and the area around the Hanna Shoal. Download Audio

In his first Senate speech, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan today spoke in support of the Keystone Pipeline. His sweeping address went on to discuss the American dream, and what he describes as the Obama Administration’s threat to it. Sullivan says the dream is still alive in Alaska. "In Alaska, the very air you breathe is bathed in promise," Sullivan said. "The people still speak the language of bold ideas, and rugged adventure." Download Audio

President Obama is proposing the largest ever wilderness designation in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which would forever put the coastal plain off-limits to oil and gas development.

Both of Alaska's U.S. senators voted for an amendment saying climate change is real and not a hoax. The rub came on amendments declaring a cause. Download Audio

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski will deliver the next Republican weekly national speech on Saturday. It's the party's response to the president's weekly radio address.

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan has been named chairman of the subcommittee on Fisheries, Water and Wildlife, part of the Environment and Public Works Committee. Its jurisdiction includes oversight of the Clean Water Act, wetlands, the Endangered Species Act, invasive species and National Wildlife Refuges.

Just this week, the U.S. Senate got started with committee work, with most panels holding their first hearings. All four of Sen. Dan Sullivan’s committees met Wednesday, colliding in a scheduling pile-up that’s typical in Congress. To get by -- and be effective -- requires skill in the art of Senate juggling. Download Audio

President Obama today issued an executive order aimed at coordinating federal action on the Arctic. The order establishes a new Arctic executive steering committee. It will have some two dozen members, including deputy secretaries from the departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security and Interior. Among the stated goals is to better collaborate with the State of Alaska and Alaska tribes.

President Obama’s State of the Union address to Congress is Tuesday night, but the White House has been offering previews of his main proposals for weeks. Alaska’s new Republican Senator, Dan Sullivan, said before the speech he was expecting to hear an overly rosy depiction of unemployment. Download Audio

Sen. Lisa Murkowski already chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, but today she was also named chairman of the Interior subcommittee of the Appropriations panel. The double-barrelled influence over the Department of Interior is "somewhat unprecedented," she says. Download Audio

The fight over the Keystone XL Pipeline is likely to heat up in Congress this week. Senate Bill 1 would permit the pipeline to cross the Canadian border into Montana, moving Alberta tar sands oil. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, as the new chairman of the Energy Committee, is leading the Republican charge. But, some Alaskans say she’s pulling for the wrong project. Download Audio