Anchorage was teeming with cameras, microphones, and satellite trucks on Friday as the historic summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin unfolded. With an estimated 400 members of the national and international press corps in town, many Alaskans unexpectedly found themselves in the media spotlight.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy was among the most visible, appearing on Fox & Friends and Fox Business to discuss Alaska’s role in the event and later joining commentator Tim Young on his popular Tim Runs His Mouth podcast.
At the pro-America rally near the Midtown Mall intersection of Seward Highway and Northern Lights Boulevard, several locals spoke with international news outlets. Political activist Portia Erickson, Iditarod veteran Burt Bomhof, and Republican Party activist Dave Morgan all gave interviews.
But perhaps no American drew more media attention — other than Trump himself — than Republican gubernatorial candidate Bernadette Wilson. Already a rising political figure on the national stage, Wilson was featured across multiple outlets including Newsmax, NewsNation, Fox News, and the Todd Starnes radio show on Friday, all while joining other Alaskans at the pro-America rally. Her presence highlighted how the summit became a launching pad for Alaska voices to reach audiences far beyond the 49th state.
The summit itself dominated international headlines, but for many Alaskans, Friday was also a chance to see familiar faces on television screens across the country. Here are some clips from some of the star-powered media interviews with Alaskans:
"THE GROUNDWORK FOR A LASTING PEACE": Alaska @GovDunleavy prepares to welcome President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin pic.twitter.com/e6REck5ehd
Had a great conversation with @NewsNation about the growing excitement in Alaska as we move in a positive direction, grounded in the principle of peace through strength. Alaska is once again at the center of something historic. The energy was real, driven by bold vision and a… pic.twitter.com/CyhDlzT45Q
"I'm extremely grateful to be an American… I always think it's a great opportunity when colleagues and myself and other patriots all across the state of Alaska get to come together and to support our President." pic.twitter.com/FYmxbW0dwe
"We feel honored that we could come out and support President Trump. There are several Ukrainians here that live in Alaska — they're here to support him, too."
"We love America and Trump is the best thing that's happened to us in a long time."
The last time Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the White House, the meeting ended abruptly, with President Donald Trump dismissing him as “not ready for peace.”
On Monday, the two leaders will try again — this time under the shadow of Trump’s breakthrough meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Saturday.
Trump announced Saturday that he will host Zelenskyy at the Oval Office to press directly for a peace agreement aimed at ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, now in its fourth year.
“The meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia went very well, as did a late night phone call with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, and various European leaders, including the highly respected Secretary General of NATO,” Trump posted on TruthSocial shortly after returning to Washington.
He said both sides have agreed that a full peace deal — not merely a temporary ceasefire — is the only way forward. “If all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin. Potentially, millions of people’s lives will be saved,” Trump wrote.
During a joint press conference in Anchorage on Friday, Putin echoed that sentiment, saying Russia is interested in “putting an end” to the war but insisted that the “roots” of the conflict must be addressed. He argued that any agreement must include recognition of Russia’s security concerns and restore “a just balance of security in Europe and in the world as a whole.”
Trump, for his part, said “many points were agreed to” with Putin but admitted one major sticking point remains. “There is no deal until there’s a deal,” he cautioned, adding that the ultimate outcome rests with Zelenskyy and Putin.
Zelenskyy, in his own statement Saturday, set down firm conditions for peace. He said Ukraine must see a halt to missile strikes, an end to Russia’s assaults on port infrastructure, and the release of prisoners of war and abducted children. He warned that sanctions should be strengthened if Moscow drags its feet.
“We need to achieve real peace that will be lasting, not just another pause between Russian invasions,” Zelenskyy wrote. “All issues important to Ukraine must be discussed with Ukraine’s involvement, and no issue, including territorial ones, should be resolved without Ukraine.”
The Monday White House meeting will mark the first face-to-face between Trump and Zelenskyy since their February clash, when Trump walked out after saying the Ukrainian leader wasn’t serious about ending the war. Since then, the two men have held side meetings in Europe and appear to have mended relations enough to set the stage for what could be the most consequential round of peace talks since Russia’s invasion began.
The US Coast Guard is responding to the presence of five Chinese research vessels operating in the US Arctic, officials confirmed this week.
The Coast Guard Arctic District deployed a C-130J Hercules aircraft from Air Station Kodiak on Wednesday to query the vessels, which are operating in or near US waters. The operation was conducted in coordination with US Northern Command and Alaskan Command, which routinely track foreign vessel activity in the region as part of homeland defense and maritime security efforts.
The Chinese vessels identified are: Xue Long 2, Shen Hai Yi Hao, Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di (Liberia-flagged), Ji Di, and Tan Suo San Hao.
Rear Adm. Bob Little, commander of the Coast Guard’s Arctic District, said the expanding fleet and aviation patrols are vital for countering foreign influence in the far north.
Last week the Coast Guard officially commissioned the icebreaker cutter Storis in Juneau and on Saturday the Storis arrived in Seward.
“Commissioning the Storis and Earl Cunningham increases our ability to control, secure, and defend Alaska’s U.S. border and maritime approaches,” Little said, referencing the service’s newest polar icebreaker and fast response cutter, both added to the fleet this summer. “As we continue to grow our surface fleet, we utilize our aviation resources which play a vital role in countering foreign malign influence.”
The Arctic is rapidly emerging as a global zone of competition, with China, Russia, and the US all maneuvering for influence over shipping lanes, resources, and strategic positioning. The Coast Guard remains the only US surface presence in the Arctic, a role that has grown more critical as activity in the region intensifies.
President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” signed into law on July 4, directs nearly $25 billion to the Coast Guard — the largest investment in its history. It includes new icebreakers and Fast Response Cutters to strengthen Arctic security and US maritime defense.
The Alaska Legislature’s special session, called by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, was to formally end Tuesday in what has become a predictable pattern: Nothing accomplished.
But now it appears the session will run through the end of the month. That’s because the Democrat-led majority is worried the governor will call legislators back for another special session.
Lawmakers gaveled in for less than a single day at the beginning of the 30-day session, then went home. On Aug. 19, they were to technically return, but only in the loosest sense of the word. A handful of designated members, mostly from Juneau, will preside over what is called a “technical session.” No calendar items are scheduled, no bills will be taken up, and the Legislature will then gavel back out until the end of the month.
The governor had asked legislators to take up two priorities during this special session: the creation of a stand-alone Department of Agriculture and a series reforms to improve Alaska’s chronically poor public school outcomes. Both issues were ignored.
Instead, the only real action lawmakers took was to override Dunleavy’s partial veto of a permanent increase to K-12 spending, a move that locks in more money for the same system that consistently produces some of the worst educational results in the nation. That took a half an hour.
This special session mirrors the Legislature’s recent trend under Democrat-led leadership: convening, ignoring the governor’s agenda, passing symbolic resolutions such as support for Canada and against President Trump, and adjourning without addressing Alaska’s long-term challenges.
On Tuesday, Alaskans can expect a symbolic gavel-in, gavel-out, and little else.
With fewer than 1,000 residents, Sand Point is the kind of place where people know each other by name, and where the rhythms of life are shaped by the sea. On Popof Island at the entrance to the Bering Sea, the community is home to the largest commercial fishing fleet in the Aleutians. Almost half its residents are of Aleut descent and summers bring an influx of workers when commercial salmon fishing is in full swing.
For a town this size, the arrival of thousands of fentanyl pills and other narcotics has devastating consequences. Yet according to federal prosecutors, Sand Point was one of several Alaska communities targeted by a drug trafficking ring that spanned from Mexico to Anchorage and through correctional facilities in Alaska.
Last week, Richard Frye, 36, of Anchorage, pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroin on behalf of the organization, allegedly run by a California inmate.
According to court documents, Frye and co-conspirators Tiffani Couch, 31, and Anna Petla, 25, of Dillingham, were intercepted in March 2023 while attempting to move thousands of fentanyl pills bound for Sand Point.
Petla was stopped at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport carrying nearly 3,000 blue fentanyl pills and more than 80 grams of methamphetamine in her backpack. Outside the terminal, law enforcement detained Frye and Couch in a vehicle where they discovered another 500 fentanyl pills and more controlled substances. It was enough to kill the entire town several times over.
In June 2023, Frye and Couch were stopped again by police in Anchorage, this time with roughly 1,400 fentanyl pills, other narcotics and loaded ammunition magazines. Authorities say Frye intended to distribute these drugs within Alaska as part of the trafficking enterprise.
Even incarceration did not stop Fry. Court records show he attempted to smuggle fentanyl and suboxone into the Anchorage Correctional Complex by ingesting packages of drugs wrapped in condoms and cellophane, with the intent of distributing them inside the facility. Days later, correctional officers caught him trying to carry in 70 suboxone strips.
Prosecutors say Frye also moved thousands of dollars in and out of Alaska through digital money transfers, linking him to others in the organization. He faces up to 20 years in prison at his sentencing scheduled for Nov. 13, 2025.
Co-defendants have also pleaded guilty: Couch on May 9, and Petla on June 4. Both await sentencing. Petla now has three hots and a cot at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center.
The Department of Justice says more than 50 people have been charged in the conspiracy, which moved fentanyl, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine from Mexico through Oregon and California and into Alaska between February 2022 and July 2023. Drugs were allegedly distributed to Anchorage, Dillingham, Fairbanks, Goodnews Bay, Ketchikan, Kodiak, New Stuyahok, Palmer, Sand Point, Savoonga, Sitka, Togiak, Tyonek and Wasilla.
At the center of the ring, prosecutors allege, was 57-year-old Heraclio Sanchez-Rodriguez, a California inmate who directed operations using contraband phones inside prison. Authorities say he coordinated with suppliers in Mexico and associates in the Lower 48, while recruits in Alaska, including inmates at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center, helped distribute narcotics across the state.
Christina Quintana, 38, an inmate at Hiland Mountain during the entirety of the conspiracy, was known as one of Sanchez-Rodriguez’s “wives,” a title reserved for high-ranking members of the enterprise. Her role in the conspiracy was to recruit soon-to-be-released inmates from Hiland to be distributors of the drugs. Upon release, the newly recruited members received packages of drugs to distribute the drugs across Alaska. Quintana once shot the kneecaps out of a woman in Sitka over an unpaid drug debt.
Alaska Rep. Kevin McCabe and several Republican gubernatorial candidates have floated the idea of creating a stand-alone Department of Agriculture. It’s an idea worth debating, because the issue isn’t just about farming. It’s about how Alaska defines its priorities and manages its resources.
Currently, agriculture sits inside the Alaska Department of Natural Resources as one of six divisions, alongside Forestry, Geological and Geophysical Surveys, Mining, Land and Water, Parks and Outdoor Recreation, and the most prominent: Oil and Gas. Most of these divisions focus on managing and regulating natural resources that exist without human intervention, including timber, minerals, water, land, and energy.
Agriculture, by contrast, is different. It is not simply “discovered” in nature. It’s created. It’s the product of human labor, planning, and investment. Alaska’s Division of Agriculture works to open land for farming, finance farmers and processors, develop plant materials, educate on conservation, assist with marketing, and certify farm products. This is more akin to an economic development and marketing agency than a traditional resource-management division.
And that raises a key question: What is a natural resource? Most definitions agree that a natural resource is something that exists in the environment without human involvement—sunlight, water, soil, fish, forests, minerals. These resources are valuable because they are essential to life and economic activity, and they come in diverse forms. Agriculture uses these resources, but it is not one itself; it is a human-driven system that transforms those raw materials into food.
This distinction matters. Food and economic security are among Alaska’s most critical needs. Yet under the current structure, agriculture is housed within a department whose core mission and culture are focused on managing unaltered natural resources. The result? Agriculture risks being an afterthought, competing for attention and funding against the heavyweights of oil, gas, and mining.
Suppose we accept that agriculture is not merely a subset of natural resources but a vital pillar of Alaska’s economy and survival. In that case, it deserves its own seat at the table.
A Department of Agriculture would not be “just another bureaucracy.” It would be an investment in Alaska’s ability to feed itself, grow its rural economies, and reduce dependence on imported food.For a state with vast land and untapped agricultural potential, the stakes are clear.
The question is whether we’ll treat agriculture as a side note in the resource playbook or as the strategic priority it truly is.
Paul A Bauer Jr. is a former Anchorage assemblyman and Alaska political advocate.
Residents of portions of the Mendenhall Valley in Juneau, as well as Haines and Skagway have been dealing with weak or no cell service this week after a fiber line was severed during Juneau’s destructive glacial outburst flood on Aug. 13.
The flood, triggered by the release of water from Suicide Basin into the Mendenhall River, damaged critical communications infrastructure, leaving major carriers scrambling to restore service to northern Southeast Alaska. Customers with AT&T, Verizon, GCI, and other providers have reported widespread outages and interruptions. Service has been impacted on the Back Loop Road in Juneau, where the Mendenhall Back Loop Bridge was also damaged by the flooding, with repairs scheduled to start Saturday.
AT&T customers in Skagway are expected to remain without service until approximately Aug. 28. Other carriers have not provided clear restoration timelines but have acknowledged that the fiber break is to blame.
Both Haines and Skagway rely heavily on the single fiber route through Juneau for connectivity. The outage has not only left residents without reliable mobile service but also raised concerns about public safety and communications in the event of emergencies. 911 calls in Skagway will still reach the local police station.
The Aug. 13 flooding in Valley neighborhoods along the Mendenhall River was mitigated by large Hasco barriers put in place that prevented overflow to a certain extent, but may have made the main channel of the river more powerful and damaging to the cable that runs across it near the mouth of the river.
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, with members of their respective delegations, met Friday for close to three hours at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, emerging to say they had made progress toward a potential peace plan to end the conflict in Ukraine.
At a joint press conference following the closed-door talks, both leaders declined to offer specifics on the framework they discussed, but Trump said he would reach out to NATO leadership and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the coming days.
He said he could not broker the actual deal that was discussed today, but hoped it can be forged between Ukraine and Russia.
“I’m going to start making a few phone calls and tell them what happened, but we had an extremely productive meeting and many points were agreed to. There are just a very few that are left,” Trump said.
Putin, speaking through an interpreter, expressed optimism about the talks but cautioned that the process could be undermined by other nations. He said he hopes that other European nations don’t “throw a wrench” in the process. He said that if Trump had been president, there would have been no war.
Neither leader took questions from reporters after delivering their statements. The two then left the podium, with Trump acknowledging the press corps with a wave.
The meeting was the cornerstone of Trump’s visit to Alaska, where the two leaders have been engaged in high-stakes diplomacy aimed at halting a war, now in its fourth year.
Supporters of President Donald Trump and those hoping Ukraine-Russia peace will be negotiated between the president and President Vladimir Putin showed up at 11 am at the corner of Seward Highway and Northern Lights Blvd. in Anchorage, at the same time that the peace talks were set to begin on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
About 180 people joined the rally with flags and banners promoting America, Trump, and peace.
In other parts of town, Democrat protests have been waged against peace in Ukraine by those who believe peace can be achieved only through prolonged war and more American spending on the war machine. Signs of protest against Trump’s efforts to bring peace could be seen around the city all week.
Vagrant encampment on other side of the highway.Police cars in the parking lot.
At the pro-America rally on Friday, a half dozen marked and unmarked police vehicles were stationed nearby in the Midtown Mall Parking lot. Across the street, a disheveled vagrant encampment littered the corner, a normal scene at the intersection in this era of Anchorage’s vagrant crisis.
A candidate for governor had earlier pulled up a motor home to assist. Bernadette Wilson, a Republican who declared for governor in May, was serving free water, coffee, and donuts, wearing a sweatshirt with an American flag on it.
Bernadette Wilson speaks to Alaskans attending the pro-America rally at the corner of Northern Lights Blvd. and Seward Highway.
Meanwhile, at JBER, the meetings had begun, as seen in this video:
Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who had a meeting scheduled with Trump while he is in Alaska, commented, “It’s no accident that President Trump picked Alaska for this meeting; Alaska exudes U.S. strength and energy independence.”
Carmela Warfield, chairwoman of the Alaska Republican Party, holds a sign aloft during the rally.
In the middle of the protest area, an infiltrator had come earlier and, in chalk, written “86 47” which is a code for those who wish to do harm to the president. The rally participants didn’t even notice it for a long time, but when they did, they doused the offensive phrase with water.
Someone from the pro-war side used chalk to mark up the sidewalk where the peace advocates were expected to be standing. The peaceniks didn’t notice it for most of the duration of the event, as they were focused on their sign waving and fellowship. Finally, it was doused with water.
