Nathaniel Herz, Alaska's Energy Desk - Anchorage
Alaska Republicans say Tuesday’s results could give them state House, Senate control
Alaska Republicans sounded confident Tuesday that preliminary election results will put them back in control of the state House after a two-year stint in the minority. Listen now
As Alaska’s elections come down to wire, ads test limits of campaign finance laws
In the last few days before an election, it’s pretty common for political groups to start playing fast and loose with Alaska’s campaign finance laws — and the state’s cash-strapped campaign finance regulators say they’d need a larger staff to monitor all the ads in the last-minute barrage. Listen now
Absentee, other ballots could leave Alaska governor’s race undecided Tuesday
Political junkies: close races could be decided by absentee and other ballots counted many days after the election. Listen now
Meet the two men who have spent $700,000 trying to make Mike Dunleavy Alaska’s governor
Until a late influx of money in the final weeks of the campaign, most of the cash for the pro-Dunleavy independent expenditure group came from two people. Dunleavy's brother Francis and Bob Penney, the developer and recreational fishing advocate who's long donated to Republican candidates and causes. Listen now
Begich spent four years as a consultant. As governor, he could sign bills affecting former clients
For the past four years, Begich has owned a public affairs and consulting firm, working with clients that intersect with state government. If elected, he’ll likely be faced with decisions that will directly affect the businesses, unions and Native organizations that have been paying his business for advice. Listen now
A solar project in rural Alaska takes aim at sky-high electric bills
A new renewable energy project in Buckland aims to demonstrate solar and wind power’s potential to reduce the region’s sky-high utility costs. Listen now
State regulators to Alaska lobbyist: Stop helping candidates raise money
Alaska lobbyists have been breaking an anti-corruption law by helping political candidates promote their fundraising events, according to a preliminary opinion from the state’s campaign finance watchdog. Listen now
Anchorage airport looks at building a new cargo handling center
Managers of the Anchorage airport are looking into construction of a big new warehouse to help boost the volume of air cargo shipped through the city. Listen now
Alaska law says lobbyists can’t fundraise for candidates. But the invitations keep coming
Some of Alaska’s most prominent lobbyists are boosting the fundraising efforts of political candidates, prompting questions about whether they’re breaking a state law that’s designed to limit lobbyists’ influence over the legislative process. Listen now
This woman came all the way to Alaska from the Pacific Islands to talk climate change
Climate change is threatening remote Alaska villages. It’s also hitting other low-lying places around the world, from Bangladesh to the Pacific Islands. Local leaders from those places are at a conference in Girdwood this week. Listen now
Red Dog Mine, in hunt for more ore, proposes new road
One of Alaska’s largest mines is moving toward a significant expansion, applying for state and federal permits to build a 10-mile road to a pair of new prospects in a remote part of Northwest Alaska. Listen now
The man who translates climate change data for Alaskans is retiring. Here’s a Q&A
Alaska’s summer may have seemed cold. And it was, compared to the previous few. But it was actually still significantly warmer than the previous three decades. Rick Thoman, who’s retiring from his job as a federal climatologist, talks about how sometimes our brains can tell us different things than the data. Listen now
Two men charged as feds crack case of missing Anchorage mammoth tusk
Prosecutors are charging two men with stealing a 10,000-year-old mammoth tusk from the federal Bureau of Land Management in Anchorage. The indictment appears to be a break in a case that had gone unsolved since the tusk went missing six months ago. Listen now
This solar farm is built on oil industry money and some recycled drilling pipe
Alaska's first commercial-scale solar farm is about to come online. Its builders say they want to move the world toward cleaner energy sources. But they're not ready to renounce oil and gas just yet. Listen now
A federal plan to save Alaska’s belugas starts with recruiting an army to count them
An army of citizen scientists assembled along Turnagain Arm Saturday to count endangered belugas near Anchorage. Listen now
State and federal officials apologize to Alaska Natives for effects of bird regulations
Officials issued an apology for the consequences of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prohibited the spring and summer harvests of migratory birds and their eggs during the 1960s and 1970s. Listen now
Rag-tag group of scientists produces a paper on a 300-foot Alaska tsunami
Imagine a wave as tall as the ConocoPhillips building in downtown Anchorage. It happened just three years ago in Southeast Alaska. A new scientific paper makes the case that climate change could increase the likelihood of these events. Listen now
A political consultant’s work was scrutinized amid Anchorage voter fraud allegations. Now he’s dead.
Charlie Chang worked with Anchorage Republican Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, whose district includes parts of the Muldoon neighborhood and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Listen now
The company that runs the trans-Alaska pipeline is cutting workforce by 10 percent
The company says it won’t let budget cuts jeopardize the pipeline’s safe operations, since there’s no other way to move oil off the North Slope. Meanwhile, a citizens watchdog group in Valdez says it will seek more information about the company’s reorganization. Listen now
Rep. LeDoux, Alaska GOP try to fill in blanks in disputed state House race
What conclusions can we draw about absentee ballots requested in the names of dead people, and whether they connect to a candidate and a consultant she hired to help her with get-out-the-vote work? Listen now