Gov. Mike Dunleavy says he will roll out a new plan to stabilize Alaska’s tumultuous state finances in the coming weeks ahead of next month’s legislative session. The upcoming session provides Dunleavy his last chance to address an issue that has vexed his seven years in office.

“(The) next three, four, five years are going to be tough,” Dunleavy told reporters Tuesday ahead of his annual holiday open house. “We’re going to have to make some tough decisions, and that’s why we will roll out, in a fiscal plan, solutions for the next five years.”

The state’s fiscal issues are structural. Since oil prices collapsed in the mid-2010s, Alaska has spent more money than it has taken in despite years of aggressive cost-cutting and a 2018 move to tap Permanent Fund earnings to fund state services.

Dunleavy said a boom in oil and gas drilling and growing interest in a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to an export terminal will likely ease the fiscal pressure in the coming years. He said his plan would serve as a bridge.

“I think the next five years, we’re going to have to be real careful, and we’re going to have to have in place things that will pay for government,” he said.

Dunleavy, a Republican, declined to reveal even the broad strokes of his plan, saying he plans to hold news conferences in the coming weeks to discuss it.

Prior efforts by Dunleavy and the Legislature to come to an agreement on a long-term fiscal plan have failed.

Dunleavy’s early plans for deep cuts led to an effort to recall him. He has also backed attempts to cap state spending and constitutionalize the Permanent Fund dividend.

A prior Dunleavy revenue commissioner floated a few tax proposals during talks with a legislative committee in 2021, but Dunleavy has since distanced himself from those ideas. Alaska is the only state with no state-level sales or income tax, and asked directly whether his plan would include a sales tax, he declined to say.

“You’re just going to have to just wait a couple more weeks, and we’ll have that entire fiscal plan laid out, so you guys can take a look at it, and the people of Alaska can take a look at it,” he said.

In recent years, Dunleavy has proposed budgets with large deficits that require spending from savings. His most recent budget would have drained about half of the savings in the state’s $3 billion rainy-day fund, the Constitutional Budget Reserve, or CBR.

Still, Dunleavy says he wants to find a sustainable fiscal path forward for the state.

“We are determined to help solve this longstanding issue of, how do you deal with balancing the budget, and not just on the backs of the PFD or the CBR — what other methods are we going to employ to be able to do that?” he said.

Whether lawmakers will be receptive is an open question. Democrat-heavy bipartisan coalitions control both the state House and Senate, and even some minority Republicans crossed over to override Dunleavy’s vetoes repeatedly this year.

Dunleavy’s budget proposal is likely to offer some clues about the governor’s fiscal plan. He has until Dec. 15 to unveil it.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Winter season brings its risks in harbors across Alaska – including sinking boats, ice, and wind.

“Alaska is a dangerous place,” David Borg, Whittier Harbor Master said. “Here we have massive amount of wind and coming down here in the wintertime with icy docks and a lot of wind, it’s very easy for people to lose their footing.”

Borg also talked about something called SAD – which stand for ‘Sunk At Dock’.

“Boat sinking at the dock. We do have an issue with snow load here,” Borg said. “Best thing people can do … is that if you have a boat in the harbor, you have to have somebody local that can keep an eye on it.”

At Whittier Harbor, safety holds importance all year round.

“If I can make it a little bit safer here in the harbor – so you and your family can go out and boat and do those things that Alaska has to offer safely – then I’d like to try to push that message as best I can,” Borg said

Borg urges anyone who visits Alaska harbors in the winter to know the conditions, gear up properly, and always put safety first.

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Alaska Airlines announced its newest nonstop flight out of Seattle: a straight shot to London.

Starting in May 2026, the nonstop flight will travel from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to Heathrow Airport, the largest international airport in the United Kingdom. The airport resides in Hounslow, located an hour outside of London.

The daily service will operate on Alaska Airlines’ 787 Dreamliner.

London is Alaska Airlines’ fifth intercontinental destination, alongside Rome, Reykjavik, Tokyo, and Seoul. According to the airline, the new route strengthens business ties, with London being the largest corporate market from Seattle.

“By 2030, we plan to serve at least 12 intercontinental destinations from Seattle, with additional routes to be announced in the years to come,” Alaska Airlines stated. “We currently have four Boeing 787-9s in our fleet, with a fifth aircraft recently delivered.”

Guests traveling from the U.S. can now purchase airfares to London for as low as $699 round-trip at alaskaair.com.

Alaska Airlines hit hard by federal shutdown

According to aviation analysts, the federal shutdown cost Alaska Airlines millions of dollars. The airline’s fourth-quarter income is expected to fall by $32 million.

The company told investors it lost 15 cents per share. Flight cancellations at SEA and other airports lasted 43 days.

According to The Puget Sound Business Journal, Delta reports a $200 million hit. United, JetBlue, and Southwest could see losses, too.

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