Juneau-based James Brooks covers state government, the Alaska Legislature and general assignments for the Daily News. He previously reported and edited for the Juneau Empire, Kodiak Daily Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
Raina Thiele is Dena’ina Athabascan and Yup’ik and an enrolled member of Pedro Bay village. She will serve in a key position for a federal agency that controls more than half the land in Alaska.
A lack of federal funding has prompted Alaskans to ask for action by state lawmakers.
Sen. Lora Reinbold, R-Eagle River, is the first state legislator to be fined under the policy.
Maine’s system of ranked-choice voting encountered a flurry of lawsuits. Alaska’s has only one case against it.
Whether or not ships come, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said the state is planning a major marketing campaign to encourage tourists to visit Alaska by other means.
Last year’s picks by the governor for boards and commissions did not lose their powers in December, the court ruled.
Some lawmakers and staff drank beers with invited guests while playing pingpong and basketball in the Capitol’s gymnasium.
Though approved by voters in 2006, the limit hasn’t been followed since 2013.
More than $1 billion in federal aid is coming to the state government, but lawmakers don’t yet know how to spend it.
Democrats and Republicans are each offering proposals this year, but quick action isn’t likely, they say.
Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, R-Anchorage, who lost her re-election campaign in 2020, still faces eight other charges, including one felony.
The state’s electric companies are seeking a shield for liability from some wildfires started by broken power lines.
