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The Trump administration wants everyone to reapply for food stamps. What does that mean?

By: Jacob Fischler, States Newsroom

Fresh produce is seen at the Alaska Commercial Company grocery store in Bethel on Oct 15, 2025. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ call for a close reexamination of the 42 million people who receive federal food aid has befuddled advocates and lawmakers, coming mere days after recipients began to see benefits that had been stalled during the government shutdown.

Details remain scant a week after Rollins during an interview on the right-wing Newsmax network first publicly broached the startling idea that every beneficiary would have to reapply for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, often called food stamps.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, asked for an explanation, referenced existing requirements and suggested more changes in SNAP rules could be in store.

“Secretary Rollins wants to ensure the fraud, waste, and incessant abuse of SNAP ends,” a USDA spokesperson wrote Wednesday. “Rates of fraud were only previously assumed, and President Trump is doing something about it. Using standard recertification processes for households is a part of that work. As well as ongoing analysis of state data, further regulatory work, and improved collaboration with states.”

The 2008 law governing SNAP leaves states responsible for administration. Part of that role includes periodically making sure that the low-income people in the program meet the qualifications for inclusion, but the law allows states to determine how often that occurs.

“It’s not clear what she would be proposing that is different from what is already happening,” said Katie Bergh, a senior policy analyst for food assistance at the left-leaning think tank Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

One interpretation of Rollins’ comments is that she would remove all 42 million individuals from SNAP’s rolls and ask them to resubmit applications. Bergh said that would lead to people losing money they need for groceries. About 40% of those enrolled in SNAP are children.

“If she’s suggesting that they’re going to somehow redo that process for more than 40 million people who already demonstrated their eligibility and who already have to periodically recertify their eligibility, that would be pretty duplicative and would likely create pretty significant paperwork backlogs that would cause people who are eligible to lose the food assistance that they need,” Bergh said.

Administration critics have suggested that, while the comments are unlikely to lead to policy changes, they introduce even more confusion for a program that was used as a political token during the record government shutdown that ended this month. 

Making people reapply would underscore the Trump administration’s opposition to the nearly $100 billion program, which accounts for 70% of federal nutrition assistance. USDA says the average SNAP household in fiscal 2023 received a monthly benefit of $332, or $177 a person based on the average SNAP household size of 1.9 people.

“Secretary Rollins and the Trump administration have cut food assistance for 42 million Americans multiple times this year,” U.S. House Agriculture ranking member Angie Craig said in a Wednesday statement to States Newsroom. “Now, they’ve once again shown that they do not understand the program.”

What did Rollins say?

In the Nov. 13 interview on Newsmax, Rollins said SNAP was beset by widespread fraud, citing data that 29 mostly Republican-run states submitted to the department. Acquiring data from the 21 other states would give the department a way to wholly remake the program, she said.

“Can you imagine when we get our hands on the blue state data, what we’re going to find?” she said. “It’s going to give us a platform and a trajectory to fundamentally rebuild this program, have everyone reapply for their benefit, make sure that everyone that’s taking a taxpayer-funded benefit through SNAP or food stamps that they literally are vulnerable, and they can’t survive without it. And that’s the next step here.”

In an interview Monday on Fox News, host Maria Bartiromo asked Rollins about the move to have recipients “reapply.”

“Business as usual is over,” Rollins answered in part. “The status quo is no more. We know that the SNAP program is rife with fraud.”

She added that guarding against fraud would help those the program is meant to serve.

The comments touched off widespread confusion about what specifically Rollins meant. 

Asked about the initiative during a Thursday press conference, Craig, a Minnesota Democrat, said she was unclear about how it would work and predicted that Rollins would take credit in the future for the existing low rate of fraud.

“We’re hearing off the record that, you know, maybe people don’t know what the hell they’re talking about,” she said. “In fact, I think they’re trying to take credit for the already very strict standards and the actual low fraud rate in the SNAP program … So we can find no real plan there. Not even sure there’s concepts of a plan there.”

In response to a States Newsroom request this week for details about the initiative, USDA provided the statement that did not answer how the department would proceed or under what authority, but said Rollins was seeking to reduce fraud in the program.

Spokespeople did not respond to follow-up questions, or a request to respond to Craig’s remarks Thursday.

Low fraud rate

Program experts say fraud is not a widespread problem for SNAP.

An April report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service found that retailers illegally trafficked about 1.6% of SNAP benefits from fiscal 2015 to 2017.

Fraud by households applying for SNAP, which appear to be the main target of Rollins’ proposal, is even lower. 

According to a USDA report, about 26,000 applications were referred for an administrative review or prosecution on suspicion of fraud. That number accounts for about 0.1% of the 22.7 million households enrolled in the program, according to the Pew Research Center.

“Long-standing data sources indicate that intentional fraud by participants is rare,” Bergh said.

At Thursday’s press conference, Craig called Rollins’ comments “bullsh*t” and “propaganda.”

“Secretary Rollins goes on TV and talks about all the fraud,” she said. “This most effective anti-hunger program in our history has a fraud rate of 1.6%. It’s actually one of the most effective, well-run programs in the country … The bullsh*t this administration is peddling is egregious.”

More targeted reforms

Even experts who advocate for reforms to SNAP say eligibility fraud is not a major issue.

Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy at the libertarian Cato Institute, said high-net-worth individuals can receive SNAP benefits, but aren’t committing fraud by doing so.

“Some of the issues with SNAP … aren’t because of fraud or abuse, but they are because of bad program rules,” said Boccia.

Boccia also cited an “incentive misalignment” inherent in the state-federal program. States have little incentive to control payments because the federal government funds the program, she said.

Forcing all beneficiaries to reapply would likely reduce the cost of the program by reducing the number of its beneficiaries, including by forcing out higher earners who may not consider the benefits they don’t actually need to be worth the onerous reapplication process, Boccia said. 

But it would also result in a percentage of low earners dropping off the program, as well as many who would be affected by the administrative backlog that would come with processing tens of millions of new applications, she said. 

Shutdown, the big beautiful bill, and confusion

Bergh said Rollins’ comments “add insult to injury” because they come after congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump signed a major tax cuts and spending law that is expected to shrink federal SNAP spending by $187 billion over 10 years. The law added work requirements for many SNAP recipients and shifted some costs to states.

That was followed by the six-week shutdown that saw a dizzying back-and-forth over whether November SNAP benefits would be paid.

“There has been huge amounts of chaos and confusion and disruption for both states and participants in recent weeks, largely due to the shutdown, but also because simultaneously, the administration has required states to implement many of the reconciliation bill’s SNAP cuts,” Bergh said.

Craig, in her statement, also said Rollins’ comments would hurt the people who need the program.

“I am astounded by the secretary’s careless disregard for the hungry seniors and children who can afford to eat because of this program,” she said.

Sara Naomi Bleich, a public health policy professor at Harvard University, said in a phone interview the confusion from Rollins’ comments compounded hardships produced by the Republican reconciliation law, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“Big picture with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is that there’s basically this tidal wave coming to families that have low income,” Bleich, who worked at USDA during the Obama and Biden administrations, said. “They’re going to lose Medicaid. They’re going to lose SNAP. There could be collateral impacts on the school meals. This is going to be a really hard time for families to navigate.”

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Alaska Native villages have few options and little US help as climate change devours their land

Homes are surrounded by debris in Kwigillingok, Alaska, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, after being damaged earlier in the month by Typhoon Halong. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

AP- Storms that battered Alaska’s western coast this fall have brought renewed attention to low-lying Indigenous villages left increasingly vulnerable by climate change — and revived questions about their sustainability in a region being reshaped by frequent flooding, thawing permafrost and landscape-devouring erosion.

The onset of winter has slowed emergency repair and cleanup work after two October storms, including the remnants of Typhoon Halong, slammed dozens of communities. Some residents from the hardest-hit villages, Kipnuk and Kwigillingok, could be displaced for months and worry what their futures hold.

Kwigillingok already was pursuing relocation before the latest storm, but that can take decades, with no centralized coordination and little funding. Moves by the Trump administration to cut grants aimed at better protecting communities against climate threats have added another layer of uncertainty.

Still, the hope is to try to buy villages time to evaluate next steps by reinforcing rebuilt infrastructure or putting in place pilings so homes can be elevated, said Bryan Fisher, the state’s emergency management director.

“Where we can support that increased resilience to buy that time, we’re going to do that,” he said.

Many Alaska Native villages are threatened by climate change

Alaska is warming faster than the global average. A report released last year by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium found 144 Native communities face threats from erosion, flooding, thawing permafrost or a combination.

Coastal populations are particularly vulnerable, climate scientist John Walsh said. Less Arctic sea ice means more open water, allowing storm-driven waves to do damage. Thawing permafrost invites more rapid coastal erosion. Waves hitting permafrost bounce like water off a concrete wall, he said, but when permafrost thaws, the loose soil washes away more easily.

Wind and storm surge from the remnants of Halong consumed dozens of feet of shoreline in Quinhagak, disturbing a culturally significant archaeological site. Quinhagak, like Kipnuk and Kwigillingok, is near the Bering Sea.

Just four times since 1970 has an ex-typhoon hit the Bering Sea coast north of the Pribilof Islands, said Rick Thoman, a climate specialist with the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness. Three of those have been since 2022, starting with the remnants of Merbok that year.

The damage caused by ex-typhoon Halong was the worst Fisher said he has seen in his roughly 30 years in emergency management. About 700 homes were destroyed or severely damaged, estimates suggest. Some washed away with people inside and were carried for miles. Kipnuk and Kwigillingok — no strangers to flooding and home to around 1,100 people — were devastated. One person died, and two remain missing.

Some homes and buildings that were torn off their foundations and floated away are seen near the village of Kwigillingok, Alaska, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, after Typhoon Halong hit the region earlier in the month. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Options are limited and expensive

At-risk communities can reinforce existing infrastructure or fortify shoreline; move infrastructure to higher ground in what is known as managed retreat; or relocate entirely. The needs are enormous — $4.3 billion over 50 years to protect infrastructure in Native communities from climate threats, according to the health consortium report, though that estimate dates to 2020. A lack of resources and coordination has impeded progress, the report found.

Simply announcing plans to relocate can leave a community ineligible for funding for new infrastructure at their existing site, and government policies can limit investments at a new site if people aren’t living there yet, the report said.

It took decades and an estimated $160 million for the roughly 300 residents of Newtok in western Alaska to move 9 miles (14.5 kilometers) to their new village of Mertarvik. Newtok was one of the first Alaska Native communities to fully relocate, but others are considering or pursuing it. In Washington and Louisiana, climate change has been a driving force behind relocation efforts by some tribes.

But many villages, including Kipnuk and Kwigillingok, “don’t have that kind of time,” said Sheryl Musgrove, director of the Alaska Climate Justice Program at the Alaska Institute for Justice. The two are among 10 tribal communities her group has been working with as they navigate climate-adaptation decisions.

Kipnuk before the last storm had been planning a protect-in-place strategy but hasn’t decided what to do now, she said.

Musgrove hopes that in the aftermath, there will be changes at the federal level to help communities in peril. There is no federal agency, for example, tasked with coordinating relocation. That leaves small communities trying to navigate myriad agencies and programs, Musgrove said.

“I guess I’m just really hopeful that this might be the beginning of a change because I think that there is a lot of attention to what happened here,” she said.

Federal support is in question

With money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs in 2022 created the Voluntary Community-Driven Relocation Program and committed $115 million for 11 tribes’ relocation efforts, including $25 million each for Newtok and Napakiak. In Napakiak, most of the infrastructure is expected to be destroyed by 2030, and the community is moving away from the banks of the Kuskokwim River.

That is not enough to move a village, and additional funding opportunities are scattered across other agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

Sustained federal support is uncertain as the Trump administration cuts programs related to climate change and disaster resilience. Trump in May proposed cutting $617 million from the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ tribal self-governance and communities programs but did not specify which programs.

The Department of Interior said in an email that new grant funding is “under review as part of a broader effort to improve federal spending accountability,” but that the Bureau of Indian Affairs was “helping tribes lay the groundwork for future implementation when funding pathways are clarified.”

Other federal money that could help Alaska villages has already been cut. Federal Emergency Management Agency awards to Newtok and Kwigillingok for projects related to relocation didn’t arrive before the administration in April halted billions of dollars in unpaid grants.

Trump has also stopped approving state and tribal requests for hazard mitigation funding, a typical add-on that accompanies federal support after major disasters.

Even the data that villages need to assess how climate change is affecting them are at risk. The Trump administration has removed information related to climate change from government websites and has fired scientists in charge of the nation’s congressionally mandated climate assessment reports.

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Telephone Hill case to proceed in Superior Court

NOTN- The legal fight over the future of the historic Telephone Hill neighborhood will now proceed entirely in Superior Court, after district judge Kristen Swanson declined to rule on the city’s eviction cases tied to the planned redevelopment project.

City Attorney Emily Wright said Judge Swanson dismissed the eviction actions in District Court, to Superior Court Judge Daniel Browning of Sitka.

“Superior Court handles more complex matters than District Court, so Judge Swanson was only going to rule on the issue of, should we (CBJ) have possession of the houses, and should these tenants have to leave immediately?” Said Wright, “The tenants, plus a few others, have filed a civil lawsuit, and in that lawsuit are talking about the evictions, but they’re also talking about the larger questions of, what is the city doing on Telephone Hill? Should that continue? And so really, Judge Swanson’s not going to hear the small little piece. She’s going to send it over to the Superior Court to handle everything.”

The lawsuit alleges the city improperly evicted residents and violated state and federal historic preservation laws in its push to clear Telephone Hill for redevelopment.

Wright said the city accepts Swanson’s decision and plans to request an expedited hearing before Judge Browning.

“We are going to ask for expedited hearings on that case. Because even though, civil cases can take a very, very long time. The city is trying to move forward on the testing of the houses.” She said.

The city’s engineering department has already begun hazardous materials assessments on homes that are vacant. Three homes remain occupied.

“The city engineering department is working their way through doing the hazardous materials assessment, and we’re starting with the houses that are empty. We need to get to those other houses before this next step so we’re going to ask for expedited consideration in the Superior Court matter, which probably means a hearing, sometime after Thanksgiving.”

The city plans to redevelope Telephone Hill into higher-density housing and had issued Nov. 1 eviction notices.

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Schools fear disruptions as the White House begins dismantling the Education Department

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building pictured on Nov. 25, 2024. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)
The Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building pictured on Nov. 25, 2024. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)

AP- The Trump administration says its plan to dismantle the Education Department offers a fix for the nation’s lagging academics — a solution that could free schools from the strictures of federal influence.

Yet to some school and state officials, the plan appears to add more bureaucracy, with no clear benefit for students who struggle with math or reading.

Instead of being housed in a single agency, much of the Education Department’s work now will be spread across four other federal departments. For President Donald Trump, it’s a step toward fully closing the department and giving states more power over schooling. Yet many states say it will complicate their role as intermediaries between local schools and the federal government.

The plan increases bureaucracy fivefold, Washington state’s education chief said, “undoubtedly creating confusion and duplicity” for educators and families. His counterpart in California said the plan is “clearly less efficient” and invites disruption. Maryland’s superintendent raised concerns about “the challenges of coordinating efforts with multiple federal agencies.”

“States were not engaged in this process, and this is not what we have asked for — or what our students need,” said Jill Underly, Wisconsin’s state superintendent. Underly urged the Trump administration to give states greater flexibility and cut down on standardized testing requirements.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said schools will continue receiving federal money without disruption. Ultimately, schools will have more money and flexibility to serve students without the existence of the Education Department, she said.

Yet the department is not gone — only Congress has the power to abolish it. In the meantime, McMahon’s plan leaves the agency in a version of federal limbo. The Labor Department will take over most funding and support for the country’s schools, but the Education Department will retain some duties, including policy guidance and broad supervision of Labor’s education work.

Similar deals will offload programs to the Department of Health and Human Services, the State Department and the Interior Department. The agreements were signed days before the government shutdown and announced Tuesday.

Inking agreements to share work with other departments isn’t new: The Education Department already had dozens of such agreements before Trump took office. And local school officials routinely work with other agencies, including the U.S. Agriculture Department, which oversees school meals. What’s different this time is the scale of the programs offloaded — the majority of the Education Department’s funding for schools, for instance.

Yet Virginia schools chief Emily Anne Gullickson, for one, said schools are accustomed to working with multiple federal agencies, and she welcomed the administration’s efforts to give states more control.

Where some see risk of upheaval, others see a win over bureaucracy

Response to the plan has mostly been drawn along political lines, with Democrats saying the shakeup will hurt America’s most vulnerable students. Republicans in Congress called it a victory over bureaucracy.

Yet some conservatives pushed back against the dismantling. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said on social media that moving programs to agencies without policy expertise could hurt young people. And Margaret Spellings, a former education secretary to Republican President George W. Bush, called it a distraction to a national education crisis.

“Moving programs from one department to another does not actually eliminate the federal bureaucracy, and it may make the system harder for students, teachers and families to navigate and get the support they need,” Spellings said in a statement.

There’s little debate about the need for change in America’s schooling. Its math and reading scores have plummeted in the wake of COVID-19. Before that, reading scores had been stagnant for decades, and math scores weren’t much better.

McMahon said that’s evidence the Education Department has failed and isn’t needed. At a White House briefing Thursday, she called her plan a “hard reset” that does not halt federal support but ends “federal micromanagement.”

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers union and one of McMahon’s sharpest opponents, questioned the logic in her plan.

“Why would you put a new infrastructure together, a new bureaucracy that nobody knows anything about, and take the old bureaucracy and destroy it, instead of making the old bureaucracy more efficient?” Weingarten said at a Wednesday event.

Schools fear the impact of lost expertise on education laws

The full impact of the shakeup may not be clear for months, but already it’s stoking anxiety among states and school districts that have come to rely on the Education Department for its policy expertise. One of the agency’s roles is to serve as a hotline for questions about complicated funding formulas, special education laws and more.

The department has not said whether officials who serve that role will keep their jobs in the transition. Without that help, schools would have few options to clarify what can and can’t be paid for with federal money, said David Law, superintendent of Minnetonka Public Schools in Minnesota.

“What could happen is services are not provided because you don’t have an answer,” said Law, who is also president of AASA, a national association of school superintendents.

Some question whether other federal departments have the capacity to take on an influx of new work. The Labor Department will take over Title I, an $18 billion grant program that serves 26 million students in low-income areas. It’s going to a Labor office that now handles grants serving only 130,000 people a year, said Angela Hanks, who led the Labor office under former President Joe Biden.

At best, Hanks said, it will “unleash chaos on school districts, and ultimately, on our kids.”

In Salem, Massachusetts, the 4,000-student school system receives about $6 million in federal funding that helps support services for students who are low-income, homeless or still mastering English, Superintendent Stephen Zrike said. He fears moving those programs to the Labor Department could bring new “rules of engagement.”

“We don’t know what other stipulations will be attached to the funding,” he said. “The level of uncertainty is enormous.”

Other critics have noted the Education Department was created to consolidate education programs that were spread across multiple agencies.

Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., the ranking member on the House Education and Workforce Committee, urged McMahon to rethink her plan. He cited the 1979 law establishing the department, which said dispersion had resulted in “fragmented, duplicative, and often inconsistent Federal policies relating to education.”

___

AP education writers Moriah Balingit in Washington, Bianca Vázquez Toness in Boston and Makiya Seminera in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.

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Trump’s next choice for a federal judge in Alaska is greeted by a calm hearing in the U.S. Senate

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

Aaron Christian Peterson appears in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary on Nov. 19, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Screenshot)

A confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s pick to fill a judicial vacancy in Alaska was largely uneventful on Wednesday.

Aaron Christian Peterson was nominated by Trump this month after getting support from U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and on Wednesday, the U.S. Senate’s judiciary committee held a hearing on Peterson’s nomination and two other prospective judges bound for other states.

Senators’ attention largely focused on the other two men — David Fowlkes for a judgeship in Arkansas, and Nicholas Ganjei for a seat in Texas — and senators frequently used their time in the hearing to discuss their own views, rather than seek information about the nominees.

“Here I am asking the questions and giving the answers — it’s like the bar exam, except I’m giving the answers,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, at one point in the hearing.

Peterson, who lives in Eagle River, is a natural resources attorney for the state of Alaska and has extensive experience as a criminal prosecutor.

Speaking to the committee, he said he has “a deep familiarity with the laws that are specific to Alaska,” naming the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act as one example.

“I have a wide variety of experience in the arenas that are likely to come before the district court, and hopefully I’ll be able to preside over those matters if I’m fortunate enough to be confirmed,” he said.

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, asked all three nominees if they had ever been accused of sexual harassment or made unwanted sexual advances toward someone. 

All three said no.

Alaska’s most recent pick for the U.S. District Court, former Judge Josh Kindred, was appointed during the first Trump administration but resigned and was disbarred after an investigation found had committed significant sexual misconduct while in office. 

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California, asked all three nominees whether they believe Congress is prohibited from imposing a code of ethics on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Peterson, answering third, echoed his potential colleagues and said it would depend on the circumstances, but that he does have concerns about whether such a thing would violate the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine.

Currently, the U.S. Supreme Court is closely aligned with President Trump, and members of the court have repeatedly accepted financial and physical gifts from people affected by issues before the court. 

Republicans generally oppose new ethics restrictions on the court; Democrats generally favor them. 

Hawley asked the judicial nominees whether they believe a district court judge has the ability to issue injunctions that can halt nationwide actions.

Many of the Trump administration’s programs, when challenged in court, have been at least temporarily halted by local injunctions, and Peterson said the issue is in flux, in part because of a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Sullivan, who does not sit on the judicial committee, read a prepared statement introducing Peterson. 

“Aaron is a lifelong Alaskan. He knows and understands our great state and the federal laws that reflect on Alaska. I think he will be a great federal judge. I urge his nomination be sent to the Senate floor with positive votes from all the members of this committee,” Sullivan said.

Peterson was one of several people suggested to the president by a committee formed at Sullivan’s behest to consider nominees for two current vacancies on the federal bench in Alaska.

That committee deliberated in secret, and the list of applicants — and of proposed nominees — has never been revealed.

Murkowski used a more traditional process to propose nominees to the president, relying on advice from the Alaska Bar Association. Peterson’s name did not appear in that application process, and the Bar Association did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.  

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Nebraska and chair of the judiciary committee, said members of the committee will submit written questions to the nominees by Nov. 26.

After that, the committee is expected to vote on the nominees and send them to a vote of the full U.S. Senate for confirmation.

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Gov. Dunleavy approves deployment of Alaska National Guard to Washington D.C. in 2026

By: Corinne Smith, Alaska Beacon

U.S. Army National Guard UH-60L Black Hawk aviators, assigned to the 207th Aviation Troop Command, transport supplies to Napakiak, Alaska, Nov. 19, 2025, while supporting Operation Halong Response efforts. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Daniel Robles)

Officials with the Alaska National Guard said they are preparing and training a response force of 100 service members to deploy to Washington D.C. and support civil authorities, as directed by the Pentagon and Gov. Mike Dunleavy. 

The update on Tuesday from Maj. Gen. Torrence Saxe, Adjutant General of the Alaska National Guard and Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, was in response to a letter from state legislators on the Alaska Joint Armed Services Committee. The lawmakers raised concerns around the implications of a Pentagon’s directive to Alaska to prepare 350 National Guard personnel for rapid deployment for “civil disturbance operations.”

In his letter, Saxe said Gov. Mike Dunleavy requested that the force be deployed to Washington D.C. to join a joint federal task force in March of 2026. 

A spokesperson with the governor’s office confirmed Thursday the request came from the U.S. Secretary of the Army and Dunleavy approved it. 

“Governor Dunleavy approved the request because he wants to help the Trump Administration restore public trust and improve the quality of life in the nation’s capital,” said Jeff Turner, the governor’s director of communications, by email. 

But the request may turn out to be moot, after a federal judge temporarily blocked the deployments to Washington D.C. on Thursday, declaring the use of troops is likely unlawful. There is a pause on the order until Dec. 11, which gives the Trump administration time to appeal.

Turner declined to comment on the federal ruling. 

Saxe said in the letter that 100 Alaska service members are being trained to align with “national level requirements.” 

“The team will consist of Alaska Army and Air National Guard personnel trained in mission sets that may include site security, roadblocks and checkpoints, civil disturbance control, critical infrastructure protection, and personnel security,” Saxe wrote. “All training activities are integrated into existing unit schedules and do not alter the organization’s operational commitments.”

The Alaska National Guard is currently active in the disaster relief effort after Typhoon Halong devastated communities of Western Alaska, with an estimated 200 service members deployed there, officials said. 

Alaska Organized Militia members assigned to Task Force Bethel continue removing debris and waterlogged insulation from buildings at Tuntutuliak after ex-Typhoon Halong on Oct. 25, 2025. (Alaska National Guard photo by Capt. Balinda O'Neal)
Alaska Organized Militia members assigned to Task Force Bethel continue removing debris and waterlogged insulation from buildings at Tuntutuliak after ex-Typhoon Halong on Oct. 25, 2025. (Alaska National Guard photo by Capt. Balinda O’Neal)

Saxe repeated that the development of this “quick response force” is not new for the National Guard, and it will be  structured to “respond quickly to protect lives, property, and critical infrastructure.” 

“At the request of Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, members of the Alaska NGRF (National Guard Response Force) will activate to Washington, D.C., in March 2026 to support Joint Task Force–District of Columbia, a federally coordinated effort that brings together National Guard elements, civic leaders, and partner agencies to enhance safety, stewardship, and community engagement,” he wrote.  

Officials with the National Guard declined interview requests on Wednesday and Thursday. 

In August, officials with the governor’s office said there were “no plans” to deploy the Alaska National Guard to Washington D.C., as reported by the Anchorage Daily News. 

The Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard troops to primarily Democratic-led cities has been challenged and repeatedly blocked as illegal in federal courts. On Monday, a Tennessee judge barred the National Guard deployment to Memphis, and said it was only allowable if there was a rebellion or invasion. On Thursday, a federal judge temporarily ordered an end to the monthslong deployment of National Guard to Washington D.C. to tackle crime, declaring the use of troops as likely unlawful. 

Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage and co-chair of the Alaska Joint Armed Services Committee, said he was grateful for the commissioner’s response and additional information on the specialized force, but remains concerned about the capacity and purpose of such a mission.

Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, speaks Monday, May 6, 2024, on the floor of the Alaska House of Representatives. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

“It’s important to note that the American taxpayer will be paying their salary while they’re on this mission. They’ll be paying for their room and board,” he said. “So when the National Guard does a mission like this, we just don’t have unlimited money. So we are redirecting money away from training and work here in Alaska.”

Gray said while the Trump administration may have the authority to call the National Guard to Washington, a federal district, he remains concerned at military service members being deployed against civilians and used for police or immigration enforcement.

“Are these police departments saying that they’re overrun, that they’re unable to perform their law enforcement mission, that they need to have their force doubled, tripled, quadrupled in numbers?” he said. “Because that’s what’s happening.”

There are currently 2,866 National Guard service members enlisted in the state, with 1,676 in the Alaska Air National Guard and 1,190 in the Alaska Army National Guard.

Gray, a veteran of the Alaska National Guard who deployed to Kosovo in 2019, said he also worries about the erosion of trust and regard for the military doing these kinds of missions, and deploying against civilians. 

“I love the U.S. military. I am proud of my service in the Alaska Army National Guard,” he said. “I think this is going to hurt the military’s standing in the public’s mind. I think that this is going to cause folks to lose some of the admiration that has been so foundational in our country for the military. Our country has long admired, respected and praised its military, and the moves that we are seeing, directed by Secretary Pete Hegseth and the President of the United States are going to lose our military’s standing, not only internationally, but domestically as well.” 

Gray said he has requested a meeting with Saxe, and is asking for continued public communication and transparency as the quick response force is developed. 

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Juneau Assembly to compile list of priorities for funding, asking for input

NOTN- Juneau Mayor Beth Weldon says Assembly members are finalizing their annual list of priorities, steps taken to determine which city projects will be forwarded to state lawmakers and Alaska’s congressional delegation for potential funding.

“We won’t have a meeting on Monday. It’s our homework, so we have to have it due in by Monday. And all we do is, we look at all of our different projects, capital projects that we want to send before the legislature that will help with the congressionally directed spending.” Weldon Said, “this does not mean that this is necessarily ranking order of our preference of the projects. It’s more of a order of preference on whether we think we’re going to get money or not for it.”

Among the projects the city is submitting this year are a new Solid waste transfer station covering both design and construction, Gold Creek flood control rehabilitation, Glacial outburst flood response, the North Douglas crossing, Mendenhall wastewater treatment upgrades, Bartlett Regional Hospital emergency department renovations and Peterson Hill housing development.

Weldon said each Assembly member ranks the projects individually, and staff compile the results into a final list, which will return to the full Assembly, likely in December, for approval before being sent to the Legislature.

“If your project’s not on our list, it doesn’t mean that we’re not trying to do that project. It just means this particular time, we don’t think we’re going to either get state or federal money.” Weldon said.

Weldon encouraged residents to share their thoughts on the list once its been published.

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Alaska didn’t use $5M set aside to fund SNAP during the shutdown, even though benefits were late

By: Claire Stremple, Alaska Beacon

Fresh produce is seen at the Alaska Commercial Company grocery store in Bethel on Oct 15, 2025. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)

Alaskans who qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program received half of their benefits nearly a week late as a result of the federal government shutdown this month. Their full benefits were two weeks late, even though the state had emergency funds to prevent that.

Officials say the state never used the $5 million per week it set aside to keep people from waiting for food benefits because the state’s system had to be reconfigured to use state money rather than its usual federal funding source. SNAP is a federal food assistance program that is run by the state.

Division Director Deb Etheridge said the state is now prepared to react quickly if a similar situation arises in the future.

“We went through all the steps we needed to create an opportunity for a state-only benefit to be issued through our EBT contractor,” she said. “So in the event that anything like this happens again, we can move swiftly to issue that state-only benefit.”

Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed an emergency order declaration on Nov. 3, following a request by state legislators and similar action by other states. 

Etheridge said information technology and system operations teams had to scramble to come up with solutions, but by the time they found a way to get money to Alaskans, the federal government had begun to partially fulfill its obligations. 

She said the state was closing in on a solution when the federal government released 50% of the money for benefits on Nov. 4. She said that money was processed and ready for Alaskans to spend by Nov. 6.

Etheridge said the eligibility technicians that process benefits were not excessively burdened by the shutdown.

“Eligibility workers were doing business as usual, processing cases and managing, obviously, increased phone calls — people wanted to know where their benefits were,” she said. “The pressure came on our system operations and our IT.”

The shutdown delayed service in a state division with a history of slowdowns in recent years. The DPA has battled long backlogs in processing food benefit applications as a result of staff shortages and technology issues since 2022. The division made progress against its backlog before slipping again in 2023. Paperwork slowdowns kept thousands waiting again earlier this year.

Etheridge says the division is currently working to make sure people displaced by the October storms in Western Alaska continue to receive benefits, even if they have lost access to critical paperwork.

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Congress approves measure to overturn Biden-era management plan for Alaska petroleum reserve

FILE – In this undated photo provided by the United States Geological Survey, permafrost forms a grid-like pattern in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, managed by the Bureau of Land Management on Alaska’s North Slope. (David W. Houseknecht/United States Geological Survey via AP, File)

AP- Congress has passed a measure to overturn a plan enacted during the Biden administration that put off limits to oil and gas leasing nearly half a vast petroleum reserve in Alaska. Critics see the vote as political meddling that creates confusion over the future management of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

Tuesday’s House vote followed passage by the Senate during the government shutdown of the resolution disapproving a management plan for the reserve that was finalized in 2022 under then-President Joe Biden. The offices of Alaska’s Republican congressional delegation members have said the resolution “fulfills the objectives” of an Alaska-specific executive order signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year. The executive order called for reinstating a plan dating to the first Trump administration that sought to make available for leasing about 80% of the reserve.

The measure next goes to Trump for consideration.

There has been outsized attention on Alaska since Trump’s return to office, with moves to expand development of oil and gas and other resources cheered by state political leaders who had considered the Biden administration overly restrictive in its approach.

The votes are among the latest taken under the Congressional Review Act that are aimed at nullifying land management plans adopted under Biden. A statement from the congressional delegation last month said the review act provides an expedited way to overturn certain federal rules and forbids an agency from issuing another substantially similar rule unless it’s authorized by law.

But Alex Cohen, director of government affairs for the Alaska Wilderness League, called use of the act a “super, super blunt instrument.” Regulatory policy instead requires “very careful, considered stakeholder engagement, scientific analysis,” he said.

The approach taken by Congress also raises questions about what constitutes a substantially similar rule, Cohen said, adding there is a lack of clarity around what happens when a plan is overturned.

A bill passed earlier this year calls for oil and gas lease sales in the petroleum reserve, for which the last sale was held in 2019, and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Major companies sat out the first two lease sales held for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; the first was at the end of Trump’s first term and the second near the end of Biden’s.

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Alaska births continue to decline, but some health indicators are positive, state reports say

By: Yereth Rosen, Alaska Beacon

A mother with her newborn baby in the hospital. Mothers from northern and Western Alaska are more likely than other Alaska mothers to give birth preterm, and the travel that many rural Alaska women undertake for prenatal care and childbirth is one of the contributing factors, a UAA study has found. (Photo by Thanasis Zovoilis/Getty Images)
A mother with her newborn baby in the hospital. Mothers from northern and Western Alaska are more likely than other Alaska mothers to give birth preterm (Photo by Thanasis Zovoilis)

Fewer Alaska babies were born in 2024 than the year prior, continuing a yearslong decline in the state’s births and women’s fertility rates, a new report shows.

There were 8,950 Alaska babies born last year, down from 9,031 in 2023, according to the Alaska Vital Statistics 2024 Annual Report released by the state Department of Health. The number of births has fallen in each of the past five years, the report showed. In 2020, there were 9,486 babies born in Alaska.

Annual numbers or Alaska births from 2020 to 2025 have declined steadily. The decline continued last year, according to the Alaska Vital Statistics 2024 Annual Report. (Graph from the Alaska Vital Statistics 2024 Annual Report/Alaska Department of Health)
Annual numbers of Alaska births from 2020 to 2025 have declined steadily. The decline continued last year, according to the Alaska Vital Statistics 2024 Annual Report. (Graph from the Alaska Vital Statistics 2024 Annual Report/Alaska Department of Health)

Fertility rates — defined as the number of births per 100,000 women aged 15 to 44 — also continued to decline. In 2024, the statewide fertility rate was 61, down from 61.8 the year before and 65.5 in 2020. Fertility rates were highest in Southwest Alaska in 2024, at 86.9, and lowest in Southeast Alaska, at 48.5, the report said.

The most popular names for boys were Oliver and Theodore. For baby girls, the most popular names were Amelia and Olivia, the report said.

At the other end of the life cycle, there were slightly fewer deaths in Alaska last year than in 2023 — 5,525 in 2024, compared to 5,544 the year before, the report said. Alaska’s death total peaked in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when 6,227 residents died, the report said. Death numbers have declined since then, and the 2024 total was similar to the 2020 total of 5,204.

Death statistics revealed that the top three causes in 2024 were the same as they were in most years: cancer, which was responsible for about a fifth of all Alaska deaths; heart disease, with totals for those deaths on the decline since 2021 and 2022; and accidents, a category that includes poisonings and drug overdoses.

COVID-19, which was the No. 3 cause of death in 2021, slipped out of the top 10 in 2023, a year when it was cited as the cause of 56 deaths. Its impact on state demographics was still small in 2024, when it was found to be the cause of 58 Alaska deaths.

Buttons at a table set up by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention, seen Oct. 16, 2025, bear an anti-tobacco slogan. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Buttons at a table set up by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention, seen Oct. 16, 2025, bear an anti-tobacco slogan. Fewer expectant mothers in Alaska are using tobacco than in the past, the state’s annual vital statistics report said. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Embedded in the vital statistics report were some positive signs.

Life expectancy increased to a statewide average of 77.6 years, continuing an upward trend since the COVID-19 pandemic year of 2021, when life expectancy hit a low of 75.4 years.

The teen birth rate was the lowest since 2020, the report said. That rate, which measures the number of births per 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19, was 13.5 in 2024, down from 14.8 the year before.

Use of tobacco by pregnant women has also steadily declined in recent years, according to the report. In 2024, 7% of expectant mothers used tobacco, down from 11% in 2020.

Report shows declines in certain cancers

A separate report released by the department detailed cancer statistics through 2022, the year with the last available data.

The Cancer In Alaska 2022 Annual Report showed some positive trends as well.

Cancer incidence overall in Alaska decreased between 1996 and 2022, especially in the years 2009 to 2012, when incidents dropped by an annual average of 3.4%, the report said. Breast cancer remains the most frequent cancer among women, while prostate cancer is the most frequent cancer among men, the report said.

Certain types of cancers have decreased in Alaska since 2016, including leukemia, bladder cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer and prostate cancer. There is a caveat, however. “Recent trends have started to show an increase in prostate cancer statewide and nationally,” Shirley Sakaye, a spokesperson for the department, said by email.

A walk-in inflatable model colon, on display on Oct. 20, 2022, at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention, gives visitors a close-up view of a typical precancerous polyp. This is the smaller of two inflatable displays that teh Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and Southcentral Foundation use to raise awareness of colorectal cancer. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
A walk-in inflatable model colon, on display on Oct. 20, 2022, at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention, gives visitors a close-up view of a typical precancerous polyp. This is the smaller of two inflatable displays that the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and Southcentral Foundation use to raise awareness of colorectal cancer. Alaska Natives have the nation’s highest rate of colorectal cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Also on the decline in Alaska was colorectal cancer, which ranked fourth on the list of diagnosed cancers in the state in 2022, according to the cancer report.

Colorectal cancer trends are of special concern in Alaska because of a high prevalence among Alaska Natives. Alaska Native people have had the nation’s highest recorded rates of colorectal cancer, according to a recent report by the American Cancer Society. The reasons are not fully understood by health experts, but they may relate to diet, according to the report.

While colorectal cancer numbers have declined in recent years, rates are notably high in one of the most rural regions of the state: the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in Western Alaska. The colorectal cancer rate there was 88 per 100,000 people in 2022, compared to the statewide rate of 40.8 per 100,000, according to the report.

Alaska Native tribal health organizations have boosted awareness, and screening has increased over time.

Because of relatively high rates of colorectal cancer among younger adult Alaska Native people, the Alaska Native Medical Center and Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium recommend that screenings start at age 40, compared to the recommendation for most Americans to start screenings at age 45.

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