Economy

While some lawmakers have expressed concern that the governor has issued multiple declarations without the Legislature meeting, no one has sued to try to block them. 

Alaska’s first state ferry — the Chilkat — broke free of its moorings on Wednesday and sank during a windstorm in Anacortes, Washington.

Democratic lawmakers in Congress have filed a bill that would reverse the Trump administration’s decision to exempt the nation’s largest national forest from the 2001 rule that restricts road-building and other development.

The new relief bill expands eligibility for the loans to include nonprofits, live venues and cultural institutions that have been struggling due to pandemic-forced closures.

The annual fishery didn’t happen at all in 2019 and 2020. Most of the herring were young and too small to meet international market demands, and the pandemic posed other challenges in 2020.

The new owner says it will continue to operate plants in Dillingham, King Cove, Port Moller and Valdez, along with support facilities in Naknek and Sand Point. Its headquarters are in Bellevue, Wash.

A Spanish firm offered a pair of bids worth $4.6 million for the Chenega and Fairweather, which the state bought for a combined $68 million.

The tribal health corporation has been able to rapidly expand vaccine eligibility for two reasons. First, it received more doses than expected. Second, many people declined to take it.

The ways Sitka could and is being affected by climate change are numerous: the impact of warming oceans on the fishing industry, landslides, increased pest activity in the Tongass, more intense storms impacting utilities — the list could go on.

After years of waiting, the Arctic Deep Draft Port project in Nome was authorized by Congress on Dec. 21 and is ready to move forward.