The Trump administration Tuesday appealed a federal court decision that blocked plans to reopen vast portions of Alaska’s Arctic waters to oil drilling.

Researchers are trying to determine the cause of a gray whale die-off along the West Coast, including Alaska. And they’re looking at whether recent warming trends in the Arctic, and reduced sea ice, have affected their prey.

Papua New Guinea-based company Oil Search announced Thursday it received a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers for its Pikka development, planned west of Prudhoe Bay.

The Trump administration is appealing a court ruling that blocked plans to build a long-sought road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.

“They’re just so graceful and beautiful. Every time I see a whale I get excited,” says biologist Craig George. “I’ve seen thousands and thousands. It’s always like seeing a bowhead for the first time.”

The Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska has a climate change adaptation plan. It wants the region to be included in the climate change discussion.

This month, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission started requiring oil and gas companies to put up substantially higher bonds to cover the wells they’ve drilled. But a different state agency is criticizing the new law.

The timber and seafood industries are trying to figure out how to do business, as the pressure mounts due to increased tariffs.

“They get the traditional, ecological perspective on sea ice and how it’s changing and shifting from the whaling crews and whaling captains,” teacher Kevin Neyhard said. “And then … we drill cores through the ice to learn about it from that perspective.”

People who work with released prisoners say the best way to combat crime is enhancing access to programs that target mental health problems and drug addiction — not increasing prison terms.