Category: Alaska News

The Alaska Supreme Court on Friday upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit by former state Sen. Lora Reinbold, R-Eagle River, against the state of Alaska and the Alaska Legislature’s committee on legislative ethics.

Reinbold had sued the committee and the state’s executive branch in 2022 after the committee concluded that Reinbold had violated the Legislative Ethics Act by blocking people from commenting on her legislative Facebook page “solely for expressing opinions in disagreement with her own.” 

Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews dismissed Reinbold’s case in 2024. She unsuccessfully asked Matthews to reconsider, then appealed to the Supreme Court. 

Writing on behalf of the court — which ruled unanimously — Justice Dario Borghesan said, “At no point did the Ethics Committee act outside the statutorily defined investigative process. Therefore, its actions are protected by legislative immunity.”

That immunity derives from Article II, Section 6 of the Alaska Constitution, which states that “Legislators may not be held to answer before any other tribunal for any statement made in exercise of their legislative duties while the legislature is in session.”

Reinbold argued that immunity should not apply because her due process rights were violated. 

“But legislative immunity applies even to claims that a legislative body has violated the right to due process,” Borghesan wrote.

Reinbold, reached by text message on Friday morning, said she was unable to immediately talk about the issue because she was at an event with U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.

Johnson is in Alaska this week as part of a trip to boost the re-election campaign of U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III, R-Alaska.

After the publication of this article, Reinbold said by text message that she is considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In Friday’s 19-page order, Borghesan states that a plaintiff or defendant could make an argument that immunity conflicts with the Alaska Constitution’s guarantee — under Article I, Section 7 — of “fair and just treatment in the course of executive legislative and executive investigations.”

In this case, neither plaintiffs nor defendants briefed that argument, Borghesan said. Reinbold briefly raised the argument, he said, but “offer(ed) no legal authority to help us interpret this constitutional provision.”

“Because Reinbold’s assertion that the Ethics Committee violated her right to fair and just treatment was not adequately briefed, we do not consider it,” he said.

The court’s order this week also upholds Judge Matthews’ decision to deny Reinbold the chance to amend her legal complaint. Reinbold had requested to change it after the deadline to do so.

In addition, the order upholds Matthews’ decision to dismiss claims against the executive branch as moot.

Reinbold had objected to a letter from the governor saying that neither he nor other members of the administration would work with her because she repeatedly spread misinformation about the state’s response to COVID-19.

“Reinbold is no longer a legislator, so we could not order the executive branch to work with her,” Borghesan wrote. 

Reinbold had argued that a similar case could arise in the future and that the issue is not moot. 

But Borghesan said that if a similar case arises between another legislator and another governor in the future, the court will consider those arguments at that time.

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Friday Night: Cloudy skies with periods of light rain late. Low 53F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Saturday: Rain showers early with overcast skies later in the day. High 63F. Winds light and variable.…

Friday Night: Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. Low 52F. Winds light and variable. Saturday: Mostly cloudy skies early will become partly cloudy later in the day. High 69F. Winds light and variable.

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. 

Helena, Mont. — Volunteers in the Elkhorn Mountains from Helena helped reopen a trail system after windstorms left heavy forest downfall that added to wildfire fuel concerns.

Federal fishery managers would start analyzing the DNA collected in ocean waters to help inform their decisions, under a bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate, Alaska’s Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said on Thursday.

Called the Fisheries Science Modernization Act, the bill would set up a system for the use of environmental DNA, known as eDNA, in fishery management. The bill would establish a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration pilot program using eDNA to assess fishery stocks, require NOAA to develop an agency-wide eDNA implementation plan and direct the agency to routinely collect eDNA samples and integrate that form of surveillance into its fisheries research and ecosystem monitoring.

Along with Murkowski, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, is a prime sponsor of the measure. Cosponsors are Sens. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska; Jeff Merkley. D-Oregon; Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland; Patty Murray, D-Washington; Angus King, I-Maine; and Adam Schiff, D-California.

The measure comes as Trump administration cuts have reduced NOAA Fisheries’ science capabilities. Mass firings, coupled with the prolonged government shutdown of late 2025, hampered NOAA Fisheries’ ability to assess Alaska fish stocks just as managers were preparing to set this year’s harvest limits, for example.

Surveillance by eDNA detects the presence of species by analyzing fragments of genetic material left in water, soil or other environmental settings. It is considered a useful emerging tool for a variety of scientific studies, including fisheries science.

A key advantage of eDNA is its cost-effectiveness, compared to traditional surveying. In a statement, Murkowski referred to that attribute.

“Environmental DNA is an innovative, cost-effective tool that will give our scientists a clearer picture of our fisheries while expanding survey coverage and reducing costs. This legislation is the product of extensive collaboration with NOAA, Alaska fishermen, Tribal partners, academia, and industry to modernize how we assess fish stocks using the best available science,” Murkowski said in the statement.

Other advantages include the ability to track abundance of species regardless of developmental stage and the ability to detect the presence of rare or invasive species.

Shortcomings include the potential for disturbances or contamination of DNA fragments left in the environment and time lags that may make species distribution analysis inaccurate.

The Fisheries Science Modernization Act does not intend for eDNA analysis to replace traditional surveys. Rather, this type of analysis would be a supplement, according to Murkowski’s statement.

The idea has support from several Alaska fishing organizations, as well as from environmental groups and scientists.

“Environmental DNA is a promising new tool for fisheries and ecosystem assessment that could improve fisheries management while also lowering costs,” Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, said in Murkowski’s statement. “Senator Murkowski’s Fisheries Science Modernization Act will advance this technology while also improving oversight and collaboration.” 

David Lodge, a Cornell University ecologist specializing in eDNA research, also welcomed the development.

“I am delighted to see this legislative effort to accelerate the use of eDNA in government decision making. The bill builds on on-going efforts by NOAA to bring the best available technology to fisheries stock assessments to enable better, cheaper and more timely future stock assessments,” he said in a social media post.