Federal Government

Officials with the Alaska National Guard said they are preparing and training a response force of 100 service members to deploy to Washington D.C. and support civil authorities, as directed by the Pentagon and Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

The update on Tuesday from Maj. Gen. Torrence Saxe, Adjutant General of the Alaska National Guard and Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, was in response to a letter from state legislators on the Alaska Joint Armed Services Committee. The lawmakers raised concerns around the implications of a Pentagon directive to Alaska to prepare 350 National Guard personnel for rapid deployment for “civil disturbance operations.”

In his letter, Saxe said Gov. Mike Dunleavy requested that the force be deployed to Washington D.C. to join a joint federal task force in March of 2026.

A spokesperson with the governor’s office confirmed Thursday the request came from the U.S. Secretary of the Army and Dunleavy approved it.

“Governor Dunleavy approved the request because he wants to help the Trump Administration restore public trust and improve the quality of life in the nation’s capital,” said Jeff Turner, the governor’s director of communications, by email.

But the request may turn out to be moot, after a federal judge temporarily blocked the deployments to Washington D.C. on Thursday, declaring the use of troops is likely unlawful. There is a pause on the order until Dec. 11, which gives the Trump administration time to appeal.

Turner declined to comment on the federal ruling.

Saxe said in the letter that 100 Alaska service members are being trained to align with “national level requirements.”

“The team will consist of Alaska Army and Air National Guard personnel trained in mission sets that may include site security, roadblocks and checkpoints, civil disturbance control, critical infrastructure protection, and personnel security,” Saxe wrote. “All training activities are integrated into existing unit schedules and do not alter the organization’s operational commitments.”

The Alaska National Guard is currently active in the disaster relief effort after Typhoon Halong devastated communities of Western Alaska, with an estimated 200 service members deployed there, officials said.

Saxe repeated that the development of this “quick response force” is not new for the National Guard, and it will be structured to “respond quickly to protect lives, property, and critical infrastructure.”

“At the request of Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, members of the Alaska NGRF (National Guard Response Force) will activate to Washington, D.C., in March 2026 to support Joint Task Force–District of Columbia, a federally coordinated effort that brings together National Guard elements, civic leaders, and partner agencies to enhance safety, stewardship, and community engagement,” he wrote.

Officials with the National Guard declined interview requests on Wednesday and Thursday.

In August, officials with the governor’s office said there were “no plans” to deploy the Alaska National Guard to Washington D.C., as reported by the Anchorage Daily News.

The Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard troops to primarily Democratic-led cities has been challenged and repeatedly blocked as illegal in federal courts. On Monday, a Tennessee judge barred the National Guard deployment to Memphis, and said it was only allowable if there was a rebellion or invasion. On Thursday, a federal judge temporarily ordered an end to the monthslong deployment of National Guard to Washington D.C. to tackle crime, declaring the use of troops as likely unlawful.

Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage and co-chair of the Alaska Joint Armed Services Committee, said he was grateful for the commissioner’s response and additional information on the specialized force, but remains concerned about the capacity and purpose of such a mission.

“It’s important to note that the American taxpayer will be paying their salary while they’re on this mission. They’ll be paying for their room and board,” he said. “So when the National Guard does a mission like this, we just don’t have unlimited money. So we are redirecting money away from training and work here in Alaska.”

Gray said while the Trump administration may have the authority to call the National Guard to Washington, a federal district, he remains concerned at military service members being deployed against civilians and used for police or immigration enforcement.

“Are these police departments saying that they’re overrun, that they’re unable to perform their law enforcement mission, that they need to have their force doubled, tripled, quadrupled in numbers?” he said. “Because that’s what’s happening.”

There are currently 2,866 National Guard service members enlisted in the state, with 1,676 in the Alaska Air National Guard and 1,190 in the Alaska Army National Guard.

Gray, a veteran of the Alaska National Guard who deployed to Kosovo in 2019, said he also worries about the erosion of trust and regard for the military doing these kinds of missions, and deploying against civilians.

“I love the U.S. military. I am proud of my service in the Alaska Army National Guard,” he said. “I think this is going to hurt the military’s standing in the public’s mind. I think that this is going to cause folks to lose some of the admiration that has been so foundational in our country for the military. Our country has long admired, respected and praised its military, and the moves that we are seeing, directed by Secretary Pete Hegseth and the President of the United States are going to lose our military’s standing, not only internationally, but domestically as well.”

Gray said he has requested a meeting with Saxe, and is asking for continued public communication and transparency as the quick response force is developed.

Financial relief is finally reaching Alaska fishermen, roughly four years after the crab crash hit the Bering Sea fleet.

The payments cover Bristol Bay red king crab and Bering Sea snow crab fisheries from the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons, when stocks collapsed and the fisheries remained closed.

The trade group Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers coordinated with harvesters, processors and communities to ask Gov. Mike Dunleavy to request a federal disaster declaration, which the U.S. Secretary of Commerce approved in May 2023.

Relief money started going out earlier this year, first for community members and seafood processors, and now for captains and crewmembers. But Jamie Goen, the executive director of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, says fishermen should not have to wait years for relief.

“It needs to be within six months so that it’s useful for these families that are trying to make monthly payments,” Goen said. “Waiting four-to-six years to get your paycheck, that just doesn’t work for most families.”

Crab stocks have been recovering from the crashes a few years ago. The season that opened last month looks promising, but the rebound has been slow.

Dunleavy submitted another, separate disaster declaration for last season, which saw only minimal improvement from the previous year. But Goen says the goal isn’t more relief — it’s a stable fishery.

“We want to be fishing,” Goen said. “We don’t want to be asking for fisheries disasters.”

Eligible captains and crew have until the end of the year to apply for aid. Applications and information are available online.

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s pick to be a federal judge in Alaska encountered no turbulence at his nomination hearing Wednesday in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

Aaron C. Peterson is from Eagle River and is an assistant attorney general in the Alaska Department of Law’s natural resources section. He told the senators that an asset he’d bring to the U.S. District Court bench is extensive knowledge of Alaska-specific federal laws, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.

“The deep familiarity that I have with those laws, with my history of litigating them, I think prepared me for many of the cases that will come before the District Court,” he said.

While he now works exclusively on civil cases now, he also worked as a municipal and state prosecutor for about eight years, which took him around the state.

Peterson got a law degree from Gonzaga University in 2010, is married to a math teacher and is a father of three. He said in documents submitted to the committee that he became a member of the conservative Federalist Society this year.

“He knows and understands our great state and the federal laws that reflect on Alaska,” Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said as he introduced Peterson at the hearing. “I think he will be a great federal judge.”

Sullivan mentioned the last nominee he supported for the federal bench in Alaska. Joshua Kindred (“not my first choice,” Sullivan added) was sworn in in 2020 but resigned in disgrace in 2024, after an investigation found he mistreated a law clerk, among other improprieties.

Sullivan said Peterson is the first nominee to be interviewed by the Alaska Federal Judiciary Council, an advisory committee the senator created that meets in private and vets potential nominees for him.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski favors the prior system for vetting federal judicial applicants. It starts with a poll of the Alaska Bar Association, to gauge the person’s reputation among fellow attorneys.

Peterson went through Sullivan’s vetting system but thanked both Alaska senators for their support.

He was among three nominees at Wednesday’s confirmation hearing. The others have higher-profile positions as U.S. attorneys in Arkansas and Texas and drew more scrutiny. Senators repeatedly asked Peterson to weigh in on constitutional questions only after the others had answered, leaving him little to say.

“Senator, again, I agree with my colleagues. I was only going to add separation of powers concerns, but Mr. Ganjei did that,” he said, referring to his fellow nominee at the hearing table.

The committee could vote on Peterson’s nomination next month and then send it to the full Senate for a vote.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House voted nearly unanimously to force the Justice Department to release documents and investigative materials on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Alaska’s lone member of the House, Republican Rep. Nick Begich, voted for the bill, too. And Begich said he would have voted yes even if President Trump was still urging Republicans to block it.

“The American people deserve transparency,” Begich said Tuesday, before the vote. “This (investigation) is a product of the taxpayers’ investment. A lot of money has gone in to investigate these crimes, and I think the people deserve to know what’s there.”

For months President Trump pressed Republicans to block the Epstein bill. That put House Republicans in a political bind: Should they follow Trump, or his MAGA followers, who voted for Trump in part because he promised to release the files?

Trump abruptly reversed course over the weekend and said Republicans should vote for it, releasing his House allies from their dilemma.

The Epstein bill goes next to the Senate, where one of the controversies is whether to make changes.

Begich said he agrees with House Speaker Mike Johnson that the bill needs to be amended, to allow the Justice Department to redact or withhold information to better protect victims and investigative methods.

“I think Leader (John) Thune in the Senate has provided some strong indications to House leadership that those will be addressed once this bill goes over to the Senate,” Begich said. “I think that’s important.”

House Democrats and the four Republicans who signed a discharge petition bringing the Epstein bill to a vote say the bill doesn’t need amendment. They say the bill already protects victim identities and investigative sources and methods.

Survivors of Epstein’s abuse cheered from the House gallery when the 427-1 vote was announced. Many House members turned to face the House gallery, applauding victims who spoke out and have campaigned to release the documents.

The cheers and applause was still underway as the clerk read the procedural rule for the next measures — to repeal Biden administration rules that put the brakes on oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and, to the west, in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

KWIGILLINGOK, Alaska – When the remnants of Typhoon Halong hit this Alaska Native village last month, Ryan David was at home with his four children. They felt the house shake in the wind, then as floodwaters came, the building floated away.

“I yelled at my kids to get up and group up here, on the stairs, just in case we tip over,” David said when he talked with public broadcaster KYUK. He and his children were still trapped inside. David says the home stopped floating when it hit a bridge. He talked with a KYUK reporter as he waited for rescuers to arrive.

A month later, as villages across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta clean up from the storm and make repairs, hundreds of residents remain evacuated to cities such as Anchorage and Bethel. Now they face another loss. One of the few sources of local news and native language programming — public radio and television station KYUK — has lost federal funding that was up to 70% of its budget and plans to make cuts in January.

The station plans to severely cut staff and some programming as it tries to raise money to fill the budget gap.

The broader public media landscape is also experiencing a loss of federal funding, including at least some money for improving emergency alert systems, as human-caused climate change from burning fossil fuels is heating the planet and increasing risks from extreme weather.

In remote villages KYUK is “crucial”

KYUK broadcasts out of a small tan building at the base of a tall tower in Bethel, Alaska — about 400 miles west of Anchorage. Bethel is a hub community for 56 tribes spread across 48 communities. The station says its coverage area is about the size of Louisiana.

KYUK has been on the air since 1971 and “is a Native American initiated public broadcasting joint licensee” — that means it has both a public radio and television stations. It also has a digital news website and serves a predominantly Yup’ik population of less than 30,000 people in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Many residents, especially elders, primarily speak the Yup’ik language Yugtun.

“It’s very crucial to have that KYUK network,” says Darrel John, a lifelong resident of Kwigillingok. He says the news in Yugtun is especially valuable. “A lot of great advice we listen to from the elders… Any updates from any other communities — you know what to look out for — and the upcoming events.”

Each weekday, as Morning Edition ends, there’s local news and the weather forecast in Yugtun.

“Weather is definitely one of the things that KYUK focuses on because it’s life or death,” says Sage Smiley, KYUK news director. In a place where there are few roads, residents sometimes drive on frozen rivers and need to know where it’s safe to do that. “Getting from community to community in a boat, on a snow machine, in a bush plane, the weather matters almost more than anything else,” Smiley says.

When it became clear the remnants of Typhoon Halong were headed toward the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Smiley says reporters started including that in their reports to warn residents. She says fall storms and even flooding are common in the region, but Halong was different from most.

“This storm took a track that was unexpected, hit south of where it was expected to and in an area that was less prepared for the storm to hit,” Smiley says. “I think all of those factors went into what made it so devastating.”

Three people in Kwigillingok died because of the storm. Nearly every building in the village was damaged. Overall more than 1,600 people were displaced, many of them evacuated in helicopters.

Smiley also coaches the high school swim team and was at a meet in another city when the storm arrived.

“I was working remotely from a minivan with the swim team while the rest of the [news] team was working on the ground here,” Smiley says in the news department studio in Bethel. “And we had collaborators in Anchorage who were helping draft scripts and call communities to figure out what was happening.”

That’s part of being a news director at a small station, but soon KYUK will try to report the news with a third less staff, because in January Smiley’s position will be among those cut.

KYUK loses funding and makes cuts

KYUK was already navigating a loss in funding from the state of Alaska when President Trump targeted public media and Congress eliminated funding this summer. It was a big hit to the station’s finances because federal funding has been up the bulk of its budget.

The federal money essentially paid for employee salaries and benefits.

“It’s a little over $1 million that we’re receiving each year from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Our salaries and benefits in FY 25 [fiscal year 2025] was also a little over $1 million,” says Kristin Hall, KYUK’s general manager.

The station had 10 full- time employees and 13 part-time or on-call workers, says Hall. “Beginning in January, KYUK will transition to four full-time employees and ten part-time and on-call employees.”

In deciding where to make programming cuts, Hall says preserving Yup’ik language programs was a priority. A daily interview program, Coffee at KYUK, will lose three episodes a week in English, but keep its weekly Yugtun episode.

The station’s technical director’s hours will be cut from 40 to 10 hours a week, something Hall says she’s particularly concerned about because that person trouble shoots engineering problems and helps the station manage power outages.

To bring in more revenue, Hall says the station is applying for grants, trying to sell more underwriting announcements and will hold two pledge drives each year instead of just one. The station also expects to receive one-time funding through a Trump administration promise to provide $9.4 million for tribal broadcasting.

Hall says the station will re-evaluate in March 2026 whether the workload is sustainable for the smaller staff. So, more cuts could still come.

“My employment here was hanging on by a hair,” says Sam Berlin, a long-time host of the Yugtun language talk show Yuk to Yuk. “But the people, God bless them, they got together and we raised over $100,000 with our fundraiser.”

Just before Typhoon Halong hit the region, KYUK raised the money during its fall fundraiser. “It was our most successful we have ever seen in the history of KYUK,” Hall says. That helps, but doesn’t fill the funding gap.

Raising money in a region with fewer than 30,000 people and with a poverty rate that’s twice the national average is difficult. Hall says many people live a subsistence lifestyle, which means they may not have money to give.

“The encouragement that we get from local folks aren’t always in dollars,” Hall says. She says one person baked blueberry muffins to support the fundraiser and someone else dropped off salmon strips. Hall says an elder came to the station, and in an act of generosity, poured out her purse on the break room table. “And everything that fell out was less than $3. And she said, ‘I want you to have it.’ And it was literally everything in her purse.”

Hall says the station hopes its funding strategy will be enough to support the smaller team after January. If KYUK doesn’t exist, there’s no one else doing the station’s level of journalism in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. “In terms of local news and information, and especially local news and information in Yup’ik, No, there is no one else,” Hall says.

Disclosure: This story was written and reported by NPR Climate Correspondent Jeff Brady. It was edited by Managing Editors Vickie Walton-James and Gerald Holmes. Under NPR’s protocol for reporting on itself, no corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.

Listen to this story:

The longest government shutdown in U.S. history ended last week, paving the way for federal employees to return to their posts, including many in Alaska’s capital city. But reopening is not necessarily a smooth process and some agency workers say they are frustrated.

After 43 days without work or pay, Don MacDougall got a text from his boss Wednesday evening telling him to come back to the office the next morning. Walking out of the federal building downtown on Friday afternoon, he said it felt strange to go without work for that long, knowing that eventually he’ll be paid for the lost time. 

“It seems kind of senseless,” MacDougall said. “Then when you come back, you’re overloaded with all the work that you didn’t get to do before you left and stuff that’s built up.”

He’s a program coordinator at the U.S. Forest Service. He works on projects involving workforce development, volunteers and recreation across Alaska. He said he has hundreds of emails to sift through.

“It’s just been a frustrating time,” MacDougall said.

Eric Antrim said reopening has been disorganized. He manages bridge inspections in Alaska’s national forests and he’s the recording secretary for his union, the National Federation of Federal Employees Local 251. 

He said some furloughed employees, not knowing how long the shutdown would last, left town and weren’t available to return on such short notice. But Antrim said leadership in his office is being flexible as workers come back. 

“People are everywhere,” he said. “One of my colleagues is in Antarctica right now.”

Antrim spent part of his unpaid furlough organizing free lunches for federal workers. Now, he said he’s expecting a paycheck within the next week. 

“Whenever that comes through, I should get one giant lump sum payment for, you know, three pay periods at the same time,” he said.

In 2019, Congress passed a law that guarantees back pay for federal workers as soon as possible after a government shutdown ends. The bill Congress passed Wednesday affirms that guarantee, despite comments that President Donald Trump made last month. 

Back at the federal building, as workers returned from lunch, Jaimie Rountree said she was mandated to work without pay during the shutdown. But she said that wasn’t the case for everyone in her department at U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

“So there are a handful of us that weren’t getting paid while we were sitting in an office watching others get paid,” Rountree said. “Humiliating, disrespectful, unfair.”

She’s an agriculture specialist officer and said she had to stay at her post because it’s considered essential for national security. Rountree processes people coming in on mining barges, cruise ships and aircraft who intend to stay in the U.S. 

She said she feels unsure about the future. 

“You just don’t know,” Rountree said. “I mean, there’s things happening nowadays that you never thought would happen.”