The St. Paul baseball team, pictured Sept. 21, 1921. (Alaska State Library image)
Next year, cities and states across the nation will be honoring the American semiquincentennial, marking 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Each of the 50 states will have unique roles in the celebration and Alaska has already established a theme for its participation in America250: baseball.
State historian Katherine J. Ringsmuth and the Alaska Office of History and Archaeology have developed a traveling baseball exhibit, showcasing a uniquely Alaskan stitch in the American tapestry.
“Alaska’s Fields of Dreams: Baseball in America’s Far North” features nine panels — each representing an inning — that explore Alaska’s role in the national pastime.
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From the Knock Down and Skin ‘Em club of St. Paul Island to the game’s expansion north to Nome and the formation of the Alaska Baseball League, the exhibit covers more than 150 years of baseball in Alaska.
“Alaska’s Fields of Dreams: Baseball in America’s Far North” is a traveling exhibit that for America250Alaska, which is part of the American semiquincentennial celebration. (Chris Bieri / ADN)
Late last year, Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed Administrative Order 357, designating the Alaska Historical Commission as the state agency to coordinate with the national America250 organization and plan and coordinate events.
That put Ringsmuth and the commission, which is headed by Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, into action to develop Alaska’s involvement.
And while some states will highlight their roles during early eras of America, Alaska has a relatively short history as part of the U.S. as the 49th state admitted. But as Alaska developed as an American territory even before statehood, baseball was a connection to the U.S.
“What we’re seeing by the 1910s, 1920s with the establishment of places like Anchorage, you see these places turning into real American towns,” Ringsmuth said. “And baseball is part of that agent that’s carrying those values.”
“Alaska’s Fields of Dreams: Baseball in America’s Far North” is a traveling exhibit that for America250Alaska, which is part of the American semiquincentennial celebration. (Chris Bieri / ADN)
Alaska’s history with baseball is diverse both geographically and in the makeup of its participants.
The exhibit documents the history of Alaska Native baseball and details games in Goodnews Bay in Western Alaska and in Nome, where miners used burlap bags as bases to play on the tundra. It also covers Alaska women who play the game, the arrival of Negro League’sgreat Satchel Paige in Alaska in 1965, and Midnight Sun games.
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The theme for Alaska’s involvement in the America250 is “History for Tomorrow,” and Ringsmuth said that look to the future is a nod at younger populations.
“I thought, let’s do something that makes our young people filled with optimism and (shows) that they can dream for tomorrow, and this can be the promise of tomorrow,” she said. “And I thought sports was a fantastic way to do that.”
The exhibit was shown at a number of places throughout the state over the summer. On Wednesday, the display will be at the Bear Tooth Theatrepub as part of the AK Sports Shorts storytelling event.
One of the seven speakers is Olga Zacharof of St. Paul, who will talk about the Knock Down and Skin ‘Em club, considered Alaska’s first baseball team.
Ringsmuth and Lorraine Henry with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources will also be on hand to talk to attendees about America250-Alaska during the intermission.
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The event starts at 6 p.m. and tickets are $20. A portion of the proceeds goes to the Healthy Futures Game Changer program, which “provides small grants to youth from low income families to remove barriers to participation in sports and recreation such as equipment, fees, and transportation costs,” according to its website.
A baseball team from Fairbanks plays against Nenana in June 1917. (Stephen Foster Collection via UAF collection)
Ringsmuth said the exhibit is a device to get people to learn about the history of baseball in Alaskaand an entry into other America250-Alaska events and activities.
The state has big plans for the Week of Dreams — a weeklong tribute to the nation’s pastime culminating on July 4, 2026.
Plans for the week include youth games, legacy softball and Indigenous baseball games and celebrating the addition of Growden Memorial Ballpark in Fairbanks to the National Register of Historic Places.
It will also highlight the Knock Down and Skin ‘Em club, which was founded in 1868.
With the help of Anchorage coach and former pro player Jamar Hill, Ringsmuth connected with the Major League Baseball commissioner’s office, and the event will bring up former MLB players who are also ABL alumni for the Week of Dreams events.
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Even active MLB players like Aaron Judge, who was a former star for the Anchorage Glacier Pilots, could be involved via remote methods.
“Our office is talking about doing a story map we can (post) online,” Ringsmuth said. “You know, call us and we’ll record you. What’s your story of playing in Alaska? What’s your favorite memory?”
“We can still engage the players who are going to be a bit busy next summer.”
Alaska Native communities secured a victory in their fight to maintain federal subsistence fishing protections after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear Alaska’s appeal, leaving in place a lower-court ruling that preserves decades of precedent.
The court declined to review Alaska v. U.S., which concerned the state’s authority to issue fishing openings that would conflict with existing federal subsistence rules, according to a Native American Rights Fund news release. By declining review, the high court allowed a Ninth Circuit decision to stand. As the state continues recovering from plummeting salmon populations, a federally-enforced priority for rural — primarily Alaska Natives — communities has limited the state’s ability to open fishing to others.
The Supreme Court’s refusal effectively ends decades of legal battles sometimes referred to as the “Katie John” cases after the Ahtna Athabascan elder who first challenged Alaska’s subsistence authority in 1985. John’s lawsuit, brought after the state denied her request to open fishing in her community, centered on the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act and its guarantee to prioritize rural communities relying on subsistence fishing over others.
John’s early 1990s victories, culminating in a 1995 ruling, established a precedent that handed control over that subsistence priority to the federal government due to its reserved water rights. That precedent was then reaffirmed in later cases in 2001 and 2014.The state’s most recent appeal sought to overturn those rulings and return control to Alaska, which argued that subsistence fishing should be open to anyone, not just rural communities.
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“NARF filed Katie John’s first case in December 1985 and for 40 years has worked to protect the subsistence rights that sustain Alaska Native communities and cultures,” NARF Senior Staff Attorney Erin Dougherty Lynch said in a statement. “Today’s decision closes the door on decades of litigation aimed at eroding those rights.”
The conflict that led to this week’s decision began after years of declining salmon returns on the Kuskokwim River. According to court filings, managers restricted gillnet openings to rural residents during conservation periods to protect the remaining runs. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued overlapping emergency orders opening the same waters to all state residents, creating two sets of rules on the river at the same time.
The dispute began in 2021 when the state issued orders to open fishing that contradicted federal fisheries managers’ decision to keep it closed during a salmon shortage.
Federal agencies and tribal organizations challenged the state’s actions, arguing that the river segments in question fall within the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge and are therefore subject to federal subsistence management. Alaska Native groups, including the Alaska Federation of Natives and the Association of Village Council Presidents, sided with the federal government.
A federal district judge agreed and issued an injunction preventing the state from issuing conflicting openings. The Ninth Circuit upheld that ruling in 2025 and rejected Alaska’s broader challenge to the federal subsistence framework, according to Courthouse News Service.
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The appellate panel’s decision relied on the earlier Katie John rulings, which recognized federal authority over certain navigable waters connected to federal lands. Because the Supreme Court declined review, that Ninth Circuit ruling — and federal subsistence priority under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act — remains in force.
About The Author
Staff Writer
Chez Oxendine (Lumbee-Cheraw) is a staff writer for Tribal Business News. Based in Oklahoma, he focuses on broadband, Indigenous entrepreneurs, and federal policy. His journalism has been featured in Native News Online, Fort Gibson Times, Muskogee Phoenix, Baconian Magazine, and Oklahoma Magazine, among others.
Democratic former Representative Mary Peltola narrowly leads Republican Senator Dan Sullivan in Alaska’s 2026 U.S. Senate race, a potential shakeup in the fairly red state, according to a new poll.
Newsweek reached out to Peltola’s press team via email on Wednesday for comment.
Why It Matters
Democrats are facing a tough Senate map in the 2026 midterms. Even if President Donald Trump’s approval rating fuels a Democratic wave, the party still needs to win control of states that backed him by double digits in the 2024 election to win a majority.
But Peltola, the only Democrat to win statewide in recent years, may be able to make the race against Sullivan competitive. Alaska could become the state that decides control of the Senate in November.
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What To Know
Peltola represented Alaska’s at-large congressional district in the House, first winning a special election in 2022, defeating former Governor Sarah Palin to fill the late GOP Representative Don Young’s seat. She was elected to a full term later in 2022 and lost her reelection bid in 2024.
Peltola, who only recently announced her campaign for the Senate, raised $1.5 million in the first 24 hours of her bid.
An Alaska Survey Research poll conducted January 8-11, ahead of Peltola’s official announcement, showed her leading Sullivan by more than 1.5 percentage points. The poll found that 48 percent of participants back Peltola to 46.4 percent for Sullivan. About 5.6 percent of participants are undecided.
The survey of 2,132 Alaska adults, 1,988 of whom are registered to vote, also found that Peltola has a more positive rating than Sullivan, 46 percent to 39 percent. In terms of his job approval rating, 36 percent of participants approve of his work while 44.5 percent disapprove.
Nearly half of the poll’s participants, 46 percent, said they have no party affiliation, while 30 percent identify as Republican and 15.4 percent as Democrat. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
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What People Are Saying
Nate Adams, Sullivan’s campaign spokesperson, told Newsweek: “Senator Sullivan has spent years delivering real results for Alaska: historic investments in our state’s health care, major funding for our Coast Guard, helping protect those who can’t protect themselves and policies that are finally unleashing Alaska’s energy potential. Dan Sullivan delivers for Alaska, and that will be the focus of his campaign. Conversely, his opponent served a term and a half in Congress where she didn’t pass a single bill. Alaskans deserve a senator with a proven record of getting things done, and the contrast couldn’t be clearer in this race.”
Mary Peltola, in her campaign announcement: “My agenda for Alaska will always be fish, family, and freedom. But our future also depends on fixing the rigged system in DC that’s shutting down Alaska, while politicians feather their own nest. DC people will be pissed that I’m focusing on their self-dealing, and sharing what I’ve seen firsthand. They’re going to complain that I’m proposing term limits. But it’s time.”
Senator Dan Sullivan, on X on January 6: “I am so excited about 2026 and all of the opportunities ahead for our great state. The Alaska comeback is happening!”
Alaska Democratic Party Chair Eric Croft, in a statement: “Mary Peltola is our most steadfast champion and a strong voice for Alaskans in every region of our state…Mary has never been afraid to stand up to powerful special interests or her own party to put Alaskans first—and we can’t wait to elect her to represent us in the U.S. Senate this November.”
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, on Alaska Public Media: “We’ve had a pretty solid team here in the Senate for the past 12 years, so we want to figure out how we’re going to keep in the majority. And Dan delivers that.”
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What Happens Next
Candidates will spend the coming months making their case to voters, as both parties try to win control of the Senate in the midterms. Sabato’s Crystal Ball rates the Alaska race “Leans Republican.”
Update 1/14/26, 3:43 p.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Sullivan’s campaign.
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City Manager for Juneau, Alaska, Katie Koester, joins FOX Weather to talk about how locals are handling the recent flood and avalanche threat and how emergency crews are prepared to handle impending situations.
HAINES, Alaska – An avalanche closed part of a highway in the borough of Haines, a small town about 90 miles north of Juneau in Alaska’s panhandle on Tuesday night — the latest debris slide in the region after days of heavy rain triggered avalanches in Juneau last week.
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Barricades have been placed at Mile 10 of the Haines Highway and crews will begin to assess the damage during the daytime on Wednesday, Alaska Department of Transportation officials said.
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(Alaska Department of Transportation/Facebook / FOX Weather)
Earlier Tuesday, the department released a few photos of the highway’s condition and issued a travel advisory before the avalanche and reported that rain-on-ice conditions were making road conditions very difficult.
RECORD SNOW BURIES JUNEAU SCHOOL AND PROMPTS FIVE-DAY CLEANUP
Drivers were urged to stay off the road.
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Relentless rain from an atmospheric river has pounded the southeastern part of the state, which has begun to melt a historic amount of snow that fell across the region over the holidays, triggering days of avalanche warnings.
More than 7 feet of snow has fallen across the Alaska panhandle, with the bulk coming after Christmas Eve.
Evacuations were issued in Juneau last week after several large avalanches were reported on the Thane and Mount Juneau avalanche paths Friday.
Governor Mike Dunleavy issued a disaster declaration on Saturday for both the ongoing storms and the record-shattering snow.
Another day of heavy rain is expected, but the precipitation will finally begin to decrease later Wednesday.
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Check back for more details on this developing story.
