Alaska

Government shutdown: Alaska’s 14,000 WIC families to receive funding through October, Murkowski’s office confirms

Published

3 months ago

October 10, 2025

Government shutdown: Alaska’s 14,000 WIC families to receive funding through October, Murkowski’s office confirms

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The USDA has allocated $300 million to keep Alaska’s Women, Infants and Children program, known as WIC, running through October during the government shutdown, Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s office confirmed to Alaska’s News Source Thursday.

“Senator Murkowski was relieved that USDA has found the funding to ensure WIC participants will continue to receive benefits through the end of October should the government shutdown persist,” Murkowski spokesperson Joe Plesha said Thursday. “While our office is still awaiting details about how the funding will be implemented and whether this transfer of funds will at all impact school or childcare nutrition programs, this program is too vital to lapse. She is pleased that a temporary solution to this specific problem has been reached to allow time for negotiations to continue.”

WIC, according to the Alaska Department of Health, “offers free healthy foods, nutrition, and breastfeeding assessment, education, and support.” The program serves pregnant and breastfeeding women, children under five, and foster parents who meet income and nutritional need guidelines.

Alaska had 14,319 participants in the WIC program in 2024, according to the USDA, about 2% of Alaska’s population that same year. Nationally, the program served more than 6.5 million participants.

“As of today, Alaska WIC remains fully operational,” according to the program’s website, which includes an alert reading, “Alaska WIC clinics are open for business as usual, and you may continue to shop for your WIC foods.”

WIC is the second Alaska program to receive additional funding since the government shutdown began nine days ago.

Promises from Trump and Dunleavy

The White House had promised funding for the program earlier this week, though the amount was left unclear until Thursday’s announcement.

“The Democrats are so cruel in their continual votes to shut down the government that they forced the WIC program for the most vulnerable women and children to run out this week,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on social media Tuesday. “Thankfully, President Trump and the White House have identified a creative solution to transfer resources from Section 232 tariff revenue to this critical program.”

Section 232 tariffs are imposed on goods which “threaten to impair” U.S. national security, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Before Thursday’s funding announcement, Georgia Machell, president and CEO of the National WIC Association, welcomed the efforts from the Trump administration but noted “families need long-term stability, not short-term uncertainty.”

The National WIC Association has not released a statement since the Murkowski office announcement.

If that initial promise from the Trump administration didn’t materialize, or the expected funding runs out, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s spokesperson Jeff Turner said in an email the state would step in, expecting USDA reimbursement.

“If the state needs to fund WIC benefits, the funds will not be diverted from anywhere else,” Turner said. “We are early enough in the fiscal year that the Department of Health has sufficient funds on hand until the USDA can reimburse the state.”

Turner added the state received notice for a federal award of $500,000 in WIC food funds Thursday morning.

“WIC benefits will be covered by the state if federal funding expires during the shutdown,” Turner said. “SNAP is a mandatory program that will also continue.”

WIC in Alaska

Shannon Davenport, president of the Alaska Nurses Association, said WIC is essential in Alaska.

“At Providence Hospital, that’s where I work, we do the best we can for our patients, but WIC is also an organization that can kind of step in and help those families that need a little bit more,” Davenport said.

She said if WIC wasn’t available the results could be disastrous.

“I think we’re going to see more people in our emergency rooms,” she said. “I think we’re going to see more people in our food banks and our homeless shelters.”

Davenport added that she believes a lack of funding could also increase disease and infection rates within the state due to confusion in where to get access to the same resources.

Davenport is not alone in her concerns. Rachel Miller, chief advocacy officer at the Food Bank of Alaska, said that while the food bank does not use WIC funding, the program plays a critical role in Alaska.

“We know that our state can’t afford any cuts to WIC, but we also can’t afford any gaps in time with WIC,” Miller said. “I hope the state has enough funds encumbered to cover any gap that we’re going to see in WIC due to the federal shutdown.”

Both women have reported seeing increased demand from Alaskans as winter approaches but say cuts and the shutdown is also playing a role.

“Anytime there is a shutdown, anytime there is a gap in any government assistance or resource, there is uncertainty, and unfortunately, food is the most flexible budget line in a household,” Miller said.

“The more that these cuts come down, the more the shutdown continues, it means more and more people are going to be coming to the hospital,” Davenport said. “And when are they coming? … They’re gonna wait till they’re really sick.”

Alaska’s News Source reached out to the Alaska Department of Health’s WIC program. A staff member said the department was working on a statement but had not provided that as of publication.

Shutdown enters day 9

After more than a week of impasse, congressional leaders continue to make little progress in passing a plan to fund the government.

Republicans say Democrats have refused to pass what they call a “clean continuing resolution” in the Senate, a bill that maintains current government spending levels without policy changes or additions.

If the resolution receives 60 votes, it will end the government shutdown. With almost all Republicans voting for it (Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., cast the lone no vote) Democrats would need to provide the remaining votes.

Democratic leaders dispute that characterization, arguing the Republican bill isn’t truly “clean” because it ignores Democratic demands to restore nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts and extend enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits set to expire Dec. 31. Democrats say the credits would preserve health insurance for 3.8 million people.

In his statement to Alaska’s News Source confirming the USDA funding, Plesha said “Senator Murkowski continues to aggressively pursue solutions with her colleagues that will bring an end to this shutdown as soon as possible.”

Murkowski has proposed a plan she said would “avert government shutdown,” which includes $30 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, an extension of enhanced premium tax credits set to expire at the beginning of August, and three appropriations bills.

“What’s going to happen next week is it’s going to get serious because we’re looking at getting close to the 15th,” David Owens, a national representative with the American Federation of Government Employees, said Thursday, referencing when federal employees would receive their last paycheck until the shutdown ends.

“It’ll have a major impact on the military. And I think a lot of members of Congress will start thinking a little bit different when the military members aren’t being paid and they’re in harm’s way,” he added.

Owens said federal employees will still receive one more paycheck before the shutdown affects their pay.

If the Senate doesn’t pass the current resolution, Congress would need to introduce and pass a new resolution through both chambers. The president would then need to sign the proposal for it to become law.

Alaska’s News Source reached out to Alaska’s entire congressional delegation for comment on WIC and the government shutdown. Sen. Dan Sullivan’s office told Alaska’s News Source, “The Trump administration is working on a solution to keep WIC funded through tariff revenues. We will be getting more details on that in the coming days.”

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com

Source link

Click to comment

Alaska

Wayne and Wanda: I love Alaska winters, but my wife has grown weary and wants to move

Published

11 hours ago

January 11, 2026

Press Room

Wayne and Wanda: I love Alaska winters, but my wife has grown weary and wants to move

Wanda and Wayne,

My wife and I moved to Alaska four years ago for work and adventure, thinking we’d stay a couple of years and see how it felt. We fell hard for it almost immediately. But by our second winter, my wife started talking about how hard the cold and dark were on her, and every winter since that feeling has grown heavier.

This recent cold snap and snow dump really pushed things over the edge. She’s deeply unhappy right now, withdrawn, sad and openly talking about how depressing it feels to live here, especially being so far from family and old friends. She tries to manage it with running, yoga, the gym, but even those things she often does alone. She hasn’t really built a community here, partly because she’s introverted and partly because she sticks closely to her routines and her co-workers aren’t the very social. Meanwhile, I’ve found connections through work and the outdoors, especially skiing in the winter (cross country and touring, downhill, backcountry, all of it!), and Alaska still feels full of possibilities to me.

But now she’s done. She wants to move back “home” soon. She wants to start trying for kids within the next year and doesn’t feel like Alaska is the right place to raise a family. She worries about schools, politics, the economy and being so far from family support. We both have careers that could take us almost anywhere, as well as savings, and a house we could sell quickly, and many of the Alaska toys we could also sell. Logistically, it would be easy. Emotionally, I feel like I’m being told to leave after I just got settled.

There are places I still want to explore, trips I’ve been planning, seasons I want to experience differently now that we’re more established. I keep thinking: If we can just get through to summer, maybe she’ll feel better. But I don’t know if that’s hope or denial, and yeah, summer feels a long ways away and goes by pretty quickly. Honestly, now I’m starting to get bummed about the idea of leaving.

I love my wife and I don’t want her to be miserable. But I’m scared that if we leave now, I’ll resent her, and if we stay she’ll resent me. Is there a way to buy time without dragging this out painfully? Or is this one of those moments where love means choosing between two incompatible futures?

Wanda says:

If this was your first Cheechako winter here, or your second, I could write off your wife’s apprehension to culture shock or a sophomore slump. But this is year four, which means she’s endured winters of record snowfalls, weird snow shortfalls, terrible windstorms, bleak darkness and desolate below-zero temps. Sorry to say, but it’s likely there’s no number of laps at the Dome or downward dogs on the mat that will make her find the special beauty of an Alaska winter.

This place is tough. For every old-timer who jokes, “I came for two years and I’m still here,” there are plenty who maybe made it that long and bailed. While the state shines with possibilities, rugged beauty, unique traits and cool people, it’s also far from basically everything, pretty expensive and definitely extreme. Some people will thrive here. Some people won’t. No one’s better or worse, or wins or loses. Were you on your own, at a different point in life, you may have made your forever home here. But instead you pledged forever to your wife, and I’m afraid it’s time to start out on your next adventure — in the Lower 48.

Your wife gave this a real shot. She’s stayed four years. That’s four long — and for her, miserable — winters. It was also four seasons of no doubt incredible summers, full of fresh halibut and farmers markets and quirky festivals and blue skies at 11 p.m. If these special aspects of Alaska haven’t yet been enough to convince her the winters are worth it, they won’t ever be.

Wayne says:

Sure, your Alaska bucket list is still growing faster than you can check things off, but take it from a lifelong Alaskan: You’ll never do it all. People fall in love with this place in a million different ways. You and I? We believe there’s always another season of adventures ahead, another trail and another corner of the state to explore, and we’ll always feel some serious AK FOMO when we’re stuck at the office working while everyone else is ice skating on a perfect winter day or dipnetting during a hot salmon run.

Here’s the perspective shift you need. You love your wife. You’re committed to a happy life together. And by any reasonable measure, you’ve made the most of your four years here. So ask yourself this honestly: Is another spring of shredding pow in the Chugach more important than her mental health and your marriage? And why resent her for being ready for a new chapter after she showed up and gave Alaska a chance? When you frame it that way, “incompatible futures” sounds dramatic and “buying time” sounds selfish.

And Alaska isn’t going anywhere. You know that. It’s a flight or two away no matter where you end up Outside. Maintain your friendships, stay on the airline alerts, narrow your must-do list to the Alaska all-timers, and plan to come back regularly. And imagine this: years from now, bringing your kids here after years of telling them stories about the winters you survived and the mountains you climbed. That’s not losing Alaska, that’s carrying it with you wherever you go, along with your wife and your marriage.

[Wayne and Wanda: How can I support my partner’s hardcore New Year’s reset, even if it’s not for me?]

[Wayne and Wanda: I kissed my high school crush during a holiday trip home. Now I’m questioning everything]

[Wayne and Wanda: My girlfriend’s dog fostering has consumed her life and derailed our relationship]

[Wayne & Wanda: My husband has been having a secret, yearslong emotional affair]

Source link

Alaska

The Alarming Prices Of Groceries In Rural Alaska — And Why They’re So Expensive – Tasting Table

Published

23 hours ago

January 11, 2026

Press Room

The Alarming Prices Of Groceries In Rural Alaska — And Why They’re So Expensive – Tasting Table

ViDI Studio/Shutterstock

Many households across America have been struggling with their grocery bills due to inflation that hit the global markets after the COVID-19 pandemic, but for families in Alaska, especially in rural communities, the prices of basic goods have reached alarming heights. Alongside inflation, the main issue for the climbing prices is Alaska’s distance from the rest of the U.S., which influences the cost of transport that’s required to deliver the supplies.

Given that Alaska is a non-contiguous state, any trucks delivering grocery stock have to first cross Canada before reaching Alaska, which requires a very valuable resource: time. According to Alaska Beacon, “It takes around 40 hours of nonstop driving to cover the more than 2,200 highway miles from Seattle to Fairbanks” on the Alaska Highway. That’s why a fairly small percentage of the state’s food comes in on the road. For the most part, groceries are shipped in on barges and are then flown to more remote areas, since “82% of the state’s communities are not reachable by road,” per Alaska Beacon. As such, even takeout in Alaska is sometimes delivered by plane.

Planes, trucks, and boats all cost money, but they are also all vulnerable to extreme weather conditions, which are not uncommon in Alaska. Sometimes local stores are unable to restock basic staples like bread and milk for several weeks, so Alaskans struggle with high food insecurity.

How much do groceries cost in Alaska?

The storefront of a local City Market in Alaska

Ruben Ramos/Getty Images

Groceries in Alaska cost significantly more than in the rest of the U.S., but even within the state itself, the prices vary based on remoteness. You’ll find that prices of the same items can double or even triple, depending on how inaccessible a certain area is. The New Republic reported that prices in Unalakleet, a remote village that’s only accessible by plane, can be up to 80% higher than in Anchorage, Alaska’s most populated city. For example, the outlet cited Campbell’s Tomato Soup costing $1.69 in Anchorage and $4.25 in Unalakleet. Even more staggering is the price of apple juice: $3.29 in the city, $10.65 in the village. Such prices might make our jaw drop, but they’re a daily reality for many Alaskans.

As one resident shared on TikTok, butter in his local store costs $8 per pound — almost twice the national average. Fresh produce is even more expensive, with bananas going for $3 a pound, approximately five times the national average. It’s therefore not surprising that most of the people who live in Alaska have learned to rely on nature to survive.

Subsistence living has great importance for many communities. They hunt their own meat, forage for plants, and nurture their deep cultural connection to sourdough. For rural Alaskans, living off the land is a deep philosophy that embraces connection with nature and hones the survival knowledge that’s passed down through generations — including how to make Alaska’s traditional akutaq ice cream.

Source link

Alaska

Backcountry avalanche warning issued for much of Southcentral Alaska

Published

1 day ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Backcountry avalanche warning issued for much of Southcentral Alaska

High avalanche danger in the mountains around much of Southcentral Alaska prompted officials to issue a backcountry avalanche warning Saturday for areas from Anchorage to Seward.

The Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center said that a combination of heavy snowfall, strong winds and low-elevation rain Saturday “will overload a weak snowpack, creating widespread areas of unstable snow.”

The warning is in effect from 6 a.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday.

Human-triggered and natural slides are likely, and avalanche debris may run long distances into the bottoms of valleys and other lower-angle terrain, the center said.

In Saturday’s avalanche forecast, which noted high avalanche danger at all elevations in the Turnagain Pass and Girdwood areas, the center said avalanches were likely to fail on weak layers about 1.5 to 3 feet deep.

Forecasters recommended that people avoid traveling in avalanche terrain, staying clear of slopes steeper than 30 degrees.

“Avalanche conditions will remain very dangerous immediately after the snow finishes,” the avalanche center said in its warning.

The center also said conditions may cause roofs to shed snow, and urged that people watch for overhead hazards, use care in choosing where to park vehicles and watch out for children and pets.

Areas covered under the backcountry avalanche warning include the mountains around Anchorage, Girdwood, Portage, Turnagain Pass, Lost Lake and Seward.

Farther north, the Hatcher Pass Avalanche Center in its forecast Saturday said danger was considerable at upper elevations and moderate at middle elevations.

Snowfall in Anchorage and Mat-Su

A winter weather advisory remained in effect until 9 a.m. Sunday from Anchorage up to the lower Matanuska Valley, including the cities of Eagle River, Palmer and Wasilla.

The National Weather Service said total accumulations of 4 to 8 inches of snow were possible, with localized areas potentially receiving up to a foot of snow.

The snowfall was expected to peak Saturday evening before tapering off Sunday morning, the weather service said.

Source link