‘Unprecedented’: more than 100 Arctic wildfires burn in worst ever season

Huge blazes in Greenland, Siberia and Alaska are producing plumes of smoke that can be seen from space

The Arctic is suffering its worst wildfire season on record, with huge blazes in Greenland, Siberia and Alaska producing plumes of smoke that can be seen from space.

The Arctic region has recorded its hottest June ever. Since the start of that month, more than 100 wildfires have burned in the Arctic circle. In Russia, 11 of 49 regions are experiencing wildfires.

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Australian man one of six dead after midair seaplane collision in Alaska

Four Americans and a Canadian also among those killed after crash involving cruise ship sightseeing planes

An Australian man has been confirmed as among six people killed after two sightseeing seaplanes crashed midair in Alaska.

Four Americans and one Canadian were also among those killed when two planes carrying 16 people – including the two pilots – collided and plunged into the icy cold waters of a inlet near the south-eastern Alaskan town of Ketchikan on Monday, the US coast guard said.

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‘Essential first step’: Congress moves to act on crisis of violence against Native women

Senator Lisa Murkowksi tells the Guardian ‘justice was not there’ for indigenous families, but says change is coming

For generations, the deaths and disappearances of Native American women and girls have haunted Indian country. Despite the alarming number of indigenous women who vanish each year from tribal land, rural communities and cities, there is no official accounting of the murdered and missing.

Now, amid a growing demand for answers in the era of #MeToo, political momentum is building on Capitol Hill to finally address these tragedies – and to prevent future ones.

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Trump’s EPA wants to put a toxic mine in pristine Alaska. What could go wrong? | Kim Heacox

Pebble Mine is just the latest story of greedy men exploiting nature for profit, and leaving us with the nasty side-effects

Back in my youth, while in Montana, I came across Berkeley Pit, called “the richest hill on earth.” There, churches and historic neighborhoods were bulldozed to expand the pit so greedy men could make their fortunes mining copper, silver and gold. After the riches were extracted, and problems arose, those men absolved themselves of any wrongdoing, and left. Over time, the mine closed and the pit began to fill with an acidic brew so toxic that when snow geese landed there, they died. As it threatened Montana’s groundwater, the pit became an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) superfund site that would cost American taxpayers billions of dollars for generations.

I fear the same awaits Alaska’s Pebble Mine, a nightmare proposed by the Canadian mining company, Northern Dynasty. Don’t be fooled by the name. For many Alaskans, Pebble is a boulder on their heart. If built, it would be a massive pit one mile in diameter and 600ft deep. It would obliterate 3,500 acres of wetlands and 80-plus miles of salmon streams, and produce an estimated 10 billion tons of waste. Earthen dams would hold back toxic mine tailings, all in earthquake country, in the headwaters of Bristol Bay, the richest sockeye salmon run in the world. What could go wrong?

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Meet the 88-year-old powering his insurgent 2020 bid with teens

Fueled by the ambition of two teenagers, ex-Alaska senator Mike Gravel is running for president with the explicit intention of entering Democratic debates

In 2008’s Democratic race for the White House, a little-known former senator from Alaska, Mike Gravel, barnstormed the party debates, railing against America’s foreign wars and slamming his rival candidates as elitists out-of-touch with ordinary Americans.

Related: Who is running for president? The full list of 2020 Democratic candidates

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Collins and Murkowski offer contrast on Kavanaugh vote

Longtime friends and Republican senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins displayed vastly different styles Friday, reaching opposite conclusions on the crucial question of Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court. Murkowski, in her fourth term representing Alaska, quietly uttered a single word - "no" - as she turned against President Donald Trump's choice for a seat on the high court.

Future of Alaska oil check program weighs on governor’s race Source: AP

Tension over changes to Alaska's famed oil-wealth checks hangs over this year's governor's race, threatening Gov. Bill Walker's chances for re-election. For decades, residents have shared in the state's oil wealth, eagerly anticipating the much-hyped reveal of the annual check's amount and dreaming about how they'd use their portion.

Advancing farm bill stirs worries that Alaskans could lose food stamps benefits

Food security advocates are worried that legislation working its way through Congress could cause thousands of Alaskans, particularly in rural areas, to lose "food stamp" benefits and add an untenable layer of bureaucracy for the already-strapped state government. Congressional leaders are working to find a compromise between House and Senate farm bills before the prior version expires at the end of the month.

State attorney says there’s evidence of voter fraud in hotly contested Alaska House district

Alaska elections officials said Monday that they've asked criminal investigators to examine "irregularities" with absentee ballots in a hotly contested Anchorage House district - including seven absentees requested in the names of dead people. The irregularities are evidence of voter fraud, according to one state attorney, Margaret Paton-Walsh.

Begich, Dunleavy, Hawkins & Treadwell Offer Gubernatorial Campaign Remarks

Your Alaska Link checked in with 2018 gubernatorial candidates Mead Treadwell, Mark Begich, Mike Dunleavy and Scott Hawkins about their campaign run and what they want for the great state of Alaska. As Dunleavy states, "I think it's good for the people of Alaska to have folks in a Primary so they have somebody to choose froma some of the folks that just got in are kind of on the left side of the spectrum, and there's others like myself that are on the right side of the spectrum, so people have an opportunity to chose."

Alaska police chief: War on weed a ‘waste of time’

The police chief recently named to the board that regulates Alaska's legal marijuana industry says the fight that has long been waged against pot in this country has been a "waste of time" and law enforcement resources. Jeff Ankerfelt, who is police chief in the southeast Alaska city of Sitka, says he wants to contribute to the successful implementation of well thought-out industry regulations.

Maritime organization approves Bering Strait shipping routes

In this July 14, 2017 file photo, The Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica sails past the American island of Little Diomede, Alaska, left, and behind it, the Russian island of Big Diomede, separated by the International Date Line on the Bering Strait. The International Maritime Organization has approved two-way shipping routes into the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait.