Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom (Photo by Greg Knight/News of the North)
NOTN- Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom announced last week that she is officially running for governor, saying she hopes to lead Alaska toward “a stronger, more self-sufficient future” built on resource development, job creation and a focus on public safety.
In an interview with News of the North on Tuesday, Dahlstrom said she was motivated to launch her campaign because she wants to “make Alaska a place where families can put down roots, businesses can grow, and communities can thrive.”
“I decided to step up and run for Governor because I believe in Alaska’s future.” Said Dahlstrom, “I want our kids and grandkids to be able to stay here and have successful lives. And I know that we have some challenges, but we have many, many opportunities right in front of us, and I think I’m the person that can help bring some of these things to fruition.”
Dahlstrom, who has served as lieutenant governor since 2022 under Gov. Mike Dunleavy, previously served in the Alaska House of Representatives and as the state’s corrections commissioner. She says these experiences have shaped her vision for Alaska.
“Serving in the legislature, I was able to craft legislation that really tightened crime laws and made Alaska safer for everyone.” Dahlstrom said, “I feel confident the experience I have is going to be beneficial for Alaska.”
Dahlstrom said her top priorities include lowering energy costs, expanding resource development, and supporting job creation as a way to improve both economic and mental health across the state.
“Having a job is probably the one thing you need to help have good mental health. When people have a job, they feel successful about themselves, and they’re moving forward, their mental health is better.” Said Dahlstrom, “We’re high on mental health and substance use issues, and we need to be working towards fixing that.”
Dahlstrom also called for “unleashing Alaska’s resources,” including mining and drilling.
“I’m going to continue helping the government, the State, the President and others in Alaska in unleashing our resources, so we are able to mine and drill to get the wonderful things we have in this State, there’s going to be jobs everywhere, and it’s going to be a wonderful situation.”
If elected, Dahlstrom said her first 100 days in office would focus on meeting with legislative leaders and reviewing department budgets.
Dahlstrom, who moved to Alaska as a teenager and said she “fell in love with the state.”
“I came here when I was 18 for a vacation, and I just never wanted to leave,” she said.
Dahlstrom joins a crowded republican race for governor, following term-limited Mike Dunleavy.
A school bus passes in front of the Alaska Capitol on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
By: Corinne Smith, Alaska Beacon
A school bus passes in front of the Alaska Capitol on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Officials with the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development have walked back a proposal to limit local governments’ funding for public schools, instead asking the State Board of Education to take no action on the item this week.
The State Board of Education was set to vote this week on a controversial measure that many school officials and education advocates say would bar local municipalities from providing much-needed funding and support services to local schools.
Instead the board voted unanimously on Thursday, at a DEED official’s request, to take no action and return the proposal to the department for further development.
A screenshot of the Alaska State Board of Education during their quarterly meeting, where Education Commissioner Deena Bishop addresses the proposed regulation change to local contributions on Oct. 8, 2025 (Screenshot)
“As a result of the feedback we received, the department will be recommending that the state board take no action on this item, return the proposed regulation to the board or to the department for further collaboration and input with key stakeholders,” said Heather Heineken, the division director for finance and support services for the department, to the board Wednesday, the first day of a two-day meeting.
The proposal came under sharp criticism and public alarm beginning in June, when DEED introduced the measure as an emergency regulation change. Officials said the move was intended to redefine the amount local municipalities provide for schools — called the local contribution — to include “services provided at no charge to a district by the city or borough.”
At the time, DEED officials said it was a way to address the balance of funding for schools ↣— in Alaska’s complex school funding formula which includes local, state and federal funding — and avoid failing a federal disparity test.
The disparity test is required by the U.S. Department of Education to regulate the spread between the highest and lowest funded districts, because of the way the state uses some federal funding, called impact aid. The state failed the test earlier this year, but is in the process of appealing the ruling.
Education Commissioner Deena Bishop, however, reversed that argument and told board members further discussion was needed with districts and financial offices to clarify what “in-kind” contributions are being made and how they were accounted for. She said that was needed to align with state law and standards for equity between districts.
“We’re not reacting to the federal government. What we are (doing) is trying to meet the state statute that calls for that equitable funding,” Bishop told the board on Wednesday.
Public raises alarm at unclear change to local contributions
State board members received more than 600 public comments, mostly opposing the measure, in June and July when the regulation was introduced, calling the proposed change vague and potentially limiting vital municipal funding for schools.
During public comment on Thursday, several district officials expressed opposition and concern.
Valdez School District Superintendent Jason Weber said the change could jeopardize essential city funding, including for transportation and school meals.
“Our Food Service Program is also at a breaking point. Even after raising lunch prices by $1 per meal last year, we’re still operating at a deficit. Every dollar cut from food service funding is $1 taken away from the plates of kids, these regulations would directly reduce the food we can provide for our students, something no community should have to accept,” he said.
“Each Alaskan community has unique needs and challenges the decisions about how to support and operate schools should be made by those who live and work closest to them, not through a one size fits all mandate from the state level, undermining local authority threatens the very foundation of community supported education in Alaska,” Weber said.
Juneau School District Superintendent Frank Hauser pointed to the state’s own appeal of the federal disparity test as evidence the change is unnecessary.
“According to DEED’s July 14 letter, the state would meet the disparity standard, not with a regulation change, which isn’t even mentioned, but by a different accounting method,” Hauser said.
Hauser asked board members to vote the regulation down.
“I am terrified of version 3.0 of this regulation. Each subsequent attempt at this regulation change has had exponentially more negative impacts, impacts beyond what the department realizes, even to REAAS, home school and correspondence students, instead of enacting the oft quoted definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, I ask you today to take a different direction and ask the department to stop with this effort altogether,” he said.
During public comment, district officials also raised concerns at a recent DEED Facebook post, which shared a statement over an image of a burning dumpster fire, calling several Anchorage officials’ out by name, saying that their information was “inaccurate” and saying DEED no longer was pushing the proposal. Commenters called the social media post “unprofessional” and not “positive or proactive communication.”
Anchorage officials had penned an op-ed in the Anchorage Daily News, opposing the regulation change, saying it could “gut” the district and strip $15 million in municipal funding, including for school buses and school resource officers.
State board members vote to return proposal to DEED
Before the vote, several state board members questioned whether the proposal should come back to the board.
“I guess I’m questioning now, is it really an issue, or is that needs to be addressed, or does it just need to go away?” asked board member Pamela Dupras on Thursday.
Bishop responded that DEED will gather more feedback, and work with districts to adhere to state law and requirements for equitability. She also pointed to the new Legislative Task Force on Education Funding that may take up the issue and recommend new legislation to define local contributions.
Bishop said DEED would work with district officials and finance departments to further clarify the requirements. “I’m glad that you’re pulling this back,” she said.
She also acknowledged the frustration of districts. “Every two weeks from August until now, I’ve been sharing the same message that, yes, we do not want to put this forward. So I understand the frustration with what was in writing, certainly superintendents that attended all those meetings knew the intent,” she said.
“I think just the stress about school funding, a lot of trust isn’t there,” Bishop added. “The Department wants to earn that trust back and continue with the work.”
The Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, where the Ambler Road project would pass through, is visible from Ambler, Alaska, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
Senators voted 50-46 Thursday to repeal a land management plan for a large swath of Alaska that was adopted in the final weeks of Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration. Lawmakers voted to roll back similar plans for land in Montana and North Dakota earlier this week.
The timing of Biden’s actions made the plans vulnerable to the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to terminate rules that are finalized near the end of a president’s term. The resolutions require a simple majority in each chamber and take effect upon the president’s signature.
Trump ordered approval of the Ambler Road project earlier this week, saying it will unlock access to copper, cobalt and other critical minerals that the United States needs to compete with China on artificial intelligence and other resource development. Copper is used in the production of cars, electronics and even renewable energy technologies such as wind turbines.
The road was approved in Trump’s first term, but was later blocked by Biden after an analysis determined the project would threaten caribou and other wildlife and harm Alaska Native tribes that rely on hunting and fishing.
The Biden-era restrictions also included a block on new mining leases in the nation’s most productive coal-producing region, the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming. On Monday, the Trump administration held the biggest coal sale in that area in more than a decade, drawing a single bid of $186,000 for 167.5 million tons of coal, or about a tenth of a penny per ton.
Trump has largely cast aside Biden’s goal to reduce climate-warming emissions from the burning of coal and other fossil fuels extracted from federal land. Instead, he and congressional Republicans have moved to open more taxpayer-owned land to fossil fuel development, hoping to create more jobs and revenue. The Republican administration also has pushed to develop critical minerals, including copper, cobalt, gold and zinc.
A decision on whether to accept the recent bid from the Navajo Transitional Energy Co. is pending, and the lease cannot be issued until the Montana land plan is altered. The dirt-cheap value reflects dampened industry interest in coal despite Trump’s efforts. Many utilities have switched to cheaper natural gas or renewables such as wind and solar power.
Administration officials expressed disappointment that they did not receive “stronger participation” in the Montana sale. In a statement, Interior Department spokesperson Aubrie Spady blamed a “decades long war on coal” by Biden and former Democratic President Barack Obama.
Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana said the repeal of the land-management plan in his state was “putting an end to disastrous Biden-era regulations that put our resource economy on life support.”
Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska called the Biden-era plan for 13 million acres in the central Yukon region “a clear case of federal overreach that locks up Alaska’s lands, ignores Alaska Native voices … and blocks access to critical energy, gravel & mineral resources.”
The GOP legislation “restores balance, strengthens U.S. energy & mineral security and upholds the law,” Sullivan said in a statement.
Democrats urged rejection of the repeals, arguing that Trump’s fossil fuel-friendly agenda is driving up energy prices because renewable sources are being sidelined even as the tech industry’s power demands soar for data centers and other projects.
“We are seeing dramatic increases in the price of energy for American consumers and businesses and the slashing of American jobs, so that Donald Trump can give an easy pass to the fossil fuel industry,” Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said Wednesday on the Senate floor.
Last week, the administration canceled almost $8 billion in grants for clean energy projects in 16 states that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris won in the 2024 election.
Ashley Nunes, public lands specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, said Republicans were unleashing “a wholesale assault on America’s public lands.” Using the Congressional Review Act to erase land management plans “will sow chaos across the country and turn our most cherished places into playgrounds for coal barons and industry polluters,” she said.
In a complaint filed Friday and a motion for summaryjudgment on Monday, the Legislature’s contracted attorney asks a Juneau Superior Court judge to decide whether or not a governor may issue an executive order during a special legislative session.
The lawsuit had been expected for months.
In August, Dunleavy issued an order seeking to create an Alaska Department of Agriculture, shortly before lawmakers convened for a special session called by the governor. Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, and Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, rejected the validity of the order.
Representatives for the governor’s office said they believed the order was valid and that it would take effect unless lawmakers voted it down.
The leaders of the House and Senate said they did not want to take up the order, because doing so risked setting a precedent, effectively declaring that executive orders could be issued during a special session.
The question that could be decided in court is whether issuing an order in a special session is legal. And does it matter if the order is identical to one that’s already been issued and voted upon?
Alaska is one of two states without a cabinet-level Department of Agriculture, and creating one is seen as a key first step for boosting food production in Alaska.
“The parties require the court’s prompt assistance to resolve this legal dispute before January 1, 2026,” wrote attorney Kevin Cuddy. “Otherwise, there is a risk that the state will move forward with a Department of Agriculture that may have been unconstitutionally created, and thus without legal authority to act.”
The Alaska Department of Law, which will represent the governor in the case, has been served with the lawsuit but has not yet filed its reply.
Patty Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the Department of Law, said by email, “We are working on a briefing schedule with the counsel for the Legislature and the court. Our goal is to expedite the case and ensure that a decision is made before the legislative session begins.”
Alaska’s constitution forbids lawsuits by the executive branch against the legislative branch; the inverse is not true. Lawmakers have now sued Dunleavy four times since he took office in 2018.
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, speaks to the Alaska Legislature on Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
The FBI searched the cellphone records of Republican Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan and seven other U.S. senators and a member of the U.S. House as part of its investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, a newly released document shows.
The call logs cover several days during and around the insurrection, when rioters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to support then-incumbent President Donald Trump, who falsely claimed to have won reelection in 2020.
The logs do not show that the FBI obtained phone call recordings, only that an investigating agent was interested in who the senators were talking to, when they talked, how long they talked, and where the callers were. The document, released this week by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, does not say why those senators were identified in particular and it does not say whether any investigative leads resulted from the records.
According to a news release from the committee, the FBI sought and obtained data about the senators’ phone use in the days before, on and after the Jan. 6 insurrection, from Jan. 4 through Jan. 7, 2021.
The U.S. Department of Justice indicted Trump in 2023 for allegedly conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, but the special prosecutor in charge of the investigation abandoned that case after Trump was re-elected in 2024. Department policy says that sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution, and after the 2021 insurrection, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision limiting a president’s liability for conduct while in office.
Asked whether Sullivan had any contact with people who participated in or organized the riot at the U.S. Capitol, Devyn Shea, a spokesperson for Sullivan, said, “absolutely not.”
In a written statement, Sullivan called the FBI investigation “an absolute outrage.”
“We’ve just learned the Biden FBI was engaged in what appears to be an unprecedented fishing expedition against at least nine sitting Republican members of Congress — none of whom were under any type of investigation — surveilling our personal cell phone calls with family members, staff and colleagues. This is a new low in the political weaponization of the Justice Department,” Sullivan’s statement said.
The other seven senators were Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.). Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) was also on the FBI list.
Some senators, including Hawley and Tuberville, voted to object to the certification of the electoral results of the 2020 election.
Sullivan voted to support the certification of the election, and in a statement the day after the Jan. 6 violence at the Capitol, he called the event “sad” and “dispiriting.”
All have been supporters of Trump and his policies; in office, Sullivan has been a reliable vote for the president and his agenda.
In this screenshot from a White House news conference, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum points to a map of Alaska on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, as he announces the Trump administration’s decision to reverse a Biden administration action that canceled a right-of-way permit for the Ambler Road. (Screenshot)
The action removes a major hurdle for the project, but developers would still need to overcome lawsuits and opposition from environmental and tribal groups. They would also need approval from NANA and Doyon Ltd., two Alaska Native regional corporations who own land in the road’s path.
Ambler Road, planned by the state of Alaska’s development bank and supported by state officials and Alaska’s congressional delegation, would link the Dalton Highway with a mineral-rich region of northwest Alaska, providing access to the mining of rare minerals needed for batteries and high-technology manufacturing.
“It’s an economic gold mine, so to speak. I signed this years ago, and Biden un-signed it for me,” Trump told reporters on Monday at the White House.
Last year, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management concluded that the road would have a litany of negative impacts, and the Biden administration issued a record of decision saying that the best route for the project was no route at all.
The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, Alaska’s state-owned investment bank and the road’s developer, sued the Biden administration, seeking a reversal.
U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, speaking at the White House on Monday, said the state of Alaska requested an appeal of that decision, and that under federal law, President Trump has the executive authority to make decisions on land use.
The appeal in question was filed by AIDEA under Section 1106 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980.
“This opens up a wealth of resources,” Burgum said, adding that the federal government will also take partial ownership of Trilogy Metals, one of several firms exploring for minerals in northwest Alaska.
As currently planned, the road would consist of a gravel strip stretching from the Dalton Highway almost to Kotzebue. It is envisioned as a toll road, with no public access, and the cost of construction would be paid for via fees levied on users, similar to the way the AIDEA-funded DeLong Mountain Transportation System provides a port for lead and zinc exported from the Red Dog Mine in northwest Alaska.
In a special late-September meeting, AIDEA’s board voted to authorize limited negotiations with landowners in the road’s path.
The road is expected to cross more than 10 miles of land owned by Doyon Ltd., the regional Alaska Native corporation for Interior Alaska.
To date, that corporation hasn’t expressed official support or opposition for the road. Sarah Obed, senior vice president of external affairs for Doyon, said by email that Monday’s announcement was “not a surprise to Doyon” because of a different executive order signed earlier this year.
NANA Regional Corp. owns more than 20 miles of land in the path of the road. In a written statement, NANA President and CEO John Lincoln said the company “appreciates the Trump Administration and Governor Dunleavy’s support for economic development in Alaska and their work towards stabilizing the federal permitting process” but he declined to express support for the road.
Lincoln said that still stands: “Our position on the Ambler Access Project has not changed and will only be reconsidered if and when our established criteria are satisfied, in consultation with shareholders, local communities, and other stakeholders.”
Trump’s action on Monday restores a federal right-of-way grant issued in 2021, at the end of the first Trump administration. It also requires federal agencies to issue clean-water permits and other approvals needed for the road.
A lawsuit challenging the 2021 right-of-way grant remains open in the U.S. District Court in Anchorage. Attorney Bridget Psarianos, with the nonprofit law firm Trustees for Alaska, is one of the attorneys challenging that right-of-way.
By phone, she said she hasn’t ever seen a president use the authority that Trump did on Monday.
“He’s wielding this presidential power like a cudgel, including to overturn decisions that his own agencies have made and provided good reasons for,” she said.
The Tanana Chiefs Conference, a group of 39 Interior villages and 37 federally recognized tribes, opposes the road. In a statement Monday, it said it was “deeply disappointed by the decision.”
“This decision is a direct affront to the voices of Alaska Native people,” said Chief/Chairman Brian Ridley in a written statement. He added that TCC will continue to fight the project.
Psarianos, by phone, said that the BLM opposed the project in 2024 “because they found that there would be significant impacts to subsistence and to communities and their health along the road corridor.”
Athan Manuel, director of the environmental nonprofit Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program, offered similar thoughts in a written statement. “This order ignores those voices in favor of corporate polluters. The Ambler Road will lead to significant harm to fragile Alaskan landscapes and the local communities and wildlife that rely on them,” he said.
Most of the road’s path is on land owned or controlled by the state of Alaska; an easement allowing the road remains under consideration by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, but approval is expected.
In a statement published after Trump’s announcement on Monday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy thanked the president for his action, saying, “this decision will unleash development opportunities, create new jobs for Alaskans and secure access to strategic minerals.”
Similarly, all three members of Alaska’s congressional delegation expressed support for Trump’s decision.
“By advancing this access, we are creating new opportunities for Alaskans while strengthening America’s supply chain and reducing dependence on foreign adversaries for our critical mineral needs,” said U.S. Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska. “I applaud the President’s decision to support this appeal, and I look forward to working with the Administration, state leaders, and Alaska Native communities to ensure this project moves forward in a way that benefits all Alaskans.”
U.S. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan also thanked the president for his action.
“The President’s re-approval will unlock a world-class mining district, deliver quality-of-life benefits for communities in the region, and help grow Alaska’s economy. It will also improve our national security by strengthening our mineral security and enabling us to produce more of our most important resources here at home,” Murkowski said.
Sullivan said, “I’m glad to see another critically important project for our state’s economy and working families being put back on track.”
“I voted” stickers are seen on display in the headquarters offices of the Alaska Division of Elections in Juneau on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Election day is around the corner for most of Alaska’s local governments, and many communities are considering whether to raise local sales taxes to pay for the escalating cost of public services, including basic infrastructure like road repairs and landfills.
Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage, holds its elections in the spring, as do Valdez and Cordova, but most of the state’s 150-plus municipal governments will have their elections in the next week.
In the state capital, Juneau, where voting has been underway by mail since late September, voters are considering three ballot measures with major implications for the City and Borough of Juneau budget.
Measure No. 1 would tighten the cap on local property taxes below current rates, effectively cutting city revenue by about $1 million and eliminating the city’s ability to raise rates.
The second measure would exempt food and residential utilities from local sales taxes. That would eliminate between $10 million and $12 million per year from the city budget.
To compensate, there’s also Measure No. 3, which would raise the city’s sales tax from 5% to 7.5% in the summer and lower it to 3% in the winter. If that measure passes, it would roughly balance the lost money if Measure No. 2 passes.
If ballot measure No. 3 doesn’t pass, Juneau city officials expect to significantly cut local services in order to balance the budget.
Juneau is one of several communities deciding whether to pass sales tax hikes this month.
In Skagway, voters are considering a seasonal sales tax increase from 5% to 7% in the summer, with some of the proceeds earmarked for water, wastewater and garbage services in order to lower local rates.
In neighboring Haines, voters are deciding whether to raise the local sales tax from 5.5% to 7% in the summer within the Haines townsite, with a smaller increase in the rest of the borough. The sales tax would fall to 4.5% in the townsite during the winter, 3% in the rest of the borough, and groceries would be exempted.
In Ketchikan, borough residents are being asked whether they want to extend part of the local sales tax through 2032. The borough has a 2.5% sales tax, but half of a percent is dedicated to construction and renovation projects at local schools. That’s what voters will consider renewing.
Slightly north, in Petersburg, voters will decide whether to reduce a senior citizen sales tax exemption so it applies only to low-income residents.
Ketchikan city voters consider seven ballot measures
While voters in the Ketchikan borough contemplate a sales tax measure, voters within the city of Ketchikan itself will also have seven other ballot propositions to consider.
First is a $15 million bond to pay for sewer mains and upgrades to the city’s water treatment facility. Those upgrades are being mandated by the state and federal governments.
Voters in the First City also will decide six different amendments to the city charter. Proposition No. 2 would eliminate a 30-day waiting period for city ordinances to take effect. No. 3 would allow the city manager to live outside city limits, but only on the road system of Revillagigedo Island, where the city is located.
Proposition No. 4 would remove the requirement that voters approve the sale of any city property worth more than $30,000. Instead, the city council would have the authority to approve those sales.
The fifth proposition would allow the city to award large contracts to someone other than the lowest bidder, and the sixth would allow the city to approve sales or contracts with city employees and elected officials as long as there are at least three cost quotes and the chosen contract is “the most advantageous to the city.”
The last proposition, the seventh, would allow the city’s annual fiscal audit to take more than four months.
In addition to those ballot measures, three candidates are running for two seats on the Ketchikan City Council. There’s also a two-way race for borough mayor, two contested borough assembly races and two contested school board races.
Voters in Sitka will consider two ballot measures. The first would allow the city to use proceeds from the local tobacco tax and the sale of the local hospital for parks and recreation.
The second, if adopted, would require all ballot measures to include a comprehensive economic impact study report before reaching the signature-gathering phase.
Six people are running for two seats on the Borough Assembly in Sitka, and there are three candidates for two seats on the local school board.
In Petersburg, two candidates are running for mayor and five candidates are running for two seats on the borough assembly. There is one candidate and two open seats for the school board.
In Skagway, the one candidate for mayor is running uncontested, after the previous mayor resigned earlier this year. There are four candidates for two assembly seats, and one candidate for two open school board seats. In Haines, there are four candidates for two assembly seats, and two candidates for two school board seats.
North Slope voters contemplate big borrowing plan
In the North Slope Borough, two of four assembly races are contested, and only one of four school board races is contested. Borough voters also will consider eight different bond proposals. That’s more ballot propositions than any other municipal election taking place this month in Alaska.
The borough is proposing to borrow a combined $204 million for public facilities, including light, power, water, sewage, public safety, education and flood control.
At Utqiagvik, the borough’s largest town and the northernmost town in the United States, voters will choose between two candidates for mayor. There’s also two city council races, only one of which is contested.
Voters also are being asked to choose whether or not to extend Utqiagvik’s 20% wholesale tobacco tax to cover “alternative nicotine products and equipment,” such as vape and e-cigarette products.
Within the Northwest Arctic Borough, there are four borough assembly seats on this year’s ballot. Only one race is contested, and one seat — covering Ambler, Kobuk and Shungnak — has no candidates at all.
Similarly, among three races for school board, none are contested and one of the three seats has no candidates.
In the Kotzebue city election, two seats on the city council are on the ballot, and each race has two candidates. Another seat was vacated by the resignation of Ruth Moto in September, and someone will be appointed to fill that seat after the election, with the replacement being up for election in October 2026.
The Nome Nugget noted “meager interest to run for public office” in Nome this year, with two city council seats and two school board seats unopposed, but voters there will also be asked whether to raise the city’s sales tax from 5% to 6%.
This week, the Nugget reported that if the tax increase doesn’t pass, city officials will cut services.
In the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Houston considers sales tax hike
The Matanuska-Susitna Borough holds its elections in November (as does Metlakatla in Southeast), but the cities within the Mat-Su borough vote in October.
Wasilla has no ballot measures; its city election includes three city council races, only one of which is contested.
In Palmer, five people are competing to become the city mayor, the most competitive single municipal race this fall. Three people are competing for two three-year seats on the city council. There also is a one-year seat on the council, and two people are vying for it.
Palmer voters are also being asked if they want to change the city charter so the city manager is no longer required to live within the city. The change would allow the manager to live within five miles of city limits.
Within Houston, six people are running for three spots on the city council. Houston also has four ballot measures. One asks whether voters support a city-owned airport. A second asks voters to approve a 2% sales tax increase (from 2% to 4%) in order to pay for road repairs. The third and fourth measures ask voters to approve the “Matanuska Thunder Festival” and “Founder’s Day” as city holidays.
Many ballot measures in the Kenai Peninsula Borough
Proposition No. 2 would create a special taxing district in Ninilchik to fund a new local swimming pool there. No. 3, if approved, would increase the property tax exemption in the borough so the first $75,000 of a homeowner’s residence would be exempted from local property taxes. The current exemption applies to the first $50,000.
The fourth proposition would raise the borough’s sales tax cap every five years. Currently, sales taxes only apply to the first $500 of a purchase.
Proposition No. 5 would shift borough elections to November, aligning them with state and federal elections, much as the Mat-Su borough has done.
Five seats on the Kenai borough assembly are up for election, and three of the races are contested. Three school board seats are on the ballot as well, with two races contested.
Among city elections on the Kenai Peninsula, only Soldotna has a ballot measure. That proposition asks voters to approve or reject the annexation of 2.63 square miles of nearby land into the city limits.
In the Interior, none of Fairbanks’ three local governments have ballot measures this year, but this year’s ballot will decide three seats on the borough assembly and two on the borough school board. There’s a two-person race to become Mayor of Fairbanks, and two seats on the city council are up for election.
Southeast of Fairbanks, in North Pole, four seats on the city council are up for election. There are only four candidates, but the order of the candidates will determine who gets a three-year term, a two-year term or a one-year term.
Kodiak will pick a new mayor
In Kodiak, voters will pick between two candidates for borough mayor, five candidates for two seats on the borough assembly, and they will vote on a variety of service area boards.
Within city limits on Kodiak, four people are running to replace longtime Mayor Pat Branson, and four candidates are running for two seats on the city council.
In southwest Alaska, Bethel has four open city council seats but only three registered candidates and one write-in candidate.
In Unalaska, Mayor Vince Tutiakoff Sr. is running unopposed for re-election, and three people are running for one of the two city council seats on the ballot. The other incumbent for city council is unopposed. On the local school board, three people are running for one of two school board seats; the other seat is held by the incumbent school board president, who is unopposed in his re-election bid.
Within the Aleutians East Borough, which includes Sand Point, King Cove and Cold Bay, two of three borough assembly seats have unopposed races, and the third has two candidates. All three school board seats on the ballot have candidates running unopposed.
Further north in Dillingham, two city council seats have two candidates apiece, and three people are running unopposed for three school board seats.
Within the Bristol Bay Borough, based in Naknek, three people are running for two seats on the borough assembly, and there are five candidates for the two school board seats on the ballot.
In the Lake and Peninsula Borough, two borough assembly members and two school board members are running unopposed. Those elections, like those in Juneau, are conducted by mail, and ballots must be postmarked by Oct. 7 and received by the borough clerk before Nov. 7.
Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson speaks in May 2022 at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson said Thursday in Fairbanks that he intends to run for governor in 2026, becoming the 13th candidate and 12th Republican in next year’s race.
Incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy is term-limited and unable to run again, which has caused an unusually large number of early entries into the governor’s race.
Only one Democratic candidate, former Anchorage state Sen. Tom Begich, has entered the race. Other Democrats say they are awaiting the possible run by former Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, who had the highest favorability rating among top candidates, according to one poll this summer.
Republicans face no such obstacle. In addition to Bronson, the Republican field of candidates includes former state Sen. Click Bishop of Fairbanks; Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom of Eagle River; Anchorage businesswoman Bernadette Wilson; podiatrist Matt Heilala of Anchorage; Matanuska-Susitna Borough Mayor Edna DeVries; former teacher James William Parkin IV of Angoon; current state Sen. Shelley Hughes of Palmer; Bruce Walden of Palmer; former Alaska Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum; and former Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor.
All of those candidates have filed letters of intent or statements of candidacy with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, which allows them to fundraise and spend money on a campaign.
They have not yet registered with the Alaska Division of Elections, which officially places a candidate on the August primary ballot.
Republican Henry Kroll of Soldotna, who has not registered with the Public Offices Commission, is the lone candidate to have registered with the Division of Elections.
The deadline to file with the Alaska Division of Elections is June 1, 2026.
In Alaska, the top four vote-getters for a state office, regardless of political party, advance from the August general election to the November general election.
Wilson has vowed to withdraw from the election if she finishes in the top four but isn’t the top Republican. She has encouraged other Republicans to take similar vows in an attempt to consolidate support for the top Republican front-runner in the general election.
Bronson, who delivered brief remarks in Fairbanks before participating in a panel discussion with six other Republican candidates, said he supports increased spending on infrastructure and the Permanent Fund dividend, saying he would like to see a constitutional amendment that would mandate a dividend paid according to a formula that was used from 1982 through 2016.
That would require spending an additional $2 billion per year for dividend payments above what lawmakers and Dunleavy approved this year. As a whole, the state’s operating budget is currently $5.9 billion. Bronson did not explain how he intends to pay for the increase.
An experienced pilot, Bronson was elected mayor of Anchorage in 2021, months after the incumbent Democratic mayor resigned during a sex scandal and amid a conservative backlash against COVID-19 mitigation efforts imposed by the Anchorage assembly.
He served a single term and was endorsed for re-election by Dunleavy and U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan but lost in 2024 to current Mayor Suzanne LaFrance.
Bronson’s time in office was marked by major conflicts with city employees, public health officials and the assembly. In 2023, the city manager Bronson appointed and fired, sued him and the city, alleging illegal and unethical acts. The assembly settled that case in 2024 for $250,000 after Bronson left office.
In January, Dunleavy appointed Bronson to manage Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. After less than eight months, he announced his resignation from that job in August.
NOTN- The State of Alaska is preparing to continue essential services and minimize disruptions in the event of a federal government shutdown, Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office said today.
Dunleavy has directed state executive branch departments to review federally funded programs and create contingency plans to ensure critical services continue wherever possible. Some programs, such as Medicaid and Title IV-E Foster Care and Adoption Assistance, are expected to continue without interruption due to existing authorizations or advance funding.
Other programs may face adjustments depending on congressional action and guidance from federal agencies, officials said. Historically, Alaska has been able to keep most federally funded programs running during past shutdowns, and the state expects to do the same using available funds.
If a shutdown lasts beyond a month, the state said it will reassess and prioritize programs most directly affecting Alaskans’ life, health, and safety.
Roughly 4,800 state executive branch jobs are at least partly funded by the federal government. Those employees are expected to continue reporting to work and receiving pay for now, while a small number of federal employees embedded in state departments will follow their agencies’ shutdown procedures.
According to States Newsroom, the Trump administration began posting plans over the weekend that detail how hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed during a government shutdown, while others will keep working without being paid.
A shutdown will begin Wednesday unless Republicans and Democrats in Congress reach agreement on a stopgap spending bill. Congressional leaders were set to meet Monday afternoon with Trump, but it was unclear if any agreement would result that would avert a shutdown.
States newsroom also published a list of the departments that have posted updated contingency plans in September:
Here is a list of the departments that hadn’t posted updated contingency plans as of Monday afternoon:
Agriculture Department contingency plan
Commerce Department contingency plan
Energy Department contingency plan
Housing and Urban Development contingency plan
Interior Department contingency plan
Transportation Department contingency plan
Treasury Department contingency plan
Veterans Affairs Department contingency plan
The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development has developed a FAQ to answer Unemployment Insurance questions from federal employees who may be furloughed.
A sign advertising the cashing of Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, or PFD, checks hangs outside a business in Anchorage, Alaska, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
AP- The truck that arrived ahead of schedule at Allyssa Canoy’s home in Fairbanks brought enough heating fuel for the frigid winter months ahead — and a surprise bill for $2,600.
Canoy and her two sons have checks arriving that will cover that expense and leave some money for the boys, too. Starting Thursday, Alaska plans to begin distributing to residents their annual dividend derived from the state’s $83 billion oil wealth fund, a sort of bonus that Alaskans get for living in the state.
For some, it’s extra spending money for a new set of tires or a vacation to a sunnier clime during the long, dark winter. For others, it’s a vital supplement in a state where the cost for internet service, gas and groceries can be sky-high.
Here’s what to know about the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend:
This year’s payout is one of the lowest in 20 years
Alaskans are getting $1,000 per person — the lowest amount since 2020, when they each received $992. The payout has been below $1,000 only two other times since 2006.
There used to be a formula for calculating the amount, tied to the fund’s market performance. But lawmakers widely consider that formula unaffordable and within the last decade have abandoned it.
Politicians now set the amount. It’s often one of the last items settled during sensitive budget negotiations. Lawmakers must weigh the check’s size against other programs and public needs, including education, and in 2018 began using earnings from the fund — long used to pay dividends — to also help balance the budget.
This year, $1,000 is what lawmakers argued they could afford while also backing an increase in K-12 funding and trying to limit draws from savings.
Had the old formula been followed, residents would be getting about $3,800 each.
The Alaska Permanent Fund is nearly 50 years old
Voters created the fund in 1976, during the heady, early years of oil in the state. The goal was to save some of Alaska’s mineral wealth. The fund has grown through investments, and while the state constitution protects the fund’s principal, its earnings can be spent.
Dividends have been paid since 1982. Proponents saw them as a way to ensure Alaskans maintained a vested interest in the Alaska Permanent Fund.
More than 600,000 of Alaska’s roughly 740,000 residents are set to receive this year’s check. To qualify, one must meet residency and other requirements.
For some Alaskans, the check is a nice extra. Some put it into college funds or savings accounts or donate to charities. Others rely on it for necessities, such as heating oil, winter tires or snowmachines, which are critical modes of transportation in rural villages where residents rely on hunting or trapping.
Canoy, a single mom of two, is selling her home and downsizing. She had planned to fill her home’s fuel tank as a gift to the new buyers at closing, but the fuel truck came early while she was away. So instead of putting the $3,000 her family is receiving toward other projects, as she’d hoped, she’s using it to pay that bill. She plans to let her sons spend the remaining $400.
Canoy said she lives comfortably and sees the dividend as a blessing. Still, she wishes lawmakers would find a better way to set the amounts — “at least to just give Alaskans maybe a little peace of mind that, yeah, we’re actually doing everything that we can to make sure that you guys get the most out of the permanent fund dividend.”
