Latest Alaska Headlines
All the headlines from our Alaska Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Rate of Fatal Plane Crashes in Alaska Tops National Average
Nov 5 2019 // The rate of fatal airplane crashes in Alaska is higher than the national average, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB has preliminary reports for 10 fatal plane wrecks in Alaska for the 2019...
Alaska Supreme Court Will Hear Youth’s Climate Change Lawsuit
Oct 10 2019 // The Alaska Supreme Court will hear arguments this week in a lawsuit that claims state policy on fossil fuels is harming the constitutional right of young Alaskans to a safe climate. Sixteen Alaska youths in 2017 sued the...
Business Moves
Oct 7 2019 // East Plymouth Rock Assurance, Rider Insurance Company Plymouth Rock Assurance has agreed to expand its investment in the motorcycle insurance segment with the acquisition of Rider Insurance Company, subject to regulatory...
Alaska City Officials Might Prevent Pot Companies from Opening
Oct 1 2019 // Alaska city officials have sponsored protests that could stop two cannabis companies from opening despite having approved licenses. KYUK-AM reported that the state Marijuana Control Board recently approved licenses for two...
Washington Insurance Commissioner Orders Alaska Air Captive to Pay $2.5M
Sep 24 2019 // Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has hit another big corporation’s captive insurer with a fine. Kreidler has been going after captives for owed taxes by fining them since last year, when he issued...
Alaska Has This Year’s Most Expensive Wildfire in U.S.
Sep 24 2019 // The nation’s most expensive wildfire this year is one that has been burning for months on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. The Swan Lake Fire has so far cost about $46 million to fight, according to the National...
CopperPoint Acquires Alaska National Insurance Company
Sep 17 2019 // CopperPoint Insurance Cos. has agreed to acquire Alaska National Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiary Alaska National Insurance Co., an Alaska-domiciled workers’ compensation and commercial insurance carrier. The...
Alaska Grand Jury Indicts GE’s Baker Hughes for Exposing Workers to Toxic Chemicals
Sep 13 2019 // A grand jury in Alaska this week indicted General Electric’s Baker Hughes, two of its subsidiaries and an employee, for 25 felony charges of assault relating to toxic chemical releases at a construction site,...
M5.0 Earthquake That Hit Alaska Was Felt in Capital City
Sep 3 2019 // The Alaska Earthquake Center confirmed that a magnitude 5.0 earthquake hit southern Alaska. It was felt by people in the state’s capital Juneau. The center confirmed the earthquake hit at 8:32 p.m. Saturday and had...
Firefighters Make Progress on Alaska Wildfire
Aug 27 2019 // Firefighters are making progress on an Alaska wildfire that has claimed 51 homes. Nearly 450 firefighters working the fire about 70 miles north of Alaska’s largest city brought it to 46 percent containment Monday, up...
Clergy Members Named in Alaska Sexual Misconduct Review
Aug 26 2019 // An independent review has found credible accusations of past sexual misconduct against seven clergy members of an Alaska Catholic diocese, including a former priest who died in a July plane crash and another priest who was...
Alaska Wildfire Threatening Community Businesses
Aug 26 2019 // A wildfire in south-central Alaska has threatened multiple businesses in a nearby community, officials said. At least 51 homes and three businesses have been destroyed in a wildfire burning north of Anchorage. Another 84...
Do Cannabis or Alcohol Taxes Have Higher Upside for Society?
Aug 22 2019 // Which helps society more? Alcohol or cannabis. That sounds like a funny question, but it may be an important one with more local governments embracing the opportunity to bring in tax revenue from cannabis sales. A new...
Alaska Credit Union Ending Marijuana Business Pilot Program
Aug 16 2019 // An Alaska credit union plans to discontinue a pilot program to provide checking and savings accounts to marijuana-related businesses, an official said. Credit Union 1 will end the program Aug. 30 because critical insurance...
Earthquake Repairs at Alaska Schools Could Top $150M
Aug 5 2019 // Repairs and upgrades at Anchorage, Alaska-area schools damaged last year’s big earthquake could cost more than $150 million, officials said. The Anchorage School District said the new estimate triples the original...
First Drone Flight ‘Beyond Line of Sight’ Completed, Says FAA
Aug 5 2019 // The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said on Friday it had approved the first drone flight beyond the operator’s sight line, a major advance for retailers like Amazon.com Inc. seeking to speed up deliveries by...
Hot Weather May Fuel South-Central Alaska Wildfire, Some Residents Evacuate
Jul 2 2019 // Meteorologists say a new wave of hot, dry weather is expected to fuel a wildfire burning on the Kenai Peninsula, and continued smoke and record-breaking temperatures are predicted for the Fourth of July holiday week across...
Alaska City Votes to Adopt Climate Action Plan
Jun 3 2019 // The Anchorage Assembly has adopted a climate action plan setting goals for the Alaska city. Alaska Public Media reported that the city officials voted last month to adopt the 100-page document outlining aims such as...
University of Alaska, Former Professor Sued over Sexual Misconduct Allegations
Jun 3 2019 // A lawsuit has been filed against a retired University of Alaska Anchorage anthropology professor who is banned from campus over sexual misconduct allegations by multiple women. David Yesner is named in the federal lawsuit...
Alaska City Votes to Adopt Climate Action Plan
May 24 2019 // The Anchorage Assembly has adopted a climate action plan setting goals for the Alaska city. Alaska Public Media reported that the city officials voted this week to adopt the 100-page document outlining aims such as...
