Free Republic

Alaska Republicans are looking to avoid a repeat of the midterms, when they lost the state’s lone House seat to Rep. Mary Peltola after the party failed to coalesce around a single opponent in the Last Frontier’s ranked-choice system. Peltola finished first in this week’s top-four nonpartisan primary, followed by Republicans Nick Begich and Lt. Gov Nancy Dahlstrom (R), according to the latest tallies from Decision Desk HQ. But Dahlstrom, backed by former President Trump, bowed out of the race on Friday as her party looks to consolidate support. “I entered this race because Alaskans deserve better representation than what...

In what may be a surprise blow to Democrats' chances of holding a key red state seat in the U.S. House, Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom announced Friday she is suspending her campaign for Congress. Dahlstrom was in what was essentially a three-way race with incumbent Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola and Republican Nick Begich III, who comes from a prominent political family in The Last Frontier. While Dahlstrom did not immediately endorse Begich, she suggested in comments announcing her withdrawal that her reason for running was to see Peltola defeated. "I entered this race because Alaskans deserve better representation than...

In a significant win for Alaska voters, the state Supreme Court has decisively ruled in favor of allowing a measure aimed at repealing the controversial ranked choice voting system to remain on the November ballot. The ruling affirms that Alaskans will have the opportunity to reject this confusing system that has muddled the state’s electoral process and left many voters frustrated. In 2022, Democrat Rep. Mary Peltola “won” reelection in Alaska to a full term in the House in November after she defeated Sarah Palin in a special election to replace Rep. Don Young. Peltola was the FIRST DEMOCRAT to...

The Alaska Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decision Thursday that allowed a question on whether to keep the state’s new voting system to appear on the November ballot. Alaskans narrowly adopted a 2020 ballot measure that put in place open primaries and ranked choice general elections. The voting method was first used in 2022 and is again being used this year. Supporters of the method say it yields more centrist candidates willing to work across the political aisle. But a group filed a petition earlier this year seeking to repeal the voting method, arguing that the voting system is...

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska - The chief of the National Guard Bureau, Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson, awarded the Alaska National Guard the National Guard Excellence in Diversity Award for its diversity and inclusion efforts. The award, bestowed July 31, began in 2019 and has five categories. It’s presented annually to states and territories, units and individuals who consistently and significantly contribute to diversity and inclusion initiatives and build measurable milestones to achieve success. Alaska won in the “Exemplary States and Territories” category. In a letter to AKNG leadership announcing the award before he retired, Hokanson said: “The dedication of the...

A​n Alaskan community located near the cold Arctic Ocean preliminarily shattered an all-time record for the hottest temperature so far north in the nation's 49th state. T​uesday afternoon's temperature hit 89 degrees in Deadhorse, Alaska. That shattered the location's all-time record of 85 degrees set July 13, 2016. On top of that, it's the hottest temperature ever reliably measured so far north in the state, according to a post on X by Brian Brettschneider, an Alaska-based climatologist. The temperature is short of Alaska's all-time record for any location in the state which is 100 degrees set in Fort Yukon on...

Three groups of Russian nuclear-capable bombers and fighter escorts buzzed the airspace in Japan's northern waters on Tuesday one week after similar long-range sorties near the U.S. coast off Alaska.

head of President Biden’s first address in the Oval Office since announcing he was dropping out of the presidential race, the North American Aerospace Defense Command Public Affairs (NORAD) says it sent out fighter jets to intercept two Russian Tu-95 "Bear" bombers and two Chinese H-6 bombers off the coast of Alaska. In a press release from NORAD, the agency confirmed that they detected, tracked, and intercepted two Russian TU-95 and two PRC H-6 military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on July 24.

According to the Anchorage paper: adn.com And the Alaska Landmine: alaskalandmine.com It turns out a federal judge in Alaska was engaging in a little hanky panky. So were a couple of attorneys who were in his court.

The ruling requires the administration to keep processing new applications to export LNG as the Texas-led lawsuit proceeds. Attorney General Ken Paxton obtained a temporary injunction in his lawsuit against the Biden administration over their decision to halt liquefied natural gas exports. Joined by 15 other state attorneys general, Paxton secured the win Monday after a federal district court judge in Western Louisiana ruled that the new administrative plan should be paused as the case proceeds. “This ruling means [President Joe] Biden’s illegal ban does not prevent Texas natural gas from reaching market while the lawsuit continues,” stated Paxton in...

Alaska’s Supreme Court justices on Friday reversed a Superior Court ruling that struck down key components of the state’s correspondence school program. Nearly 23,000 homeschool students may continue to use their allotments of state education money to pay for private school tuition until the Anchorage Superior Court reconsiders the case. The Supreme Court made its decision a day after oral arguments in an appeal of the ruling in State of Alaska, Department of Education and Early Development v. Alexander, in which plaintiffs argued that it is unconstitutional for public education money to be spent on private school tuition. The justices...

Several dozen pro-abortion activists marched to Alaska’s Governor’s Mansion in Juneau to demand that Gov. Mike Dunleavy take down a pro-life flag that he flies next to the U.S. and Alaska flags. Chanting, “Our rights, our choice,” the protesters snaked through the State Capital – whooping and screaming as pedestrians looked on. One marcher, dressed in Game of Thrones’s styled battle garb, wielded a large metal sword, which she jabbed into the air while joining the cacophony of voices railiing against any effort to protect unborn babies from abortion. Organized by Juneau Pro-Choice Coalition, the June 22 rally took place...

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland acknowledged Tuesday that the Biden administration’s climate agenda, which is reliant on global critical mineral supply chains, is strengthening China. During a House Appropriations Committee hearing on her agency’s proposed 2024 budget, Haaland was repeatedly grilled about the administration’s environmental policies blocking further domestic production of critical minerals and opening the door to further reliance on Chinese-sourced minerals. In one exchange with Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., Haaland affirmed that green energy sources “deepen” reliance on Chinese imports. “I’m telling you right now that 63% of rare earth mining [occurs in China],” Reschenthaler stated. “By deductive reasoning,...

A very senior Republican is running for election. Prosecutors are determined to take him out, and are willing to compromise the integrity of the criminal justice system to do so. They indict their target on accounting matters. They cannot prevent him from being a candidate, but malicious prosecutors hope to damage that candidacy. Am I writing about Donald Trump? No. As this column never tires of shouting about the descent of the American criminal justice system into a playground for prosecutorial abuse of power: Remember Ted Stevens! If it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone, although with...

A construction crew working on a bridge in Alaska’s Denali National Park was ordered to remove their American flag from their equipment. The park official said it “detracted” from the park experience. Alaska Watchman reported: The crew working on a 475-foot-long bridge in Alaska’s Denali National Park was recently told that they could no longer fly the American flag from their trucks or heavy equipment, which are being used in the $207 million Federal Highway Administration project. ..... Snip..... According to the contractor, Denali National Park Superintendent Brooke Merrell contacted the man overseeing the federal highways project, claiming there had...

The crew working on a 475-foot-long bridge in Alaska’s Denali National Park was recently told by Denali National Park Superintendent Brooke Merrell that they could no longer fly the American flag from their trucks or heavy equipment, which are being used in the $207 million Federal Highway Administration project.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A 70-year-old Alaska man who was attempting to take photos of two newborn moose calves was attacked and killed by their mother, authorities said Monday. The man killed Sunday was identified as Dale Chorman of Homer, said Austin McDaniel, a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Public Safety. The female moose had recently given birth to the calves in Homer. “As they were walking through the brush looking for the moose, that’s when the cow moose attacked Dale,” McDaniel said. The attack happened as the two were running away, he said. The second man, who has not...

America’s attention to Arctic security has intensified in recent years. Our force structure has grown deliberately, a word that usually means “on purpose.” For this Alaskan, particularly when Russia and China practice war games with live ammunition in Alaska’s fishing grounds, “deliberate” can also mean “slowly,” or “not fast enough.” More intensive U.S. security “deliberation” might best be directed now toward Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, too. In geopolitics, the Antarctic has been quiet to date, or at least less competitive. A great circle air route over the South Pole has less traffic, and southern shipping has less strategic significance...

Has the U.S. government secretly retrieved exotic craft of “non-human” origin? Newly declassified documents, along with extraordinary legislation, illustrate how two successive Democratic Senate majority leaders appear to have believed so. Notably, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and the late Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) were not alone in their focus on UFOs. The Democratic heavyweights received critical support and encouragement from a bipartisan group of high-profile senators over the years, including former fighter pilot and famed astronaut John Glenn (D-Ohio); Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who observed a UFO as a World War II pilot; Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), then-chairman of the Senate Appropriations...

Alaska’s more than 730,000 residents have suffered from more environmental meddling from Washington bureaucrats than those in any other state in the country. Last week, the Biden administration celebrated “Earth Day” early by announcing it will unilaterally rope off millions of acres across Alaska from development and other local uses. On Friday, the Department of the Interior (DOI) issued twin rulings to impose “maximum protections” banning oil exploration in 13 million acres in the western Arctic and deny permits for a 211-mile road the state wanted to build to a colossal copper deposit worth an estimated $7.5 billion. Interior Secretary...