As students prepare to travel home, high fuel and energy prices squeeze Fairbanksians. The ongoing conflict in Iran has led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a shipping corridor off the Arabian peninsula. The Strait of Hormuz is critical to the global energy supply, with approximately 20% of the world’s crude oil passing through it. 

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin joined Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Alaska Attorney General Stephen J. Cox at the University of Alaska Fairbanks power plant for a press conference following a series of meetings and visits around the Fairbanks area. 

Cold weather be damned, Fairbanks residents took to the streets three times in the last few weeks to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, on Jan. 9 Jan. 20 and Jan 25.  Chants cut through the cold air, “No hate. No fear. Immigrants are welcome here!” 

Alaska Climate Specialist Rick Thoman sat down with The Sun Star to discuss Fairbanks’ recent warm weather and seasonal patterns in our land of extremes.  

Over most of Alaska, including Fairbanks, it has been a mild fall season with fairly low amounts of snow, though Fairbanks had one of the wettest Octobers on record. “The vast majority of that precipitation at valley level came as rain,” he said.

After financial turmoil, staff furlough Northern Center squares its debts with help from the Alaska conservation foundation and ‘night for the north’ event

The Northern Alaska Environmental Center is moving forward with a recovery plan after paying off debts following near financial ruin. At the beginning of September, following a separation with their executive director, board members said they discovered there was not enough funds for payroll. This led to the furloughing of the entire staff and pausing on all programs.

After months of staff furloughs, financial strain and the executive director departing, the Northern Alaska Environmental Center, founded in 1971, is working to rebuild its operations and regain stability.

On Sept. 10 the center’s board of directors released a letter stating that Elisabeth Dabney, former executive director, would be “concluding her service” with the Northern Center. Five days later, the board issued a second message announcing that they would be placing their programming on pause. This included furloughing all four staff members.

Ever since he was around the ages of 16 and 17, young Gary Black would open his town newspaper to the opinion section once he was home from school every day. The born and raised Texan has been working at the Fairbanks Daily News Miner for the past 19 years.