Alaska Beacon

Alaska Beacon The Alaska Beacon is an independent, nonpartisan news organization focused on connecting Alaskans to their state government.

Our journalists fairly and fearlessly report on the people and interests that determine state policy.

The commercial salmon harvest in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, site of the world’s largest sockeye salmon runs, held a mixture o...
09/27/2025

The commercial salmon harvest in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, site of the world’s largest sockeye salmon runs, held a mixture of good news and bad news this year, reports Yereth Rosen for the Alaska Beacon.

The run of sockeye salmon, also known as red salmon, exceeded preseason expectations and totaled 56.7 million fish, the seventh highest since 2005, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported in its preliminary summary of the summer harvest. The commercial sockeye harvest was also bigger than expected, totaling 41.2 million fish. That was 18% above the preseason forecast and 23% higher than the recent 20-year average.

Amid improvements were continued Chinook problems. And while sockeye sizes were bigger, they remain smaller than they used to be.

The Alaska Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game may allow personal watercraft, commonl...
09/27/2025

The Alaska Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game may allow personal watercraft, commonly called Jet Skis, in Kachemak Bay south of Homer, reports James Brooks for the Alaska Beacon.

The unanimous decision by the five-member court overturned a lower-court judge who had ruled in 2023 that the state could not eliminate a Jet Ski ban once it was imposed.

The ruling has significant implications for all state agencies' ability to impose and repeal regulations, say attorneys.

The Trump administration is planning to close some U.S. Forest Service offices in Alaska under a national reorganization...
09/27/2025

The Trump administration is planning to close some U.S. Forest Service offices in Alaska under a national reorganization announced this summer by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, reports James Brooks for the Alaska Beacon.

Public comment on the reorganization is open through Sep. 30.

The Forest Service, which is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, currently has offices in Anchorage, Juneau, Cordova, Valdez, Girdwood, Seward, Craig, Hoonah, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Sitka, Thorne Bay, Wrangell and Yakutat. It isn’t clear how many of those offices will remain open after the reorganization.

The Forest Service, under the direction of the Department of Agriculture, is planning massive cutbacks to staff and offices nationwide.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Thursday that Medals of Honor awarded to U.S. soldiers for their role i...
09/27/2025

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Thursday that Medals of Honor awarded to U.S. soldiers for their role in the Wounded Knee Massacre will not be rescinded, reports Joshua Haiar for the South Dakota Searchlight via Alaska Beacon.

The massacre occurred on Dec. 29, 1890. Lakota people were camped near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwestern South Dakota, where they were surrounded by hundreds of Army soldiers. A shot rang out while the soldiers tried to disarm the camp, and chaotic shooting ensued.

Pete Hegseth announced that Medals of Honor awarded to U.S. soldiers for their role in the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre will not be rescinded.

WASHINGTON — Congress’ failure to pass a short-term government funding bill before midnight Tuesday will lead to the fir...
09/26/2025

WASHINGTON — Congress’ failure to pass a short-term government funding bill before midnight Tuesday will lead to the first shutdown in nearly seven years and give President Donald Trump broad authority to determine what federal operations keep running — which will have a huge impact on the government, its employees, states and Americans.

States Newsroom’s Washington, D.C. Bureau offers you a quick guide to what could happen if Republicans and Democrats don’t broker an agreement in time.

Congress’ failure to pass a short-term government funding bill before midnight Tuesday will lead to the first shutdown in nearly seven years.

Former FBI Director James Comey proclaimed his innocence of federal obstruction charges and characterized the indictment...
09/26/2025

Former FBI Director James Comey proclaimed his innocence of federal obstruction charges and characterized the indictment against him as a consequence of “standing up to Donald Trump” in a video posted to social media, while current Director Kash Patel sought to allay concerns the prosecution was politically motivated, reports Jacob Fischler for States Newsroom via the Alaska Beacon.

Meanwhile, Trump in remarks to reporters on Friday morning continued to slam Comey and call for other enemies to be prosecuted as well.

Former FBI Director James Comey proclaimed his innocence of federal obstruction charges and characterized the indictment against him as a consequence of “standing up to Donald Trump.”

WASHINGTON — Attorneys on behalf of a dozen U.S. House Democrats Thursday pushed for a federal judge to force the Trump ...
09/26/2025

WASHINGTON — Attorneys on behalf of a dozen U.S. House Democrats Thursday pushed for a federal judge to force the Trump administration to comply with an appropriations law that allows for unannounced oversight visits at Department of Homeland Security facilities that detain immigrants, reports Ariana Figueroa for States Newsroom via the Alaska Beacon.

“We don’t know what detention will look like in the future,” said Christine Coogle, a senior staff attorney for the group Democracy Forward, which represents the lawmakers.

Attorneys on behalf of a dozen U.S. House Democrats Thursday pushed for a federal judge to force the Trump administration to comply with an appropriations law that allows for unannounced oversight visits at Department of Homeland Security facilities that detain immigrants.

Republican U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III – Alaska’s sole representative in the United States House of Representatives – visi...
09/26/2025

Republican U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III – Alaska’s sole representative in the United States House of Representatives – visited upper and middle Kuskokwim communities this week, making stops in Aniak and Bethel, as well as other smaller villages upriver.

During his time in Bethel, Begich sat down at KYUK with News Director Sage Smiley to talk about what he’s hearing from constituents and his thoughts on how federal policies play out on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

Republican U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III – Alaska’s sole representative in the United States House of Representatives – visited upper and middle Kuskokwim communities this week, making stops in Aniak and Bethel, as well as other smaller villages upriver. During his time in Bethel, Begich sat down ...

Commentary - "Everyone had a job. The men and boys drove the boats upriver to dip the nets in the river and seine. The w...
09/26/2025

Commentary - "Everyone had a job. The men and boys drove the boats upriver to dip the nets in the river and seine. The women waited. Never wondering. There were always enough. The salmon that filled the boats when they returned weren’t huge — humpies aren’t — maybe a foot long. But they were plentiful and made for good drying," writes Laureli Ivanoff in her column Lifeways for High Country News via Alaska Beacon.

My favorite job of cutting fish reminds me that working together is everything.

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh argued in a major case earlier this month that U.S. citizens face few...
09/25/2025

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh argued in a major case earlier this month that U.S. citizens face few problems in having their immigration status verified if federal agents apprehend them, reports Ariana Figueroa for States Newsroom via Alaska Beacon.

“If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they promptly let the individual go,” Kavanaugh wrote in concurrence with an opinion in a case on the emergency docket.

In reality, the Trump administration’s aggressive drive to carry out mass deportations of people without legal status already has led to U.S. citizens being swept up in raids and detained, according to news reports from around the country as well as immigration experts. Such detainments now will increase, experts predict.

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh argued in a major case earlier this month that U.S. citizens face few problems in having their immigration status verified if federal agents apprehend them.

WASHINGTON — The White House has sent guidance to departments and agencies, telling them that if a shutdown begins Wedne...
09/25/2025

WASHINGTON — The White House has sent guidance to departments and agencies, telling them that if a shutdown begins Wednesday, they’re expected to institute mass firings and layoffs, reports Jennifer Shutt for States Newsroom via Alaska Beacon.

The two-page memo, shared with States Newsroom by a Trump administration official, says any programs that received funding in the “big, beautiful” law will “continue uninterrupted.”

The White House has sent guidance to departments and agencies, telling them that if a shutdown begins Wednesday, they’re expected to institute mass firings and layoffs.

A U.S. District Court judge in Anchorage has ruled against the state of Alaska in an 11-year-old legal dispute that has ...
09/25/2025

A U.S. District Court judge in Anchorage has ruled against the state of Alaska in an 11-year-old legal dispute that has significant implications for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and state finances, reports James Brooks for the Alaska Beacon.

On Wednesday, Judge Sharon Gleason ruled that laws and regulations setting the western border of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge are “ambiguous,” but federal regulators made a reasonable decision when they declared the border to be the western bank of the North Slope’s Staines River, rather than on the western bank of the Canning River.

U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason ruled that the boundary was "ambiguous" but in favor of a federal interpretation of the border.

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