“They all have different ideas of how they’re going to do it, but at least they’re leading with it as a top priority.” - Randy Trani, superintendent of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, on six Alaska gubernatorial candidates who say an increase to state education funding is among their priorities.
Fired federal workers formerly with the U.S. Forest Service based at the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau speak at the Alaska State Capitol on March 21, 2025, about their experiences. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
By Yereth Rosen
Alaska lost a higher percentage of its federal workforce last year than almost all U.S. states to sweeping Trump administration cuts, according to a newly published analysis by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
By the end of 2025, Alaska’s federal workforce was 10.5% smaller than it had been at the end of the prior year, according to the analysis, published in Alaska Economic Trends, the monthly magazine of the department’s research section.
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Six candidates for Alaska governor and lieutenant governor participated in a debate on education hosted by the Alaska Superintendents Association in Juneau on July 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith)
By Corinne Smith
Six candidates for Alaska governor from across the political spectrum appeared side-by-side in a room full of superintendents and school officials in Juneau and promised that boosting education funding would be a priority of their administration, if elected.
Six candidates participated in the debate, out of 17 running for governor this year. They discussed their plans for education in a two-hour event hosted by the Alaska Superintendents’ Association on July 30.
Image courtesy Bruce Botelho
COMMENTARY
By Bruce Botelho
Two courts this week dealt blows to the Trump administration’s attempts to withdraw clean energy and climate grants.
A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency could not terminate $20 billion in clean energy grants awarded to nonprofit groups.
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