Author: alaskaadmin

This article was originally published by Popular Information. 

The Alaska Navigator bills itself as “independent news covering the Last Frontier.” On June 10, the outlet published an article headlined, “As Fentanyl Deaths Rise in Alaska, Sullivan Pushes Tougher Penalties and Enforcement.”

The piece, which has no byline, reports that Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) — who is locked in a competitive campaign against Democrat Mary Peltola — “is leading efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking and support law enforcement agencies confronting the epidemic.”

Curiously, although Sullivan has been in the Senate for more than a decade, the piece cites only one piece of evidence: Sullivan’s vote for the HALT Fentanyl Act in March 2025. Sullivan was one of 84 senators to vote for the bill, which classified fentanyl-related substances as schedule I narcotics. But Sullivan did not lead the effort to pass the HALT Fentanyl Act. He was not the bill’s sponsor or one of its 16 original co-sponsors. (Sullivan became a co-sponsor on March 6, 2025, about a week before it passed the Senate).

The Alaska Navigator also reports that “Retired Alaska Wildlife Trooper Director Doug Massie, who spent 25 years in law enforcement… credits Senator Sullivan with supporting tougher penalties for traffickers and policies aimed at reducing the drug’s impact on communities throughout the state.” But there is no direct quote from Massie, who is running for the Alaska state legislature as a Republican, or an explanation of why Sullivan deserves credit. There is no record of Massie making a public statement about Sullivan on fentanyl or any other topic.

Both the content and tone are highly unusual for an independent news outlet. That is because the Alaska Navigator is not an independent news outlet. Rather, it is a website fully controlled by One Nation, a dark money group that works in concert with the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), the super PAC of Senate Republicans. One Nation has directly contributed over $70 million to the SLF this political cycle.

Other content published by Alaska Navigator includes “Senator Dan S. Sullivan’s Legislative Record of Supporting Alaska’s Veterans,” “Sen. Sullivan’s tax policy helps Alaska businesses thrive,” and “Opinion: Dan Sullivan has earned another term by delivering for Alaska.”

One Nation has ensured that Alaskans see this content by spending tens of thousands of dollars on Meta ads promoting Alaska Navigator articles since June. These ads further distort reality. For example, the fentanyl article was promoted with an ad declaring there was a “New Bill to Crack Down on Fentanyl Trafficking, Supported By Dan Sullivan.” But the only bill mentioned in the article was the HALT Fentanyl Act, which was signed into law in July 2025.

While the ad discloses it was paid for by One Nation, it does not disclose that Alaska Navigator is owned and operated by One Nation. That fact is only revealed in small, faint type at the very bottom of the Alaska Navigator website.

Alaska Navigator’s domain, thealaskanavigator.com, was registered on March 20, 2026. The website, however, includes an article dating back to January 2026, making it appear more established. That article was added using a tool called FakerPress, according to the website’s source code. FakerPress markets itself as “a clean way to generate fake and dummy content.”

The fake Alaska news outlet is one of at least six operated by One Nation in states with key U.S. Senate races. Popular Information identified these sites through disclosures in their Meta advertisements. The other five sites in the network include:

Maine Policy Updates (“Maine’s News Source”)

Ohio Pulse (“Your trusted source for local news, investigative journalism, and community stories across the Buckeye State”)

Iowa Voice (“Stay Informed. Stay Iowa”)

Peach State Post (“Georgia’s Premier News Source”)

New Hampshire Daily (“An independent news organization dedicated to covering the stories that matter most to Granite State residents”)

Collectively, One Nation has spent between $198,900 and $274,640 promoting these sites on Meta platforms. Maine Policy Updates has been operating since January, but most of the ad spending for the other sites began in June.

Iowa Voice features a story headlined, “Iowa Farmers Say Potential ‘Death Tax’ Threatens Family Succession Plans.” The piece praises Ashley Hinton, the Republican candidate for Senate, for being “an original cosponsor of the Death Tax Repeal Act, legislation that would permanently repeal the federal estate tax.” The piece highlights that supporters of the bill believe it would “make it easier for family farms and small businesses to remain in family hands across multiple generations.” The piece does not mention that the estate tax impacts only 0.3% of farms. It also does not quote or paraphrase a single farmer.

Other content on these sites mirrors One Nation’s TV ads. A July 30 article on Peach State Post falsely suggests that Senator Jon Ossoff opposes increasing the Child Tax Credit. A One Nation political ad, which has blanketed the state over the last several days, contains the same attack.

The sites attempt to appear more legitimate by cutting and pasting content from actual news outlets. The Peach State Post recently published a story under the headline “Former Atlanta city officials Bickers, Beard who were convicted in corruption cases denied clemency by Trump.” At the end of the piece it says, “Read more here” and links to 11Alive, an Atlanta news website. But the story on Peach State Post contains the full text of 11Alive’s story. There is nothing more to read. There is no indication that Peach State Post secured permission to repost 11Alive’s work. The article is presented as Peach State Post’s original work.

One Nation, which is organized as a 501(c)(4), is not required to disclose its donors. So it is unknown who is bankrolling its fake websites or other activities.

One Nation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Popular Information is an independent newsletter dedicated to accountability journalism. 

The post Dark money group backing Senate Republicans launches network of fake news sites appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

The U.S. Department of Education is expected to award $41.3 million in grant funding through the Alaska Native Education Program to 26 Alaska grantees after some delay, according to an announcement from Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

The grant funding was expected on July 1, but has been delayed more than a month. Grantees alerted Murkowski’s office they had not yet received the funding, prompting Murkowski to press the U.S. Sec. of Education Linda…

Continue reading — subscribe to unlock the full article.

A small cruise ship operating in Southeast Alaska made an unexpected detour on Monday night to help a 21-foot skiff that ran out of fuel between Petersburg and Juneau.

Michael Love, a software developer from New York City, was a passenger aboard the cruise ship and described the event on social media. 

What got his attention the most wasn’t the rescue itself — it was when the captain announced that the yacht of billionaire Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg was closer and hadn’t answered the radio call for help.

“There was near unanimous booing when the captain announced this,” he said in a post on the social media network Bluesky.

Vessel tracking services in the area back up that account — they show the $300 million, 387-foot yacht Launchpad slowing to a halt outside Farragut Bay as the UnCruise Adventures ship Wilderness Legacy steams around and past the Launchpad, stops at the apparent site of the skiff, then tows it into sheltered Farragut Bay.

Through a Bluesky message, Love said it was nice to be on a boat that was engaging with its surroundings in a positive way.

“Frankly, if I was Mark Zuckerberg I would be absolutely ecstatic at a chance to do something helpful for someone in need and maybe get some good PR out of it,” he said.

Social media accounts responding to Love’s account accused the yacht’s crew of violating international agreements that mandate aid from the nearest ship to one in distress.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard and the Marine Exchange of Alaska, which monitors ship traffic in Alaska, there was no distress call — just a general request for assistance.

Coast Guard Public Affairs Specialist Shannon Shepard said by email that the Coast Guard heard the call for help just after 9:30 p.m. Monday night.

“At approximately 9:56 p.m., the Coast Guard determined they were not in distress and issued a marine assistance request broadcast on their behalf,” she said. 

John Hollingsworth is the chief operations officer of the Marine Exchange, which is based in Juneau and repeated the broadcast. 

“We did assist the Coast Guard with callouts on our radio and (were) able to hail the Wilderness Legacy who ended up rendering assistance,” he said.

“From my experience, I know that situations like this contain myriad details for the vessels involved, so the AIS (tracking) snippet you obtained only reveals one of those details,” he said by email. “I do know that Wilderness Legacy is an UnCruise vessel and is very familiar with Alaska waters, so that may have contributed to them rendering assistance quickly.”

No information was available Friday about who may have been aboard the Launchpad on Monday evening. The Launchpad has been in Southeast Alaska for much of the summer. 

After the initial publication of this article, a spokesperson for Mark Zuckerberg emailed a statement: “Mark and his family were not on board at the time of the incident. As the Coast Guard noted, the boat was not in distress, and by the time the crew reviewed the Coast Guard contact on a different radio channel from the one they were operating on, the assist was already underway. We’re grateful all parties are safe.”

The Wilderness Legacy’s detour is the second incidence of aid rendered by a small cruise ship in Southeast Alaska within two weeks. On July 30, the National Geographic Quest assisted a family who had to swim to shore in Glacier Bay National Park after a humpback whale sank their sailboat.

Dan Blanchard, who owns UnCruise, said he wasn’t initially aware of the Wilderness Legacy’s detour because “this kind of aid is such a common thing that it does not always rise to my attention.”

Sarah Scoltock, a spokeswoman for UnCruise, said the Wilderness Legacy was able to refuel the skiff after towing it into a sheltered area.

“The next day the (Wilderness Legacy’s) captain, Sean Manske, contacted them and received word they made it safely to Petersburg,” she said by email.

The post Cruise ship helps stranded skiff and crew in Southeast Alaska as Zuckerberg yacht stands by appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

Volunteers are circulating a ballot initiative petition this week to reduce the senior property tax exemption from $300,000 to $200,000.

Reducing this exemption is necessary in order for our government to fully fund essential services without depleting our town’s savings. If 297 signatures are gathered by Aug. 12, voters will have the opportunity to decide this matter in the October municipal election.

A Haines voter initiative in 2024 that increased the senior property tax exemption…

Continue reading — subscribe to unlock the full article.