Competition is tightening at the front of the Yukon Quest Alaska 750.

A tight state budget is leading some Alaska lawmakers to consider again sending Alaska inmates out of state to serve out their sentences. // A Delta Junction man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for sexually abusing his daughter for six years. // Alaska Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Carney on Wednesday asked legislators to fund new judges and long-delayed courthouse maintenance. // A Juneau state representative’s proposal to ban law enforcement officers from wearing face masks on duty got a chilly reception from some lawmakers.

Quest mushers are making solid progress toward the race's halfway point, buoyed by village checkpoints.

Tribal leaders from across the country spoke out Tuesday in a Senate hearing against proposed changes in a federal program that benefits Alaska Native corporations. // The Interior Gas Utility’s general manager says the Fairbanks-based utility has officially completed transitioning to a North Slope source of liquefied natural gas. // The Alaska Department of Transportation is giving away sections of a World War II-era bridge on the Alaska Highway south of Delta Junction. // A Deering man was sentenced to a year and a half in prison last week [Feb.4] for sexually touching an underage girl on an airplane during a flight to Seattle.

The field is beginning to sort out as the race moves down the Yukon River.

Lisa Murkowski and three other U.S. senators returned Monday from Greenland, where they tried to repair relationships after President Trump’s threats to take over the island. // A UAF student has made his first court appearance after he ate a fellow student’s AI-generated artwork in an act of protest. // Workers at Alaska’s only major shipyard have been busy since a new operator took charge of the state-owned facility in Ketchikan last fall. // Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s fiscal plan is taking a beating as lawmakers and the public take a closer look at the proposal. Now, the governor is changing course.

Yukon Quest mushers face many challenges along the trail, and volunteers are there to support them.

“It shouldn’t be acceptable for this art to be put alongside these real pieces,” he said. “It chews up and it spits out art made by other people.”

Yukon Quest mushers will run into overnight low temperatures of around 40 below tonight and Tuesday as they traverse the Yukon Flats. // About a hundred people packed a hearing in Anchorage for six and a half hours last week on a controversial proposal to reform the Federal Subsistence Board. // Despite Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s advice, Alaska state officials continue to search for a solution to its long-running budget problem of spending more than it takes in. // A judge ruled last week that Alaska’s two largest news organizations and two top reporters did not defame an ex-state employee in a story they wrote in 2023.