Alaska

Alaska federal workers brace for potential layoffs

Published

5 months ago

October 11, 2025

Alaska federal workers brace for potential layoffs

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Federal workers across Alaska are bracing for potential layoffs on top of missing paychecks, as union officials warn that up to 200,000 federal employees nationwide could lose their jobs permanently during the ongoing government shutdown.

Based on union estimates and federal employment data, Alaska could see about 799 federal workers laid off if the cuts are distributed proportionally across states.

“There are a lot of people afraid,” David Owens, American Federation of Government Employees national representative, told Alaska’s News Source Thursday, describing President Donald Trump’s layoff threat at the time.

“They’re very worried. They feel like they’re being pawns, and they’re tired,” Ownes.

The threat comes after about 280,000 positions from the federal workforce were cut by DOGE, according to reporting in July by CNBC.

Now, Owens said the government could be looking into cutting 150,000 to 200,000 more positions.

A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget told the Associated Press the reduction would be “substantial,” but did not offer more immediate details, including how many federal employees would be laid off.

According to Office of Personnel Management data, Alaska has 11,658 federal employees as of September 2024. If the 200,000 layoffs nationally that Owens cited is accurate, and federal employment data shows the country currently employs approximately 2.2 million civilian federal workers, about 9.1% of federal employees would be laid off.

If that percentage was applied equally in each state, about 1,052 federal employees in Alaska may be laid off.

Court filings from the AFGE currently highlight 4,000 employees will be laid off, but also states, “Other Defendant agencies (in addition to some of those agencies identified above) are actively considering whether to conduct additional RIFs related to the ongoing lapse in appropriations”

Several impacted agencies reportedly include departments of the Interior, Homeland Security, Treasury, Education, Energy, Housing and Urban Development and Health and Human Services, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, according to NBC reporting citing an anonymous official.

The president said Friday he would target firings towards those aligned with the Democratic Party.

“It’ll be a lot of people,” CNN reports he said. “I must tell you, a lot of them happen to be Democrat oriented.”

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Alaska’s News Source last week he didn’t expect his department to be hit hard.

“I don’t expect it to necessarily, but if that’s what it comes to, … we do have an effort underway still to try and find more efficiency in how we deliver services,” Burgum said, referencing the DOGE initiative.

For Alaska federal workers, the uncertainty is taking a personal toll, Owens said.

“I’m really worried about some of them because they live paycheck to paycheck,“ Owens said. ”We have some employees … that don’t make much money, and it really causes an impact on them.”

CBS Justice Correspondent Scott MacFarlane told Alaska’s News Source Friday it could be days, if not weeks, until there’s a full understanding of what type of layoffs are being executed.

“There’s still some sense that this may be more threat than reality,” he said. “Nevertheless, the administration continues to leverage this, saying they’re going to proceed with layoffs eventually or more layoffs eventually unless the government reopens, which begs the question, where are the negotiations in the effort to reopen the government?”

Political Reporter Wil Courtney provides the latest on federal layoffs Oct. 10, and speaks with CBS Justice Correspondent Scott MacFarland

MacFarlane said any interruption in pay could be “cataclysmic to the family budget and life-changing,” something Owens reiterated was a phenomenon not uncommon in Alaska.

Prior to the shutdown, the Office of Management and Budget released a memo saying agencies should consider a RIF for programs whose funding would lapse during the shutdown and weren’t “consistent with the president’s priorities,” the Associated Press reported.

MacFarlane called the president’s calculus behind the move “unclear.”

“There may be a political advantage to wielding layoffs or at least threatening them,” he said. “Perhaps it’s leverage to end a government shutdown that the Republicans believe they can’t end without the Democrats’ help.

“The other component, though, is when you lay off federal workers, especially in our area, you do impact the services people receive. It is more difficult to get what you pay your tax dollars for when there are fewer federal workers to complete it.”

The White House has not released a statement on the shutdown as of publication, nor has the Office of Management and Budget. The layoffs also come the same day federal employees are set to receive their last paycheck, valid for the hours they worked prior to the shutdown, according to the U.S. General Services Administration.

Alaska’s News Source reached out to the entire congressional delegation and the governor’s office for comment on the push from the White House to lay off federal employees.

Alaska’s congressional delegation is already pushing back on the layoff threat. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, criticized the administration’s move on social media Friday.

“While few details have been shared about Russell Vought’s latest layoffs, there is no question this is poorly timed and yet another example of this administration’s punitive actions toward the federal workforce,” she said. “The termination of federal employees in a shutdown will further hurt hard-working Americans who have dedicated their lives to public service and jeopardize agency missions once we finally re-open the government.”

A spokesperson for Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, deferred comment to a statement saying he is working with the Trump administration to “lessen the impacts to Alaskans that result from the shutdown,” blaming the shutdown on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York.

Ten days later, little has changed

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.

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.

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

Source link

Click to comment

Alaska

Sand Point teen found 3 days after going missing in lake

Published

11 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Sand Point teen found 3 days after going missing in lake

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

Source link

Alaska

Opinion: Homework for Alaska: Sales tax or income tax?

Published

23 hours ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Opinion: Homework for Alaska: Sales tax or income tax?

iStock / Getty Images

This is a tax tutorial for gubernatorial candidates, for legislators who will report to work next year and for the Alaska public.

Think of it as homework, with more than eight months to complete the assignment that is not due until the November election. The homework is intended to inform, not settle the debate over a state sales tax or state income tax — or neither, which is the preferred option for many Alaskans.

But for those Alaskans willing to consider a tax as a personal responsibility to help fund schools, roads, public safety, child care, state troopers, prisons, foster care and everything else necessary for healthy and productive lives, someday they will need to decide on a state income tax or a state sales tax after they accept the checkbook reality that oil and Permanent Fund earnings are not enough.

This homework assignment is intended to get people thinking with facts, not emotions. Electing the right candidates will be the first test.

Alaskans have until the next election because nothing will change this year. It will take a new political alignment led by a reality-based governor to organize support in the Legislature and among the public.

But next year, maybe, with the right elected leadership, Alaskans can debate a state sales tax or personal income tax. Plus, of course, corporate taxes and oil production taxes, but those are for another school day.

One of the biggest arguments in favor of a state sales tax is that visitors would pay it. Yes, they would, but not as much as many Alaskans think.

Air travel is exempt from sales taxes. So are cruise ship tickets. That’s federal law, which means much of what tourists spend on their Alaska vacation is beyond the reach of a state sales tax.

Cutting further into potential revenues, state and federal law exempts flightseeing tours from sales tax, which is a particularly costly exemption when you think about how much visitors spend on airplane and helicopter tours.

That leaves sales tax supporters collecting from tourists on T-shirts, gifts for grandchildren, artwork, postcards, hotels, Airbnb, car rentals and restaurant meals. Still a substantial take for taxes, but far short of total tourism spending.

An argument against a state sales tax is that more than 100 cities and boroughs already depend on local sales taxes to pay for schools and other public services. Try to imagine what a state tax piled on top of a local tax would do to kill shopping in Homer, already at 7.85%, or Kodiak, Wrangell and Cordova, all at 7%, and all the other municipalities.

Supporters of an income tax say it would share the responsibility burden with nonresidents who earn income in Alaska and then return home to spend their money.

Almost one in four workers in Alaska in 2024 were nonresidents, as reported by the state Department of Labor in January. That doesn’t include federal employees, active-duty military or self-employed people.

Nonresidents earned roughly $3.8 billion, or about 17% of every dollar covered in the report.

However, many of those nonresident workers are lower-wage and seasonal, employed in the seafood processing and tourism industries, unlikely to pay much in income taxes. But a tax could be structured so that they pay something, which is fair.

Meanwhile, higher-wage workers in oil and gas, mining, construction and airlines (freight and passenger service) would pay taxes on their income earned in Alaska, which also is fair.

It comes down to what would direct more of the tax burden to nonresidents: a tax on income or on visitor spending. Wages or wasabi-crusted salmon dinners.

Larry Persily is a longtime Alaska journalist, with breaks for federal, state and municipal public policy work in Alaska and Washington, D.C. He lives in Anchorage and is publisher of the Wrangell Sentinel weekly newspaper.

• • •

The Anchorage Daily News welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.

Source link

Alaska

Nome brothers summit Mt. Kilimanjaro, carry Alaska flag to third major peak

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Nome brothers summit Mt. Kilimanjaro, carry Alaska flag to third major peak

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Two brothers from Nome recently stood at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, planting an Alaska flag at 19,000 feet above the African plains.

The Hoogendorns completed the seven-day climb — five and a half days up and a day and a half down — trekking through rainforest, desert, and alpine terrain before reaching snow near the summit. The climb marks their third of the world’s seven summits.

Night hike to the top

The brothers began their final summit push at midnight, hiking through the night to reach the top by dawn.

“It was almost like a dream,” Oliver said. “Because we hiked through the night. We started the summit hike at midnight when you’re supposed to be sleeping. So, it was kind of like, not mind boggling, but disorienting. Because you’re hiking all night, but then you get to the top and you can finally see. It’s totally different from what you’d expect.”

At the summit, temperatures hovered around 10 degrees — a familiar range for the Nome brothers. Their guides repeatedly urged them to put on jackets, but the brothers declined.

“We got to the crater, and it was dark out and then it started getting brighter out,” Wilson said. “And then you could slowly see the crater like illuminating and it’s huge. It’s like 3 miles across or something. Like you could fly a plane down on the crater and be circles if you want to. Really dramatic view.”

A team of 17 for two climbers

Unlike their previous expeditions, the brothers were supported by a crew of 17 — including porters, a cook, guides, a summit assistant, and a tent setup crew.

The experience deviated from their earlier climbs, where they carried their own food, melted snow for water, and navigated routes independently.

“I felt spoiled,” Wilson said. “I was like, man, the next mountain’s gonna be kind of hard after being spoiled.”

Alaska flag on every summit

Oliver carried the same full-size Alaska flag on all three of his major summits, including in South America and Denali in North America, despite the added weight in his pack.

“I take it everywhere these days,” Oliver said. “It’s always cool to bring it out. And then people ask, you know, ‘where’s that flag from?’ Say Alaska.”

When asked about his motivation for the expeditions, Wilson said “I guess to like inspire other people. Because it seems like a lot of people think they can’t do something, but if you just try it, you probably won’t do good the first time, but second time you’ll do better. Because you just got to try it out. Believe in yourself.”

Background and next goals

The Hoogendorns won the reality competition series “Race to Survive: Alaska” in 2023. In 2019, they were the first to climb Mount McKinley and ski down that season. Oliver also started a biking trip from the tip of South America to Prudhoe Bay with hopes of still completing it.

Kilimanjaro is their third summit. The brothers said they hope to eventually complete all seven summits, with Mount Vinson in Antarctica among the peaks they are considering next… all while taking Alaska with them every step of the way.

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

Source link