ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Palmer’s Colony High School Northern Knights Robotics won the First Robotics Competition (FRC) regional championship on April 4, becoming the first team from Alaska to win the title.

The Northern Knights’ business manager, sophomore Carter Fickes, said that the FRC is one of the most prestigious robotics competitions in the world.

“The game elements are a lot bigger,” he said.

“There’s a lot of more coding challenges as well, because you have what is called an autonomous period where your robot’s running strictly on code, and then you have a teleop period where it’s driver controlled.”

According to Fickes, the regional competition in Minneapolis saw the team paired with and against groups from Minnesota, Illinois, the Czech Republic, Japan, and China.

Teams were required to make “alliances” with each other, before competing together in the quarterfinals.

“Being collaborative with other teams and being open to their strategy is great.” he said.

“We were telling them our main marketing strategy was ‘we’re flexible, and if you want us to do something, we can do it.’”

Fickes told Alaska’s News Source that the competition required teams to program and direct their robots to shoot balls towards targets in order to score points.

The Northern Knights programmed their 85-pound robot to focus on defense, blocking shots from the opposing team.

“Our alliance partners had semi-automatic turrets that could shoot like hundreds of balls in a minute,” he said.

“We were blocking the other robots from getting on the other side and scoring fuel.”

Fickes said this was the first year that their team was selected to be a part of an alliance.

After the quarterfinals, the Northern Knights went on to dominate the rest of the competition.

“We were untouched,” he said.

“We were outscoring them by 200 points, and then the finals matches, I think it ended up being like 400 to 200 or 300.”

By winning both the finals match, as well as the Rookie Team of the Year award, the Northern Knights earned themselves a ticket to the FRC Worlds Competition in Texas beginning on April 29.

“Our mentality is kind of like, ‘we’ve made it this far, so why not try our best?’” he said.

“If we don’t win the whole competition, it’s not the end of the world. A team from Alaska has never done this before, and if we like our goal is to win and to qualify and do good.”

Unlike many other robotics teams across the country, Ficker said the Northern Knights are entirely funded through private donations.

“We built our robot in our team captain’s basement. He let us use his house, and we spent hours upon hours upon hours in his basement building and testing.”

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A U.S. Senate race in Alaska is turning into one of the most expensive in the state’s history as a Democrat tries to flip a seat held by two-term incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan.

The fundraising bonanza comes as the odds of Democrats taking control of the Senate in this year’s midterm elections appear to be improving, according to political analysts.

Democrat Mary Peltola, who held Alaska’s sole House seat from 2022 to 2025, raised almost $9 million in the first quarter of 2026, Politico reported. It’s the largest first-quarter stockpile in Alaska political history, according to her campaign. 

“I’m so grateful for the support we’ve received from every single borough and census area across our state, and it’s that support that will bring us to victory this November,” Peltola said. 

GOP incumbent also has millions

Sullivan, who’s seeking a third term, brought in $2.1 million in the first quarter and has $7.5 million of cash on hand, Politico reported.

“This historic support sends a clear message: Alaskans know that Dan delivers,” Sullivan campaign spokesperson Nate Adams said in a statement.

In 2020, Democrat Al Gross outspent Sullivan but still lost by 13 points.

Alaska is a heavily Republican state. President Donald Trump carried the state by 10 to 15 points in each of the last three elections. 

However, Democrats are optimistic about a recent poll from Alaska Survey Research. The survey showed Peltola with a positive rating of 48.5%, compared to Sullivan’s 40.7%.

Dozens of US Senate seats in play

Thirty-five U.S. Senate seats are up for grabs in November, with Republicans defending 22 and Democrats, 13. 

With the GOP holding a current majority of 53-47, Democrats need to flip four seats to take control of the upper chamber for the remaining two years of Trump’s second term.

The Cook Political Report reported Monday that “the Senate battlefield is shifting in Democrats’ favor.” However, securing the magic number of 51 is still a “tall order.” 

Cook rates the Peltola-Sullivan race as “leans Republican.” Eighteen other races are currently rated as either “likely Republican” or “solid Republican.” 

The nonpartisan newsletter shows three races in the “leans Democrat” category. One other is “likely Democrat,” and nine are listed as “solid Democrat.” 

With Election Day more than six months away, three races — in Maine, Michigan and Ohio — are listed as toss-ups.

National Democrats see Peltola as a key to winning a majority in the Senate.

Politico said super PACs supporting Democrats have already spent more than $3 million in ad buys in Alaska, while the Republican’s Senate Leadership Fund has indicated it intends to spend $15 million on the race for Sullivan.

Hawaii travelers lost one airport perk that still felt useful when Priority Pass access ended at Honolulu’s Plumeria Lounge last year. Now Alaska has reopened Priority Pass access at its San Francisco lounge, but only with a $15 co-pay, a requirement to be flying Alaska, Hawaiian, or a partner airline, and a four-hour limit.

Priority Pass access to Plumeria ended on April 1, 2025, during the Hawaiian-Alaska integration into Atmos Rewards. BOH covered that change when Priority Pass cardholders lost access to Honolulu’s Plumeria Lounge. Travelers using cards like AmEx Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve lost access to the better Honolulu lounge tied to those memberships, and when Priority Pass later returned at HNL, it was through a different lounge.

Hawaii travelers lost the best lounge.

When Plumeria dropped out of Priority Pass, cardholders lost a lounge with some real value at Honolulu. It offered a quieter place to sit upstairs, a better break from the terminal, and a more useful airport benefit than many card-linked options in Hawaii. Once that access ended, the lounge became less crowded for the smaller group still allowed in because other travelers had been shut out.

Our own Plumeria lounge review after the change showed exactly that. The room felt calmer and less packed, not because the lounge improved, but because fewer travelers were allowed through the door after Priority Pass access ended.

San Francisco is important to Hawaii travelers because it is one of the main gateways for Hawaii flights and a common connection point. Many Hawaii itineraries already run through SFO, which makes a $15 co-pay there directly relevant to Hawaii travel.

Alaska reopened Priority Pass at SFO, but now there’s a fee.

Travelers with a qualifying card and Priority Pass membership can still use Alaska’s SFO lounge, but now they must also pay $15, fly Alaska, Hawaiian, or a partner airline, and enter the lounge within four hours of departure. The lounge still participates in Priority Pass, but the value of that participation changes once travelers pay extra at the door.

The card issuer can still advertise lounge access, and the airline can still say the lounge is in the network, but the traveler who already pays a high annual fee now has to decide whether the benefit is worth paying for again.

This is showing up elsewhere, too.

The SFO move is not standing alone in such changes. The Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at LAX returned to Priority Pass with a $35 co-pay. The airports and lounges are different, but the result is still familiar. The benefit remains in the network, but travelers pay extra to use it.

People keep cards like the AmEx Platinum and the Chase Sapphire Reserve in part because lounge access helps justify their high annual fees. When that access weakens or is only partially paid on arrival, the value declines while the annual fee remains unchanged.

Honolulu got Priority Pass back, but only at the Premier Club.

Priority Pass did return to Honolulu, but not through Plumeria. It came back through the Premier Club in Terminal 1. So Hawaii did get lounge access back in a technical sense, but travelers did not have the old benefit restored; instead, they got a lower-tier substitute in a different room.

BOH already covered the massive Hawaiian-Alaska lounge upgrade planned for Honolulu, including the new Mauka Concourse lounge expected by late 2027. That future space is supposed to serve both airlines and be about five times larger than Plumeria, which makes the current HNL setup look transitional. But for travelers flying now, they are still dealing with the downgraded version instead of the larger shared lounge being promised for later.

Hawaii travelers have a reason to ask where this is headed.

SFO may be a one-off situation, and Honolulu may keep its current setup for now. But Hawaii travelers have already watched this benefit get reduced once. First, Plumeria disappeared from Priority Pass. Then, Premier Club became the replacement. Now, Alaska has shown at SFO that access can return with a fee attached. So this is a work in process.

Lead Photo of Plumeria Lounge at HNL. All photos © Beat of Hawaii.