Justice

Late evening on the Kuskokwim River in Nunapitchuk, Alaska. October 12. 2023. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)

Tribes, State Troopers increase access to justice for Alaska Native survivors of domestic violence

BY: - November 13, 2023

In remote parts of Alaska, justice and safety are hard for domestic violence survivors to access. Law enforcement is scarce and usually arrives after harm happens. But there is a tool that allows law enforcement officers to stop domestic violence before it starts: a domestic violence protective order. A domestic violence protective order, or DVPO, […]

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 […]

A moose is seen in an Anchorage neighborhood near Kincaid Park on April 27, 2022. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Federal judge rules against state of Alaska in lawsuit challenging COVID emergency hunt

BY: - November 7, 2023

A federal judge in Anchorage has ruled that U.S. government officials did not overstep when they allowed an emergency hunt near the Southeast Alaska town of Kake during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision, published Friday by Judge Sharon Gleason, is the latest chapter in a long-running dispute between the state of […]

The U.S. Supreme Court is shown June 21, 2021 in Washington, DC. The court is expected to issue a series of opinions this week, including a decision today in favor of Goldman Sachs to avoid a class action lawsuit by investors. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

U.S. Supreme Court considers case dealing with gun rights and domestic violence

BY: - November 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court justices during Tuesday’s oral arguments seemed to lean toward upholding a federal law that prevents the possession of firearms by a person who is subject to a domestic violence protective order. Liberal and conservative justices appeared to side with the Biden administration’s position that the 1994 federal law is in […]

A hemp crop waits to be harvested in Lincolnshire for British CBD oil producer Crop England on Aug. 27, 2021, in Grantham, England. The farm supplies Crop England, a British CBD oil producer founded in 2019 by Mike and Jackie Lamyman. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Hemp growers sue Alaska agriculture officials in attempt to keep hemp products legal

BY: - November 7, 2023

A coalition of hemp growers and manufacturers has sued the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, claiming that new limits on intoxicating hemp products are unconstitutional. The lawsuit, by the Alaska Industrial Hemp Association and four businesses, was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Anchorage. Attorney Christopher Hoke, representing the plaintiffs, said the rules mean […]

DEARBORN, MI - SEPTEMBER 08: Steve Hawley, left, and Yolanda Reed do inspections and repairs on Ford F-150 Lightning underbodies at Fords Rouge Electric Vehicle Center on September 8, 2022 in Dearborn, Michigan. The Lightning is Fords all-electric truck. (Photo by Sarah Rice/Getty Images)

Local leaders call for auto workers’ gains to spread to EV plants, Southern Black workers

BY: - November 6, 2023

Local Black elected leaders aligned with racial and economic justice groups want to build on the labor gains made through the United Auto Workers’ six-week strike. The union’s tentative deals with the big three automakers include major wins such as a 25% rise in pay and getting rid of the two-tier worker system. More than […]

Domestic Violence in Alaska: A crisis at home

BY: - October 31, 2023

T.’s relationship with her husband didn’t become violent until six months into her pregnancy with their first child. “Then it turned ugly. It was like a mask came off,” T. said. “He was free to say or do whatever he wanted because I was pregnant, and where was I going to go?” For safety reasons, […]

In this photo illustration, packages of Mifepristone tablets are displayed at a family planning clinic on April 13, 2023, in Rockville, Maryland. (Photo illustration by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Doctor suing FDA recruited to scientific advisory board to ‘repurpose’ abortion pill

BY: - October 27, 2023

One of the anti-abortion doctors suing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to rescind its 2000 approval of a medication abortion regimen on the basis that one of the drugs is dangerous is now consulting on the development of a breast cancer treatment that involves the same drug: mifepristone. It is the family doctor’s latest […]

Nome's Anvil City Square, with a giant gold pan and statues of the "Three Lucky Swedes" whose discovery kicked off the 1899 Gold Rush, is seen on Sept. 5, 2021. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Proposed class-action lawsuit claims Alaska prisons are holding people without criminal charges

BY: - October 25, 2023

A woman from Stebbins has sued the Alaska Department of Corrections, alleging that she and many other people in the state prison system have been unconstitutionally held in custody for more than 48 hours without being charged. Barbara Pete, represented by the Northern Justice Project, filed suit Oct. 6 in Nome. The suit was first […]

A court services officer is shown wearing a body camera. (Photo provided by Alaska Department of Public Safety)

Latest Alaska crime report shows a 67% increase in murders and a slight overall decrease in crime

BY: - October 24, 2023

The murder rate in Alaska increased dramatically, though there was a slight overall decrease in crime statewide in 2022, according to an Alaska Department of Public Safety report released Monday. Notably, the number of rape cases reported to law enforcement in Alaska has decreased by nearly 6% compared with the previous year and is at […]

Strips of sockeye salmon harvested from the Kuskokwim River are seen on July 19, 2017. Sockeye salmon, also known as red salmon, are among the species harvested for subsistence. (Photo provided by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

Alaska Native leaders call for legal overhaul to protect traditional fish harvests

BY: - October 20, 2023

The crash of salmon stocks in Western Alaska’s Kuskokwim River has sparked a bitter court fight between the federal and state governments, and now Alaska Native leaders are calling for congressional action to ensure that Indigenous Alaskans have priority for harvests when stocks are scarce. The conflict has gripped this year’s Alaska Federation of Natives […]

A moose is seen in Midtown Anchorage on Oct. 31, 2022. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

After illegal Alaska moose kill, 2 men will be banned globally from hunting for 4 years

BY: - October 19, 2023

A plea deal pending in Anchorage’s federal court would ban two men from hunting anywhere in the world for four years as punishment for illegally hunting a bull moose in Denali National Park and Preserve. According to documents published Tuesday, Christopher Brumwell and Andrew McDonald agreed to plead guilty to a single count each of […]