ew businesses can take anywhere from several months to a few years to turn a profit. The seasonal economy of many industries in Alaska can add additional financial uncertainty for small businesses. With all that uncertainty and financial risk, small business owners often try to do as much by themselves as they can, including marketing and tax filings.

As a self-employed writer and occasional communications consultant, I’ve seen this pattern firsthand. But I’ve also learned that extending a “DIY” mentality to taxes can hold unexpected perils, especially when it comes to handling business losses. “People… make decisions that they don’t understand the long-term impact of,” says Bryan Fick, a CPA at Younger and Company, “so then they get into undesirable tax situations.”

o help meet Alaska’s growing workforce needs, companies are forming innovative partnerships with educators around the state. One example is ConocoPhillips Alaska, which recently donated $400,000 to the University of Alaska (UA) to establish the Process Technology Support Fund. The fund supports process technology programs in Fairbanks at UAF Community and Technical College (CTC) and at UAA’s Kenai Peninsula College (KPC), helping pay for equipment and technology upgrades as well as expanded outreach.

“This is the right time because the workforce need is real and immediate and because UA’s process technology programs already deliver strong outcomes,” says Tim Turner, vice president of operations at ConocoPhillips Alaska. “We see this as a long-term workforce development investment that connects classroom learning to real careers, and we hope it also encourages additional industry partners to invest in this vital pipeline.”

ilitary operations in the Far North go back decades, but the region has taken on growing significance for the US Department of War. US military operations are organized as geographic commands, and two of the seven now conduct regular exercises in the Arctic. The US Indo-Pacific Command, sometimes called the Pacific Command, operates Northern Edge, while the Northern Command conducts Arctic Edge.

With that increased importance comes a need to update and expand existing facilities. The $332 million Joint Integrated Test and Training Center-Elmendorf (JITTC-E) adds a 150,000-square-foot facility with significant simulation capability to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) in Anchorage.

ed Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) is both Alaska’s primary gateway for travelers and one of the state’s most powerful economic engines. Each year, it welcomes visitors while also serving a far larger role in global commerce. According to the latest rankings from Airports Council International World, ANC now ranks first in the United States for cargo volume and third worldwide.

“ANC continues to prove that Alaska is at the center of global commerce,” says Angie Spear, director of the Alaska International Airport System. “Being ranked among the world’s busiest cargo airports reflects the strength of our tenants, airline partners, workforce, and the strategic advantages only Anchorage can offer.”

Thirteen years since the Qugruk 3 exploration well found oil at the Pikka field, Santos is sending that project through all three segments of the petroleum chain. Upstream production becomes midstream transport, destined for downstream refining and sales. Pikka advances Alaska’s position on the circular chessboard for Arctic resource development, even as the pawn skeleton of spill response and technical training shores up the state’s defensive posture.

While the state draws nearer than ever to a new pipeline that would transport more North Slope energy as natural gas, the crude oil in the Trans Alaska Pipeline System remains an economic foundation.

hen Typhoon Halong swept through western Alaska in 2025, the damage it left behind seeped underground. Home heating oil tanks were dislodged, ruptured, or submerged. Communities were flooded. And, somewhere in the chaos, oil started leaking from tanks.

Within days, crews from 1-Call Alaska, a division of Resolve Marine, were in Nightmute, recovering fuel and managing contaminated materials. “We responded in the wake of severe weather to remote villages to recover home heating oil tanks, village oil tanks, and other oil spilled during flooding,” says Chris Svencer, Preparedness Response Manager at 1-Call Alaska/Resolve Marine.

hings every Alaskan should know: how to swim, how to start a fire, when to play dead for a bear and when not to, the five species of Pacific salmon, and basic petroleum geology. The oil industry has driven the last half century of the state’s development, and a share of its profits lands in Alaskans’ bank accounts every fall, so this glossary will help every Alaskan become a petroleum geologist at heart.

Crude oil is not dinosaur juice. True, most petroleum is found in rocks laid down during the Mesozoic Era, the Age of Dinosaurs, but the organic precursors were plankton and algae. These goopy critters accumulated on the seafloor and were compressed until the carbohydrates in their bodies converted into hydrocarbons. The lightest carbon-hydrogen molecules are methane, the main part of natural gas, which might be dissolved in oil or water contained in rock. More carbons in the chain make gas condensates, ideal for synthesizing plastics. Crude oil is a mixture of various carbonaceous gunk. What makes it “conventional” is the ease of accessibility from porous and permeable rock formations like sandstone or limestone, where hydrocarbons flow through interconnected pathways. Alaska has historically relied on conventional reservoirs.

t any time, there are between 40,000 and 42,000 mining claims in Alaska. And with the price of gold hovering around $4,500 per ounce, the interest in trying to strike gold is increasing. In the spring of 2006, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Division of Mining, Land, and Water faced a backlog of 2,000 to 2,300 filings awaiting review. Anticipating that claims will continue to increase, DNR staff offered a half-day course at the 2026 Alaska Miners Association Biennial Convention so future miners can understand what is required to initiate and record a valid mining location.

DNR geologist Aaron Nickols says the key to successfully initiating a valid mining location is to remember that mining is a business. Therefore, active miners must obtain an Alaska business license and an Alaska Mining License from the Alaska Department of Revenue before staking any claims or filing any paperwork. The only exception is true recreational mining, which can be done without a permit unless dredging in fish bearing streams. However, if a mining operation intends to run a commercial recreational mining venture, it must have the appropriate business licenses so that the department can collect the 3 percent production royalties and the Mining License Tax (up to 7 percent) on mineral sales.

uadrupling the state’s population, about 3 million visitors flow into Alaska each year. Approximately one-third of those don’t have berths aboard a cruise ship or beds in a motorhome, so they need somewhere to stay. With more than 5,000 arrivals every day during the summer, on average, hotels would need more than 20,000 double-accommodation rooms to hold them all, assuming a week-long stay. But not nearly that many are available.

According to Visit Anchorage, the state’s largest city has an inventory of just over 8,000 rooms, and the remainder of visitors stay in a less-visible network of bed-and-breakfasts, short-term rentals, and rented motorhomes. So, while locals might wonder why Alaska needs so many hotels, they have no trouble achieving 90 percent occupancy rates.

Aware of this demand, the Aspen Hotel chain reorganized as a more integrated statewide chain this year, becoming the largest Alaskan-owned regional hotel brand by location.

any view incompetence as an individual problem—some combination of lack of skill, judgment, or motivation. But the greater threat is organizational: a corporate culture that rewards appearances, relationships, or politics over capability.

“Failing up” is one of the most enduring paradoxes in business. This occurs when individuals receive promotions, expanded authority, or prestigious appointments despite a track record of poor performance. Classic examples range from executives who leave struggling organizations only to land influential board positions elsewhere to managers who consistently miss targets yet are moved into more senior roles rather than held accountable.

At first glance, incompetence appears to be a training or motivation issue. In reality, organizations often enable it through incentives and culture. When leaders avoid difficult personnel decisions, poor performers can be transferred, promoted, or otherwise repositioned instead of being developed or removed. Doing so can send a powerful message about what the organization truly values.

The May 29 edition of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman was the last to roll off the press, but its legacy continues. The nonprofit Mat-Su Sentinel acquired the seventy-nine-year-old newspaper from Wick Communications. Mat-Su Sentinel owner Amy Bushatz says although the paper is now closed, its archives and website will remain available for use, now without a paywall. The sale included the Anchorage Press, a former alternative weekly, which Bushatz sold to nonprofit news website Northern Journal.

matsusentinel.com

MAC Federal Credit Union is officially part of Credit Union 1. Both cooperatives approved the merger as of June 1, creating an institution with nearly 112,500 members, $1.7 billion in assets, and nineteen branches statewide. MAC was established for Fort Wainwright soldiers and thus extends Alaska’s only state-chartered credit union into the Fairbanks area.

cu1.org