News at 6 - November 12, 2025

Breaking news as we come on the air at 6 o'clock, the House has voted to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. We're waiting. President Trump is expected to sign that bill at any moment, and we've got our political reporter Will Courtney watching today's vote, standing by now. Will, what's the latest on this funding package, and what do we expect to happen next? Yeah, John Augusta, Representative Nick Begich was part of that coalition of 222 lawmakers that got this bill across that legislative finish line. So now we just wait. for President Donald Trump to end the government shutdown. That's the bill's next stop after it cleared both the Senate and the House. Our national partners are reporting the president could sign this bill at any moment or waiting to learn a clear timeline, though. This bill funds the government through the end of January and extends funding for SNAP benefits for a full year. It also reverses shutdown related layoffs for federal workers, which Alaska is home to about 15,000 of. The legislation does not include extensions to the Obamacare Enhanced Premium Tax Credits. Those are the credits which expire in December, and for some users it keeps their insurance from skyrocketing. Those credits have been the key issue Democrats have been fighting for to include in this legislation. Now, in a statement from Congressman Nick Begets, we received, he said, quote, With this funding package passed, it's time to turn the page and continue to advance America-first priorities, strengthening our economy, ensuring energy dominance, securing our borders, supporting our veterans, and fighting for the people of Alaska. While Representative Meggit's decline in an interview with us this evening, we have spoken to both Senators Lisa Murkowski and Solven on their votes over this exact bill. You can watch Alaska's political pipeline on our mobile app, our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. John and Augusta. All right, Will, thank you so much. And speaking of the impact of this record long government shutdown, our investigative team has uncovered how some Alaska federal employees working without pay have received lease termination notices. A series of communications federal worker Daniel Becker shared with our reporter Johnson Q. Show, before receiving this notice, his apartment company, Widener, who has a large president in Alaska, they exchanged multiple messages. A Becker says that he was so... concerned he would be evicted. He borrowed rent money from a coworker. Widener tells the investigative team that they were just following state law but did not actually file for eviction without working with tenants impacted by the government shutdown. Our reporter, Johnson, is here now. Johnson, you found Alaska does not offer much in the way of protections for federal workers like the man you profiled. That's right, Augusta. The landlord and tenant rules Alaska follows, requires landlords to provide a seven-day notice to pay before filing eviction proceedings. You may remember back during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were protections put in place. That's not the case across the country. States like Maryland, for example, are providing federal employees impacted by the shutdown protection, and that has not happened for Alaska federal workers. Johnson, you also found, or you say that it's hard to answer questions about general evictions? Yeah, it definitely is. We found a Princeton study from last year, and we'll link to that in our website. It shows eviction data.

as you said, is actually really in general hard to find, let alone when something like a government shutdown happens. The study says that has a lot to do with the information being held in local court systems. All right. Our Johnson Hewn reporting, thank you so much for that work. We've posted more about Johnson's story on our website and our mobile app, along with Widener's full statement. And you can see that full story coming up later on the late edition with Rebecca Paul Scho and me tonight. Now let's transition over to some weather and that winter chill in the air. Are we going to see changes for the second half of this week? All right, Chief Meteorologist, Melissa Friday, joining us with the forecast, Melissa. Yeah, we actually are going to see some changes, slowly inching up closer to normal temperatures for this time of year. But it is cold out there tonight and we're still holding on to clear skies for most of the state. I want to show you those current conditions right down back to 14 degrees in Anchorage, eight below in Fairbanks this morning. The coldest we had seen so far this season. And tonight, only a couple degrees warmer. 10 and Palmer 38 right now in Haynes. But all eyes are to the sky. This is a live look at current conditions from UAF. the Poker Flat Research Range, and you can see the Aurora is out. This is that live view. You can see those pinks and reds and greens showing up there on their camera. This is just to the north of Fairbanks, where we do still have clear skies. High Aurora activity tonight. This is the second night in a row as we were in the middle of this geomagnetic storm. We had three ejections headed to Earth. Two hit last night, one hit this afternoon, and we're seeing that activity right now. Not quite as strong as last night. It's going to be close. So if you're in an area with clear skies, you want to catch that aurora. It is currently out. It's going to stay out here for the next several hours. We do have some cloud cover trying to move in across the Aleutians, Alaska Peninsula, into the YK Delta region and a little bit of cloud cover sneaking here into south central and southeast. So again, the clouds, they are there, but they are broken in Anchorage. We'll see some pockets of clearing. So I would take the chance if you want to go out and see it. Just be prepared for the cold. And we'll also see chances for some lights, no showers as we head through early tomorrow morning into the afternoon. Hyes will be in the mid-20s, but again, mostly clear skies tonight to catch out Aurora in Fairbanks and in Juneau. John and Augusta, we'll see those chances here through later this evening. So cool. Very cool. Melissa, thank you so much. The trial of a man accused of shooting homeless advocate and registered sex offender John Martin III got underway in an Anchorage courtroom this morning. Lauren Maxwell has this report as everything begins to unfold. John Martin III was many things, a registered sex offender who spent time in prison, a wayward adventurer who once accidentally landed on Russian shores, and an advocate for the homeless. who in 2011 staged a six-month protest in front of Anchorage City Hall. I'm treating people as human, like just with decency and understanding. Martin's life ended in June of 2023 outside the Global Credit Union on West Diamond, where prosecutors say he was sleeping when someone shot him to death. How do you explain the unexplainable, a life taken for no reason? You can't.

But what you can do is you can hold that person accountable. Prosecutors say that person is Ryan Dumbler. At trial Wednesday, the state laid out its case. The Global Credit Union Bank had surveillance cameras that showed this individual on the screen walking up to the area where Mr. Martin was, interacting with Mr. Martin, then running away. While Dumbler's defense attorney, Rex Butler, declined to provide an opening statement or a motive that might explain. The state has multiple security videos, it says, shows Dumbler in the area that morning. In one of them, a man is seen walking in the parking lot of the credit union. Jurors were asked to look in the upper left-hand corner. What we just witnessed there was the person in the brown coat and black backpack shoot John Martin, who was lying there next to the electrical box. Investigators tracked the man to a nearby Burger King, where he worked, and a supervisor identified him as Dumler. After his arrest, police went through Dumler's backpack and found bullets, spent shell casings, and a handgun inside. Defense attorney Brex Butler has filed a motion where Dumbler could claim self-defense. We won't know for sure until next week when witnesses for the defense are expected to take the stand. Lauren Maxwell, Alaska's news source. While it's an annual occurrence, officials say the location of the Alaska Department of the American Legion's fall conference brought a refreshing change of scenery for members from across the state and the nation. It's taken place in Fairbanks for the first time in nearly a dozen years. Adrian Peterson tells us why the conference is so important and what exactly took place this time around. Gathering members from near and far, the fall conference for the Alaska Department of the American Legion landed in Fairbanks for 2025. It's almost always in Anchorage, and we kind of thought, well, let's bring everybody up here so they can see how beautiful Fairbanks is. The conference consisted of members from the American Legion, American Legion auxiliary, and the sons of the American Legion, all of whom engaged in camaraderie, a training on suicide prevention. an organization-related business. It helps refresh why we do what we do, what our reason is for being an auxiliary member, for the Legionnaires to have that camaraderie, to be veterans, to help veterans. The conference also keeps the different posts on the same page about department goals and activities, as well as providing a space to just be together. Because we are Alaska, we have so much distance and so few people that we do everything as a family. Serving community as a family. being a big part of that. We know that there's some active duty members out at Fort Wayne Ryan that might be struggling. They're still working, but they're not getting a paycheck. Maybe younger, maybe, you know, younger enlisted. So our auxiliary and our sons of the American Legion, we stepped up and we're working with the armed forces, or sorry, armed services, YMCA, and we're helping them with some gift cards so that they can buy those necessities. That notion of family and service toward the community was also something Dan Wiley, the national commander of the American Legion.

noticed while visiting the conference. They're working hard in the community. They're working hard in the community, not just to care for veterans, but to care for the community as a whole because that's what the American Legion does. We take care of people. We take care of each other. And so that, you know, it may be kind of cooler here in Fairbanks and it is back home, but it certainly warms your heart and gives you a great feeling about what's going on. Adrian Peterson, Alaska's news source. Pull the back U-Es from Kipnuk are meeting in Anchorage tonight to discuss former Typhoon Hulong's response, also recovery. Our Joe All Good is live at Betty Davis East Anchorage High School where that meeting is taking place. Joe, when do those discussions kick off? Yeah, we're a little less than 20 minutes out from the start of that meeting, and folks have already started to gather here. We're not entirely sure what will be discussed tonight, but it is one of the first large meetings of the community since many of the people in Cape Noc had to relocate here to Anchorage. There have been talks about possibly relocating the town to a new, more shielded location, but it's not confirmed if that is what tonight's meeting is about. We're going to stick around. We'll be at the meeting and we'll provide any updates tonight on the late edition. Joe Allgood, Alaska's News Source. Thanks for listening. Click subscribe so you can get the latest podcast from Alaska's News Source automatically. And stay up to date with breaking news and in-depth reporting available for free 24-7 with the Alaska's News Source app.