Budding trees and bushes are seen in front of the Alaska State Capitol on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon) Members of the Alaska Senate have killed, at least temporarily, a plan to end a tax policy worth more than $100 million for one of the state’s largest oil companies. The move came after Hilcorp Alaska and members of the state House of Representatives warned that there would be consequences if the Senate moved forward with plans to end a tax policy that benefits Hilcorp more than many other corporations. The Alaska Legislature is scheduled to adjourn its regula ..read more

Packaged food sits on shelves at Sitka’s Salvation Army food pantry in 2018. (Photo by Emily Kwong/KCAW)https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/09SNAP.mp3 Alaskans who sued the state last year over long wait times for food assistance are asking a federal judge to order the state to speed up processing. The state’s Division of Public Assistance has struggled in recent years to keep up with pending applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP or food stamps. At times, more than 14,000 Alaskans were left waiting for benefits. And the state mu ..read more

Close up view of an adult male mountain goat in late-winter, near Juneau Icefield, Alaska. In the background, steep avalanche prone slopes are visible. (Photo courtesy of Kevin White) The mountain goat is one of nature’s most skilled mountaineers. The hooved herds make their way through harsh Alpine terrain with relative ease. And they’ve been living with mountain snow since the Ice Age. According to wildlife ecologist Kevin White, that also means that they live amid avalanche paths. “And they would have no way of knowing that,” White said. “They can’t login to the avalanche forecasters’ websi ..read more

Floodwaters rise in Bethel’s Alligator Acres neighborhood on May 9, 2024. (Photo by MaryCait Dolan/KYUK) Kwethluk remains on flood warning, while Bethel and lower Kuskokwim communities are on flood advisory as the river swells over its banks. National Weather Service Hydrologist Johnse Ostman said on KYUK morning show Coffee at KYUK on Thursday that high water is widespread throughout the lower Kuskokwim region. “We’ve seen high water all the way from below lower Kalskag down through Bethel pretty much right to the breakup front, which last night was sitting about two miles downstream of Sunsh ..read more

Officials from Japanese energy companies listen to a presentation from U.S. Department of Energy officials at a carbon workshop Tuesday in Anchorage. (Photo by Nathaniel Herz/Northern Journal) For decades, Alaska shipped liquefied natural gas to Japan, which burned the fuel to generate power — and also generated ample climate-warming carbon emissions. Now, the Biden administration wants to study whether those Japanese emissions could be captured, liquefied and shipped back to Alaska. There, they’d be injected and locked away underground in Cook Inlet, just west of Anchorage, to help ..read more

A sign welcoming people to town as been changed from saying “Welcome to Haines” to “Welcome to Deishu” on Saturday, April 27, 2024. (Rashah McChesney/Chilkat Valley News) If you drove into town from the ferry terminal two weeks ago or from up the Chilkat Valley, you may have noticed something odd about the cedar signs welcoming you to Haines. In fact, the signs wouldn’t have welcomed you to Haines. Instead, they said “Welcome to Deishú.” That’s the original Lingít name of the area — before missionaries established a settlement here near the end of the 19th century. Sometime in late April, some ..read more

The NANA Regional Corp. office in downtown Anchorage is seen on Wednesday. The Native corporation, citing dissatisfaction with management by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, is ending its involvement with the Ambler Access Project. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon) The regional corporation owned by the Iñupiat people of Northwest Alaska said Wednesday it is severing its ties to the Ambler Access Project, the controversial road that a state agency proposes to build through the Brooks Range foothills to allow commercial mining in an isolated Arctic area. NANA Regional ..read more

Hilcorp’s Dillon platform in Cook Inlet (foreground) photographed last year. (Nathaniel Herz for Alaska Public Media) Leaders in both the state House and Senate have listed energy legislation as a primary focus of this session. That’s as gas producers warn that Cook Inlet natural gas supplies are dwindling, threatening higher prices. But there’s only about a week left for lawmakers to pass bills that address a number of energy issues. So it’s a good time to check in with Alaska Public Media’s Capitol reporter, Eric Stone. Listen: https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240508154342 ..read more

https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240508-News-Update.mp3 In this newscast: The Juneau Assembly wants the city to ask community organizations if they’d be interested in continuing to care for graveyards on Douglas — with potential funding, An audio postcard from this years MMIP Awareness Day in Bethel ..read more

Members of the Alaska House and Senate vote on the confirmation of state Board of Education and Early Development member Bob Griffin on May 5, 2024. (Eric Stone/Alaska Public Media) The Alaska Legislature shot down one of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s nominees to the state Board of Education and Early Development on Tuesday. Members of the House and Senate objected to what they said were ethics violations by Bob Griffin, who has sat on the state board for five years. The 21-39 bipartisan vote came during a joint session set aside for votes on Dunleavy’s appointees to his cabinet and various boards and ..read more