Alaska

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

Published

2 years ago

January 1, 2024

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.”

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.

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.

“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

Over $150K worth of drugs seized from man in Juneau, police say

Published

4 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Over 0K worth of drugs seized from man in Juneau, police say

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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Alaska

Sand Point teen found 3 days after going missing in lake

Published

16 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.

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Alaska

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

Published

1 day 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.

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