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Carpenter Media Group file Natalie Wallace, practicing medical oncologist, urges Alaskan legislators to act this session so we can make the prognosis for our health and environment better for the future.

News

OPINION: Cancer physician urges legislators to act on microplastic, Styrofoam bills

My Turn: Oncologist speaks in support of 2 bills before the Alaska Legislature.

Alaska Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom speaks during a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Dena’ina Wellness Center in Kenai, Alaska, on Friday, July 12, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

News

OPINION: Alaska maintains full control over its voter rolls

When it comes to Alaska’s elections, control belongs here in Alaska — not in Washington, DC. There have…

Opinion

OPINION: What does the Republican Party stand for? Not much

There was a time when the Republican Party stood for limited government, free markets, strong alliances, fiscal discipline,…

Submitted Jacqueline F. Tupou is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Opinion

Living and Growing: How can I know truth? (In a tricky world)

How can I know what is true? At one time in our lives, this may have seemed like…

Adriana Northcutt serves as the Regional Energy Catalyst with the Sustainable Southeast Partnership and the Renewable Energy Alaska Project, working to advance equitable clean energy across Alaska. Growing up in Juneau after her family moved north to work at the Greens Creek Mine, she became the first in her family to pursue higher education at the University of Alaska Southeast. Today, she is passionate about building pathways for youth, young women and people of color to thrive in STEM fields.

Opinion

Woven Peoples and Places: Where are our future energy leaders?

Energy, policy, and looking to the future with Adriana Northcutt.

Peggy McKee Barnhill (Courtesy photo)

Opinion

Gimme a Smile: Modern technology is so hard to figure out

‘In the end, Amy is a very valuable employee who keeps me on my toes.’

Submitted by Jeff Lund Catching a fish won’t solve your problems, but going fishing with friends might. It is certainly a better option than AI.

Opinion

I Went to the Woods: What AI can’t and shouldn’t replace

No self-respecting angler would use Artificial Intelligence to select a fly while on the river this spring steelhead…

Win Gruening (courtesy)

Opinion

OPINION: There are always bad choices, but why repeat them?

The demand for a more generous defined benefit retirement system for public employees is again echoing through the…

A whimbrel rests on a willow near the Jago River in summer 2024. Photo courtesy Alan Kneidel

Opinion

Alaska Science Forum: Alaska lovebirds go their own way

During a month of endless summer light, a mated pair of shorebirds teaches their four chicks how to…

David Guttenfelder/The New York Times FILE — Federal agents arrest a protester during an active immigration enforcement operation in a Minneapolis neighborhood, Jan. 13, 2026. The chief federal judge in Minnesota excoriated Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday, Jan. 28, saying it had violated nearly 100 court orders stemming from its aggressive crackdown in the state and had disobeyed more judicial directives in January alone than “some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence.”

Opinion

OPINION: When silence signals consent

Masked ICE enforcement and the failure of Alaska’s congressional leadership.

Northern sea ice, such as this surrounding the community of Kivalina, has declined dramatically in area and thickness over the last few decades. Photo courtesy Ned Rozell

Opinion

20 years of Arctic report cards

Twenty years have passed since scientists released the first version of the Arctic Report Card, now a staple…

Dr. Karissa Niehoff

Opinion

OPINION: Protecting the purpose

Why funding schools must include student activities.

A sign reading, "Help Save These Historic Homes" is posted in front of a residence on Telephone Hill on Friday Nov. 21, 2025. (Mari Kanagy / Juneau Empire)

Opinion

OPINION: The Telephone Hill cost is staggering

The Assembly approved $5.5 million to raze Telephone Hill as part of the “Telephone Hill Redevelopment Project.” The…

Gov. Mike Dunleavy gestures during his State of the State address on Jan. 22, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)

Opinion

OPINION: It’s time to end Alaska’s fiscal experiment

For decades, Alaska has operated under a fiscal and budgeting system unlike any other state, and some could…

Win Gruening (courtesy)

Opinion

OPINION: Eaglecrest’s opportunity to achieve financial independence, if the city allows it

It’s a well-known saying that “timing is everything.” Certainly, this applies to the concerns surrounding Eaglecrest, Juneau’s municipally-owned…

Van Abbott is a long-time resident of Alaska and California. He has held financial management positions in government and private organizations, and is now a full-time opinion writer. He served in the late nineteen-sixties in the Peace Corps as a teacher. (Contributed)

Opinion

When lying becomes the only qualification

How truth lost its place in the Trump administration.

Atticus Hempel stands in a row of his shared garden. (photo by Ari Romberg)

Opinion

My Turn: What’s your burger worth?

Atticus Hempel reflects on gardening, fishing, hunting, and foraging for food for in Gustavus.

At the Elvey Building, home of UAF’s Geophysical Institute, Carl Benson, far right, and Val Scullion of the GI business office attend a 2014 retirement party with Glenn Shaw. Photo by Ned Rozell

Opinion

Alaska Science Forum: Carl Benson embodied the far North

Carl Benson’s last winter on Earth featured 32 consecutive days during which temperatures in his chosen town did…

Jamie Kelter Davis/The New York Times Masked federal agents arrive to help immigration agents detain immigrants and control protesters in Chicago, June 4, 2025. With the passage of President Trump’s domestic policy law, the Department of Homeland Security is poised to hire thousands of new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and double detention space.

Opinion

OPINION: $85 billion and no answers

How ICE’s expansion threatens law, liberty, and accountability.

Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon The entrance to the Alaska Gasline Development Corp.’s Anchorage office is seen on Aug. 11, 2023. The state-owned AGDC is pushing for a massive project that would ship natural gas south from the North Slope, liquefy it and send it on tankers from Cook Inlet to Asian markets. The AGDC proposal is among many that have been raised since the 1970s to try commercialize the North Slope’s stranded natural gas.

Opinion

My Turn: Alaskans must proceed with caution on gasline legislation

Alaskans have watched a parade of natural gas pipeline proposals come and go, as in go nowhere. They…