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- [00:00]
Rodney Dial
The PFD application is open.
- [00:02]
Shelby Herbert
Just a small amount of your PFD will help share local news and stories about Alaskans with Alaskans across this great state. When you choose Alaska Public Media through Pick Click, Give.
- [00:21]
Rodney Dial
And if we expect to go forward without funding those things, we have crippled our state.
- [00:28]
Casey Grove
The Alaska House approves a fast tracked spending bill to cover higher than expected state costs from Alaska Public Media. This is statewide news on Alaska News nightly for Monday, February 23rd. Good evening. I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, state officials applaud an offer from the federal government to manage more than 2 million acres of land.
- [00:48]
Andrew Cromada
Alaskans over generations have almost given up on their work with the federal government.
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Casey Grove
Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly.
- [01:01]
Shelby Herbert
I'm Shelby Herbert, a reporter with the Alaska Desk. That's a joint reporting effort from Alaska Public Media and kuac, where I work in Fairbanks and other public radio stations in Anchorage Haines and the Allusions. It allows us to connect to the issues happening in communities all across the state. You can hear our stories during the Morning news Alaska News Nightly or online@alaskapublic.org the Alaska Desk is only possible with the support of grants and listeners like you. Thank you.
- [01:32]
Casey Grove
The Alaska House approved a fast tracked spending bill totaling nearly half a billion dollars this afternoon. It's intended to cover higher than expected costs in the ongoing fiscal year. And it's a combination of several requests from Governor Mike Dunleavy. Representative Sarah Hannon, a Juneau Democrat, says lawmakers did not have much choice but to approve the bill.
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Rodney Dial
Although most of us wish government didn't
- [01:55]
Andrew Cromada
cost what it does, our cost of
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Rodney Dial
governing Alaska is more than we turn around and passed a budget for last year. And if we expect to go forward without funding those things, we have crippled our state.
- [02:10]
Casey Grove
The supplemental funding bill includes millions for the state's share of federally funded construction projects, the response to disasters like Typhoon Ha Long and and wildfire suppression. But the bill's $490 million price tag prompted pushback from House Republicans Glenn Allen. Representative Rebecca Schwanke says she's hesitant to draw that much from the state's limited savings without more scrutiny.
- [02:33]
Andrew Cromada
If this is the process that we
- [02:35]
Avery Elphelt
just pay whatever bills are put in
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Casey Grove
front of us on a supplemental basis
- [02:40]
Andrew Cromada
and we don't ask those hard questions and we don't force the issue of
- [02:44]
Shelby Herbert
where does the money come from,
- [02:47]
Casey Grove
then
- [02:48]
Andrew Cromada
what is the legislative branch even doing?
- [02:51]
Casey Grove
Though the bill passed, Schwanke and 15 other Republican colleagues successfully opposed a supermajority vote necessary to fund it. From state savings. The failure of that 3/4 vote leaves the bill with no way to pay for its expenses as it heads to the state Senate. A Senate committee is scheduled to consider the bill later this week. After the Senate makes its changes, it'll go back to the House for a final vote, including another vote on the savings draw. A measure to repeal Alaska's nonpartisan primaries and Ranked Choice general elections will be on the ballot this year, but exactly how it is worded remains a hot dispute. Both sides of the repeal have now sued the Division of Elections to try to change the language because how voters interpret what they see on the ballot can affect the outcome. Repeal now filed its lawsuit last week. Consultant Greg Powers says the wording the state proposes is more complicated than it should be.
- [03:57]
Andrew Cromada
Makes it sound like we're doing other
- [03:59]
Rodney Dial
things in this ballot measure, but really
- [04:02]
Andrew Cromada
all the ballot measure does is return Alaska elections to how they were before Republicans Ranked Choice voting before that Ranked Choice voting proposition passed. So we would like the ballot language to reflect that.
- [04:15]
Casey Grove
Attorney Scott Kendall is the architect of Alaska's current voting method adopted by voters in 2020. In addition to opening the primary and allowing ranked choice, the 2020 reforms require more campaign disclosures to reduce so called dark money. Kendall says he wants the ballot language to specify that the repeal would get rid of all those things.
- [04:36]
Andrew Cromada
The opponents of election reform want to first of all maximize their attacks on ranked Choice voting while at the same time minimizing that. They want to repeal open primaries and every voter can vote for every candidate and they definitely want to minimize or eliminate mention of the specific campaign finance repeals they want to do.
- [05:02]
Casey Grove
Kendall filed a lawsuit last month on behalf of State Senate Majority Leader Kathy Giesel and other supporters of the 2020 election reforms. He dropped the suit weeks later because he says the Division of Elections considered his detailed complaint in revised proposed language.
- [05:17]
Andrew Cromada
It's not exactly the way I'd write it, but it was very much more accurate language about what the ballot measure will do.
- [05:23]
Casey Grove
The new wording, though, prompted the sponsors of the repeal to sue. They contend the ballot language risks confusing voters. Among other changes, Repeal now wants the state to put the term ranked Choice voting in the ballot title. Voters will decide several election related matters this year. An initiative to reinstate limits on campaign contributions is set for the August ballot. The repeal of the 2020 election changes and an initiative reiterating that only citizens can vote will also appear on the ballot, likely in November. The U.S. department of the Interior announced Friday that it's getting ready to offer over 2 million acres of federally managed land to the State of Alaska. State and federal officials say that will clear a path for energy and mineral production and give Alaska control over its own economic destiny. But as Shelby Herbert reports for the Alaska Desk, some residents are worried that the move could strip rural communities of long standing subsistence rights.
- [06:21]
Shelby Herbert
Over 2 million acres of public land above the Yukon river called the Dalton Corridor, have been under federal control for over 50 years, effectively making it harder for resource extraction companies to develop it. But that land can now be transferred to the state of Alaska, giving it greater authority over land use decisions. At a signing event with the Department of the Interior last week, Governor Mike Dunleavy said this was a long time coming and and those acres, along with 5 million more, were promised in the Alaska Statehood act of 1959.
- [06:55]
Andrew Cromada
Alaskans over generations have almost given up on their work with the federal government. This administration of President Trump and DOI under Secretary Bergam has restored that this only gets done when you have people that want to do the right thing.
- [07:08]
Shelby Herbert
The announcement is just one piece of the Trump administration's larger effort to reduce federal restrictions on energy development and resource extraction on public lands, as outlined in the executive order titled Unleashing American Energy. Alaska's federal delegation has responded positively to those efforts, including the Friday announcement. State officials are also calling it a win. Alaska Department of Natural Resources Deputy Commissioner Brent Goodrum says there are countless reasons why the state wants that land.
- [07:41]
Andrew Cromada
There are many important infrastructure resources that the state has here. You know, the existing TAPS pipeline, you know the Dalton highway, which, you know, allows us to move goods back and forth up to the North Slope. But also importantly, you know, the prospect of the AKLNG right of way is also located within this footprint.
- [08:01]
Shelby Herbert
But not all Alaskans are happy about the announcement. The Fairbanks based Alaska Native Tribal Consortium Tanana Chiefs Conference released a statement condemning the action, arguing that federal land management rules protect important cultural sites as well as tribal members access to hunting, trapping and fishing in the area. The tribe also expressed concern that state management would mean the land would no longer be eligible for federal rural subsistence priority under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation act, or anilca, and the environmental impacts of resource development projects could jeopardize subsistence resources. John Gaedeke is an activist with the environmental group Defend the Brooks Range, which opposes the controversial proposed Ambler Road project. He and his family have run a wilderness lodge on the north slope for about 50 years. He says they've been paying careful attention to any potential changes to the public
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Andrew Cromada
land orders, not just as it relates to our business, but as it relates to the land and hunting and mineral exploration and all these things, and everyone has had to get along in the past. It's meant that we all come to the table and we discuss things. This is basically flipping the table over and saying there will be no more discussion, only mandates. And that's concerning for everyone at every level.
- [09:19]
Shelby Herbert
The Bureau of Land Management is working with Alaska officials to identify which parcels of the Dalton corridor the state wants to take over. BLM Alaska State Director Kevin Pendergast offered reassurance to rural residents who are worried about losing access to subsistence resources.
- [09:37]
Andrew Cromada
Folks can still subsist on those lands under state law, but they will no longer have the federal rural subsistence priority. But there are quite a swath of federal public lands which will remain federal public lands adjacent adjacent to this corridor.
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Shelby Herbert
Pendergast says federal officials will publish the order in the Federal Register sometime this week with reporting help from Wesley early in Anchorage. I'm Shelby Herbert in Fairbanks.
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Casey Grove
Still to come on Alaska News Nightly, a new documentary examines the impact of the pandemic on the community of Skagway.
- [10:14]
Andrew Cromada
But I don't think there's ever been any real meaningful conversations about it as a community.
- [10:20]
Casey Grove
That's ahead. Stay with us.
- [10:21]
Shelby Herbert
I'm Shelby Herbert, a reporter with the Alaska Desk. That's a joint reporting effort from Alaska Public Media and kuac, where I work in Fairbanks, and other public radio stations in Anchorage, Haines and the illusions it allows us to connect to the issues happening in communities all across the state. You can hear our stories during the morning News Alaska News Nightly or online@alaskapublic.org the Alaska Desk is only possible with the support of grants and listeners like you. Thank you.
- [10:52]
Casey Grove
The North American Aerospace Defense Command said today that US Aircraft intercepted a total of eight Russian military planes Thursday that were flying through international airspace off the western coast of Alaska. NORAD said in a news release that a formation of five Russian aircraft flew into the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone earlier that day. In response, NORAD dispatched four fighters, two F16s and two F35s, along with four air tankers and one surveillance plane. According to the news release, all were Alaska based aircraft, but a NORAD spokesperson declined to identify where the US Planes were based due to operational security concerns. The spokesperson said in an email that the US Aircraft intercepted the Russian planes and escorted them for about an hour as they flew through the Alaskan Air Defense ID zone. The spokesperson said that a second formation of Russian aircraft later entered the zone. The spokesperson said The Alaska based aircraft then escorted the second formation through the Alaskan zone for about an hour and a half, the spokesperson said. The Russian aircraft flew to within 270 nautical miles of Nome. An Air Defense ID zone is located just outside a nation's sovereign airspace. It's a defined expanse of international airspace that requires the ready identification of all foreign aircraft that fly into it in the interest of national security, the news release said. The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace. Russian aircraft often fly through the Alaskan Air defense ID zone and are generally not seen as a threat. The last time NORAD reported intercepting Russian aircraft in the Alaskan Air defense ID zone was in late September. Alaska saw its eighth hottest year on record last year, with temperatures coming in a degree and a half warmer than the last three decades on average. That's according to a 2025 annual report released by the Alaska Climate Research center in late January. Report author Martine Stouffer is the state climatologist and a research professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
- [13:05]
Andrew Cromada
Last year was a confirmation unfortunately warming our planet faster than we hope. That has implications. As I mentioned, ice melting, permafrost thawing, wildfires, changes changing of our environment.
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Casey Grove
Stouffer highlighted dwindling sea ice as a top line issue. That's because Alaska's sea ice peaked in March at around 14 million square kilometers. That's bigger than the entire United States, but it's also the lowest sea ice peak recorded in the last 50 years. It's a big area, but still it
- [13:42]
Andrew Cromada
was smaller than in any year observed before. We are heading towards ice free Arctic later this century.
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Casey Grove
The report emphasizes that the northern parts of the state are warming most rapidly, with the interior and North Slope showing the largest increases from normal temperatures. Utqiagvik recorded the highest relative temperatures. Southeast Alaska, meanwhile, had a near average annual temperature last year, but far less snow than is typical. Juneau received just half its average snowfall in 2025 due to frequent mid winter rain and snowmelt. Stouffer noted that while Alaska in general saw warmer temperatures, it also endured other extreme weather events like wildfire activity, ex typhoon Ha Long and an intense widespread December cold snap.
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Andrew Cromada
I had one person asking me are
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Casey Grove
we heading into an ice age now?
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Andrew Cromada
Of course not. We are heading into a warmer phase on a global scale.
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Casey Grove
That extreme variability across the state, he says, is becoming more common as temperatures rise with climate change. The Anchorage School board will vote on its budget tomorrow night. The district's proposed plan would cut hundreds of staff and eliminate many programs. The district has also floated closing schools. In response, hundreds of community members have spoken out, many fearing the programs their children love could disappear. Alaska Public Media's Wesley early has more.
- [15:11]
Wesley Early
David Sundberg says his oldest son has always loved robotics.
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Casey Grove
When he became of age and then had to go to school, we, you know, found out Campbell was a STEM school and was in the neighborhood and
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Andrew Cromada
we just were ecstatic and, and it's
- [15:22]
Casey Grove
still his opinion hasn't changed. It's like where he's driven to but now.
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Wesley Early
The Anchorage School District has proposed closing Campbell STEM Elementary School as broader plan to address its roughly $90 million budget deficit. Sundberg says he was shocked to learn the school that both his kids attend could be shut down.
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Casey Grove
The STEM program, like, it brings a lot of education in that field and it nurtures like that drive that they have. And like I if they go to a normal school, I'd just be worried
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Rodney Dial
that they'd lose that.
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Wesley Early
Sundberg isn't alone. He's among hundreds of parents, teachers, students and community members who are pushing back against the district's proposed budget. Last Tuesday, during public testimony at a school board meeting, the board's chamber was so full, many people had to watch the meeting from outside the room. Jackie Higgins, his daughter, has special needs and attends Lake Otis Elementary School, another school the district has floated closing. The board voted against shutting it down in November. Higgins says she's angry that it faces
- [16:18]
Shelby Herbert
closure again now, again, after lying to my face with the actual vote, you are trying to close her school again.
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Wesley Early
The district also proposes closing Fire Lake elementary, another school the board voted to keep open in November. School closures aren't the only way the district has proposed saving money. Before it recommended closing three elementary schools. The district's proposed budget already would have cut over 500 staff members, including more than 300 teachers, and would move to a regional model for nurses, where they would rotate between schools. Diamond High School nurse Greta Wade argues that having a designated nurse at each school saves lives.
- [16:53]
Shelby Herbert
10 drug overdoses at ASD in 2023 and not one was fatal. A nurse in each school is not nice to have. We are essential infrastructure.
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Wesley Early
The district's proposal would also eliminate all middle school and many high school sports programs. Many who testified in support of the sports described them as a way for students to remain motivated to show up to class and keep their grades up. One of the sports on the chopping block is Nordic skiing. East Anchorage High School skier Adele Hayes says she appreciates that the sport was no cut, meaning athletes of all skill levels could particip participate. She also says many students can't afford to participate in sports outside of school.
- [17:32]
Avery Elphelt
Although there are multiple club options for skiing, they are very expensive and not many students can afford them. For most families, school sports are the only affordable option for their kids to participate in sports. Taking away that option is inequitable because it increases the disparities that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds face.
- [17:51]
Wesley Early
During last Tuesday's meeting, ASD officials floated away to preserve most sports. Here's ASD Deputy Chief of Schools Kirsten
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Casey Grove
Johnson Strompler we likely can bring back
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Rodney Dial
most sports, but it will look differently than it does this year because of some of the changes that we would need to make.
- [18:07]
Wesley Early
Under the plan, the district would increase athletic fees, reduce some travel and the number of games in a season, and not pay certain private facility fees. The proposal would still eliminate esports and gymnastics, but keep hockey, tennis, volleyball, swimming and diving, skiing, wrestling and soccer. Riflery would become a part of jrotc, but that plan would come with trade offs. It hinges on closing all three proposed schools and delaying the opening of a high school charter option. It would also restore roughly six nurse positions and decrease how large middle school class sizes would increase. So far, the board has not agreed to the district's latest recommendation. The school board will vote on its budget at a special meeting February 24, and if approved, it goes on to the Assembly. In Anchorage, I'm Wesley Early.
- [18:54]
Casey Grove
Ketchikan has long sought an alternative to the ferry system that connects the city to its airport on nearby Gravina Island. While past projects to literally bridge the Tongass Narrows have failed, the Ketchikan Borough assembly is exploring another way to link the two islands by tunnel. KRBD's Hunter Morrison reports most longtime Ketchikan
- [19:15]
Rodney Dial
residents remember the Bridge to Nowhere near that was a proposed overpass project between the city and Gravina island in the early 2000s. That never happened. A means of connecting the two by replacing the airport ferry has been a topic of local conversation ever since. It's come up again at recent Borough assembly meetings after assembly member Rodney Dial stumbled upon an opportunity that could build an underwater tunnel between the islands at no cost. A tunnel contest.
- [19:46]
Andrew Cromada
So we think we can make a pretty good case that the Bridge to Nowhere could be replaced with a tunnel to somewhere, and we want to give it a try.
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Rodney Dial
Dial was speaking to the assembly in early February about the Tunnel Vision Challenge. It's a demonstration project spearheaded by the Boring Company, a tunnel construction firm founded by billionaire Elon Musk. The Boring Company could not immediately be reached for comment. But according to its website, the company will construct a tunnel up to a mile long and 12ft wide for the contest's winner. The Boring Company has already constructed small scale tunnels in Las Vegas and Texas. Dial says the borough is presenting a few tunneling options in its proposal. He says if the proposed project comes to fruition, it would likely be a one lane tunnel with alternating traffic patterns and it won't be noticeable above ground.
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Andrew Cromada
The Boring Company reports that at just 10ft below the ground, their machine produces less vibration than a person walking on the surface. So you know if you're a minimum 50ft underground, the impact will be imperceptible to anything, any marine life or whatever that's on the ocean surface there.
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Rodney Dial
And Dial says now is the right time to explore alternatives to the longstanding airport ferry. He says both airport ferries are nearing the end of their operational lives and replacing one could cost around $30 million. He says construction of a tunnel could also offset the ferry's diesel usage, although the airport ferry would still be an option for travelers. Dial and Assemblymember Charlie Arnson co sponsored a resolution supporting the tunnel contest, which won unanimous approval. Arnson says that state money for capital improvement projects is tight and applying for a no cost option is worth a
- [21:40]
Andrew Cromada
shot because we all know we want fixed access to Gravina and this may be an option for us to be able to get it without increasing taxes or without burdening our locals with the cost of construction.
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Rodney Dial
But the proposed project doesn't come without concern. Both resolution sponsors say some locals have asked questions about maintenance costs, logistics and ferry service. They say if the Boring Company selects Ketchikan for the project, the those concerns will be addressed in time. And even if Ketchikan's proposal isn't selected, Dial says the contest could better inform the borough for future options to Gravina.
- [22:19]
Andrew Cromada
Look, face it, the chances that we're going to get selected are probably pretty, pretty low. But what if, right? And what if we get great information out of this? And if we get some good information out of this, it's worth it because the cost to us right now for this entering in this contest is free.
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Rodney Dial
If Ketchikan is selected, he believes the Boring Company will likely work with the state Department of Transportation and elected officials to determine if a tunnel between the two islands is feasible. Permitting will also be needed. And if the tunnel is brought to Ketchikan, Arnson says the borough will work with the community to address any concerns before it's built. The proposal has gained support from State Representative Jeremy Bynum, the Ketchikan City Council, the Ketchikan Indian community and other groups. The contest winner will be announced in March. Reporting in Ketchikan, I'm Hunter Morrison.
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Casey Grove
COVID 19, was in many ways Skagway's worst nightmare. The pandemic shuttered the town's tourism based economy for one full season and much of a second one that left most families and businesses without income for nearly two years. A new documentary chronicles that period in Southeast Alaska's northernmost town and raises key questions about the path forward. The Alaska Desk's Avery Elphelt attended the film's local premiere and has this story.
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Rodney Dial
There you are.
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Shelby Herbert
Hi, Adam.
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Andrew Cromada
Have a great night.
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Casey Grove
You as well.
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Avery Elphelt
The smell of buttered popcorn wafts through the Skagway school as dozens of people stream inside.
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Andrew Cromada
I think we've prepod our tickets.
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Rodney Dial
Meredith has.
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Avery Elphelt
They're there to watch a new documentary about their own community during one of its darkest periods in recent history. The documentary is called Last Call in the North. It depicts life in Skagway between 2020 and 2022, when the cruise industry shut down amid the pandemic. Andrew Cromada was Skagway's mayor at the time. He says the ordeal forced what may have been the community's first serious reckoning over its complete dependency on the industry.
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Andrew Cromada
But I don't think there's ever been any real meaningful conversations about it as a community, either on a governmental level or on a on a social level.
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Avery Elphelt
Stan Bush wrote and directed the film. He came to the local premiere and says the project's through line is one main question.
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Casey Grove
What happens when your main economic driver is completely shut off?
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Avery Elphelt
Bush went to middle and high school in town, but hasn't lived here since then. He says he was developing a project idea in Skagway just before the pandemic, but he pivoted when COVID 19 hit the community in earnest and the industry that had fueled the town for decades disappeared overnight.
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Casey Grove
We've seen that when things are going
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Andrew Cromada
great, they're going really great.
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Casey Grove
And when things go bad here, they go really bad. And, you know, I think that's a conversation for the community to have. Can you survive another crisis like this?
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Avery Elphelt
The film depicts sweeping scenes of Skagway and the surrounding area. Seals bobbing in the Lynn Canal, skiers zipping down a slope above the historic downtown and the northern lights spinning above Dyee out the road. It follows a few key characters, including Cremata the former mayor throughout the film and in an interview afterward, he raised questions about the long term sustainability of the town's economy.
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Andrew Cromada
My fear was that when things got back to normal, people would kind of just go back to normal, right? Go back to the way things were before the pandemic. That's really exactly what's happened.
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Avery Elphelt
Another key component of the film are struggling small businesses. Among them a jeweler who had to leave town, the owner of an outdoor guiding company who eventually shut his doors, and the former co owners of the Skagway News. That includes Melinda Munson, the current K and S news director. Jamie Bricker is Skagway's tourism director and the president of the Skagway Traditional Council, a local tribe. She's also a key voice in the film. In an interview following the premiere, Burker said she was impressed by the videography and storytelling. She added that she could imagine how difficult it would be to tell the full story in just 90 minutes.
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Shelby Herbert
I think I've heard different observations from just about everybody I've talked to, and rightfully so. We're all a bunch of individuals in this community and there were so many pertinent stories of that period of time that, you know, weren't showcased.
- [26:37]
Avery Elphelt
Berger added that she thinks the film is sparking renewed reflection. Bush, the director, says prompting conversation was one of his main goals. As he sees it, what happened in Skagway could happen anywhere where the presence of one industry is the difference between economic survival and collapse. Reporting in Skagway, I'm Avery Elle. Phil.
- [27:10]
Casey Grove
And that's all for this edition of Alaska News Nightly. We had reports tonight from Eric Stone and Juno. Liz Ruskin in Wesley early in Anchorage, Shelby Herbert in Fairbanks, Tim Ellis in Delta Junction, Avery Elfelt in Skagway, and Hunter Morrison in Catchikan. Our audio engineer is Crystal Hyde. Kirsten Dobroth is our producer. And I'm Casey Grove. Good night. This is statewide news on Alaska Public Media.