Alaska
In words and photos, rural Alaska residents reflect on their village’s sustainable practices
GALENA, Alaska (AP) — In rural central Alaska, a village is in the midst of a clean energy transformation that locals say will boost savings, build resilience and provide jobs. Galena wants to curb its reliance on expensive, imported diesel that when burned is one of the largest contributors of planet-warming emissions. Nearly 10 years ago, the village started harvesting trees to fuel a biomass plant to heat its bustling boarding school, offsetting about 100,000 gallons (about 380,000 liters) of diesel annually. The local Louden Tribe is encouraging people to collect floating logs from the Yukon River that can be used for firewood and siding for the sustainable homes they’re building for members. And soon a 1.5-megawatt solar farm will allow the city to turn off its diesel engines and run on 100% clean, renewable energy on sunny summer days, with excess power stored in a battery for later use. That will save another 100,000 gallons annually. The Associated Press talked to residents about their village’s sustainable and renewable energy projects. Here are some of their reflections: Tim Kalke, 46, general manager at Sustainable Energy for Galena Alaska “We’re just ensuring that our critical infrastructure has redundancy and protection built into it, so that every time there’s a power outage, it doesn’t turn into tens of thousands of dollars in repairs in its wake.” Jade Thurmond, 20, a Galena resident working on the solar farm “I’m really excited for when we are using it and how we’ll reduce our diesel usage. I think that would be pretty fun to see and to hear about in the future, and see what comes along.” Jake Pogrebinsky, 54, a sawmill operator for Louden Tribe and driftwood collector “Instead of having to make money to pay for barge freight or to buy materials, you are spending your time out on the river. For a young person, as a lesson, as a skill-building activity, it cannot possibly be compared to.” Brad Scotton, 54, a Galena city council member “What (the biomass plant) has done is stabilize (costs), and it’s created a local workforce and a job base that we never used to have. So it’s keeping the money that used to go outside within the community and providing pretty meaningful jobs for people.” Will Kramer, 29, an applied mechanics instructor at Galena Interior Learning Academy “We are just at the whim of whatever somebody else that wants to make all the money off of us is saying and doing. And being able to install and integrate these systems in these communities, it kind of gives the freedom back to the communities.” Phil Koontz, 74 , a retired environmental engineer for the Louden Tribe “It would be very hard to live here without outside resources. I see fuel as probably the main outside resource that we use. It provides most of the electricity, it provides most of the transportation, it provides most of the heat. I don’t know what we’re going to do without those things. One of the solutions I see is efficiency, reducing the need for energy to produce the same result, better insulated houses, better vehicles, better energy sources.” Aaren Sommer, 19, a Galena resident helping install the solar array The array is “going to reduce the diesel usage a whole bunch over at the power plant, which is going to help us out.” ___ Pineda reported from Los Angeles. ___ The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
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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ANCHORAGE, AK (Alaska’s News Source) – Extreme wind has been non-stop for more than 60 hours in Wasilla in Palmer, where peak wind gusts have reached over 80 mph three days in a row.
Wind gusts at the Palmer Airport climbed over 50 mph Friday evening and didn’t drop below until late Monday evening.
The High Wind Warning for the Matanuska Valley will continue through 6 a.m. on Tuesday. Calmer conditions are likely on Tuesday afternoon as the winds relax across the area.
Send us your weather photos and videos here!
The rest of Southcentral remains clear and dry, with temperatures likely dropping to the lowest levels of the season starting Tuesday morning. This pattern will continue through the end of the week.
Download the free Alaska’s News Source Weather App for the latest forecast in your area.
In Southeast, Winter Storm Warnings are still in effect near Ketchikan for up to 8″ of additional snow through Tuesday. Winter Weather Advisories are also in effect near Hyder for an additional 9-12″ of snow on Tuesday.
The snow has ended across the northern areas of Southeast, but extreme cold is setting in. Wind Chill values will reach as low as -50° near Skagway, to -25° near Haines, and to -15° near Juneau.
The Copper River Basin will also experience extreme wind chill values to -50° through Tuesday afternoon.
In the Interior, temperatures dropped to -30° for the first time Monday morning, and we’ll see several nights at that cold level this week.
24/7 Alaska Weather: Get access to live radar, satellite, weather cameras, current conditions, and the latest weather forecast here. Also available through the Alaska’s News Source streaming app available on Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.
Copyright 2025 Alaska’s News Source. All rights reserved.
That was close. At least for a while.
Oregon State women’s basketball avoided an upset loss to Division II Alaska Anchorage on Sunday at Gill Coliseum, going on a 15-3 run to end the game and beat the visiting Seawolves, 69-53.
The Beavers (6-4) started slow but took control in the second half, surviving a barrage of three-pointers (11 of 37) from Alaska Anchorage (7-2) to pull out a win.
OSU was led by Tiara Bolden with 23 points, six rebounds and five assists. Katelyn Field poured in 11 as well for the Beavers on 3 of 6 three-point shooting.
10 different players scored as OSU coach Scott Rueck relied on his bench to get the team out of a funk.
The Beavers got off to a sluggish start. Alaska Anchorage came out firing, and took a 10-8 lead at the midpoint in the first quarter on a three by Kimberly Carrada.
After one, with the Seawolves shooting 56%, the Beavers trailed 24-18.
In the second quarter, Rueck emptied his bench and put typical reserves in the game, seemingly to send a message after a lackluster effort by his starters.
Alaska Anchorage extended its lead to 34-27 at one point, but OSU rattled off a 7-0 run to end the half and tie things up. The Beavers had 10 turnovers at half, with the Seawolves hitting six of an eye-popping 20 three-point attempts.
Rueck kept reserves in the game to start the second half, but when he re-inserted his starters, the Beavers opened up a 44-36 lead thanks in large part to Bolden’s scoring.
Jenna Villa hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to end the third, her first basket of the game after a cold start, which gave OSU a 52-42 lead through three.
Alaska Anchorage kept chucking from downtown as the fourth quarter began, and a pair of makes cut the OSU lead down to 54-48.
Despite going cold from the field, the Beavers tightened up their defense to keep it a six-point lead for an extended period. It got as close as four.
But Field nailed a three to get it to 59-50 with under four minutes remaining, and Bolden hit a pair of jumpers to extend the run to 10-0 and lead to 64-50 with 1:35 to go. The Beavers didn’t look back.
Next game: Oregon State (6-4) vs. Arizona State (10-0)
- When: Sunday, Dec. 14
- Time: 1:00 pm PT
- Where: Gill Coliseum, Corvallis
- Stream: ESPN+
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