WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department has so far paid $1.8 million for private attorneys to represent seven prosecutors facing a criminal contempt investigation in the botched case against the late Sen. Ted Stevens, and members of the Senate are saying it’s inappropriate. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson made the...

Even on one ski, Kikkan Randall is the best in the world. Randall, the three-time Olympian from Anchorage, clinched the World Cup cross-country sprint world championship Wednesday in Drammen, Norway, despite skiing on a single ski while carrying the other for part of the race. Randall, who has worn the red bib as the World Cup sprint leader since winning the...

FAIRBANKS — In a close vote, the Alaska Board of Game approved shooting grizzly bears if they show up at certain black bear bait stations in Interior Alaska. The board voted 4-3 to allow hunters to shoot grizzly bears at the stations next season in three parts of the Interior. It is legal in Alaska to bait and shoot black bears, which are more common than...

A Wasilla man is dead after an apparent gun and knife fight late Wednesday at a home near Mile 15 of Knik Goose Bay Road, according to Alaska State Troopers. Someone called 911 about 10:30 p.m. to report that the man, 43-year-old Michael R. Plummer, was probably dead, troopers said in a dispatch this morning. Investigators soon learned from witnesses that three men...

A well placed bullet might stop an aggressive grizzly, but not shooting could be just as effective in protecting yourself in bear country, according to a new study by Brigham Young University wildlife biologists. Longtime bear biologist Tom Smith and colleagues analyzed 269 incidents of close-quarter bear-human conflict in Alaska between 1883 and 2009 in which a...

The Air Force says the shift of the F-16 squadron from Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson would result in the addition of about 125 personnel to the Anchorage base. The Air Force wants to move the squadron, with its 21 fighter jets, in fiscal year 2013 as part of a global effort to lower costs and increase efficiency.Alaska’s...