Alaska
At Anchorage town hall, a rallying cry emerges: More taxes, please
Twenty state legislators convened in Anchorage on Saturday for an annual town hall that brings together the delegation representing the state’s biggest city.
Like last year, the town hall was used by education advocates to call for what they say is a desperately needed increase in the state’s education budget, which has not kept up with inflation for years. But speakers at the two-hour meeting had a new addition to their plea: To make education funding possible, impose more taxes.
A third of the Alaska Legislature — including Democrats, Republicans and independents representing every neighborhood of Anchorage — listened to request after request for an increase to the Base Student Allocation, along with laments from students who fear the elimination of beloved theater and sports programs.
Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle, along with Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, have said some amount of education funding increase would be needed this year. But they have also pointed to the state’s dwindling revenue — which comes primarily from oil taxes and Permanent Fund earnings — to reason that an increase that meets the demands of school districts may not be viable this year.
Several Anchorage residents who attended the town hall on Saturday had a ready reply: “Tax me.”
Alaska had a state income tax until 1980, when booming revenue from the oil industry compelled the state’s political leaders to eliminate it. Oil revenue is no longer booming, but political appetite to reinstate a personal income tax — or any new taxes, for that matter — has been slim.
Lawmakers in the Senate this year have floated several ideas that would increase taxes on Alaska’s oil industry and other corporations, but have stopped short of introducing any personal taxes. Republicans in the House last month largely rejected ideas for new taxes on the resource industry. Dunleavy has shown no interest in introducing or signing off on new taxes, ever since he promised in 2023 to introduce a statewide sales tax — and then never did.
[Anchorage School District ‘displacements’ could shutter or shrink 5 high school choir programs]
“I hear some of you are not wanting to tax the people and industries that can afford to contribute — no statewide income tax, no S-corp tax, corporate oil breaks still in place,” Rozlyn Grady-Wyche, an education graduate student, told lawmakers during the town hall. “You have options, you have power. What’s missing is the will.”
“We need a revenue plan — a fair, equitable one that asks for more from those with more,” Grady-Wyche added.
The question of whether — and how — to establish new revenue has long been treated with hesitancy by state lawmakers, amid fears of backlash from voters. But speakers during the packed-to-the-gills town hall meeting often elicited loud cheers and applause from the crowd when they spoke about the prospect of new taxes as a tool to afford new education spending.
“There’s an old adage in business — I don’t know if anybody knows it — revenue fixes everything,” said Ben Kellie, an entrepreneur and former SpaceX engineer who lives in West Anchorage.
“Amen!” someone shouted from the crowd, as others and clapped.
“It’s not enough to throw your hands up and say you can’t do it. Figure it out. Do your jobs,” Kellie said.
Nick Moe, representing thread, a child care nonprofit, told lawmakers that critical child care funding is “at risk if we do not find new revenue and a solution to this budget crisis.”
“The thread board has taken the unprecedented step of supporting new and diverse revenue as a way to fund essential searches, so that’s my message: Please pass new revenue. Pass it now,” said Moe.
Moe said he’s “heard eight good revenue ideas” in the Capitol in Juneau.
“I think you should pass them all,” he said.
Pat Higgins, a member of the Anchorage School Board, excoriated lawmakers for refusing to levy taxes that would allow the state to more easily send the district the funding it says it needs.
“You make up the decisions on where the funds are going to come from. You decide the oil taxes. You decide corporate taxes. I’m willing to pay an income tax. I’m willing to pay a sales tax,” said Higgins.
“I demand to be taxed. Tax me now,” said Erin Dougherty Lynch, an attorney who lives in South Anchorage. “It is patriotic to pay taxes.”
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – A musician with Alaska Native roots recorded an hour-long live set in Interior Alaska beneath the aurora.
Chastity Ashley, a drummer, vocalist and DJ who performs under the name Neon Pony, celebrated a year since she traveled to Nenana to record a live music set beneath the northern lights for her series Beats and Hidden Retreats.
Ashley, who has Indigenous roots in New Mexico, said she was drawn to Alaska in part because of the role drums play in Alaska Native culture. A handmade Alaskan hand drum, brought to her by a man from just outside Anchorage, was incorporated into the performance in February 2025.
Recording in the cold
The team spent eight days in Nenana waiting for the aurora to appear. Ashley said the lights did not come out until around 4 a.m., and she performed a continuous, uninterrupted hour-long set in 17-degree weather without gloves.
“It was freezing. I couldn’t wear gloves because I’m actually playing, yeah, hand drums and holding drumsticks. And there was ice underneath my feet,” Ashley said.
“So, I had to really utilize my balance and my willpower and my ability to just really immerse in the music and let go and make it about the celebration of what I was doing as opposed to worrying about all the other elements or what could go wrong.”
She said she performed in a leotard to allow full range of motion while drumming, DJing and singing.
Filming on Nenana tribal land
Ashley said she did not initially know the filming location was on indigenous land. After local authorities told her the decision was not theirs to make, she contacted the Nenana tribe directly for permission.
“I went into it kind of starting to tell them who I was and that I too was a part of a native background,” Ashley said. “And they just did not even care. They’re like, listen, we’re about to have a party for one of our friends here. Go and do what you like.”
Ashley said the tribe gave her full permission to film on the reservation, and that the aurora footage seen in the episode was captured there.
Seeing the aurora for the first time
Ashley said the Nenana performance marked her first time seeing the northern lights in person.
“It felt as if I were awake in a dream,” she said. “It really doesn’t seem real.”
She said she felt humbled and blessed to perform beneath the aurora and to celebrate its beauty and grandeur through her music.
“I feel incredibly humbled and blessed that not only did I get to take part in seeing something like that, but to play underneath it and celebrate its beauty and its grandeur.”
The Alaska episode is the second installment of Beats and Hidden Retreats, which is available on YouTube at @NeonPony. Ashley said two additional episodes are in production and she hopes to make it back up to Alaska in the future.
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JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – An Alaska drug task force seized roughly $162,000 worth of controlled substances during an operation in Juneau Thursday, according to the Juneau Police Department.
Around 3 p.m. Thursday, investigators with the Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs (SEACAD) approached 50-year-old Juneau resident Jermiah Pond in the Nugget Mall parking lot while he was sitting in his car, according to JPD.
A probation search of the car revealed a container holding about 7.3 gross grams of a substance that tested presumptively positive for methamphetamine, as well as about 1.21 gross grams of a substance that tested presumptively positive for fentanyl.
As part of the investigation, investigators executed a search warrant at Pond’s residence, during which they found about 46.63 gross grams of ketamine, 293.56 gross grams of fentanyl, 25.84 gross grams of methamphetamine and 25.5 gross grams of MDMA.
In all, it amounted to just less than a pound of drugs worth $162,500.
Investigators also seized $102,640 in cash and multiple recreational vehicles believed to be associated with the investigation.
Pond was lodged on charges of second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, two counts of third-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, five counts of fourth-degree misconduct involving a substance and an outstanding felony probation warrant.
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Copyright 2026 KTUU. All rights reserved.
SAND POINT, Alaska (KTUU) – A teenage boy who was last seen Monday when the canoe he was in tipped over has been found by a dive team in a lake near Sand Point, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Alaska’s News Source confirmed with the person, who is close to the search efforts, that the dive team found 15-year-old Kaipo Kaminanga deceased Thursday in Red Cove Lake, located a short drive from the town of Sand Point on the Aleutian Island chain.
Kaminanga was last seen canoeing with three other friends on Monday when the boat tipped over.
A search and rescue operation ensued shortly after.
Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery Team posted on Facebook Thursday night that they were able to “locate and recover” Kaminanga at around 5 p.m. Thursday.
“We are glad we could bring closure to his family, friends and community,” the post said.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated when more details become available.
See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com
Copyright 2026 KTUU. All rights reserved.
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