Government & Politics

President Joe Biden in the White House Rose Garden on Oct. 11, 2023. (Official White House photo by Oliver Contreras)

Biden signs stopgap spending bill, avoiding government shutdown 

BY: - November 17, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has signed the stopgap spending bill, giving his administration and Congress about two months to work out agreement on the dozen annual spending bills. Those appropriations measures were supposed to become law by the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1, but disagreement about whether to adhere to the […]

U.S. Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., speaks on the U.S. Senate floor on Thursday, Nov. 16, asking to take up and confirm two military nominees blocked by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, who is seated at left. (Screenshot from C-SPAN 2)

Wee hours U.S. Senate drama: GOP colleagues on the floor battle Tuberville blockade

BY: - November 16, 2023

WASHINGTON — After a marathon day and late-night vote to avert a Thanksgiving government shutdown, four U.S. Senate Republicans held the floor until the wee hours Thursday, urging their Alabama colleague to lift his months-long objections to hundreds of U.S. military nominations. Sens. Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Todd Young of Indiana, Joni Ernst of Iowa […]

COMMENTARY
The offices of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. are seen Monday, June 6, 2022, in Juneau, Alaska. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska’s Permanent Fund needs accounting and legislative oversight 

BY: - November 16, 2023

The Governor, Legislature or both need to conduct an audit in a format that is available to the public or engage in serious oversight of the Permanent Fund’s recent erratic decisions that risk fund money. There is a growing threat to the Permanent Fund, and it is coming from the Board of Trustees. Their plan […]

Congress sends stopgap spending bill to Biden’s desk, averting shutdown for now

Congress sends stopgap spending bill to Biden’s desk, averting shutdown for now

BY: - November 16, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators voted 87-11 to approve legislation Wednesday that would fund the government into next year, clearing the measure for President Joe Biden’s signature. The stopgap spending bill, sometimes called a continuing resolution or CR, would fund part of the government until mid-January and the rest of the programs within the annual appropriations […]

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) departs a House Republican Conference meeting on November 14, 2023 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. The House is working through a Continuing Resolution presented by Johnson to avoid a government shutdown on November 17. (Photo by Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)

U.S. House passes stopgap spending bill in bipartisan vote, in crucial test for new speaker

BY: - November 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House took a broadly bipartisan vote Tuesday to fund the government into the new year, though the measure must pass the Senate by the end of the week if Congress is going to avoid a partial government shutdown. The 336-95 House vote was the first major legislative test for Speaker Mike […]

Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom is seen during the governor's annual holiday open house on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2022, at the Governor's Mansion in Juneau. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom announces run for Congress

BY: - November 14, 2023

Alaska Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom will run for Congress, seeking the seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola.  Dahlstrom announced her campaign in a prepared written statement and did not immediately answer phone calls seeking additional comment. If elected, Dahlstrom would be replaced as lieutenant governor by someone selected by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. […]

Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor speaks at a news conference on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022, at the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

Auditor: Alaska Department of Law ‘likely violated’ state law and constitution

BY: - November 14, 2023

The Alaska Department of Law “likely violated” Alaska law and the state constitution when it spent more than $300,000 on a lawsuit awaiting review by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Alaska Legislature’s top auditor concluded in a report released last week. The report, in process since October 2020, analyzed competing arguments from attorneys representing the […]

COMMENTARY
A Hilcorp drilling rig sits at a pad last summer on the shore of Cook Inlet outside of Anchorage, where the region gets the natural gas it uses for heating and electricity. (Photo by Nathaniel Herz)

More legislators press AG on Cook Inlet gas, a $750,000 settlement and an Aleutian murder mystery

BY: - November 13, 2023

More state legislators are asking GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration to press urban Alaska’s largest natural gas producer, Hilcorp, to extract more of the fossil fuel from its leases in Cook Inlet. Anchorage Democratic Rep. Zack Fields led a group of 14 mostly Democratic representatives and three senators in drafting a letter and sending it […]

Homes and office buildings are seen from Westchester Lagoon in Anchorage on May 6, 2020. The low-lying area on the edge of Anchorage's downtown is among those identified as vulnerable to innundation if a powerful earthquake triggers a tsunami that occurs during one of Cook Inlet's high tides. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Huge new federal grant promises easier access for cheaper, cleaner power in Alaska’s Railbelt

BY: - November 10, 2023

When wildfires ripped across the Kenai Peninsula in 2019, among the burned homes and businesses was a key power line that supplied cheap hydroelectricity to Anchorage.  After that line was destroyed, even people untouched by the fire still felt the burn. Anchorage residents paid more than $10 million extra on their power bills. Last month, […]

An exploration site at ConocoPhillips' Willow prospect is seen from the air in the 2019 winter season. (Photo by Judy Patrick/provided by ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc.)

Federal judge dismisses lawsuits seeking to halt Alaska’s Willow oil drilling project

BY: - November 9, 2023

Alaska’s largest oil drilling project in decades will continue toward production. On Thursday, a federal court judge in Anchorage dismissed two challenges against ConocoPhillips’ Willow project, saying plaintiffs failed to show that the federal government made significant mistakes when it approved the project. Some of those plaintiffs, which include a constellation of local and national […]

Republican presidential candidates (L-R) former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy participate in the NBC News Republican Presidential Primary Debate at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County on November 8, 2023 in Miami, Florida. Five presidential hopefuls squared off in the third Republican primary debate as former U.S. President Donald Trump, currently facing indictments in four locations, declined again to participate. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

GOP presidential candidates brawl in Florida debate, while Trump rallies nearby

BY: and - November 9, 2023

Five Republican candidates for president tussled over support for Ukraine and abortion policy at a debate in Miami Wednesday evening, while the leading contender for the nomination, former President Donald Trump, sought Latino votes in an event across town. Trump, who consistently garners more than 50% in polls of Republican voters, once again declined to […]

Gov. Dunleavy appoints new Representative to House District 40

BY: - November 8, 2023

Gov. Mike Dunleavy appointed Kotzebue Republican Thomas Baker to fill the House District 40 seat left vacant by Josiah Patkotak when he resigned to become Mayor of the North Slope Borough last month. The Republican members of the Alaska House of Representatives will vote to confirm Baker’s appointment. Baker ran for Alaska Senate in 2020 […]