On Oct. 1, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources will begin limiting how far in advance reservations can be made to three months, down from six months.
The only exceptions to the three-month reservation window will include the Wood-Tikchik Region and cabins on Afognak and Shuyak Islands in the Kodiak region, which will continue to allow reservations up to six months in advance.
The change is part of a shift to a new online booking system and website that also opens Oct. 1. Cabin-seeking Alaskans will be unable to change, modify or cancel their existing reservations from Sept. 28 through Sept. 30 as part of the transition.
Beginning Oct. 1, reservations for all facilities can be made for Jan. 1, 2027 and the 3-month rolling window will begin.
Wendy Sailors, community engagement manager for Alaska State Parks, said by email that the new shorter reservation window is the result of feedback from Alaskans who said “that it is difficult to plan that far out, often people forget that they had the reservation and have to cancel last minute or just don’t use it, etc. So in addition to the three-month rolling reservation window, we are incorporating a few new features like an email reminder 7 days out.”
A sample ballot seen at the headquarters of the Alaska Division of Elections on Thursday, July 9, 2026, shows the language for the campaign finance ballot measure. (James Brooks photo/Alaska Beacon)
In August, more than 70% of participating Alaska voters supported Ballot Measure 1, voting to restrict the amount of money that individuals can contribute to campaigns for state office.
On Nov. 3, Alaskans will vote on Ballot Measure 2, and an overlooked section of that measure — intended to roll back the state’s election system to what it was in 2020 — almost certainly would repeal part of Ballot Measure 1.
“I mean, people are like, why didn’t you raise this earlier? I’m like, it’s got 91 sections, and I literally didn’t notice,” said Scott Kendall, the author of Alaska’s existing elections system and an attorney fighting Ballot Measure 2.
In 2020, Alaskans passed a different Ballot Measure 2. It installed three major changes to the state’s election system: An open primary, where all candidates run together, and the top four advance to the general election; a ranked choice general election, where voters sort those four candidates in order of preference; and a disclosure law requiring third-party groups to disclose their donors when the groups donate to political candidates and causes.
This year’s Ballot Measure 2 seeks to repeal all three parts, returning Alaska elections to what they were in 2020.
There’s also a new wrinkle because of this year’s Ballot Measure 1.
That single-ticket system was installed in 2020’s Ballot Measure 2. Ballot Measure 1 limited donations to that single ticket, putting the limits in Alaska Statute 15.13.070(g).
Ballot Measure 2 seeks to get rid of the combined single-ticket campaign, and Section 5 states, “AS 15.13.070(g) is repealed.”
That would get rid of the combined donation limit for governor and lieutenant governor. But some state officials say another law may then come into play.
Because candidates would — if Ballot Measure 2 passes — be running separately, they may be limited by a different part of Ballot Measure 1, AS 15.13.070(b), which applies to individual candidates.
That’s the position held by Alaska Public Offices Commission director Heather Hebdon. APOC is in charge of enforcing Alaska’s campaign finance laws.
By email, Hebdon said that if Ballot Measure 2 passes, “contribution limits for gubernatorial candidates would fall under those found in AS 15.13.070(b)(c) and (f).”
She believes APOC would likely write new regulations to deal with those limits’ applicability to governor and lieutenant governor candidates.
Kendall said he isn’t sure about that.
“I will say it’s really legally tenuous. I think when you have a statute that says a thing and you explicitly repeal that thing, you get what you get,” he said.
Supporters of Ballot Measure 2 said they don’t have a position on the issue.
“Repeal Now wrote Ballot Measure 2 as a full and complete repeal of the 2020 ballot measure that brought ranked choice voting to Alaska. We are unaware of any effect on Ballot Measure 1 and thus can’t comment on that,” said Bethany Marcum, treasurer of Repeal Now, the leading group behind Ballot Measure 2.
Craig Richards, a former attorney general who represented Repeal Now in court, said he was unfamiliar with the issue.
The Alaska Department of Law also declined to make a definitive statement on the topic.
Sam Curtis, a spokesman for the department, said by email that attorneys within the Alaska Legislature would make the final determination of what happens if Ballot Measure 2 passes.
That’s because the revisor of statutes — an obscure staff official — is in charge of mediating disputes between enacted laws.
Emily Nauman, the Legislature’s chief attorney, declined to say how the Legislature might interpret any conflict.
Rep. Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage and a sponsor of Ballot Measure 1, said earlier this month that he has requested that Nauman’s office deliver a written ruling on the issue, but as of Tuesday afternoon, that memo had not yet been completed.
The Alaska Supreme Court has dealt with similar issues before. In 2021 and in 2006, the court ruled that later laws trump earlier ones.
“In general, if two statutes conflict, then the later in time controls over the earlier, and the specific controls over the general,” the court wrote in a 2006 decision.
On Sept. 11, Schrage said he doesn’t like the idea of repealing a campaign finance limit.
“It seems to fly in the face of what Alaskan voters have time and time again reaffirmed as a priority for them,” he said.
The Alaska Supreme Court had an opportunity earlier this month to address the issue but declined to take it up.
As a result, the final description on the ballot says only that Ballot Measure 2 would “remove the limits on donations to joint campaigns for governor and lieutenant governor.”
It doesn’t say whether anything will replace them.
NOTN- The Juneau Assembly has indefinitely tabled a proposal that would have required nonprofits to collect sales tax on purchases, after a marathon debate that Mayor Beth Weldon described as increasingly confusing for the public.
Speaking on Monday night’s meeting, Weldon said the measure drew intense public interest, but efforts to carve out protections for smaller nonprofits only muddied the policy.
“We were just creating confusion. Just for instance, what’s intermediate fundraising? How do the raffle tickets fit in there? 14 days isn’t long enough for a raffle ticket period, and so at the end, especially after talking with the finance, Ms. Woll proposed an amendment to table it indefinitely. And what that means is, unless we bring it up at our next meeting, it dies at this time.” Weldon said.
At the meeting, 17 nonprofit leaders testified against the measure, raising concerns about fairness, added financial burdens and more confusion over how the ordinance would work.
“What I have a hard time understanding is the policy rationale for carving out certain types of non-profits as ineligible for the sales tax exemption, though we have an important charitable mission, it sends a message that it’s not important enough. Crafting tax law is tricky. Our Internal Revenue Code is 3000 pages. The regs are another 70,000. I get it. I understand interpretations have to be made and lines drawn, and I also understand-I truly do-the desire to protect basic human services, food, and shelter to those who need it most. But I question whether the city should be in a position of determining where to draw that line and what services and missions are important.” Said Bridget Lujan, Executive Director of Juneau Dance Theater.
The proposal was projected to raise closer to $1–2 million in new revenue, down from earlier estimates of $3 million, according to Weldon. She said the financial benefit no longer justified the level of community angst.
The Assembly also approved funding for Hesco barriers and other work related to glacial outburst flood mitigation.
Alaska candidates for the U.S. House race incumbent Republican Nick Begich III (left) and independent challenger Bill Hill (right) squared off at a fisheries debate in Kodiak on Sep. 12, 2026. (Photo by Brian Venua/Alaska Beacon)
Front-runner candidates for Alaska’s sole U.S. House of Representatives seat expressed strong support for the fishing industry and coastal communities at a debate in Kodiak over the weekend.
Incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III and independent challenger Bill Hill took very similar positions on issues including fisheries bycatch, declining fish stocks and representation in federal fisheries management, but there were some differences.
Begich touted his legislative record in his first two-year term as beneficial to Alaska fisheries, while Hill said his personal history as a lifelong fisherman in Bristol Bay is advantageous for representing Alaska in Congress.
Begich, a technology entrepreneur and business executive, garnered 44.6% of the vote in the primary election, while Hill, a former school superintendent and commercial fisherman, received 32.5% of the vote. Third and fourth place finishers in Alaska’s ranked choice general election include Eric Hafner — a registered Democrat serving a federal prison sentence in New York – with 3.8% of the vote, and Libertarian Jim McDermott of Fairbanks with 1.2%.
The winner of the November election will serve a two-year term as one of the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Begich promoted his legislative record as a freshman in the Republican-controlled U.S. House. This spring, six bills he sponsored passed Congress to become law — a tie with another Arizona lawmaker for most bills passed as a freshman — but none of those bills directly address fisheries issues.
“I have passed more legislation than any freshman on record,” Begich said. “And those are good Alaska bills — they are bills that unlock lands for Alaskans, and they are bills that, in many cases, we’ve been working to achieve for decades.”
Hill repeatedly referenced his experience growing up subsistence and commercial fishing in Bristol Bay. “I raised three of my kids on my fishing boat, and understand the importance that state, national and international politics play in what happens on our back decks with our children, what happens in the income that we can take home, what taxation does to us, what tariffs do to us,” he said. “I’ve lived a life of fish.”
Bycatch
Several debate questions focused on bycatch, the accidental harvest of nontargeted fish. Bycatch has raised public concern around Alaska’s industrial trawl fleet, which has many vessels harbored in Kodiak, where the debate took place.
Both candidates said they support broader representation on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which oversees fishing policy in federal waters, including bycatch regulations.
Begich said he supports increasing representation for subsistence, sport fishers and small commercial operators, as well as large operators, in council decisions. He pointed to a bill he introduced, the Bycatch Reduction Act, which would require the council to implement gear performance standards to reduce bycatch, to make investments in fishing gear and fisheries research and to increase monitoring and reporting from the industry and the council, among others.
“We need transparency — more transparency for folks who may have conflicts of interest that currently serve on the NPFMC,” Begich said. He also expressed support for a chum bycatch limit established by the council this year for the Bering Sea pollock fishery.
Hill said he supports bycatch limits to protect salmon runs, and additional seats representing subsistence and tribal groups.
“Subsistence is sacred, and the very first thing that needs to happen, and I think you hear it from across the state — this is why there’s such a loud outcry — is because some of our subsistence users have not been able to access their resource, which is more than just protein, for quite a few years now,” he said.
In a question about Congress’ role in reducing bycatch, debate moderators noted all fisheries produce some bycatch harvest and said “a goal of zero bycatch isn’t reasonable.”
But both candidates pushed back on that framing and said that zero bycatch should be the ultimate goal.
The industrial trawl fleet, particularly boats that target pollock, has been the focus of public criticism because it contributes substantially to the state’s bycatch numbers for species including juvenile halibut, cod and salmon returning to spawning grounds throughout Alaska.
Begich said he agreed that every fishery produces some level of bycatch and it’s up to the council to manage each complex fishery. But he said the goal should be “aggressive.”
“I do think the goal should be zero. It’s going to be a long road to get there. But we also have to recognize that in every single fishery, whether it be subsistence, sport, small commercial or large commercial, they have a bycatch responsibility as well,” Begich said.
Hill said the goal should be zero bycatch. “We need to work towards that. We need to work towards a very low-threshold for our trawling industry, especially the out-of-state corporate trawlers,” he said.
And Hill expressed confidence that the trawl industry would be able to meet required limits.
“My perspective is when you set something out for industry to accomplish, they always find a way, and we’ve seen over and over again that our trawl fleet has met the standards that are being set for them. So, can we get to 0%? That would be everybody’s desire, but should we be working towards it? Yes, we should be,” Hill said. “But those who are bad actors, you’ve got to leave the fishery.”
When asked about the primary causes of king and chum salmon run declines, Begich responded it was “largely bycatch related.”
“You look at the Yukon, you look at the Kuskokwim — those runs are way down. We’re seeing some recovery in chums. I think that the cap that we put in with NPFMC is sort of that initial shot saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to be managing these more carefully,’” Begich said. “But I think that historical bycatch is the root cause.”
Hill said he agreed, and added that climate change driven factors are affecting Alaska’s salmon runs. “Climate change is a real thing, and we need to start mitigating for that,” he said. “But yes, we need to end bycatch.”
Processing and protecting Alaska’s fisheries
Both candidates said they would support investments in building the workforce in fishing and processing sectors, as well as more visas for hiring international workers in processing.
In a lightning round of questions, the candidates agreed on every issue. They supported science-based fisheries management, more investment in research and engaging with a wide range of fisheries interest groups prior to introducing new legislation or policies. They also agreed that rural and tribal communities should have more say in decisions affecting fish.
When asked how they would ensure the economic value of federally-managed fisheries would not come at the expense of Alaska communities, Begich said he supports labeling rules for farmed vs. wild-caught fish.
“Alaska seafood is competing with penned fish and farmed fish, and the end consumer doesn’t know it,” Begich said. “And so, when you’re buying an Alaska seafood product, we need to make sure that it’s labeled Alaska. That’s transparent because it gives us the best price for our product and it reduces some of the pressure on our fisheries.”
Hill said he would support more investment in in-state seafood processing to diversify processors to which fishing fleets can sell their harvests. “More processing in our state that’s not a consolidated, vertically integrated type of processing,” he said. “And we need to make sure that we’re legislating to make sure that farmed fishing does not come to our seas and that we keep them off for as long as we possibly can.”
Geopolitics
Both candidates expressed support for tariffs on international seafood to protect Alaska markets.
Hill also condemned the U.S. war in Iran for driving high costs of fuel and affecting fisheries.
“The Iran war is a terrible, terrible thing in terms of how it’s impacted our industry,” he said. “The fuel costs I paid this summer were $2 per gallon more than last year, and they were already high. And then we start talking about things like food and groceries, and the things that allow our crews to do good work for us while we’re fishing hard.”
Begich has expressed support for the Trump administration’s military action against Iran, and voted against a war powers resolution that passed Congress in June calling on President Donald Trump to remove armed forces against Iran, unless authorized by Congress or a declaration of war.
The Alaska Division of Elections director’s office in Downtown Juneau is seen on Aug. 26, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Rep. Andrew Gray of Anchorage is not a Swiss businessman. Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon is not selling fire sprinkler systems. Lieutenant governor candidate Zac Johnson isn’t running an equestrian fox-hunting club in Indiana.
Days after the Alaska Department of Law said it found possible gaps in dozens of political candidates’ financial disclosure forms, a review by the Alaska Beacon and interviews with the affected candidates found many of the problems identified by the department either don’t exist, rely on old information, or amount to minor errors.
“I’ve talked to probably 10 legislators, and probably eight of them had something on that list that was just bogus,” said Rep. Julie Coulombe, R-Anchorage and one of the candidates in the report, “property they don’t even own anymore, businesses they don’t own, and yet they’re on the list.”
“On the basis of that additional information, the Lieutenant Governor will certify the two candidates,” said a statement released by Dahlstrom’s office at the time.
That restoration reversed one Dahlstrom took just five days before. On Aug. 31, Dahlstrom followed recommendations from the Alaska Public Offices Commission and disqualified Taylor and Tagle based on the fact that they had not submitted full Public Official Financial Disclosure forms within a 30-day deadline set by state law.
Former Attorney General Treg Taylor speaks at a Sept. 8, 2026, gubernatorial candidate forum held by the Last Frontier Republican Club at the Petroleum Club of Anchorage. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Taylor, a former attorney general who used to lead the Department of Law, had been asked in 2025 to provide a list of tenants at his rental properties in Anchorage. He did not provide a partial list until late July, about three weeks before the primary election.
“My biggest issue is that APOC never reached out to me with any discrepancies when I filed the disclosure,” Coulombe said. “And so the difference with Treg (Taylor) is that he knew that there was an issue and chose not to change it.”
The Department of Law’s review was extraordinary. When they register to run for office, candidates are required to submit a form listing their personal finances from the previous year. If they don’t submit one, they cannot run. Normally, any gaps in a disclosure only come to light when someone files a complaint with the commission.
Officials with the Department of Law said at a Monday news conference with Dahlstrom and Gov. Mike Dunleavy that they initiated their review last week, expediting it ahead of ballot printing deadlines.
Rachel Witty, director of the civil division of the Department of Law, said the review was done in the course of a day and a half.
“So I can’t emphasize enough that this is a preliminary review. We didn’t have time to contact candidates. We didn’t have time to verify every apparent match. Nor is it our role to do that. There might be mistaken identities. It was not conducted with the kind of due diligence that APOC would do before making a determination that someone had violated the law.”
Witty said paralegals, not attorneys, conducted a search by reviewing business licensing databases, property records, and a large national database called TLOXP.
It’s unclear whether APOC, the agency that regulates financial and political disclosures, will follow up with candidates or take any enforcement actions.
Among the candidates flagged for review were all four lieutenant governor candidates and all four candidates for governor.
Republican candidates Dave Bronson and Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, through a campaign spokesperson, denied the department’s findings, and defended their financial disclosures. Kreiss-Tomkins immediately corrected one error that was identified.
Taylor and Republican Bernadette Wilson did not respond to requests for comment.
“This is getting more absurd by the moment,” said Edgmon when informed by the Beacon that the Department of Law had identified him as director and president of Inland Empire Fire Protection, a fire sprinkler company in Spokane, Washington.
That company is a subsidiary of Choggiung, Ltd., an Alaska Native corporation based in Dillingham.
Until 2017, Edgmon served as chairman of the board for Choggiung, but he hasn’t been in that role for almost a decade.
“I’ve never had a personal relationship with them,” he said of the fire sprinkler company.
The Department of Law report also said Edgmon failed to properly disclose some rental properties in Dillingham — they’re listed, but in the “debts” section of the report, rather than under “interests.”
The Department of Law flagged Rep. Will Stapp, R-Fairbanks, as possibly being the owner of William B Stapp LLC but also noted that the firm was dissolved in 2015, five years before Stapp first ran for office.
“I’m not actually sure why they even flagged me,” Stapp said on Friday.
Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, published a video on social media after the report listed him as owning a business in Switzerland. Gray said he’s both never been to Switzerland and never owned a business.
In a comment posted by Fairbanks writer Dermot Cole, independent state House candidate Joy Beth Cottle of Fairbanks said that the Department of Law review incorrectly flagged her as having an out-of-date disclosure form.
Cottle filed to run for office in 2025, a year ahead of the deadline, and thus filed a form covering the 2024 tax year. State law doesn’t require an updated POFD in that case. Several other candidates were dinged for the same reason.
Cottle also noted that she was linked to a property she “sold in 2013 and has since burnt to the ground and changed owners several times. I drove by and took a picture of it — it’s a vacant lot.”
In Anchorage, Coulombe said she was faulted for not listing her husband’s last name. After 40-plus years of marriage, she said, she thought it would be assumed that they had the same last name.
She was also faulted for listing only the zip code of a rental property. She’s since submitted a revised form to fix the problem.
“If a mistake or something happened, then OK, email me and I’ll fix it,” Coulombe said. “But you know, the whole idea of putting this big list out like we’re all hiding something is just — I have no words for that.”
Coulombe and other legislators named in the report said they are suspicious of the way the Department of Law and Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration handled it.
Anchorage Republican Sen. Cathy Giessel was surprised to hear she was flagged by the review. The department said she failed to disclose being a director of Anchorage Community Mental Health Services, Inc., but that is the old name of Anchorage Behavioral Health which was changed in 2020. Giessel is president of the board, which is listed on her disclosure report.
“Well, see, the Department of Law is going after anyone that is not a staunch radical right Republican,” she said. “So that is really immaterial to me.”
The list of candidates in the department’s review include 24 Democrats, 49 Republicans and 17 independents.
“I have huge concerns about what the Dunleavy administration is doing with the departments under its control,” she said. “This is unbelievable — the overreach that’s happening, the inappropriate behavior, the obvious interference in elections. It’s no wonder, many of my constituents, as I knock door-to-door, don’t trust this election system because they’re seeing all of this, very — I’ll call it ‘very unusual’ in quotes — behavior by state government and the federal government.”
Witty responded to Giessel’s comment by email on Friday.
“I have worked for the Department of Law for 20 years, through five administrations, and I can tell you unequivocally, that what occurred last week was not motivated by politics. The informal review was done completely internally by line level staff who only want to do good work for the people of Alaska,” she said. “The list includes candidates from all party affiliations and does not target one political party over another. By its nature, it had to be done on an extremely expedited timeline and could not be as thorough as anyone would have wanted it to be. We have been very open that the list likely contained errors and we have consistently messaged this to the candidates and to the public. However, the preliminary findings contained enough potential discrepancies to raise questions about whether the law was being applied fairly across the field of candidates. The bottom line is that candidates were added back onto the ballot and the field remains broad — allowing voters to have the final say.”
People attend a memorial on the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
People attend a memorial on the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
AP- Americans commemorated the 25th anniversary of 9/11 on Friday, remembering the shock, the dead and the sweeping consequences of the al-Qaida attacks on symbols of U.S. might and prosperity.
The milestone anniversary brought memorial rituals — wreath-laying, flag-flying, moments of silence, vigils and readings of victims’ names — and volunteer projects in tribute to a day that about half of U.S. adults remember as the most historic event of their lifetime, according to a new poll. On Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida extremists hijacked four commercial jets and crashed them into New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people.
Elsie Caldwell carried a photograph of her son Kenny Caldwell to the trade center to hear his name and all the others read aloud Friday morning. She last spoke to him that morning a quarter-century ago.
“Mom, I just want to let you know that I love you,” her son told her in a final phone call, she recalled. His remains, like those of many other victims, have never been recovered.
Trump attends Pentagon observance
The attacks brought down the World Trade Center’s twin towers — icons of U.S. economic power, and among the tallest buildings on Earth — and blew a hole in the Pentagon, the U.S. military’s fortress-like headquarters near Washington. The fourth plane was headed for Washington, officials concluded, but the aircraft went down in Pennsylvania after passengers and crew members stormed the cockpit and fought the hijackers.
“The 25 years since have shown us the even greater power of the American spirit to endure and prevail, and to win,” added the Republican, who was in his native New York on 9/11.
Former President George W. Bush, who was in office on 9/11, attended the observance at the National Sept. 11 Memorial in New York, along with former Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and current Vice President JD Vance. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick wiped away a tear as he revisited the place where the attacks killed 658 of his colleagues — including his brother, Gary Lutnick — at the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum laid a wreath at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania after hailing the courage of the plane’s passengers and crew: “The actions they took should inspire us all.”
At ground zero, a new tribute to those who fell ill
For Angilic Casalduc, attending the New York commemoration “helps to show you’re not alone.” She lost her mother, Vivian Casalduc.
“There’s no timeline for grief, and unfortunately, no one can say how you can grieve, but coming here once a year makes it feel just a little bit better,” she said.
Traditionally, there are no political speeches at the ground zero commemoration, where victims’ relatives read aloud the long list of names and added personal messages. They thanked first responders and the military, invoked religious faith, appealed for national unity and touched on the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia. The kingdom was the homeland of most of the hijackers but denied any involvement in the attacks.
Mostly, relatives spoke of, and to, loved ones — whom some were too young to remember.
“You dreamed my whole life for me, and you only got eight months of it,” said Trisha Pakka, who lost her mother, Deepa Pakkala.
Kiersten Haub, who was 16 months old when the attacks killed her father, firefighter Michael Helmut Haub, said: “I carry you through every milestone.”
Besides moments of silence at key points in the attack timeline, this year’s ceremony added another moment to honor people who were exposed to the clouds of toxic dust released by the twin towers’ fiery collapse and have since died of cancer and other illnesses. Questions remain about how many people developed health problems linked to the dust.
The impact of 9/11 endures
It’s a reminder of how the attacks’ long shadow has reached into many corners of life in the U.S. and beyond.
Sept. 11 engendered a culture of individual vigilance summed up by the slogan, “ If you see something, say something,” while a wave of patriotism propelled some Americans to join the military, fire departments and police forces.
Casey Kloepfer was 4 when his father, police Officer Ronald Kloepfer, was killed at the trade center. The son became an officer himself this June, wearing his dad’s badge number.
“It’s big footsteps to fill, but it’s definitely something that I take very seriously and want to continue to honor him and be the best police officer I can,” he said by phone this week.
In the quarter-century since, Muslim Americans have played a growing role in public life from statehouses to Congress to New York City Hall, where Zohran Mamdani is the city’s first Muslim mayor. Yet he faced some criticism for attending the anniversary ceremony at ground zero.
Republican ex-Gov. George Pataki and 9/11 victims’ relatives cited, among other things, past remarks that some of Mamdani’s political associates have made about the attacks. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican, also opposed Mamdani’s attendance, though the two shook hands there Friday.
Mamdani, a Democrat, said this week he loves the city and country and that he wanted the anniversary to focus on victims’ families, first responders and New Yorkers who helped one another after the attacks, which he called a “horrific act of terror.” The 34-year-old mayor was an elementary school student in New York on 9/11.
One victim’s son and namesake, Michael Massaroli, used his time at the podium Friday to deplore people “using this tragedy to spread hate” against Muslims and others.
“That’s wrong, and that does no honor to the victims here,” he said.
Times Square billboards pause advertisements
Remembrances extended far from the attack sites, including beams of light projected from New Hampshire’s Mount Washington, a stair climb at Mississippi State University’s football stadium and a ceremony at Honolulu’s 9/11 memorial.
Sept. 11 isn’t a federal holiday, but Congress has designated it both Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance.
“One appropriate way to remember is by serving,” said Jay Winuk, who lost his brother Glenn Winuk and then co-founded the organization 9/11 Day with friend David Paine. The group coordinates volunteer opportunities and this year arranged for dozens of Times Square billboards to pause their advertising at 9:11 a.m. Friday.
This story mentions suicide, if you or someone you know is struggling, please call Alaska’s crisis and suicide prevention lifeline at 988, help is available today.
NOTN- NAMI Juneau is inviting parents, caregivers and other trusted adults to a community event next week aimed at helping them recognize and respond to youth struggling with suicidal thoughts and ideations.
Charity Anderson with the National Alliance on Mental Illness said many young people hide their distress, even as their behavior changes.
“It’s really easy for people to mask how they’re feeling. You know, they’ll put on a smile, pretend everything is fine. In the background, maybe they are isolating a lot more, maybe they aren’t reaching out to friends as much, if somebody is sleeping a lot less or sleeping a lot more, if they are withholding food or eating too much, those could all be warning signs that somebody might be struggling.” Anderson said.
Anderson said warning signs of depression are showing up in younger and younger children, noting recent Alaska data on youth mental health is especially troubling.
As mentioned in a story by the Alaska Beacon, ‘The suicide-death rate for young Alaskans hit a 10-year high last year and the rate of suicide attempts has increased over the past decade.’
The free presentation, “Signs of Suicide,” will be held Sept. 17 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Floyd Dryden. Anderson said it is geared toward parents, caregivers, coaches and any adults who regularly interact with youth.
The program is built around the message ‘ACT’ acknowledge that something is wrong, show the person you care, and tell a trusted adult or help them connect with support.
Anderson said it is important for adults to share their own experiences with mental health struggles when appropriate, to normalize those feelings and show youth they are not alone. She also encouraged people to ask directly if they are worried someone may be suicidal, calling the common fear that the question might “put the idea in their head” a myth.
“Let that person know that you are a safe place to talk to. Sometimes people just need to know that they have somebody there.” She said.
The event will include food, youth activities and supervised childcare so adults can focus on the presentation.
President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he arrives with his then-personal attorney Todd Blanche in court for opening statements in his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 22, 2024, in New York City. Trump was convicted of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. Since his election, he’s nominated Blanche to be attorney general of the United States. (Photo by Yuki Iwamura-Pool/Courtesy of Alaska Beacon, Getty Images)
During a lengthy, meandering series of remarks last week, President Donald Trump offered another hint that his administration may seek to disrupt Alaska’s U.S. Senate election.
Dan J. Sullivan has repeatedly said his campaign was inspired by his dissatisfaction with incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, and that he did not work with officials from Democratic candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign on his initial run for office.
Despite that, Trump and Dan S. Sullivan have repeatedly claimed — without providing evidence — that Dan J. Sullivan is a fraudulent candidate.
Hours later, talking with Republican lawmakers at a dinner in the Rose Garden, Trump again brought up the Alaska race.
“I’m going to go up to Alaska for Dan Sullivan. Think of it,” Trump said. “They have a man named Dan Sullivan running against him, the Democrats.”
“I think, Todd, you have a legal case on that,” the President said, referring to Attorney General Todd Blanche.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Blanche by a 50-49 margin on Aug. 8. Sen. Dan S. Sullivan was one of the decisive votes in favor of confirmation.
In the August primary election, Democratic candidate Mary Peltola had 49.5% of the vote, Dan S. Sullivan had 41.4%, and Dan J. Sullivan had 2.5% of the vote.
Under Alaska’s election system, the top four candidates advance to the November general election. The fourth-place finisher in the primary, Democratic candidate David Leslie, withdrew after the results were finalized, which advanced the fifth-place finisher, Gerald Heikes, who had 1.1% of the vote.
Trump, speaking on Sept. 2, said that even though Dan J. Sullivan had only 2.5% of the vote, his appearance on the November ballot could be decisive in a close contest between Peltola and Dan J. Sullivan.
“Let’s say he takes two or three points away. That’s the difference between winning and losing. It should be illegal. I don’t know how the judges are ruling (on) it, but it really is terrible,” Trump said.
Dan J. Sullivan did not immediately respond to an inquiry from the Beacon about the President’s remarks, but after the publication of this article, he answered by email: “I will not let President Trump’s threats of retribution force me out of this race. I’m running to give a voice to the Alaskans who voted for me and to honor the intent of our ranked choice voting system.”
Editor’s note: This article was updated on Sept. 9, 2026, at 9:03 a.m. with a response from Dan J. Sullivan.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and Stephen Cox, general counsel to Dunleavy, speak at a news conference on Sep. 7, 2026 defending the decision to re-certify Treg Taylor as a candidate for governor on the general election ballot, citing issues with multiple candidates’ financial disclosure reports and litigation risks if he were disqualified. (Photo by Wil Courtney)
“My decision, I believe, was necessary for the integrity and the orderly administration of the election, and I believe this decision serves the public,” she told reporters during a news conference in Anchorage.
“There’s going to be a lot of people that think there were nefarious things going on. We don’t think so,” said Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether any of the disclosure problems put candidates at risk of violating state law or if the state would require candidates to fix those problems.
APOC is a regulatory agency of the Alaska Department of Administration that oversees campaigns and public officials’ financial disclosures, as well as lobbying activities.
Elected officials, members of state boards and commissions, and the governor’s cabinet, are required to use the POFD to disclose all business dealings worth more than $1,000 in order to discourage corruption.
Taylor, Dunleavy’s former attorney general, and Republican state House candidate Jose Tagle failed to file complete forms within 30 days after they registered as candidates, causing APOC to recommend that they be disqualified from advancing past the August primary.
Dahlstrom followed that recommendation but then reversed herself four days later, restoring Taylor and Tagle to the ballot on Sept. 4.
Rachel Witty, the top civil attorney for the Alaska Department of Law, said during Monday’s news conference that the department had conducted a “limited and expedited” review of other candidates’ POFDs after Taylor’s disqualification in order to judge whether Dahlstrom’s action was legally defensible.
“This was done over the course of a day and a half. So I can’t emphasize enough that this is a preliminary review. We didn’t have time to contact candidates,” she said.
The resulting review found dozens of potential problems, including some with every other finalist candidate for governor — Democratic candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, Republican Bernadette Wilson and Republican Dave Bronson.
Wilson and Kreiss-Tomkins’ lieutenant governor candidate, Zac Johnson, were the subject of APOC complaints on Friday about their disclosures, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
APOC had not published the complaints as of Monday evening.
Dahlstrom said she was not aware of those complaints before making the decision to restore Taylor’s candidacy.
Candidates appeared to be surprised by Monday’s disclosure. None of the four candidates for governor responded to questions on Monday afternoon and evening about the issues raised by the Department of Law.
“And just because there are potential discrepancies, that doesn’t mean that those candidates violated the law,” said Stephen Cox, attorney to Gov. Dunleavy.
Cox was appointed as attorney general following Taylor’s departure, but was rejected by the Alaska State Legislature in May.
Cox said he worked with Witty and the Department of Law on the review; the extent of his involvement wasn’t immediately clear.
The Department of Law’s investigation is unusual, if not unprecedented. APOC typically operates on a complaint-based system, with most actions taken when a member of the public alerts the commission to a potential problem.
The agency is chronically underfunded and understaffed. Ten years ago, it had 13 staff; today it has nine, and APOC has struggled at times to fill those positions.
Until last year, Taylor served as attorney general, head of the Department of Law. He’s now running as a Republican for governor, and the decision to both disqualify him and restore him came from a Republican elected official.
Witty said that “unequivocally,” the review “was completely an initiative of the Department of Law as we assess litigation risk.”
When asked whether candidates will be fined or required to correct the potential discrepancies before the general election, Witty said that’s within the jurisdiction of APOC to investigate.
“We don’t know what APOC is going to do,” she said. “If they find there’s reason to believe there is a violation, they can refer that to the APOC commission to take action on, and at that point, we’re talking about different fines and in the form of penalties.”
Moving forward, Dunleavy said, he intends to recommend that the next governor and next Legislature review APOC laws and regulations with a group of former elected officials.
“That’s something that I’ve been thinking about quite honestly for some time, and this just kind of hits home that it’s long overdue,” he said.
A flier seen Wednesday on a bulletin board at the University of Alaska Anchorage campus publicizes the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline established in 2022. The 988 hotline is one of many programs aimed at preventing suicide. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
The suicide-death rate for young Alaskans hit a 10-year high last year and the rate of suicide attempts has increased over the past decade, state health officials reported.
From 2016 to 2025, there were 174 suicide deaths among Alaska youths under the age of 18 and 4,101 documented suicide attempts, according to a bulletin released by the Alaska Department of Health’s epidemiology section. The median age of those who died was 16, the bulletin said. The fatality rate, 19.2 per 100,000 children aged 10 to 18, was the highest rate since 2016.
Overall, Alaska’s youth suicide rate is nearly six times the nation average, the bulletin said.
Boys were victims in the vast majority of youth suicides over the 10-year period, accounting for 81% of the deaths, and most used firearms. Girls accounted for about three-quarters of the documented suicide attempts, according to the bulletin.
Those statistics point to “the need to prioritize timely follow-up and intervention following attempts among females and efforts to reduce access to highly lethal means (particularly firearms) among males during periods of crisis,” the bulletin siad..
For Alaska Native youths, the statistics are especially grim. Over the decade-long period, the suicide fatality rate among Alaska Natives aged 10 to 18 was 47 per 100,000 children, more than twice the state rate. The rate of documented suicide attempts was 1,098 per 100,000 children, also more than twice the state rate, according to the bulletin.
Special care should be used to address the problem among Indigenous youth, the bulletin said.
“The disproportionate burden of suicide among Alaska Native youth underscores the need for prevention strategies that are culturally responsive and community informed,” the bulletin said.
Statistics cited in the bulletin come from the Alaska Violent Death Reporting System and the Alaska Health Facilities Data Reporting system. The bulletin noted that statistics on suicide attempts likely understate the numbers because some attempts do not result in encounters with the healthcare system and therefore probably go unreported.
Suicide is also a major threat for adults in Alaska, state records show.
A graph shows suicide fatality and attempt rates per 100,000 people in Alaska from 2016 to 2025. (Graph provided by Alaska Division of Public Health epidemiology section)
It was the sixth leading cause of death in the state across all age groups, according to the most recent Department of Health status report in the Healthy Alaskans program. In comparison, suicide ranks 11th among causes of death nationally, according to the report.
There are some prevention programs in place in the state.
One is the national 988 crisis line, which in 2025 alone received nearly 44,000 calls from Alaskans.
Other programs are tailored to Alaska Native communities. One of those was designed for the rural Yukon-Kuskokwim region in Western Alaska by the Center for Alaska Native Health Research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. And the Indian Health Service has a national program called the Zero Suicide Initative.
While suicides have been inching up over time, that “doesn’t necessarily mean that prevention strategies haven’t been successful,” Ashley Hannigan, a state epidemiologist who helped write the bulletin, said by email.
“It’s difficult or impossible to pin down the number of suicide attempts prevented by programming like the careline/988 or the Zero Suicide initiative,” Hannigan said. “The peak we see in 2025 for youth and adolescent suicide does emphasize the need to focus on youth-specific, and culturally tailored suicide prevention strategies, however.”
One idea for preventing youth suicide emerged this year in the Alaska State Legislature, but it was rejected by the governor.
Lawmakers passed a measure, Senate Bill 41, that would have established mental health guidelines for public schools. Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson, D-Anchorage, the bill’s prime sponsor, described youth suicide as “a crisis that impacts every community in our state,” and said the bill would expand mental health services to children who need them but might otherwise lack access.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed the bill on June 18. In his veto message, he said student mental health was important but that the bill would place the state “in the role of imposing upon school districts to mandate the development of mental health education at a time when districts are already working to meet existing requirements.”
Lawmakers attempted the next day to override the veto but fell short of votes to do so.
