Latest Alaska News

What changes should small businesses be aware of for 2025?

Dec. 21, 2024 10:02 AM EST

For small businesses, the biggest change in the new year will be the arrival of a presumably more business-friendly administration in Washington. But there are other shifts owners should keep on their radar. Among them: changes to state-level overtime and minimum wage rules, the...

Santa and Mrs. Claus use military transports to bring Christmas to an Alaska Native village

Dec. 21, 2024 00:19 AM EST

YAKUTAT, Alaska (AP) — Forget the open-air sleigh overloaded with gifts and powered by flying reindeer. Santa and Mrs. Claus this week took supersized rides to southeast Alaska in a C-17 military cargo plane and a camouflaged Humvee, as they delivered toys to the Tlingit village of...

Activists sue federal government for images of dead orcas entangled by fishing boats

Dec. 20, 2024 02:01 AM EST

MIAMI (AP) — Activists sued the federal government Thursday to release images of dead orca whales, sea lions and other marine mammals entangled by commercial fishing boats off the U.S. West Coast. The complaints were filed after the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric...

Alaska governor asks Trump to roll back restrictions on oil and gas drilling

Dec. 19, 2024 20:38 PM EST

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s wish list for the incoming Trump administration includes oil and gas exploration in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and reversing restrictions on logging and road-building in a temperate rainforest that provides habitat for wolves,...

2 bodies recovered amid debris from a fishing boat that reportedly capsized in Alaska

Dec. 10, 2024 15:41 PM EST

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Two bodies have been recovered amid debris from a fishing boat that reportedly capsized with five people aboard in rough seas in waters off southeast Alaska earlier this month. Authorities believe the two individuals had been on the boat based on evidence...

Alaska Airlines will spread its wings by flying to Tokyo and Seoul beginning next year

Dec. 10, 2024 12:15 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) — Alaska Airlines said Tuesday it will start new service to Tokyo and Seoul next year as part of a plan to boost international flights over the next several years. Alaska announced the new routes Tuesday as it raised its fourth-quarter outlook and publicized a plan to...

Descendant of last native leader of Alaska island demands Japanese reparations for 1942 invasion

Dec. 10, 2024 00:16 AM EST

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Helena Pagano's great-grandfather was the last Alaska Native chief of a remote island in the Bering Sea, closer to Russia than North America. He died starving as a prisoner of war after Japanese troops invaded during World War II, wresting the few dozen residents from...

Biden's approval of an oil lease sale will keep the door open to drilling in Alaska's Arctic refuge

Dec. 09, 2024 20:34 PM EST

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Biden administration has approved plans for a sale of oil and gas leases in Alaska that leaves open the door for drilling in a portion of the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The sale will be held Jan. 9, less than two weeks before President Joe...

'Swarm' of moderate to strong earthquakes hit Alaska's western Aleutian Islands without damage

Dec. 09, 2024 01:04 AM EST

AMCHITKA ISLAND, Alaska (AP) — A series of moderate to strong earthquakes that struck Alaska's western Aleutian Islands and offshore areas Sunday comprised what scientists call a “swarm," but the state's earthquake monitors said the seismic events should not cause residents to worry. ...

Earthquakes under a volcano near Alaska's largest city raise concerns

Dec. 06, 2024 18:21 PM EST

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An increase in the number of earthquakes under a volcano near Alaska’s largest city this year has geologists paying attention. Mount Spurr, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) northwest of Anchorage, last erupted in 1992, spewing an ash cloud nearly 12 miles...