Launch Alaska, a nonprofit known for supporting climate and energy-focused startups, has filed a lawsuit against the US Navy’s Office of Naval Research, claiming the Trump Administration unlawfully terminated a $5 million federal grant.
In a complaint filed in US District Court in Anchorage, the organization’s lawyer John R. Crone alleges that the Office of Naval Research ended the funding without substantive explanation or due process, causing immediate harm to its operations and threatening its future viability.
According to the lawsuit, the abrupt cancellation could lead to widespread layoffs, broken contracts, and the potential shutdown of Launch Alaska’s signature accelerator program, an initiative that connects tech startups with Alaska utilities, infrastructure providers, and government partners to pilot cutting-edge energy solutions. The organization appears to have less than a dozen employees.
Launch Alaska was blindsided by the Navy’s decision, the group says.
Isaac Vanderburg, CEO of Launch Alaska, leads the organization, which has become a player in fostering innovation in renewable energy, climate resilience, and Arctic technologies in the state, and also outside the state. In fact, it appears most of the group’s business is outside the state.
The nonprofit says it helps attract startups from across the country to test and deploy solutions in Alaska’s challenging environment.
The grant was intended to support the expansion of those efforts, which align with Department of Defense priorities in energy security and Arctic readiness. The complaint argues that canceling the funding undermines national interests as well as local economic development.
The case was originally before US District Judge Sharon Gleason, who recused herself. Honorable G. Murray Snow is the new judge.
As a result of my July 2 article on financial literacy, I received a powerful and emotionally charged testimony (if you read the comments, you will find it) that directly underscores why my proposed Alaska Education Reform and Local Control Act (AERLCA) is not just a bureaucratic restructuring, but a moral and cultural imperative, particularly for rural and Alaska Native communities.
The commentator asked and answered: “There is no housing development, and if the regional housing authority builds housing, eligibility is based on poverty level to live in those homes. How is an Alaska Statewide Educational System supposed to teach financial survival to students in communities where financial opportunities, infrastructure, and concepts do not even exist? If the schools want to start instilling financial savvy into the curriculum, start by educating the kids about the value of minerals that their families own as shareholders of Alaska Native Corporations.”
The central question is “How can schools teach financial literacy in villages with no banks, no markets, and no infrastructure?” These and other questions posed are exactly the kind of question that a top-down, one-size-fits-all state education system cannot answer. The current Department of Education and Early Development, through uniform mandates and disconnected curriculum standards, fails to reflect the real economic, cultural, and land-based realities of Alaska’s rural students.
The AERLCA addresses this by returning curriculum design and spending decisions to the local level, enabling communities to teach what matters most in their unique context: land ownership, subsistence rights, resource stewardship, and economic self-determination. These are lessons that no bureaucrat in Juneau can design nor shouldn’t try to.
Under the current system, financial education is often reduced to vague, urban-centered abstractions, credit scores, mortgages, job interviews, while ignoring the fact that many of Alaska’s youth are shareholders in the largest blocks of private indigenous land on Earth. The value of that land, minerals, resources, and sovereignty, is almost never taught. Why? Because centralized curricula don’t see these children as landowners, only as data points in a failing system.
The AERLCA empowers regional and local authorities to teach these truths. Imagine a curriculum designed by and for Alaska Native educators that includes:
Mapping out Native Corporation land holdings;
Understanding shareholder rights and dividend structures;
Teaching negotiation, land lease valuation, and mineral rights;
Challenging dependency narratives with ownership narratives.
This is not just financial literacy. This is generational economic empowerment rooted in sovereignty.
The speaker’s frustration with “outside people making decisions for us” cuts to the heart of the colonial-style governance embedded in Alaska’s education system today. When administrators and DEED bureaucrats operate from afar, with no cultural context and no skin in the game, the result is a system designed to preserve dependency rather than foster independence.
AERLCA reorients power by letting local communities govern their own schools, control their own education dollars, and choose the voices that teach their children. It is the antidote to the very dynamic this testimony decries: the “puffing up” of non-profit executives and consultants who profit off community dysfunction.
One of the most striking insights is the idea that children are being raised with a false cultural lesson that confrontation is wrong, “that they are worth less than the tundra.” The current education system, dominated by ideological conformity and centralized control, does not foster emotional intelligence or assertiveness. It teaches compliance, submission, and silence, especially in Native communities that are viewed through a lens of paternalism.
By breaking up monopolistic school districts and empowering indigenous community-based schools and curriculum, AERLCA can help teach students how to confront respectfully, advocate effectively, and take pride in their heritage, not just as a culture to be preserved, but as a foundation for sovereignty and prosperity.
This testimony is a call to action: “I cannot believe this is all our ancestors hoped and prayed for us to experience.”
Neither can I. The Alaska Education Reform and Local Control Act is the legislative vehicle for restoring what was lost. It is not just education quality, but dignity, agency, and self-governance.
It does not impose values. It returns the tools for communities to define their own.
A major crime suppression effort in Anchorage has resulted in more than 100 arrests, the recovery of stolen vehicles, and the seizure of significant quantities of illegal drugs, following a five-day operation conducted by multiple law enforcement agencies.
Operation Summer Heat, which ended June 30, brought together 160 personnel from local, state, and federal agencies. The initiative focused on targeting a wide range of criminal activity throughout the city, including violent offenses, drug trafficking, outstanding warrants, traffic violations, and retail theft.
Anchorage Police reported that during the operation:
103 individuals were arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges
143 traffic stops were conducted
2 stolen vehicles were recovered
More than 52 items were seized and entered into evidence
Large quantities of illegal narcotics were also confiscated, with the most prevalent being methamphetamine:
0.9 grams of crack cocaine
1,093.77 grams of cocaine
1,388.46 grams of fentanyl, equivalent to 600,000 lethal doses.
110.82 grams of powdered heroin
254.05 grams of methamphetamine, about 1,600 lethal doses
Some units involved in the operation used specialized officers who wore masks as part of their standard tactical gear. Law enforcement officials noted that this practice is used to protect the identities of undercover personnel and to preserve the integrity of ongoing investigations. The use of such equipment is common during high-risk enforcement efforts.
Operation Summer Heat represents one of the largest coordinated crime suppression efforts in Anchorage this year and reflects ongoing collaboration between agencies to address criminal threats and enhance public safety.
Some House Democrats told Axios that their constituents have encouraged them to prepare for violence and “be willing to get shot” while resisting President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Democratic lawmakers said that there has been mounting anger among liberal votes that has sometimes even resulted in them calling on congressional Democrats to violate the law and be prepared for acts of violence, Axiosreported on Monday. Many of the House Democrats told the outlet that these voters are often white, well-educated and wealthy.
“Some of them have suggested … what we really need to do is be willing to get shot” when visiting United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities or federal government agencies, one House Democrat told Axios.
“Our own base is telling us that what we’re doing is not good enough … [that] there needs to be blood to grab the attention of the press and the public,” the Democratic lawmaker added.
Some voters have recently criticized Democratic lawmakers for not doing a good enough job of pushing back against Republicans and the president’s political agenda, according to Axios. Moreover, one House Democrat told Axios that there is a “sense of fear and despair and anger” among their voters “puts us in a different position where … we can’t keep following norms of decorum.”
The report comes after some recent polls have revealed that the majority of voters hold an unfavorable view of Democrats in Congress. Similarly, Democrats have reportedly been attempting to figure out what kind of policies to embrace to win back voters in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections and 2028 presidential election.
“This idea that we’re going to save every norm and that we’re not going to play [Republicans’] game … I don’t think that’s resonating with voters anymore,” another anonymous House Democrat told the outlet.
One anonymous House Democrat told Axios that constituents have said that “civility isn’t working” and told them they need to be prepared for “violence … to fight to protect our democracy.” Additionally, another Democratic lawmaker told the outlet that “people online have sent me crazy shit … told me to storm the White House and stuff like that,” but added that “there’s always people on the internet saying crazy stuff.”
“Democrats built this monster. Now it’s turning on them, and the 2026 primaries are going to produce some of the most unhinged candidates we’ve ever seen,” National Republican Congressional Committee Spokesman Mike Marinella said in a statement provided to the DCNF.
It’s not a third party or even a fourth party. There are already over 50 political parties in America that field candidates, including the Libertarian Party, Green Party, and Constitution Party. But none of them are headed by Elon Musk.
After a very public and nasty breakup with President Donald Trump, the billionaire entrepreneur announced the formation of a new national political party on Saturday, declaring that “the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”
Musk, once a Democrat, had enthusiastically supported Trump and was tapped to lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump’s inauguration earlier this year.
But the alliance quickly unraveled in a series of fiery online exchanges, culminating in Musk’s blistering criticism of Trump’s signature legislation, the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which passed Congress and was signed into law on Independence Day. The sweeping spending bill, totaling more than $9 trillion, funds infrastructure, Arctic security, and new federal agencies, but Musk lambasted it as reckless.
“This bill will bankrupt the country,” Musk wrote on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter. “When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy.”
On Friday, Musk posted a flash poll to his 200 million followers, asking whether America needs a new political party. The response was swift and overwhelming — with more than 70% responding “yes,” according to Musk — prompting Saturday’s official announcement of the America Party.
“By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it,” Musk declared. “We can’t wait for the system to fix itself. Today, the America Party is formed.”
While details about the party’s structure, leadership, or ballot access efforts are unknown, Musk’s deep pockets and massive online influence all but guarantee the effort will shake up the 2026 midterms and beyond. He has not indicated whether he will run for office himself, but as a foreign-born citizen, he is not eligible to be president. Those close to Musk suggest he is already in talks with disaffected independents and younger politicians disillusioned with the status quo.
Critics on both the left and right dismissed the move as a vanity project, while others warned it could fracture the conservative movement just as Trump seeks to consolidate his second-term agenda.
Trump wrote a long commentary about Musk’s move: “I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely “off the rails,” essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks. He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States – The System seems not designed for them. The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS, and we have enough of that with the Radical Left Democrats, who have lost their confidence and their minds! Republicans, on the other hand, are a smooth running “machine,” that just passed the biggest Bill of its kind in the History of our Country. It is a Great Bill but, unfortunately for Elon, it eliminates the ridiculous Electric Vehicle (EV) Mandate, which would have forced everyone to buy an Electric Car in a short period of time. I have been strongly opposed to that from the very beginning. People are now allowed to buy whatever they want – Gasoline Powered, Hybrids (which are doing very well), or New Technologies as they come about – No more EV Mandate. I have campaigned on this for two years and, quite honestly, when Elon gave me his total and unquestioned Endorsement, I asked him whether or not he knew that I was going to terminate the EV Mandate – It was in every speech I made, and in every conversation I had. He said he had no problems with that – I was very surprised! Additionally, Elon asked that one of his close friends run NASA and, while I thought his friend was very good, I was surprised to learn that he was a blue blooded Democrat, who had never contributed to a Republican before. Elon probably was, also. I also thought it inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon, who was in the Space Business, run NASA, when NASA is such a big part of Elon’s corporate life. My Number One charge is to protect the American Public!”
For now, the tech mogul appears undeterred by the challenges of party politics. “If the system won’t change, we’ll build a new one,” he posted late Saturday. “That’s what Americans do.”
A group of demonstrators clad in white shirts and pants with blood-red splotches over their crotches drew attention in Midtown Anchorage on Sunday.
The protest on the corner of Northern Lights Blvd. and Minnesota Blvd. was organized by The Bloodstained Men, a California-based nonprofit dedicated to ending the common medical practice, which they refer to as genital mutilation. The protest marked the second day of their tour across Alaska, where they plan to visit various locations.
Although protests are a familiar sight in Anchorage, this group’s theatrical appearance stood out. The demonstrators, both men and women, wore white outfits with vivid red markings meant to symbolize what they describe as the physical and emotional harm of infant circumcision.
The organization opposes the surgical removal of the foreskin, which is often performed on newborn boys in hospitals across the United States. Members argue that the procedure is unnecessary, harmful, and performed without the child’s consent.
Signs held by the demonstrators bore slogans such as “Circumcision = Child Abuse,” “Stop Cutting Baby Penis,” and “Nobody Wants Less Penis.”
Circumcision rates in the United States have declined in recent decades, but the practice remains common. In Alaska, rates are lower than the national average, and Medicaid does not routinely cover the procedure unless deemed medically necessary. Many male children born at home or in birthing centers escape the knife.
The Bloodstained Men have taken their protests across the country, often drawing support — and controversy — wherever they appear. They will be touring Alaska through July 13.
As fireworks fade and flags are folded after another Independence Day, the United States quietly stepped from its 249th year into its 250th year as a nation. It has been a quarter of a millennium for a republic that is the mightiest nation in human history, but filled with plenty of struggle, triumph, and transformation.
The official semiquincentennial — the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence — will be celebrated on July 4, 2026.
But as of this month, the nation is already begun its 250th year. The calendar has turned and the countdown has begun to what promises to be one of the largest patriotic observances in human history.
From Philadelphia to Fairbanks, preparations will soon be underway. States are forming their own celebration commissions. Cities are mapping out parade routes. Museums are curating exhibitions.
In Alaska, the commission for the 250th anniversary celebration is known as the America250-Alaska Task Force, established by Gov. Mike Dunleavy through Administrative Order No. 357 on Nov. 6, 2024, and designating the Alaska Historical Commission as the coordinating entity. The commission is responsible for planning and organizing events, educational initiatives, and outreach activities to commemorate the semiquincentennial starting next year. The Alaska commission has set the theme for the celebration as “History for Tomorrow,” highlighting opportunity for the next generation.
Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom chairs the commission that has members Jonathon Ross, Wayne Jensen, Judith Bittner, Rebecca Poulson, Givey Kochanowski, Mark Rollins, and two vacancies.
Schools, too, are preparing by drafting curricula to help a new generation understand the founding ideals and complex journey of the American experiment.
In 2026, the Fourth of July will fall on a Saturday, which will be ideal timing for celebrations.
While the biggest events will be July 4, local efforts are already gaining steam.
In Virginia, re-enactors are preparing for a series of Revolutionary War reenactments. In South Dakota, organizers are planning a special Mount Rushmore illumination. In Alaska, conversations are beginning about how to highlight the state’s unique role in the American story and future.
As the country enters this historic chapter, one thing is clear: The celebration doesn’t have to wait.
The Democrats are done with the “using” of Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Now, they are into the “abusing” phase of the relationship.
US Sen. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona first-term Democrat, was brought in as the featured guest at a virtual “emergency town hall” hosted by the Alaska Democratic Party on Wednesday evening, giving him a platform to bash and trash Alaska’s congressional delegation.
Gallego used the platform to sharply criticize Alaska’s Republican Sens. Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, both of whom supported the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The event, which included several Democratic state legislators from Alaska, centered on the sweeping legislative package championed by President Donald Trump and signed into law on July 4.
“Alaska’s senators sold out their constituents by backing billionaire tax cuts while slashing Medicaid and children’s health care,” Gallego said in a statement released alongside the event. “People will die because of these cuts, thousands will lose coverage, and families will face impossible choices.”
Alaska Democrats, who in 2022 effectively cleared the path for Murkowski’s reelection by fielding only token opposition, now appear to be turning against the longtime incumbent. A Democrat flyer circulating on social media reads: “COWARDS DON’T BELONG IN ALASKA — Get Murkowski out in 2028.”
The One Big Beautiful Bill marks one of the most significant legislative victories for Trump-aligned Republicans since he left office. It includes major investments in energy and defense, sweeping tax reforms, and cuts illegal immigration. Supporters say the law promotes economic growth and national strength.
Gallego, who defeated Republican Kari Lake in 2024 to succeed outgoing Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, is seen as a rising Democratic voice despite his party losing Arizona in the last presidential election. His appearance at the Alaska town hall has intensified speculation that he may be considering a 2028 run for the White House.
The Alaska Democratic Party is mobilizing in advance of the 2026 election cycle, in which both Congressman Nick Begich and Sen. Dan Sullivan will be up for reelection. Murkowski’s current term ends after the 2028 election.
Wildfire activity intensified across Interior Alaska on Saturday as hot, dry, and windy conditions fueled aggressive fire growth on multiple fronts. Firefighters and air crews worked through the day to protect communities and critical infrastructure as fire behavior reached extreme levels.
Sunday’s forecast brought a welcome change: lower temperatures, higher humidity, and a light haze. There’s also a chance of rain overnight—offering a glimmer of relief for exhausted fire crews and concerned residents.
Bonanza Creek Fire (#238)
Unfavorable weather conditions drove significant westward growth on the southern flank of the Bonanza Creek Fire, south of the Parks Highway. Firefighters spent much of Saturday suppressing spot fires, supported by air tankers and a Chinook helicopter equipped with a 2,600-gallon water bucket.
The Midnight Sun Hotshots were tested when flames jumped containment lines to the east. Crews worked to re-establish control and reinforce lines on the fire’s northeast perimeter. Meanwhile, the Pioneer Peak Hotshots successfully connected containment lines on the northwest edge to the road, preventing fire runs toward the highway.
Goldstream Creek Fire (#270)
This fire advanced rapidly, making a two-mile run southwest on Saturday. In response, evacuation levels were raised for homes near Little Goldstream Creek. Two hotshot crews, a Type 2 Initial Attack crew, and three bulldozers were deployed to carve new dozer lines and strengthen existing ones. Crews also installed portable water tanks, hoses, and sprinkler systems to protect homes in the area.
Travel Impacts and Safety
Fire suppression efforts are causing significant traffic delays on the Parks Highway. Drivers are urged to proceed with extreme caution, follow pilot car instructions, and prepare for extended wait times.
Fire officials emphasize the need for public cooperation to ensure both firefighter and civilian safety. Motorists are asked by state officials to slow down in fire zones and stay alert to changing road conditions.
For the latest road status updates, visit the Alaska Department of Transportation website.
Fire crews are operating around the clock to protect lives, homes, and infrastructure.
