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Alaska ‘bar wars’ resurface with arrival of new alcohol laws

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Alaska ‘bar wars’ resurface with arrival of new alcohol laws


ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – New Alaska alcohol laws are going into effect New Year’s Day, creating what some say will be a more level playing field between bars and brewery tasting rooms.

The new laws going into effect were part of Senate Bill 9 which was passed in 2022, and intended to end the so-called “bar wars,” or the alcohol industry’s internal conflict between bars and breweries over how state laws were putting one side at a competitive disadvantage.

Odd Man Rush Brewing owner Reid McDonald said part of his frustration is that taprooms – the space in which a brewery serves its beer to customers – still cannot have TVs or stools at the bar. In addition, breweries must limit customers’ consumption to three 12-ounce beers per person.

“This is a good start, giving breweries a little more time, an extra hour a day, but [the laws] don’t go far enough,” McDonald said. “They need to erase all that stuff. I mean, the three-beer limit can get off the table, you should be able to have live music and TVs.”

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Fellow Odd Man Rush Brewing owner/partner Russ Johnson said the beer limits used to put his Eagle River business at odds with its customers.

“A lot of people knew the rules that they were allowed to have 36 ounces of beer, but there’s a lot of people that didn’t,” Johnson said. “And so there were people that would get angry, and they would actually walk out and leave and go somewhere else.”

But there is a positive side. Under the new regulations, taprooms can now hold a limited number of live events each year, and stay open until 9 p.m., rather than 8 p.m.

“We were in that situation for many, many years … where you have a packed house and you got to call last call at, you know, 7:45 p.m. So that extra hour gives extra revenue,” McDonald said.

Looking at it from the bar perspective, John “J.D.” Dave, bar manager of the Time Out Lounge in Anchorage, said a beverage dispensary license can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, compared to $1,500 for a brewery license.

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In addition, Dave argued that the limits placed on breweries are all part of the deal for opening that kind of operation.

“They know what they bought in to. They know what they signed up for,” Dave wrote in an emailed statement. “Businesses always should look to evolve with the times, in order to optimize their profit potential. I fully understand this. Senate Bill 9 was pushed to be able to increase the profit window for SOME of the alcohol industry, but not all. Bars will see little to no change as they idly stand by and watch the landscape of their industry change, with no options available to them, to maximize potential as others now can.”

McDonald countered and said opening breweries also includes investments that do not affect their counterpart in the alcohol industry.

“We’ve got plenty of stainless steel, that’s not cheap. So … just in stainless steel in our brewhouse is worth a liquor license,” said McDonald, saying the brewing equipment cost at least $500,000.

But in the end, McDonald said he went to the “dark side” and purchased a beverage dispensary license, because even under the new laws, as a brewery, he was leaving too much money on the table.

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“I didn’t see it changing in my lifetime. And it’s taken so long just to get that extra hour. I mean, we’ve been at it for eight years and it just changed,” he said. “So that’s why we did what we did. And it’s been great for us. Unfortunately, we had to spend that kind of money to do it. But now we’re competing with other bars and restaurants.”

Also part of the new state laws is a provision that puts new limits on the number of new taprooms that can operate in a town or a city, intended to address public safety and alcohol abuse.



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Alaska

Dozens of vehicle accidents reported, Anchorage after-school activities canceled, as snowfall buries Southcentral Alaska

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Dozens of vehicle accidents reported, Anchorage after-school activities canceled, as snowfall buries Southcentral Alaska


ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Up to a foot of snow has fallen in areas across Southcentral as of Tuesday, with more expected into Wednesday morning.

All sports and after-school activities — except high school basketball and hockey activities — were canceled Tuesday for the Anchorage School District. The decision was made to allow crews to clear school parking lots and manage traffic for snow removal, district officials said.

“These efforts are critical to ensuring schools can safely remain open [Wednesday],” ASD said in a statement.

The Anchorage Police Department’s accident count for the past two days shows there have been 55 car accidents since Monday, as of 9:45 a.m. Tuesday. In addition, there have been 86 vehicles in distress reported by the department.

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Snow measuring up to 17 inches deep in Anchorage, Alaska, on Jan. 6, 2026.(Alaska’s News Source)

The snowfall — which has brought up to 13 inches along areas of Turnagain Arm and 12 inches in Wasilla — is expected to continue Tuesday, according to latest forecast models. Numerous winter weather alerts are in effect, and inland areas of Southcentral could see winds up to 25 mph, with coastal areas potentially seeing winds over 45 mph.

Up to a foot or more of snow has fallen across Southcentral Alaska, with more snow expected...
Up to a foot or more of snow has fallen across Southcentral Alaska, with more snow expected through the day.(Alaska’s News Source)

Some areas of Southcentral could see more than 20 inches of snowfall by Wednesday, with the Anchorage and Eagle River Hillsides, as well as the foothills of the Talkeetna Mountain, among the areas seeing the most snowfall.

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



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Yundt Served: Formal Charges Submitted to Alaska Republican Party, Asks for Party Sanction and Censure of Senator Rob Yundt

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Yundt Served: Formal Charges Submitted to Alaska Republican Party, Asks for Party Sanction and Censure of Senator Rob Yundt


Sen. Rob Yundt

On January 3, 2026, Districts 27 and 28 of the Alaska Republican Party received formal charges against Senator Rob Yundt pursuant to Article VII of the Alaska Republican Party Rules.

According to the Alaska Republican Party Rules: “Any candidate or elected official may be sanctioned or censured for any of the following
reasons:
(a) Failure to follow the Party Platform.
(b) Engagement in any activities prohibited by or contrary to these rules or RNC Rules.
(c) Failure to carry out or perform the duties of their office.
(d) Engaging in prohibited discrimination.
(e) Forming a majority caucus in which non-Republicans are at least 1/3 or more of the
coalition.
(f) Engaging in other activities that may be reasonably assessed as bringing dishonor to
the ARP, such as commission of a serious crime.”

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Party Rules require the signatures of at least 3 registered Republican constituents for official charges to be filed. The formal charges were signed by registered Republican voters and District N constitutions Jerad McClure, Thomas W. Oels, Janice M. Norman, and Manda Gershon.

Yundt is charged with “failure to adhere and uphold the Alaska Republican Party Platform” and “engaging in conduct contrary to the principles and priorities of the Alaska Republican Party Rules.” The constituents request: “Senator Rob Yundt be provided proper notice of the charges and a full and fair opportunity to respond; and that, upon a finding by the required two-thirds (2/3) vote of the District Committees that the charges are valid, the Committees impose the maximum sanctions authorized under Article VII.”

If the Party finds Yundt guilty of the charges, Yundt may be disciplined with formal censure by the Alaska Republican Party, declaration of ineligibility for Party endorsement, withdrawal of political support, prohibition from participating in certain Party activities, and official and public declaration that Yundt’s conduct and voting record contradict the Party’s values and priorities.

Reasons for the charges are based on Yundt’s active support of House Bill 57, Senate Bill 113, and Senate Bill 92. Constituents who filed the charges argue that HB 57 opposes the Alaska Republican Party Platform by “expanding government surveillance and dramatically increasing education spending;” that SB 113 opposes the Party’s Platform by “impos[ing] new tax burdens on Alaskan consumers and small businesses;” and that SB 92 opposes the Party by “proposing a targeted 9.2% tax on major private-sector energy producer supplying natural gas to Southcentral Alaska.” Although the filed charges state that SB 92 proposes a 9.2% tax, the bill actually proposes a 9.4% tax on income from oil and gas production and transportation.

Many Alaskan conservatives have expressed frustration with Senator Yundt’s legislative decisions. Some, like Marcy Sowers, consider Yundt more like “a tax-loving social justice warrior” than a conservative.

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Pilot of Alaska flight that lost door plug over Portland sues Boeing, claims company blamed him

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Pilot of Alaska flight that lost door plug over Portland sues Boeing, claims company blamed him


The Alaska Airlines captain who piloted the Boeing 737 Max that lost a door plug over Portland two years ago is suing the plane’s manufacturer, alleging that the company has tried to shift blame to him to shield its own negligence.

The $10 million suit — filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Tuesday on behalf of captain Brandon Fisher — stems from the dramatic Jan. 5, 2024 mid-air depressurization of Flight 1282, when a door plug in the 26th row flew off six minutes after take off, creating a 2-by-4-foot hole in the plane that forced Fisher and co-pilot Emily Wiprud to perform an emergency landing back at PDX.

None of the 171 passengers or six crew members on board was seriously injured, but some aviation medical experts said that the consequences could have been “catastrophic” had the incident happened at a higher altitude.

Leani Benitez-Cardona, NTSB aerospace engineer, and Matthew Fox, NTSB chief technical advisor for materials, unpacking the door plug Sunday from Alaska Airlines flight 1282, a Boeing 737-9 MAX, in the materials laboratory at NTSB headquarters in Washington, D.C.NTSB

Fisher’s lawsuit is the latest in a series filed against Boeing, including dozens from Flight 1282 passengers. It also names Spirit AeroSystems, a subcontractor that worked on the plane.

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The lawsuit blames the incident on quality control issues with the door plug. It argues that Boeing caught five misinstalled rivets in the panel, and that Spirit employees painted over the rivets instead of reinstalling them correctly. Boeing inspectors caught the discrepancy again, the complaint alleges, but when employees finally reopened the panel to fix the rivets, they didn’t reattach four bolts that secured the door panel.

The complaint’s allegations that Boeing employees failed to secure the bolts is in line with a National Transportation Safety Board investigation that came to the conclusion that the bolts hadn’t been replaced.



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