Alaska News Nightly: Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Support for Alaska Public Media on Demand comes from Aliaska Pipeline Service Company, maintaining and operating the 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline for nearly 50 years. We should recognize that the business activity is taking place here, and we should get our fair share of that corporate income tax. The Alaska House passes a bill that would capture more revenue from companies that sell to Alaskans over the internet. From Alaska Public Media, this is statewide news on Alaska News Nightly for Wednesday, April 1st. Good evening. I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, an Anchorage Boys deportation case hinges on whether he can prove a U.S. citizen is his father. Because the dad is refusing to take a DNA test, the government's saying, well, we don't think you're really a U.S. citizen.

We're going to deport you. Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly. Alaska Public Media is now partner. with an Alaskan auction service, so a helpful local team can get the biggest return for the least hassle should you decide to donate your vehicle. Learn more at alaskapublic.org slash vehicle. The Alaska House narrowly passed a bill today that would update the state's corporate income tax to capture more revenue from companies that sell to Alaskans over the internet. The heart of the bill is a change to what's known as market-based sourcing. That's a method of calculating corporate income taxes that's based on the location of the customer,

rather than the company. Representative Calvin Shragi and Anchorage Independent says the bill takes taxes companies already paying to their home states and reallocates them to Alaska. That business is taking place here. We should recognize that the business activity is taking place here, and we should get our fair share of that corporate income tax. Backers say the tax change would have virtually no impact on Alaska businesses. The revenue raised by the bill would come from out-of-state companies organized as C corporations.

The bill is essentially a redo of a bill Governor Mike Dunleavy vetoed last year. Mike Dunleavy's spokesperson says the governor's position on the bill has not changed. He says the governor opposes revenue bills without a fiscal plan, but the bill did not pass with enough support to constitute a veto-proof majority. House Minority Leader Delana Johnson, a Palmer Republican, says her caucus is largely on board with Mike Dunleavy's position. The idea is if we're going to implement a tax, we need to have more, we need to have a more, fiscal plan. We don't want to just start passing tax bills without any other kind of piece of the fiscal plan. Mike Dunleavy proposed a fiscal plan in a series of bills earlier this year,

headlined by a statewide sales tax and a large permanent fund dividend. Legislators on all sides panned the proposal. The tax bill now heads to the Senate, which supported it last year. Shragge says it's still early. He says he hopes the bill can pick up more bipartisan support as it works its way back toward the governor's desk. Advocates of Alaska native ivory carvers hope this is the year Congress finally passes the Artist Act so that no state can ban carvings and jewelry made from legally harvested walrus ivory and Baleen.

Megan Anders, of Kristi Noem testified in favor of the bill at a U.S. House hearing last week. Anders is chief of the King Island community. She told committee members that carvers in Bering Strait villages earn money from their sales that support their subsistence way of life. If you're a hunter, you're also a carver, and it's something that you were taught by your uncles, your grandparents, and your relatives. The Marine Mammal Protection Act already allows and regulates Alaska native walrus hunting for subsistence, as well as sales of ivory handicrafts made from subsistence-caught animals.

The Artist Act would prohibit state bans on authentic Alaska Native art. Several states intending to protect African elephants outlawed all ivory possession. In 2015, California specifically included wall recivary in its ban. Anders says tourists who visit Kristi Noem are apprehensive about buying crafts that use the material. They come to the artists and they say, I'm not allowed to buy this. This is a banned product, which we know is not the case. However, this scenario has created misinformed consumers. She's hoping the Artist Act will remove that cloud.

Representative Jared Huffman of California is the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee. He says he supports the idea of clarifying federal law to help Alaska Native artists. We just have to be careful how we do it. I am concerned that the language as written could make it difficult for other states to enforce their bans on things like elephant, ivory. I don't think anybody wants that outcome, but we need to work together. Senator Dan Sullivan has been working to pass the bill for nearly a decade, and all three members of Alaska's congressional delegation are current sponsors.

Immigration officials in Alaska are working to deport a 12-year-old Anchorage boy while his attorney tries to keep him in the U.S. by proving a naturalized citizen is his father. The man they believe is the boy's father has so far avoided multiple court-ordered paternity tests. Like other states, Alaska has seen a sharp increase in the number of people targeted for deportation under the second administration of President Donald Trump. The Boy is among dozens of people in the state facing uncertain futures. Alaska public media's Wesley Early has been following the case and joins us now. Wesley, how are you made aware of this case? Well, the boy this story revolves around is represented by Anchorage Immigration Attorney Margaret Stock.

I've been reporting on Anchorage Immigration Enforcement for the past year, and she's represented several people caught up in those actions. So in early February, Stock emailed me telling me about one of her clients, this 12-year-old boy, who she says is entitled to be a U.S. citizen. Now, what caught my eye is Stock told me the man she says is the kid's dad, who is a U.S. citizen, has been avoiding court orders for him to do a paternity test to prove he's the father. The man's name is Bolanle, Mishak Akenleya. He was born in Nigeria, but he's a naturalized citizen and a U.S. Navy veteran who lives

in Washington, D.C., according to Stock and public records. And by the way, we are not identifying the boy or his mother who is currently seeking asylum. Wait, so if the boy's dad is a U.S. citizen, why is the boy being targeted for deportation? Stock says Ackinlea met the kid's mother years ago when visiting Nigeria, where the mom is also from. They started a relationship. He's supposedly promised to marry her, but that fell through. And she ended up giving birth in Turkey.

And I should say here that we tried many different phone numbers and email addresses that were publicly listed to try to get a hold of Achenlea. Last month, Alaska Public Media Washington correspondent Liz Ruskin also hand delivered a letter to an address in D.C. listed as Achenlea's home. We haven't heard from them. And Stock has had a similar experience as she has tried to get Akenlaia to submit to a paternity test with no luck. That effort has included multiple court orders. Tell me more about the mom and her son. and have they been in contact with Akenlea? Yeah, so the mom eventually came to Alaska.

Her son grew up here and goes to school in Anchorage. Stock says he plays soccer. He's an A student who loves math and science. Despite not being in the same place, Stock says Achenlea and the boy have had a relationship and have met several times as recently as December. She says Akenlea called to wish the boy a happy birthday. In 2024, before President Trump's second term

in this large-scale ramp up of immigration enforcement that we've seen nationwide, Stock says her client applied for what's called a certificate of citizenship with the U.S. citizenship and immigration services. And late last year, U.S.C.I.S. issued its decision in the boys' case and said his application for citizenship was denied. And shortly after he was targeted for removal. Did citizenship and immigration officials explain why they denied the boys' citizenship? Yeah. So in a letter stock provided me, the director of the Alaska USCIS field office acknowledged that Achenlea was a naturalized U.S. citizen at the time the boy was born,

and that he was present in the U.S. for five years before the boy's birth, as is required by law. Stock also provided a sworn affidavit that Achenlea signed that said he was the boy's father and that he was willing to support him financially. Stock also provided U.S.C.I.S. with a DNA test from Ackinlea's brother that showed the two were related. Here's stock. Everyone in the family knows this kid is the dad's kid, and there's pictures, family, pictures and everything, and it's definitely his kid. However, USCIS had some issues with the evidence stock provided.

First of all, they noted the DNA evidence provided doesn't show that Akinlea is the father because, as they say, he could also be the child's uncle. The director of the Alaska USCIS office also questioned name discrepancies on the boys' records, some of which identify Ackinlea by his first name, some by his middle name. And they also questioned the timing of when some of the boys' birth records were issued. So even though stock provided that sworn affidavit from Akelea, USCIS wrote that the evidence was not clear and convincing. Here's a stock again.

Because the dad is refusing to take a DNA test, the government's saying, well, we don't think you're really a U.S. citizen. We're going to deport you. In a statement U.S.C.I.S. sent me. Officials wrote that the burden of proof is on stock in her client to prove he's a citizen, and anyone not lawfully residing in the country, quote, shouldn't be surprised when U.S. refers them to immigration court for removal proceedings, end quote. Okay, Wesley, what happens now?

Well, at this point, Stock is hoping that Achenlea, the man who supposedly the boy's father, will comply with a paternity test. She's gone so far as to pay for the test and choose a lab close to where Ackinlea lives in order to make it easy for him. And it's not just the son. Stock says the mother would also be eligible for relief from deportation if her son is determined to be a citizen. And I want to add, as convoluted as this process seems, Stock says it's actually pretty common for military personnel to have children overseas with non-U.S. residents. She says she's had similar clients in the past who should, by law, be entitled to U.S. citizenship due to their parentage. The boy we've been talking about has a deportation hearing scheduled for next January. Stock says it would take Achenlea, the boy's supposed father, just a few minutes to do a paternity test that could potentially stop the boy's deportation.

Gotcha. Well, we will stay tuned to all of that. That was Alaska Public Media's Wesley Early. Wesley, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me.

Still to come on Alaska News Nightly, a historic Juno Theater gets a second chance as a community arts hub. Since we've opened the doors to the community, I've been talking to so many of people, to hear all the memories, but have already taken place in this space. We're just going to continue. That's ahead. Stay with us. Alaska Public Media is now partnering with an Alaskan auction service, so a helpful local team can get the biggest return for the least hassle should you decide to donate your vehicle. Learn more at alaskapublic.org slash vehicle. An SUV struck and killed a man in downtown Anchorage early Tuesday, according to police. Police said in a statement that the vehicle's driver remained at the scene and cooperated with officers.

No charges have been filed related to the incident. Police have not released the name of the man who died. Police say officers responded to reports of the collision near West 5th Avenue and East Street at about 3.30 a.m. Tuesday. They found that a Nissan Pathfighter was heading west. on 5th Avenue when it hit a man in the roadway near East Street. Anchorage Fire Department medics took the man to a nearby hospital where he ultimately died. Traffic in the area was blocked off as police investigated the incident. All lanes were reopened before 11 a.m. Tuesday.

The man is the second person fatally struck by a vehicle in Anchorage this year. In mid-February, 35-year-old Stephanie Howell died after a vehicle hit her in the Fairview neighborhood. In 2025, vehicles killed 15 pedestrians in Anchorage. same number as in 2024. Both years marked the city's highest pedestrian death toll in more than a decade.

A Washington man charged with distributing fentanyl pills that killed two Skagway men was found guilty by a federal jury last week. As Melinda Munson with KHNS reports, they were the first known fentanyl deaths in the small southeast town. In January of 2023, when two Skagway men died of fentanyl overdoses within 24 hours, the town went into a panic. Up to that point, Skagway had managed to escape the fentanyl crisis. Municipal officials instructed residents to immediately dispose of illegally obtained drugs and flew in mental health workers. 34-year-old Jacob Cotton, who spent part of his youth in Skagway, but is now a resident of Spokane, Washington, was found legally responsible for the two deaths, even though he wasn't in the same state. The court found

of fentanyl resulting in death. And he was also found guilty of a death resulting enhancement for both victims. This requires proof that the fentanyl pills he distributed were the cause of each victim's death. Assistant U.S. attorney Chris Schroeder says federal charges for drug deaths are becoming more common. Anyone who deals drugs to another person who then fatally overdoses on those drugs, cases a mandatory minimum of 20 years imprisonment, up to a potential maximum of life imprisonment, regardless of their record. That law has actually been on the books for a very long time, but cases involving that statute have become much more common in recent years. A date for sentencing has not yet been set.

Cotton faces between 20 years and life in prison for each count. In Chicago, I'm Melinda Munson. A labor union representing Kachakan Shepard workers has filed three charges against the yard's new operator. The union claims that Jag Kachakan has refused to negotiate with them on employee benefits from a 2023 collective bargaining agreement. As KRBD's Hunter Morrison reports, the new shipyard operator says it's not legally obligated to abide by that agreement. The shipyard's labor union filed the charges in December, January, and March. Randy Golding is the union's Alaska business manager. The biggest concern is the deterioration of the preexisting conditions and benefits that we had negotiated for with the previous operator.

With this new operator coming in, all that's all. the union filed the charges with the National Labor Relations Board, asserting that JAG Marine Group is not recognizing them or their collective bargaining agreement that was adopted under the previous shipyard operator, Vigor. They allege, JAG has made unilateral changes in terms and conditions of employment, including ending dirty pay, or special pay for work on ship septic systems containing human waste. William Earnhardt is an in a Anchorage-based attorney representing JAG. He says the company has no legal obligation to recognize the labor union or the collective

bargaining agreement. JAG is not a successor business. We didn't go in and just buy them out. So we're not a successor. We're hiring more employees. We're not bound by that contract. Jagg Marine Group took charge of the Ketchikan shipyard in September. That's after Alaska State Development Agency, Ada, ended a two-due.

decade partnership with the shipyard's previous operator, Vigar. A 2025 letter from Ada cited Vigar's poor performance. Luke Rebeki is a Washington, D.C. based attorney for the labor union. He says the Alaska chapter has represented Ketchikan's shipyard workers since 2022 when the facility operated under Vigar. Rebecca says the union negotiated a three-year labor contract that guaranteed wage increases and premium-free health insurance benefits, among other things. He says in January, under JAG, health insurance premiums went up by more than 25%. Here's Golding, again, the union's Alaska business manager. We want to make sure that the members are taken care of, and ultimately we don't believe that

JAG feels the same about the local membership as we do. Bergen Wheeler is the general manager for JAG Ketchikan. He says the shipyard could have been shuttered if Jag hadn't taken it over. And he says the shipyard does currently offer voluntary premium-based health insurance plans. I myself and my family have signed up for it and I pay the premiums to ensure that I have the good health care that Jag provides to cover my children and my wife and myself here in Ketchikan. It is unclear when the National Labor Relations Board will decide. whether to move forward with the union's charges. Attorney Rebecca says the board has a backlog of cases that were exacerbated by last fall's federal government shutdown. Reporting in Ketchikan,

I'm Hunter Morrison. Arctic sea ice has been shrinking in recent decades, reaching record lows both in summer and in winter. A new study shows a continuation of the trend. Ice is sticking to Alaska's northern shores for less time than it used to. Researchers say, this can have implications for the climate, resource development, and subsistence hunting. The Alaska Desk's Aliona Niden reports. Andrew Mahoney is a research professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. In January, he and his colleague published a study in the Journal of Geophysical Research, oceans.

It focused on the ice that attaches to the shores of Alaska's northern coast, called Landfast Ice. They found that over nearly three decades, the Landfast Ice, in Alaska's Arctic is forming later, breaking up earlier, and is not reaching as far offshore. So it's sort of shrinking in time and it's shrinking in space as well. Mahoney previously looked at the landfast ice in Chakchi and Beaufort seas in a study published in 2014. At that time, the Chakshi Sea seemed to experience more ice loss, while the Beaufort Sea seemed more stable. This year's study showed that that has changed. Now we're starting to see changes in the Beaufort Sea, that the Beaufort Sea of today is not the Beaufort Sea of the 1970s.

Mahoney says that while Landfast Ice is only a small fraction of the overall ice cover, it is the type of ice most people come in contact with. Indigenous communities have used it for millennia to hunt, like whalers in Tkavik in spring. A large fraction of the community at any one time might actually be out on the landfast ice actively whaling, and the success of that whale hunt is inund. part related to how accessible and how stable and safe the landfast ice is. Mahoney added that the oil and gas industry also uses landfast ice to build seasonal ice roads to connect to facilities.

In fact, his team's study was funded by the Federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management with the interest of oil and gas development near shore. And when landfast ice breaks up earlier in spring, coastal communities lose a shield protecting them from the open water and waves. There's a lot of erosion affecting these communities. Most of it happens in the fall, but we could start to see more erosion happening in the springtime if land-fast ice keeps breaking up earlier. The Arctic has been warming four times faster than the rest of the world.

The recent land-fast ice decline might be related to the overall thinning of Arctic ice due to climate change. But more research is needed to better understand the process behind it. In Anchorage, I'm Alona Knighton. For locals, Alaska's largest city has always been a train. town, but now it's official. Anchorage is one of 27 cities nationwide to receive international recognition for its trails from the International Mountain Bicycling Association. As part of the designation, Anchorage joins a national network of communities committed to trail stewardship, collaboration, and expanding access to

outdoor recreation, according to the Mountain Biking Association. For Will Tagan, executive director of Chugatch Mountain Bike riders, the achievement has been 20 years in the making thanks to volunteers and community partners. I think really the thing that today is is a celebration of what we have. You know, we have a lot of trails. Those trails are high quality. And we have a community that supports those trails. And those are really the three things.

Inba was looking for. And we're happy that they thought, you know, we were one of the good ones. Local leaders say the recognition will help strengthen future partnerships with land managers, tourism agencies, and funders to support continued maintenance. and expansion of the trail network. Well, a theater in a historic building in downtown Juno is being brought back to life after sitting empty for years. The people behind the restoration and renovation say they want it to be a space for the people

of Juno. KTOOs Yvonne Crummery got a tour and has more. Inside an 86-year-old movie theater in downtown Juneau, a group of film lovers are sifting through decades of debris. We're in a dusty room behind a big screen. There are a couple of generations of theater seats. in various states of deconstruction and decay. Red rolls of tickets and an ancient cash register sit on shelves.

And hanging from the ceiling is the top half of an old Art Deco stage arch. It's called a proscenium. So right here, this is the proscenium. And that was the original, so the original building. And we expect to restore this and build back the legs of it and re-gild it. and then this would be a performance space. That's James McSweeney. He points up along the ceiling of the original stage.

The original rigging is still up there for the flies. We will not be using that. We'll put some modern stuff in. And then the original catwalks, we will also not be using. McSweeney, who's renovating the old theater with his wife, says the building is full of history. It's really cool that it's all still here. He'd like to just bring it all back to life.

The gross 20th century theater was built in 1940, alongside a movie theater in the Menton Hall Valley. But during the pandemic, the downtown theater slowly closed and never reopened. In 2024, the Juneau Assembly approved a roughly $1 million loan from Juno's affordable housing fund to the new owners of the building. They planned to turn the upper floors into housing. Then, last fall, McSweeney and his wife decided to take a leap. They started renting the old theater space in the building with the hopes of reopening it. Before this venture, the couple had worked on the Alaska Marine Highway System Fair. for about a decade.

And like 10 years of that made me feel really like apart from the community, and I've always wanted to be in the community at my first opportunity, jumped in. McSweeney says the theater will be called Aurora Grand. It's a name they plan to grow into. Calling ourselves Grand is kind of what our aspiration will be. And we're going to start off pretty modest, and then we're going to like ramp up, hopefully, over the next few years. He wants to restore the theater's old school aesthetic.

Hollywood Regency and Art Deco. Part of that plan is taking down the drop ceiling and restoring the chandelier that's been hidden for decades. McSweeney also wants to bring back the marquee outside of the theater that would advertise events and movies. McSweeney's wife, Amelia Sweene, has been helping with the renovation. She says they plan to bring back plays and other live performances by Gino organizations. And we want to be able to show movies that are made by people in town, documentaries, student films, host it all, so that everybody feels like this is a part of their home and part of their space. And that's the mission behind the theater.

Creating spaces for youth to hang out, work the ticket booth, learn about films, and present their own. Hottestine Connor Meyer is a videographer who's helping McSweeney document the theater's transformation. I grew up in Yakutat, and we didn't have a third space. And so having this is an opportunity to really foster arts in a way that's not seen here in southeast Alaska. in this way, at this scale, is really, really exciting. Meyer says he wishes he had the chance as a young person to engage with film and creativity in the way the Aurora Grand hopes to foster. To have this when I was a kid, it would have changed my trajectory.

I wouldn't have gone through, I don't know, some of those stuff I went through to find myself. So hopefully this space fosters the ability for youth to find themselves in the arts a little bit quicker. And McSweeney says he's excited to keep up the theater's tradition of being a part of the fabric of Juno's community. for residents young and old into the years to come. Since we've opened the doors to the community, I've been talking to so many of people, to hear all the memories that have already taken place in the space,

we're just going to continue with that same energy, hopefully even more intensified, so we can have more and more awesome memories for people. Mixed many plans to open the theater in late May. In Juneau, I'm Yvonne Cromerie.

And that's all for this edition of Alaska News Nightly. We had reports tonight from Eric Stone and Yvonne Crumbry in Juneau, Liz Ruskin in Washington, D.C., Wesley Early, Aliona Nidonan, and Michaela Finnerty in Anchorage, Melinda Munson and Scagway and Hunter Morrison in Cachican. Our audio engineer is Crystal Hyde, Kirsten Dobroth is our producer, and I'm Casey Grove. Good night.

This is statewide news on Alaska Public Media.