Tag: election

Categories
Featured Juneau News Juneau Local Ketchikan Local News Feeds Sitka Local

Gov. Dunleavy approves Alaska National Guard assisting ICE in Anchorage

Corinne Smith, Alaska Beacon

Members of the Alaska Air and Army National Guard, Alaska Naval Militia, and Alaska State Defense Force work together to load plywood onto a CH-47 Chinook helicopter, in Bethel, Alaska, Nov. 2, 2025, bound for the villages of Napaskiak, Tuntutuliak, and Napakiak. The materials will help residents rebuild homes and restore community spaces damaged by past storms. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Spc. Ericka Gillespie)

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has approved a U.S. Defense Department request for Alaska National Guard service members to assist the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Anchorage with “administrative support,” the guard office announced Tuesday.

The Alaska National Guard said five service members will assist with “administrative and logistical” duties at the Anchorage ICE office for up to a year. 

“The Alaska National Guard members are administratively supporting the Enforcement & Removal Operations section and Homeland Security Investigations section, ensuring seamless operations at the Anchorage ICE office. Their mission includes a wide range of duties, from vehicle fleet management and safety compliance to office support and processing purchase orders,” the Guard statement said. 

The announcement included a list of clerical duties, including data entry and creating reports, answering phones, managing fleet vehicles and checking fire extinguishers. Officials said the partnership is authorized by Title 32 Section 502(f) of the U.S. Code, which enables National Guard members to perform additional duties under the direction of the President or Secretary of Defense. 

Grant Robinson, Dunleavy’s deputy press secretary, confirmed the governor approved the request.

“The Alaska National Guard members joined the guard to serve our nation. This support they are providing the Anchorage ICE office is in service of the nation,” he said by email Tuesday.

Grant did not say whether the National Guard would provide further assistance with immigration enforcement actions.

“Any future requests for administrative and logistical support will be considered on a case by case basis,” he said.

The Trump administration has continued to accelerate immigration enforcement operations, and officials have promised to “limit legal and illegal immigration,” after the shooting of two National Guard service members in Washington, D.C. last week. The Trump administration has also continued to roll back humanitarian programs for immigrants, including ending the temporary protected status of 330,000 nationals from Haiti last week.  

While ICE has been conducting mass raids, court house arrests and large-scale detentions and deportation operations across the United States, in Alaska ICE has focused enforcement efforts on specific individuals identified through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services or having interactions with law enforcement, according to the ACLU of Alaska. 

Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage is the co-chair of the Alaska Joint Armed Services Committee and has been outspoken about his concerns about the Alaska National Guard being deployed domestically for “civil disturbance operations.” 

“I see it’s a long list of boring, banal administrative tasks that are in no way controversial or concerning in and of themselves,” he said of the National Guard announcement. “What’s concerning is that Alaska ICE is requesting additional support, and the assumption that I make is that it’s because Alaska ICE intends to be doing more detainments, and intends to be doing more field operations in which they’re going to need this administrative support behind them. So that’s my concern.”

Gray was reached by phone Tuesday leaving a meeting with U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan in Washington, D.C. Gray said he expressed his concerns at the meeting about the leadership of U.S. Department of Defense, which the Trump administration has renamed the “Department of War,” and Secretary Pete Hegseth. 

Gray said he’s also concerned about a wider chilling effect of ICE activity and increased immigration enforcement in Alaska.

“It’s going to increase fear, not only in the undocumented folks that might be in Anchorage and the rest of Alaska, but also fear in people who are here legally, and even U.S. citizens who might be mistaken for someone who might be undocumented,” he said. 

An October investigation by ProPublica found that more than 170 U.S. citizens were detained by ICE in raids and at protests, and the government does not track how many citizens are held by immigration agents. 

Dunleavy’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the concern around ICE overreaching its authority, and arresting and detaining U.S. citizens. 

“It seems that Alaska’s notorious SNAP backlog caused by a lack of workforce doing many of the tasks in this memo would be much better use of our Guard,” Gray added. “Why not deploy Guard members to feed Alaskans instead of deploying them to earn brownie points with the Trump administration?”

Cindy Woods, senior staff attorney on immigration rights with the ACLU of Alaska, said they have tracked at least 70 ICE arrests this year, as reported in the custody of the Alaska Department of Corrections. That’s an almost 500% increase from last year. 

“We have been seeing a growing ICE presence in the state and a growing trend of ICE enforcement,” she said. The ICE activity has been largely in Anchorage, she said. 

“We are very concerned about what this signals in relation to our state government’s willingness to cooperate with federal law enforcement, specifically in relation to ICE enforcement operations,” she said of the National Guard announcement. “I think it can’t be overstated the negative impact that increased enforcement has had across the country and Alaska, unfortunately, is not immune to that.”

An estimated 7.7% of the population, or more than 57,000 people, in Alaska are foreign-born, Woods pointed out, and the Trump administration’s continued restrictions on paths to legal immigration and citizenship, as well as humanitarian and refugee resettlement programs are impacting Alaskans. 

“It’s kind of an assault from both sides, and so we’re really concerned about that as well,” she said.

Woods said the ACLU is not aware of any U.S. citizens being detained by ICE in Alaska, but there is heightened scrutiny. 

“One case that we have heard of recently is of a longtime Anchorage resident who has been happily married and was going to their interview for their green card based on that marriage, and being arrested with basically accusations of marriage fraud,” she said. “And so we’re seeing folks who are in affirmative applications, who are not in any sort of civil enforcement proceedings, who are also being subject to heightened scrutiny and enforcement actions.”

Categories
Featured Juneau News Juneau Local Ketchikan Local News Feeds Sitka Local

Costco becomes biggest company yet to demand refund of Trump tariffs

AP- Costco is joining other companies that aren’t waiting to see whether the Supreme Court strikes down President Donald Trump’s most sweeping import taxes. They’re going to court to demand refunds on the tariffs they’ve paid.

The U.S. Court of International Trade and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington ruled earlier this year that Trump’s biggest and boldest import taxes are illegal. The case is now before the Supreme Court. In a Nov. 5 hearing, several of the high court’s justices expressed doubts that the president had sweeping power to declare national emergencies to impose tariffs on goods from almost every country on earth.

If the court strikes down the tariffs, importers may be entitled to refunds on the levies they’ve paid. “It’s uncertain whether refunds will be granted and, if so, how much,” said Brent Skorup, a legal fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute. ”But the possibility has prompted many companies — including Costco — to file actions in the U.S. Court of International Trade to get in line, so to speak, for potential refunds.”

In a complaint filed last week with the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York, Costco said it is demanding the money back now “to ensure that its right to a complete refund is not jeopardized.″ The operator of warehouse-sized stores expressed concern that it could not get a refund once the tariff bills have have gone through liquidation by Customs and Border Protection, a process Costco says will start Dec. 15.

Revlon and canned seafood and chicken producer Bumble Bee Foods have made similar arguments in the trade court.

The tariffs facing the court challenged have raised around $90 billion so far. Trump warned back in August that the loss of his tariffs would destroy that American economy and lead to “1929 all over again, a GREAT DEPRESSION!”

Categories
Featured Juneau News Juneau Local Ketchikan Local News Feeds Sitka Local

Governor picks acting commissioner for permanent role as Alaska natural resources leader

By: Yereth Rosen, Alaska Beacon

John Crowther, center, listens during a Nov. 13, 2025, panel discussion at the annual Resource Development Council for Alaska conference in Anchorage. At the time, Crowther was the acting commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. At left is Kara Moriarity, senior adviser for Alaska Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior, and at right is Kevin Pendergast, Alaska state director for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Gov. Mike Dunleavy has selected Crowther to lead the department on a permanent basis. (Photo by John Whipple/State of Alaska)

John Crowther, who stepped in as acting commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources last month after John Boyle, the previous commissioner, resigned abruptly, is the governor’s choice for the more permanent position.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced Friday he will ask the Legislature to confirm Crowther as the commissioner once the 2026 session gets underway.

John Crowther, formerly serving as the deputy commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, was tapped by Gov. Mike Dunleavy as acting head in October and commissioner-designee on Nov. 28, 2025. (Photo courtesy of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources)
John Crowther, formerly serving as the deputy commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, was tapped by Gov. Mike Dunleavy as acting head in October and commissioner-designee on Nov. 28, 2025. (Photo courtesy of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources)

“John Crowther brings a deep understanding of Alaska’s natural resources and a proven commitment to responsible stewardship. His balanced approach to development and conservation makes him an exceptional choice to lead the Department of Natural Resources and serve the long-term interests of Alaskans,” Dunleavy said in a statement.

Crowther is a department veteran, having joined DNR in 2012. Prior to being named acting commissioner, he served as deputy commissioner managing the department’s oil and gas project permitting and geological survey divisions.

After his first years working for DNR, Crowther served from late 2017 to January 2019 as Alaska’s director of state and federal relations under then-Gov. Bill Walker, according to his professional biography. From January 2019 to January 2021, he served as a U.S. Senate Natural Resources Committee aide to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. After that, he returned to DNR, the governor’s statement said.

“The Department’s constitutional mission to develop, conserve and maximize the use of Alaska’s natural resources is critical to our state,” Crowther said in the governor’s statement. “I will continue working as hard as I can to advance this mission and improve Alaska’s future through stewardship and responsible use of our resources. I am honored and humbled to accept the Governor’s designation and enthusiastic to lead the dedicated professionals of DNR.”

Crowther is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Georgetown University Law School.

Categories
Featured Juneau News Juneau Local Ketchikan Local News Feeds Sitka Local

Alaska state utility regulators approve secrecy orders for billionaire’s takeover of GCI

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska has unanimously approved a series of requests for financial secrecy filed by attorneys representing John Malone, the telecom billionaire seeking to take a controlling interest in Alaska’s largest internet firm.

The approval means Malone will not be required to publish his personal finances and that the financial condition of three GCI-related subsidiaries will also remain secret. The finances of GCI Liberty, the parent company, are already public due to required filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

In October, Malone, 84, told the Wall Street Journal that he would be stepping away from day-to-day operations of his various companies but would retain his controlling interests. Bloomberg has estimated his net worth to be approximately $10.6 billion.

The approval was published just before 4 p.m. on Black Friday. The five governor-appointed commissioners said they were granting the requests because they were in line with the commission’s prior practices, because they don’t have the power to regulate much of GCI Liberty’s business, and because “the public interest in disclosure of the financial information of (the three subsidiaries) is outweighed by the potential competitive financial disadvantages demonstrated in the petition.”

The chair of GCI’s parent company, GCI Liberty, Malone holds shares controlling 53.5% of GCI Liberty’s voting power. But Malone’s personal power has been restricted until recently to 49.32% of the company’s voting power, regulatory filings state.

Now, Malone is seeking to increase his voting power above 50%. 

The commission’s Friday order does not decide that request; it addressed the combined requests for financial secrecy on behalf of Malone and the three GCI Liberty subsidiaries.

Alaskans submitted a combined 67 comments across three dockets related to Malone’s proposal. Almost all were opposed to the request for secrecy. 

In a response to those comments, Malone’s attorneys said “no legitimate public interest will be served by requiring (Malone) to file his personal financial information.”

The response also said that “the acquisition … will be seamless and transparent to customers because the GCI companies will continue to provide the same services to Alaska customers under their same experienced management. There will be no operational or management changes to the GCI companies as a result of the acquisition.”

GCI’s attorneys had argued that the financial statements of the three subsidiaries should stay confidential because GCI’s competitors were not required to reveal their finances, and it would be unfair for them to open their books.

“We find that disclosure … might create a competitive or financial disadvantage,” the regulators concluded.

In addition, unlike the way that water and power utilities’ rates are regulated by the RCA, GCI’s prices are not regulated by state law. 

For that reason, plus the fact that GCI Liberty’s combined financial statements are publicly available, regulators concluded, “public interest in disclosure … is outweighed by the potential competitive financial disadvantages demonstrated in the petition.”

On the request for secrecy covering Malone himself, Malone’s attorneys argued that he isn’t legally obligated to provide financial support to GCI Liberty, and thus, “requiring the submission of his personal financial information would not advance a public interest objective.”

They also argued that in 2018, when wealthy telecom entrepreneur Jane Eudy obtained full control of several Interior Alaska telecom companies by taking 100% control of American Broadband, a national firm, the RCA did not require her to publicize her finances.

Members of the public argued that disclosure is in the best interests of Alaskans. 

Megan Johnson, one of dozens of people who offered public comments, said, “Telecommunications in Alaska are not just about convenience, they are lifelines for education, healthcare, emergency services, and economic development, especially in rural and Indigenous communities. Decisions made by owners unfamiliar with our terrain, seasonal challenges, and cultural values risk undermining the progress we’ve made in closing the digital divide.”

Kirsa Hughes-Skandijs of Juneau wrote, “I am gravely concerned about the idea of concealing financial information, particularly when it comes to consolidating control of a public good like an ISP, broadcast and telecommunications company.”

Commissioners ultimately sided with Malone.

“We find the circumstances presented in these dockets similar to those we considered (in 2018),” they wrote.

“We find that under the circumstances … no legitimate public interest will be served by requiring Dr. Malone to provide a statement of financial condition.”

Commissioners are scheduled to make a final determination on Malone’s takeover by April 1.

Categories
Featured Juneau News Juneau Local Ketchikan Local News Feeds Sitka Local

Alaska timber industry says it needs more supply to survive

By: Larry Persily, Wrangell Sentinel

U.S. Forest Service workers clear a fallen tree from a trail in the Tongass National Forest. (U.S. Forest Service photo)

It was no surprise that everyone on the timber panel at this month’s Alaska Resource Development Council conference had the same message: The industry needs a larger supply of trees to cut.

And a steady, bankable supply, said Joe Young, of Tok, who started Young’s Timber in Alaska’s Interior more than 30 years ago.

Without long-term timber sales to supply a mill, “bankers will laugh you out of the room” when a mill owner asks for a business loan, Young said.

The Nov. 13 industry panel at the annual conference held in Anchorage also talked about demand for their product and the challenges in meeting that demand.

Juneau attorney Jim Clark, who has spent much of his life representing timber and wood pulp companies, said the Trump administration’s move to rescind the Roadless Rule, which has been around since 2001, could help open areas of the Tongass National Forest to logging.

The ban on road building has bounced between presidential administrations, like a ping pong ball, Clark said. “We’ll see if we can get this over with,” he said of the U.S. Department of Agriculture effort to rescind the rule, which will require an environmental impact statement.

In addition to the Tongass, the Roadless Rules affects tens of millions of acres of national forest lands in western states.

The lack of timber sales, financial pressures and opposition from conservation groups have knocked down Alaska timber industry jobs from almost 4,000 in 1990 to about 700 in 2015 and just 360 in 2024, according to Alaska Department of Labor statistics.

The timber industry in Southeast is getting only one-third of the log supply it needs, said Sarah Dahlstrom, public relations manager for Viking Lumber, which has operated a sawmill in Klawock for about 30 years.

Viking, the second-largest employer on Prince of Wales Island, needs more timber sales on federal, state and municipal lands, she said, contending that the U.S. Forest Service has failed to meet its commitment under a 2016 land management plan.

The mill cuts Sitka spruce, hemlock, red and yellow cedar, Dahlstrom said, and is a leading supplier of wood for piano soundboards and guitars.

“Steinway pianos would not exist if not for old-growth timber from the Tongass,” she said.

In addition to supplying the prized, tight-grain wood to Steinway & Sons’ factory in New York City, Viking supplies piano makers Kawai and Yamaha, and guitar manufacturers Gibson and Martin.

Steinway is worried enough about its wood supply that the company has written Alaska elected officials to advocate for the mill. “We use the top 1% of the top 1% of spruce,” company Chief Executive Ben Steiner told The Wall Street Journal this summer.

Dahlstrom said there are other small operators on Prince of Wales Island, cutting wood for pianos and musical instruments. And they all have the same problem of insufficient and unpredictable supply.

Viking also supplies manufacturers of doors, trim, fences, staircases, railing and window trim nationwide.

She complimented efforts by Wrangell Borough Manager Mason Villarma, who has been working to coordinate timber sales on the island between the state Department of Natural Resources, Alaska Mental Health Trust land office and the borough.

“I was born into a timber family,” she said of her dad and uncle, who built a mill in Hoquiam, Washington, more than 40 years ago, milling timber from the Olympic National Forest. She said she was not happy when her family moved to Klawock in 1994 and her dad and uncle took over the bankrupt mill.

In addition to lumber and boards, Viking sends wood chips south to be used in making corrugated boxes and supplies chips to the Craig School District which burns the wood waste to generate electricity and heat the swimming pool.

“Growing up, I didn’t know how cool it was,” she said of the industry she now calls home after resisting it when she was younger.

Categories
Featured Juneau News Juneau Local Ketchikan Local News Feeds Sitka Local

Dunleavy appoints Rauscher and Tilton to Alaska Senate, opening two House vacancies

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

Speaker of the House Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, talks to fellow lawmakers about rules for debate on House Bill 183 on Saturday, May 11, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has appointed state Reps. George Rauscher, R-Sutton, and Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, to two vacancies in the Alaska Senate.

Each nomination will become effective if at least five of the Senate’s nine other Republicans approve them. Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, said the votes will take place by secret ballot at 10 a.m. Saturday in Anchorage.

“Honestly, I think both of them are excellent candidates,” Stevens said on Wednesday, adding that he expects both to be confirmed.

If Rauscher and Tilton are confirmed, their House seats would become vacant, and Dunleavy would be required to appoint replacements within 30 days of their resignations. 

The two Senate seats became vacant after Sen. Mike Shower, R-Wasilla, resigned to run for lieutenant governor and Sen. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, resigned to run for governor.

The office of former Sen. Mike Shower, R-Wasilla, is seen in the Alaska state Capitol on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. Shower's nameplate has been removed from beside the door, but a sticker commemorating Shower's time as an F-22 fighter pilot remains on the door. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
The office of former Sen. Mike Shower, R-Wasilla, is seen in the Alaska state Capitol on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. Shower’s nameplate has been removed from beside the door, but a sticker commemorating Shower’s time as an F-22 fighter pilot remains on the door. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

Dunleavy’s picks were due no more than 30 days after their resignations, but he acted earlier, which will allow the replacement legislators to take office before the regular legislative session convenes in January.

“I can’t think of two Alaskans more qualified and committed to public service to serve in the Alaska Senate than Representatives Rauscher and Tilton,” Dunleavy said in a statement announcing the selections. “I have known and worked with both for as long as I have been in public office and I look forward to working collaboratively with them as senators. I also want to thank the local Republican district committees for taking the time to meet, deliberate, and send forward names for these seats. This process works best when the people closest to the communities are involved.”

Tilton, first elected to the House in 2014, was Speaker of the House from 2023 through 2024. Reached by phone on Wednesday in the middle of Thanksgiving shopping, she referred to a statement on her Facebook page.

“I look forward to collaborating with my Senate colleagues to advance sensible policy solutions, foster an energy renaissance, and usher in an era of renewed prosperity for all Alaskans,” the statement said in part. 

Rep. George Rauscher, R-Sutton, speaks in favor of the creation of an Alaska Department of Agriculture by executive order on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Rep. George Rauscher, R-Sutton, speaks in favor of the creation of an Alaska Department of Agriculture by executive order on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

Rauscher said he’s already at work on a letter thanking Dunleavy for his appointment, but he declined to say what he thinks his confirmation chances are.

“It’s an honor,” Rauscher said of the appointment, “and I feel like it was quite the undertaking — the process — and to have it this close to seeing what the final outcome is, is always a relief in some ways, but it’s also very exciting that I am this close. So I appreciate the fact that the governor did consider me and thought highly enough of me to appoint me.”

Several senators said they expect Rauscher and Tilton to be confirmed, but each declined to say how he or she will vote, citing the need to work with them regardless.

Of the nine Republican senators who will be voting on this weekend’s confirmations, five are members of the Senate’s bipartisan majority caucus, and four are members of the Senate’s all-Republican minority.

Shower and Hughes were members of the House minority, and their replacements are expected to be as well.

Stevens said he’s conducting the confirmation vote by secret ballot in order to avoid the possibility of hurt feelings.

“I don’t want to have anybody have bad feelings when we start working together in January,” he said.

Stevens said he wants to give the House’s replacement process as much time as possible, since that will involve the appointment of two people new to the Legislature who will need to hire staff and uproot their lives in order to arrive in Juneau in January and be ready to work.

“I just want to make sure the House has all the time they need,” he said.

Categories
Featured Juneau News Juneau Local Ketchikan Local News Feeds Sitka Local

Murkowski offers support to Democratic senator targeted for retribution by Trump administration

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

 The U.S. Capitol on the evening of Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, just hours before a federal government shutdown. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski denounced the Trump administration’s targeting of Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly on Tuesday, saying on social media that its actions are “reckless and flat-out wrong.”

Kelly, a retired astronaut and U.S. Navy officer, was one of six Democratic senators who appeared in a video directed to members of the U.S. military. In that video, they say members of the military are being subject to political pressure and should uphold the Constitution and ignore “illegal orders.”

Afterward, President Donald Trump took to social media to call for all six to be executed for treason. The FBI has begun to make inquiries about the video, and the Department of Defense have vowed to investigate. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has been particularly critical of Kelly.

“Senator Kelly valiantly served our country as an aviator in the U.S. Navy before later completing four space shuttle missions as a NASA astronaut,” Murkowski said. “To accuse him and other lawmakers of treason and sedition for rightfully pointing out that servicemembers can refuse illegal orders is reckless and flat-out wrong. The Department of Defense and FBI surely have more important priorities than this frivolous investigation.”

It has become unusual for elected Republican officials to speak in defense of elected Democrats, particularly when it places them at odds with President Donald Trump, who remains popular among Republican voters, even if his approval overall is low.

Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan previously expressed concerns about the possible politicization of the military during the presidency of Democrat Joe Biden. 

Asked about the situation with Kelly, Sullivan criticized the Democratic video and the administration’s response to it. 

“The Democrats in the video have offered no explanation of what they considered to be an illegal order, sowing confusion and politicizing the ranks in a way that risks undermining military discipline, lethality and readiness,” his office said in a written statement.

The statement went on to say that “he does not believe it is a good use of the Pentagon’s time to investigate Senator Kelly” because “such an investigation has the potential to turn into a major distraction for our military.”

The office of Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, did not return a text message or email seeking comment.

Sullivan’s office requested that his statement be printed in full. Because it has not been published elsewhere, we think there is news value in reprinting it, so it is published below.

“Senator Sullivan strongly disagreed with many actions taken by the Pentagon under Presidents Obama and Biden — such as President Biden’s use of enlisted Marines as political props standing behind him in a very partisan speech in Philadelphia in 2022. But he would never have put out a video — like the one released by Senator Mark Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers — implying that troops should question orders from their superiors. The Democrats in the video have offered no explanation of what they considered to be an illegal order, sowing confusion and politicizing the ranks in a way that risks undermining military discipline, lethality and readiness. 

Instead of using our troops as political pawns, members of Congress should press top Pentagon officials directly on issues over which they have concerns. Senator Sullivan does this regularly in Senate Armed Services Committee hearings and in meetings and phone calls with top Pentagon leaders regardless of which party controls the White House.

While Senator Sullivan believes the message in the video was irresponsible and politically driven, he does not believe it is a good use of the Pentagon’s time to investigate Senator Kelly — who served honorably in the Navy — under the UCMJ, particularly given that the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause would likely take precedence over any UCMJ provision. Such an investigation has the potential to turn into a major distraction for our military. After four years of Biden’s woke military, the Department of War needs to stay laser focused on lethality and war fighting.”

Categories
Featured Juneau News Juneau Local Ketchikan Local News Feeds Sitka Local

180-Day grace period in place as Juneau adapts to tax changes

Downtown Juneau

NOTN- City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ) Utility Billing is applying sales tax exemptions passed in the October 2025 municipal election to CBJ’s December 2025 utility billing period. Residential, non-commercial customers of CBJ water and wastewater will not be charged sales tax starting this December. Residential, non-commercial customers with a current senior sales tax exemption will also receive a 100% sales tax exemption. 

Juneau Mayor Beth Weldon said the changes are intended to remove sales tax from residential utility costs, though the city has instituted a 180-day grace period to correct any misclassifications.

“In order to do the intent the voters wanted, we just had to make a very high level residential versus commercial, and the exemptions are only supposed to be on residential. So we may end up putting some sales tax back on some things if we erroneously labelled them as residential and they were actually commercial. So if houses and that kind of stuff are used for commercial means, like offices or Airbnbs, then they wouldn’t be exempt, necessarily.”

Grocery stores are adapting to the food-tax exemptions as well with each store processing the adoption differently.

Weldon said some stores are automatically removing tax on eligible food items, while others may require customers to separate food from non-food items at checkout. Prepared or hot foods, such as deli fried chicken or macaroni salad, may not exempt under the measure.

Customers who believe they are incorrectly designated as commercial may need to apply for a sales tax exemption card to affirm residential and non-commercial status. Visit juneau.org/finance/sales-tax for more information about Proposition 2 implementation.  

Categories
Featured Juneau News Juneau Local Ketchikan Local News Feeds Sitka Local

Controversial political website Alaska Landmine faces defamation suit from Alaska state official

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

Wooden gavel with books

The chair of Alaska’s human rights commission has sued a political writer for defamation over his description of her work on a failed attempt to preserve a historic building in Seward.

Dorene Lorenz of Juneau filed the suit on Friday in Juneau Superior Court, seeking damages from Jeff Landfield and the other owners of the Alaska Landmine, a popular Alaska political website that publishes a mixture of news, commentary and parody.  

Landfield, who backed Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, also publishes the Alaska Political Report, a sobersided news digest priced at $1,299 per year for lobbyists and others interested in activity at the state Capitol. 

Lorenz’s suit stems from a social media post in which Landfield ridiculed a recent appearance by Lorenz at a United Nations event in Switzerland. 

Landfield went beyond that appearance, which he labeled “bizarre,” and said, “This woman is an absolute nut. Remember when she got in trouble for using … state money for the Jesse Lee Home for herself?”

Lorenz asked for a retraction. Landfield refused, and reiterated his belief in a video posted on Facebook.

Lorenz filed her lawsuit in response, saying Landfield’s claim is false. She asked for financial damages for slander and defamation, a correction and retraction. 

Lorenz, who has experience representing herself in court, filed the lawsuit on her own behalf. 

“She’s a f***ing lunatic,” Landfield said of the lawsuit on Tuesday. 

“Anyone who has themselves as a client is a fool, as the old saying goes,” he said, adding that he looks forward to the discovery process and showing what happened with the Jesse Lee Home.

That building was a former orphanage and the home of Alaska Flag designer Benny Benson in the early 20th century.

During the administration of Gov. Bill Walker, state lawmakers allocated almost $7 million to restore the building, but grants given to a Lorenz-chaired nonprofit called the Friends of the Jesse Lee Home were terminated after a series of “reporting issues and accountability issues.”

Lorenz said by text on Tuesday that most of the grant money was never disbursed to the nonprofit she administered.

In 2018, Fred Parady, then deputy commissioner of the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development, told Alaska Public Media that he didn’t think anyone involved with the project stole money. 

In her legal complaint, Lorenz notes that Landfield was aware of that reporting and repeated his claim anyway.

Under Alaska law — which mirrors federal law — a public official filing a defamation claim needs to prove that someone knew what they were saying was a lie or that they willingly ignored evidence that their statement was a lie. 

By text message, Lorenz said the 2018 reporting by Alaska Public Media shows that the state believed that the Friends of the Jesse Lee Home were spending too much money on classes within the school and not enough on the building itself. 

“Landmine has asserted otherwise, with actual malice, and continues to do so,” she said. “Not cool.”

Categories
Featured Juneau News Juneau Local Ketchikan Local News Feeds Sitka Local

Alaska’s commercial salmon harvest rebounds after ultra-low harvest last year

By: Yereth Rosen, Alaska Beacon

Salmon returning from the ocean attempt to jump Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park and Preserve’s Brooks River on July 12, 2018. Alaska’s commercial salmon harvest this year was nearly twice as big as last year’s small harvest. (Photo by Russ Taylor/National Park Service)

Alaska commercial fishers caught much more salmon in 2025 than they did last year, but the money they earned was modest, according to the statewide harvest report.

The state commercial salmon haul totaled 194.8 million fish, the 12th largest since 1985, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s preliminary annual summary, released this month.

Measured in pounds, the 2025 harvest was about average compared to the last 40 years the agency has been keeping an all-species record, the Fish and Game summary said.

But the amount of money paid to harvesters delivering their fish – known as ex-vessel value – was the 13th lowest since 1975, when adjusted for inflation. This year’s total was $541 million, the department said.

Copper River sockeye salmon fillets are displayed at New Sagaya Midtown Market in Anchorage on June 12, 2025. Sockeye salmon is also called red salmon. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Copper River sockeye salmon fillets are displayed at New Sagaya Midtown Market in Anchorage on June 12, 2025. Sockeye salmon is also called red salmon. This year, sockeye salmon accounted for 58% of the value of Alaska’s total commercial salmon harvest, though it reprsented only about a quarter of the fish caught. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

This year’s totals represent a big improvement from last year, when only 101.2 million salmon were harvested. It was the third lowest haul since 1985 and the ex-vessel value was $304 million, the third lowest since 1975 when adjusted for inflation. In weight, the 2024 harvest totaled 450 million pounds, the lowest on record.

Alaska salmon, particularly Chinook, have been shrinking in size over the past decades, a trend that scientists attribute to a variety of factors, including climate change and ocean conditions.

This year, sockeye salmon accounted for the most value among Alaska’s five salmon species, continuing the long-term pattern in the industry. A little over a quarter of the landed fish were sockeye, but they made up 58% of the value, according to the Department of Fish and Game’s summary.

Pink salmon, the most plentiful and cheapest of the Alaska species, made up 61% of the total fish harvested and 21% of the total ex-value. The pink salmon harvest was about 14% less than expected at the start of the season, the department said.

At the other end of the volume spectrum, the statewide Chinook harvest, which accounted for only 181,892 of the 194.8 million total, was 26% higher than predicted in the preseason forecast, the department said.

Chum salmon accounted for 10% of the harvest and coho accounted for 1%, the department said.

The harvest totals are preliminary and subject to revision as more information is received, the department said.

News of the North
Flood Watch
Weather
Salmon Derby
Podcasts
Stations
Cruise Schedule
Best of  Juneau
Contests

Opinion & Request

Capital Chat
Problem Corner
Community Matters
Artist Submissions