Briefs
Alaska DMV considers eliminating license plate stickers
The Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles is considering whether to eliminate the month and date registration stickers that adorn state license plates here. In a request for information published earlier this month, the division put out an open call for answers, asking about the pros and cons of the idea. The agency, through a spokesperson, […]
Alaska gains jobs during summer peak but is still below pre-pandemic figures
Buoyed by a record tourist season, Alaska employers hired thousands more workers this year than they did during last year’s summer peak, but state employment remains stubbornly below what it was in 2019, figures from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development show. “We’re not there yet, and the reasons are a little murky,” […]
Alaska begins process of examining workers’ pay for competitiveness
The state of Alaska has begun a sweeping analysis of state employees’ salaries to determine whether poor pay is contributing to ongoing hiring woes in the executive branch. On Thursday, the Alaska Department of Administration published a request for proposals, seeking a contractor to perform a comparison between state pay in Alaska, pay in the […]
Study: Alaska is failing to keep most Alaska-born residents
More than half of Alaskans born within the state have moved away, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. A state’s ability to retain native-born residents is an indicator of its economic health and attractiveness, and Alaska ranked near the bottom of the analysis conducted […]
Alaska flu cases increased last year, spiking in early winter, while vaccine rates lagged
After a period when COVID-19 restrictions halted the spread of other respiratory diseases, Alaska had a big increase in influenza cases, state data shows. The overall influenza case load during the 2022-23 season was much higher than in prior years, reports a new bulletin issued by the epidemiology section of the Alaska Division of Public […]
Alaska’s Health Department works through one food stamp backlog only to confront another
Officials from Alaska’s Division of Public Assistance said its staff worked through the backlog of applications for food aid that stressed Alaska families for more than a year. But that success came at the cost of what officials are calling a “new” backlog. Division Director Deb Etheridge took over leadership in the midst of the […]
Traditional practices blended with modern life jacket technology seen as boosting fishing safety in Alaska
Even as safety has improved vastly in the Alaska fishing industry overall, harvesters who operate from small, open skiffs continue to face risks. Among those who continue to contend with mortal dangers are those who use set nets in Western Alaska’s Norton Sound, a group of largely Native fishers whose families have been working on […]
Anchorage inmate dies after two days in custody in 7th Alaska inmate death this year
An Anchorage inmate died after two days in custody, the Alaska Department of Corrections reported Thursday. It is the seventh inmate death the department has reported this year. Tristan Andrews was housed at the Anchorage Correctional Complex when he was pronounced dead on August 29th. He was 29 years old. The cause of death has […]
Native corporation invests in graphite mining project on Alaska’s Seward Peninsula
An Alaska Native corporation said Tuesday it is investing in a project that could result in the first graphite production in the United States in decades. Bering Straits Native Corp., the corporation for the Inupiat and Yup’ik people of the Bering Strait region, will put $2 million into the Graphite One project being explored about […]
Gov. Dunleavy appoints new regent to University of Alaska board
Gov. Mike Dunleavy appointed Stephen Colligan to the board that guides policy and appoints the president of the state’s university system on Tuesday. Colligan is the governor’s third attempt to fill the seat on the state university system’s board of regents. His appointment comes a month after the governor’s last pick, his former chief of […]
Fundraising effort for Alaska Indigenous studies center OK’d by UA board
The state board of regents unanimously approved a fundraising effort at University of Alaska Fairbanks to raise $53 million over three years to build the Troth Yeddha’ Indigenous Studies Center. The goal is to create the first university space in the nation that is designed with Indigenous education models in mind, Samara Taber, who leads […]
University of Alaska system boasts overall enrollment growth after financial challenges
Student enrollment is up at University of Alaska campuses overall, chancellors told the board of regents at their meeting Thursday. The news of overall 4.7% growth systemwide comes after a five-year downward trend in student enrollment. College enrollment has declined nationally over the last decade, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Regent Karen Purdue said the […]