Site Logo
A student walks across the campus of the University of Alaska Southeast in this Feb. 4, 2021 file photo. An Anchorage Superior Court ruled Thursday against a group of UA students who had sued the state over funding for higher education scholarship programs. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file)

News

Students appeal Superior Court ruling on higher education funds

Supreme Court to weigh in.

State Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson, an Anchorage Democrat, filed her paperwork on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022 at the Division of Elections offices in Juneau, to run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Lisa Murkowski. Gray-Jackson, a Democrat, is the first from her party to enter the race and the first Black woman to run for a U.S. Senate seat from Alaska. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

Democratic state senator files to unseat Murkowski

“Alaskans have a choice now.”

Members of the House Committee of Military and Veterans' Affairs heard testimony on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022, on the far-right militia group the Oath Keepers amid public pressure to take disciplinary action against Rep. David Eastman, R-Wasilla, who is a member of the group. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

House committee hears testimony on far-right organization

‘A distraction.’

Gubernatorial candidate Les Gara, right, announced as his running mate Jessica Cook, left, an Eagle River school teacher, at a news conference in Anchorage on Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. (Courtesy photo / Erin Kirkland)

News

Gara announces running mate in gubernatorial race

A shared vision.

The entrance to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services building in downtown Juneau on Jan. 14, 2021. Gov. Mike Dunleavy has twice proposed splitting the department using an executive order, but the Division of Legislative Legal Services has raised issues with the most recent order. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file)

News

Legal memo cites issues with order to split state health department

Length and breadth.

A Coast Guard rescue swimmer pulls in a rescue basket during an emergency call to a stricken vessel south of Sitka on Feb. 7, 2022. (Screenshot)

News

Coast Guard rescues two from sinking vessel near Sitka

The fishing boat was taking on water with dead engines.

AP Photo / Seth Wenig Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin reacts as she leaves a courthouse in New York, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. Palin lost her libel lawsuit against The New York Times on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, when a jury rejected her claim that the newspaper maliciously damaged her reputation by erroneously linking her campaign rhetoric to a mass shooting.

News

Jury rejects Sarah Palin’s lawsuit against New York Times

“Of course we’re disappointed.”

Black soldiers of Company L, 24th Infantry, famously known as "Buffalo Soldiers," parade on 5th Avenue in Skagway, between Broadway and State streets, in front of the Daily Budget newspaper on July 4, 1899. A recent book from a University of Alaska Anchorage history professor traces the long history of Black Americans in Alaska. (Courtesy image / Alaska's Digital Archives)

News

Book traces over 150 years of Black history in Alaska

Before the gold rush.

Rep. Chris Tuck, D-Anchorage, seen here on Feb. 7, 2022, announced Thursday he was running to fill the Alaska State Senate seat soon to be vacated by Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson who's announced a bid for the U.S. Senate. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

Anchorage rep announces bid for open Senate seat

A larger audience.

Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file In this Empire file photo, the MV Tazlina heads in to dock in Juneau. The federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation is poised to bring a lot of money to Alaska for things like ferries, but when and how much isn’t yet known as many of the programs are new.

News

Amount of infrastructure bill money coming to the state still a mystery

Guidelines are forthcoming.

Senators Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, and Tom Begich, D-Anchorage, spoke with reporters in Begich's office at the Alaska State Capitol on Monday, Feb. 7, 2022, about their thoughts on the current legislative session. The senators said there were reasons to be optimistic about meaningful progress even with the full plate before the Legislature. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

‘Work, actual work’ is underway in the state Senate

It may take a special session.

The House Labor and Commerce Committee speaks with Alaska's Congressional delegation on Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, about the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill which is set to bring billions of dollars to the state. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

Delegation: Work together to plan, optimize infrastructure money

No bickering.

Alaska Republican state Rep. David Eastman, standing, speaks on the House floor on Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, in Juneau Alaska. Alaska House leaders have backed away from a proposal to strip committee assignments from Eastman, who has acknowledged being a member of the far-right organization Oath Keepers, and for now plan to hold at least one hearing on the group. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)

News

Alaska House backs off sanctions for Oath Keepers legislator

Eastman has cast the current debate around him as an extension of “cancel culture”