Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski ranks it among his administration's most important decisions in four years in office -- the move last week to take back state leases in the rich Point Thomson natural gas field.
Bagpipes and a brass band will be part of the festivities when Gov.-elect Sarah Palin is sworn into office today, the first governor in state history to take the oath outside of Juneau.
In 1968, a wildcat well at Prudhoe Bay struck the biggest oil reservoir ever found in North America. In 1969, the state sold additional oil leases in the area, projecting to take in $11 million from the sale. The ensuing debate on what to do with that windfall, and the perception of what actually happened to the money, set in motion events that led to creation of the Alaska Permanent Fund 30
Local organizers are expecting a full house for Gov.-elect Sarah Palin’s inauguration Monday in Fairbanks. “It is an historic event,” said Ramona Reeves, who ran Palin’s Fairbanks office during the campaign and is helping organize her swearing-in ceremony at the Carlson Center.
JUNEAU, Alaska -- Is this some kind of dark plot to dump Juneau as Alaska's capital? Political pundits drew their own interpretations this week after Gov.-elect Sarah Palin announced she would buck an unbroken tradition and take the oath of office outside the capital city.
Gov.-elect Sarah Palin has picked Fairbanks as the location for her Dec. 4 swearing-in ceremony. She said, in a news release, that she chose the city in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the ratification of the Alaska Constitution and to honor the original delegates.
Public opposition to three of the four potential sites for a state medium-security mega-prison in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough is growing. In Palmer, more than 400 residents packed a public hearing this week at the Palmer Depot downtown to speak out against the so-called Palmer South site three miles south of city limits near Echo Lake along the Glenn Highway.
Thirteen months ago, the state’s highest court ruled that same-sex couples deserved the same employment benefits from the state as married couples, even though they couldn’t legally marry. It later gave the state a deadline of Jan. 1, 2007, to implement the benefits.
