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Campaign signs crowd a slope on Sept. 23, 2026, at the intersection of Muldoon Road and Northern Lights Boulevard in Anchorage. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
By James Brooks
On Tuesday, Alaska could elect its first Democratic governor since 2002, roll back the clock on the way it conducts elections, help decide control of the U.S. House and Senate for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s second term and possibly elect the first Indigenous woman to the Senate.
Fireweed blooms on either side of the trans-Alaska pipeline near mile post 86, Dalton Highway in 2006, two years after the 2004 Dall City fire. (Photo by Craig McCaa/BLM Alaska)
By James Brooks
The average price of a barrel of Alaska North Slope crude oil in October was $122.21, according to figures published Monday by the Alaska Department of Revenue.
That figure is the fifth-highest nominal average on record, according to the department’s regular tracking, and foretells millions of dollars in extra revenue for the state in the current fiscal year.
Alaska Division of Elections program manager Brian Jackson answers questions from reporters shortly after completing the state’s ranked choice voting tabulation in 2024. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/Alaska Beacon)
By James Brooks
The Alaska Division of Elections expects to report the first results from the state’s general election between 8:45 p.m. and 9 p.m. Tuesday night, with updates through the early morning hours Wednesday.
The state’s closest races may not have an unofficial winner for more than two weeks.
The sunrise lights the sky over Thomsen Harbor and Mt. Edgecumbe in Sitka in this 2011 photo. The city is among the communities surrounded by the Tongass National Forest. (Photo by Jeffrey Wickett/U.S. Forest Service)
COMMENTARY
By Linda Behnken
I have fished out of Sitka, Alaska, for more than 40 years. I know the challenge of running a business where every cost increase is a risk to my bottom line. This past summer, the rapidly escalating cost of fuel added stress to an increasingly unpredictable business.
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Commentary: Symbols of fascism and genocide don’t have a place in Alaska | David A. James
Alaska’s U.S. House election includes a last-days push against a candidate in federal prison | James Brooks
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