Craig Taylor Equipment has acquired all of its Alaska Peterbilt assets from Dobbs Peterbilt. Formerly known as Western Peterbilt and now operating as Peterbilt of Alaska, the assets include branch locations in Anchorage and Fairbanks, equipment, and approximately forty employees. “Our business has been around for sixty-five years; we have a lot of deeply entrenched customers in Alaska, many of which are also Peterbilt customers—or could be. And so we think there’s a lot of synergy opportunity there that could be beneficial on both sides,” says Craig Taylor Equipment President and CEO Chris Devine.
craigtaylorequipment.com | dobbspeterbilt.com

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Oil and Gas issued a Mount Spurr Noncompetitive Geothermal Prospecting Permit in late December, giving Raser Power Systems, a Utah-based geothermal drilling company, the exclusive right to prospect for geothermal resources on about 6,750 acres of state land for two years. Developing geothermal resources beneath Mount Spurr would be in the best interest of the state, which should approve permits for such development.
dog.dnr.alaska.gov

Marking a historic first event in Indigenous relations, the Anchorage Assembly adopted AO No. 2020-137 (S) by a unanimous 10-0 vote to formalize into code government-to-government relations between the Municipality of Anchorage and the Native Village of Eklutna.

The ordinance was developed by a working group—which includes assembly members Christopher Constant, Forest Dunbar, and Kameron Perez-Verdia, Native Village of Eklutna (NVE) President Aaron Leggett, municipal attorney Jessica Willoughby, and North Star Group advisors—with assistance from tribal law and government affairs specialists, as well as NVE tribal members. Under the ordinance, MOA will create policies and protocols to institute a government-to-government relationship with NVE.
muni.org | eklutna-nsn.gov

thread, Alaska’s childcare resource and referral network, recently awarded $940,000 to 260 licensed early childhood and afterschool/school-age education programs statewide as part of its COVID-19 Quality Initiative 2. thread partnered with The Alaska Community Foundation and the State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) to address the continued needs of early childhood education programs during the pandemic with support from the COVID-19 Quality Initiative 2.
threadalaska.org

The Anchorage Police Department celebrates 100 years of service in 2021. Anchorage had a modest beginning as a tent city on the banks of Ship Creek—originally called Ship Creek Landing—and law enforcement for the Alaska Territory at the time was in the hands of the United States Marshals. Today, APD serves a population of more than 285,000 in a service area that covers the Knik River bridge on the north end to Ingram Creek on the south side. APD currently employs just under 600 people made up of both sworn and non-sworn positions.
muni.org/departments/police

The Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) signed agreements granting a 50-year right-of-way for the future construction of the Ambler Mining District Industrial Access Road. AIDEA Executive Director Alan Weitzner says, “The signing of this permit is a major milestone. It’s the first step in a multi-year phase of feasibility and pre-development. The permits are for a controlled industrial access road with stipulations that protect subsistence and environmental resources.”
blm.gov/Alaska | nps.gov | aidea.org

Thirty communities, Coastal Villages Region Fund (CVRF), and Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation (BBEDC) announced significant crab industry acquisitions to bring new revenue streams to Western Alaskan communities. The buy-out of the Mariner Companies, a Seattle-based fishing enterprise majority-owned by Kevin Kaldestad and Gordon Kristjanson, provides participating communities with opilio and red king crab quota, equaling 3 percent of the total crab fishery, while CVRF and BBEDC acquires full ownership of seven crabbing vessels.
coastalvillages.org | bbedc.com