Anchorage

Meet Snowzilla’s friend, Snow Ella, who has popped up in the city’s Ship Creek industrial area.

There are now five competing sales tax proposals, including one scaling it back to an “advisory vote.”

The city also is seeing the return of Mark Spafford, a former general manager of Anchorage’s Solid Waste Services, who will now serve as LaFrance’s deputy municipal manager.

Storms moving into the Gulf of Alaska are expected to push a warm front into the coast, leading to periods of light rain and freezing rain starting Saturday morning.

The Anchorage Assembly approved a contract with nonprofit Henning Inc. to open a 50-person warming area on the eastern side of downtown.

If approved, voters would decide in April whether to move municipal races to November and take place biennially.

Officials say the municipality will continue to press its yearslong legal action against the federal Maritime Administration.

Nunaka Valley and Lake Hood will be closed after this school year, while Baxter and Fire Lake were saved for at least another year.

The legal challenge to Native Village of Eklutna could involve a broader fight over tribal authority on Native allotments.

Advocates of last year’s move to halt jaywalking fines said it is meant to improve safety and help the city move toward improving infrastructure for bicyclists, pedestrians and other modes of non-motorized transportation.

A federal judge found that excessive force was “a substantial factor in causing the death” of Dan Demott, 66.

School Board members will cast votes tomorrow night on whether to close and repurpose four elementary schools.

Every day, workers at the state’s largest treatment plant pull thousands of pounds of flushed wipes from equipment, sucking up public resources.

The district hopes to use excess space in elementary schools for a program that would attract new employees and address a community-wide child care crisis, officials say.

While most of Anchorage slept, more than 150 people gathered early Thursday at Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral to celebrate one of Mexico’s most significant holidays, Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe.

Code inspectors have slapped the out-of-state property owner with daily fines, but say the city’s enforcement tools over landlords are limited.

The move is prompting outcry from elected officials and Anchorage residents who have long advocated for the project, which aims to connect the Spenard-area Fish Creek Trail to the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail.

Much of the city saw winds at 40 mph or more, with far higher gusts on the Hillside and along Turnagain Arm.

New data from the Anchorage Police Department shows that 2023, rather than being an anomaly, may have been the beginning of a persistent rise in outside deaths among Anchorage’s homeless population.

Marti Guzman is a family service coordinator. She helps families overcome challenges so their kids can stay in school and thrive.

Seven school buses in Mat-Su got stuck Thursday morning, though no injuries were involved and only one carried students, district officials said.

The Anchorage School District says declining student enrollment and a massive budget gap have forced its hand in closing some schools. But parents and staff say proposed closures will disproportionately unsettle 88 “structured learning” students.