Nathaniel Herz, Alaska's Energy Desk - Anchorage
Dunleavy unveils budget proposal, with deep cuts to education and health care
The spending plan would overhaul major government functions and eliminate specific programs and services. Dunleavy says the cuts are needed to balance the state budget while paying out larger Permanent Fund dividend checks under a historical legal formula.
Don’t count on oil to bail out Alaska’s budget soon, says unpublished state tax memo
The National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska is a hot area for oil development right now. But don’t count on new production there to bail out the state budget any time soon. That’s the takeaway from a previously unpublished, two-month-old analysis drafted by former independent Gov. Bill Walker’s administration.
Alaska GOP Gov. Dunleavy seeks to oust Democratic chair of oil and gas watchdog agency
A two-page letter from Dunleavy last month charges French with “neglect of duty and misconduct,” and levies five charges to justify the governor’s bid to remove French from chairmainship of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
As the Bering Sea warms, this skipper is chasing pollock to new places
“Across the board, everybody has a story about something that they haven’t seen before,” said Dan Martin, a 53-year-old captain of a Bering Sea pollock trawler. We took a fishing trip with Martin to find out what he’s experiencing as the Bering Sea heats up.
Friends went looking for a missing Southeast Alaska artist. Instead, they found a note.
“To the world and all concerned: This is to officially notify you that Eric and Pam Bealer, by their own choice and free will, have committed suicide,” the note said. “We have gone to some effort to hide our bodies, as we do not want them found. Please do not waste time and money looking. It would serve no purpose. We are gone, leave us to our peace.”
New salmon-counting technique treats Alaska stream like a crime scene
Oregon State University Professor Taal Levi has spent the past several years exploring whether a new technology called environmental DNA, or eDNA, can be used to count salmon.
Renegade Alaska House member makes his case: ‘This partisan thing has been killing us’
After the fall election, Alaska House Republicans thought they had 21 votes -- barely enough to form a majority in the 40-member chamber. But Kenai Rep. Gary Knopp abandoned the group and has been pushing for a coalition balanced between Democrats and Republicans.
Government shutdown, if it continues, could cost Alaska’s lucrative Bering Sea fisheries
Even if the shutdown persists, the federal government will still open the Bering Sea fisheries as scheduled. But the government requires inspections of things like scales and monitoring equipment. Those inspections won’t happen until the government reopens.
New Alaska wildlife managers could revive old fights over federal protections, bear- and wolf-killing
Dunleavy’s administration is likely to shift the complex dynamics between the different entities and interests involved in Alaska’s fish and wildlife politics – from the state and federal governments to tribes, hunting organizations and fishing groups.
Last month, Ruth Botstein argued Alaska’s case at the Supreme Court. This month she was fired.
Botstein is one of two prominent attorneys at the Alaska Department of Law who was fired by the new administration of Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, in a move that observers said was unusual.
Ben Stevens, former Alaska senator investigated by FBI, lands job with Dunleavy administration
Ben Stevens, the former Alaska Senate president once investigated for corruption by federal authorities, has landed a job with Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration. He’ll be a policy advisor, focusing on fishing, legislation and transportation.
Alaska DOT is in crisis response mode — and it just got a new boss
Here’s a look inside the Alaska Department of Transportation as it changed hands in the midst of its earthquake response.
Post-earthquake, air traffic controllers exiled from Anchorage tower used a pickup truck instead
After evacuating the 12-story air traffic control tower at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport following Friday's earthquake, controllers guided planes at the nation’s fifth-busiest cargo hub from the cab of a pickup truck at one end of the north-south runway.
That guy driving the earthquake-marooned GMC? Yeah, he made his flight out of Anchorage
Tom Sulczynski was driving that red GMC that became an icon of Saturday’s earthquake in Anchorage.
Anchorage driver survives on ‘little island of asphalt’ as exit ramp sloughs away
One of the most striking scenes from this morning’s earthquake in Anchorage is a photo of an SUV sunk in a crevasse that opened up on a Minnesota Drive exit ramp.
As oceans heats up off Northwest Alaska, the fishing does too
The cod population in the Gulf of Alaska is at its lowest level on record. Officials have declared disasters after the failure of multiple Alaska salmon fisheries. But in northern parts of the state, fishermen have been landing huge catches, in numbers that haven’t been seen in decades.
Scientists map shifting migration around Alaska mountains, using GPS-equipped eagles
When golden eagles migrate to and from Alaska each year, they have to navigate around the 16,000-foot peaks of the Wrangell Mountains. A new study examines how the weather affects their route.
Nuclear power in Alaska? Experts say it’s not as far-fetched as you think.
Nuclear power has been explored in Alaska before, in the Interior village of Galena, and went nowhere. At an Anchorage conference this month, the Resource Development Council, an industry group, took another look.
House member named as next speaker lacks votes he needs to be elected
The representative identified Wednesday as the next speaker of the Alaska House currently lacks the 21 votes needed to be elected to the job, according to an interview with one of his colleagues. Listen now
Republicans may take control of the Alaska Capitol. But don’t expect to hear ‘kumbaya’ just yet.
Alaska House members and senators are holding meetings this week to organize new caucuses leading each chamber. But it won’t necessarily be smooth sailing even if the Alaska Capitol ends up under one-party control, according to interviews with members.