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Author: alaskaadmin
One month old twins are seen in April 2026 (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
More Alaska infants and toddlers who are experiencing developmental delays or disabilities can be eligible for early intervention services under a new law now in effect. But service providers say more funding is critical to meet the needs of Alaskan children and families.
The bill expands eligibility criteria that proponents say will allow earlier, targeted interventions for children from infancy to age three who are experiencing developmental delays or disabilities. The Alaska Legislature approved the legislation with bipartisan support by a vote of 59 to 1. Gov. Mike Dunleavy allowed Senate Bill 178 to go into law without his signature last month.
Previously, Alaska children had to demonstrate a 50% delay in order to be eligible for early intervention services. Under the new law, the requirement was reduced to a 25% delay, thus expanding eligibility and allowing more children to receive services and interventions.
Statewide, there are 17 infant learning programs that provide early intervention services funded by the state and federal Medicaid, at no cost to families. Intervention services can include screenings and assessments; targeted speech, feeding and movement therapies; and education and counseling for families on child development.
Amy Simpson is the executive director of the Program for Infants and Children, Inc. the largest provider of infant learning program services serving the Anchorage area, as well as rural communities in the Lake and Peninsula Borough approximately 200 miles southwest across Cook Inlet.
“It’s very exciting,” Simpson said of the bill’s passage in an interview Friday. “This will allow us to serve families and children sooner, so they don’t have to fall so far behind before we’re able to give them some support and help in learning, and you know catching up on their developmental milestones.”
Infant learning programs serve an estimated 1,800 families in Alaska each year, and Simpson said it’s been very difficult to turn children away who did not meet eligibility requirements.
“It’s a really difficult thing to sit with a parent and say, ‘Oh, you know, we’re really worried about your child’s development, and they are clearly behind their peers, but they’re not behind enough.’ And so then we give them referrals to private therapists in the community, but you know, in most communities in Alaska, there’s not a list of private therapists to help families,” she said.
Laura Norton-Cruz is a social worker, filmmaker and advocate who produced a film spotlighting infant learning program successes in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough region to push for the legislation for expanding eligibility, more awareness and funding for early intervention services in Alaska. “I was elated,” she said, of the bill becoming law on Friday.
“Being able to see and hear from families about what a big difference it made, both because it’s highly effective and because sometimes they’re on wait lists forever to get into other kinds of therapies,” she said. “Every day, if there’s a developmental issue or a delay, it can get worse, and so it’s very, very important to have timely support.”
But now with the new expanded eligibility, Simpson with the Program for Infants and Children said they are expecting a 77% increase in children who are eligible and funding is limited to help provide those services.
Dunleavy vetoed $3 million in additional state grant funding approved by the Legislature to support infant learning programs. Legislators also approved a $2.7 million funding increase intended to offset inflation which Dunleavy did not veto. State funding for the program totals $10.1 million this fiscal year.
“So this might be a little bit of a hollow victory for kids and families if funding doesn’t permit us to expand eligibility, which really could make a huge difference,” Simpson said.
The legislation does provide for over $450,000 for the Alaska Department of Health to implement the changes in policy, including two new full time positions to manage expanded eligibility, billing and statewide staff training. The bill also expands the services eligible for Medicaid reimbursement, which Simpson said will be helpful.
In particular, she said, serving rural communities only accessible by boat or plane requires more expensive travel for specialists and therapists to visit families to provide services. “So we’ll have to kind of see how that goes… if billing for services for all early intervention services will provide enough income for us to expand our staffing,” Simpson said. “I’m hopeful that it will, but I’m not certain.”
The Senate Health and Social Services committee sponsored the legislation, which was backed by the bipartisan Alaska Children’s Caucus of House and Senate legislators.
Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, cited research on the Senate floor ahead of a vote on the bill in May that found nearly half of children who received early intervention services at age three did not require special education services when they reached kindergarten.
“That equates to an average of $229,071 of potential savings over the course of that child’s K-12 education,” she said. She estimated state savings at $39 million per year.
“But the most important piece of this is helping support children and families,” she said.
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Spain advanced to the semifinals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday, but its latest victory joined a list of unimpressive performances that it’s had during this tournament. “I don’t know if it’s a great team,” Alexi Lalas said on Friday’s “State of the Union.” “The rhythm and the beauty, for lack of a better word, that we’ve associated with them has not yet really found its way in this tournament. Spain narrowly beat Belgium 2-1 in their quarterfinals matchup on Friday, with goals from Fabián Ruiz and Mikel Merino, the latter of whom scored the 88th-minute match-winner. In the background of it all was Lamine Yamal, who went a fourth-straight match without recording a goal contribution. “Lamine Yamal, once again, was stymied,” Lalas said. “That’s a credit to Belgium, but he’s yet to have a breakout type of game.” Luis de la Fuente has continued to count on Yamal due to the 18-tear-old’s unquestionable talent, but Yamal’s teammates have put pressure on him with their performances off of the bench. “He plays on a team with plenty of talent, including the ability to make changes that come on and obviously affected the game here,” Lalas said. But Spain’s problems on offense go far beyond Yamal. The goal Spain gave up on Friday was the first it conceded all tournament, but Yamal and the Spanish attack have largely underwhelmed. Spain has scored 11 goals in six matches, but has scored two or fewer goals in four of its matches. Yamal has been front-and-center of those scoring struggles. He’s only scored once in this tournament and has yet to record an assist, logging an xG (expected goals) of 1.54 and xA (expected assists) of 1.01. And even though Yamal won Man of the Match on Friday, he struggled to get quality touches in the box. Just two of his six shots were on target, too. Lalas didn’t go as far as to say that Yamal should be benched against France. However, he implied that Spain got lucky with its win on Friday, considering that Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois departed the game in the 71st minute due to injury. “It’s not just taking off a goalkeeper; it’s taking off one of the great goalkeepers in the world,” Lalas said. “And, as the soccer Gods would have it, it ultimately leads to the goal that Spain wins the game on. Spain goes on. What more can you say about this game?” As Lalas alluded to, Spain scored the game-winning goal in the 88th minute when Mikel Merino buried a rebound opportunity after Belgium goalkeeper Senne Lemmens failed to corral a save. Still, Spain is in the semifinals for the first time since it won the World Cup in 2010. It’s also going up against a France squad that it has fared well against in recent years, winning its last two matches against France. One of those matches was the semifinals at UEFA Euro 2024, and Yamal has won all five knockout stage matches against Kylian Mbappé in his career (including club). But as Yamal and Spain might feel confident ahead of Tuesday’s semifinal, France has arguably looked like the best team of the tournament. Les Bleus have won their first six matches, outscoring their opponents by 14 goals so far. That’s why Lalas believes Spain is an underdog to France in the semifinal. “Based on this tournament’s performance, I wouldn’t put it at 50/50, but I wouldn’t put it out of the realm of possibility that Spain wins,” Lalas said. “You can even hear them in the way they were talking after the game about what is to come. They certainly don’t fear France, nor should they. They’ve matched up well against them. “But this particular version of Spain, in this particular moment, if you compare and contrast with what France is, I think the logical conclusion is that the favorite is France. So, I don’t think it’s a 50/50 proposition.”Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
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Murat Yakin was prepared for the first question. “How can you stop [Lionel] Messi?” a reporter asked Switzerland’s manager one day before his side takes on defending champion Argentina in the World Cup quarterfinals. “This is a very surprising question,” Yakin said, laughing. “First of all, there are many solutions, and we’ll try to find the best solution,” Yakin continued via an interpreter on Friday morning from Kansas City. “Tomorrow on the pitch, we will perform as a unit. We will try to make good passes and press high. We can talk a lot, but in the end, [we have to perform] on the pitch.” The 39-year-old Messi has scored eight goals in five matches at this World Cup, defying age while producing one of the most extraordinary tournaments of his career — and one of the greatest individual performances ever. The Argentine captain hasn’t hidden his emotions along the way. In the round of 16 against Egypt, he missed a first-half penalty before redeeming himself with an assist on Cristian Romero’s 79th-minute goal. Four minutes later, Messi found the equalizer himself, setting the stage for Enzo Fernández’s stoppage-time header that completed Argentina’s dramatic 3-2 comeback. He was in tears after the match. “I don’t know if we can stop him over 90 minutes,” Swiss captain Granit Xhaka said of Messi on Friday, via interpretation. “It’s going to be very difficult. We have to be smart. We’ll have to be compact, close the gaps and not give him too many spaces. We will try, obviously, to play in possession when we have the ball, and he won’t be able to act as much. We’ll just try to play our game and not allow him to play the ball.” Switzerland has not reached a World Cup quarterfinal in 72 years. The last time was in 1954, when it hosted the tournament and lost 7-5 to Austria in what is still the highest-scoring match in World Cup history. Four players combined for all 12 goals, with two recording hat tricks and two others scoring braces. Saturday marks the first World Cup meeting between Switzerland and Argentina since 2014, when the nations met in the round of 16 in Brazil. Argentina won, 1-0, in extra time thanks to Ángel Di María’s 118th-minute winner, assisted by Messi. That was Xhaka’s first World Cup. “It was not the most pleasant moment,” Xhaka, 33, said. “I think we performed very well. We could have scored — we should have scored. Now, 12 years later, we are back and this time, we will try to win against Argentina. “We have a new team, a new mentality and a new generation of players. Football in Switzerland has improved a lot, and tomorrow we will try to really bother Argentina. We have become stronger — not only in this tournament, but in the last couple of years.” Switzerland enters this showdown unbeaten, winning four of its five matches at this World Cup and drawing the opener against Qatar. The squad is fresh off a tense round of 16 battle, defeating Colombia in a penalty shootout. Argentina, meanwhile, has been challenged in its last two knockout matches. The defending champions were pushed to the brink of a penalty shootout against debutant Cape Verde in the round of 32 before rallying from behind to defeat Egypt. Both games were considered among the best — and most thrilling — of the tournament so far. The Swiss are keenly aware of how La Albiceleste have been able to find a way in the final moments. Xhaka’s message to his squad is that they need to “bring our A game.” “We’ve tried to bring this mentality to Switzerland that it’s not over until the referee’s [final] whistle,” said Xhaka, who plays for Premier League club Sunderland and is familiar with many of the players on Argentina’s roster. “Just go all in, try to come back, try to bring the hunger to win the games, and I think Argentina can be a big example of what we can do as well in our future, and maybe tomorrow as well.” Beating Argentina would be a monumental achievement for Switzerland, which has never been to a World Cup semifinal. “I am not here to talk,” Xhaka said. “I want to take the next steps, and we’re very close to the end. I’m yearning for it, I am hungry, and now we just need to show how much we really want it on the pitch. “I am a person who always dreams and dreams can come true,” the captain added. “You need to work, you need to sweat, you need to give it 100 percent. And sometimes, you need to do something new. You really need to push your limits if you want to beat Argentina, and I’m convinced my team is ready.”Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
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Juneau Weather: Friday, July 10, 2026
Friday Night: Steady light rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low 49F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Saturday: Cloudy skies. High 63F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
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