Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media

The reduction of 2,600 soldiers from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson isn’t expected to begin for more than a year. Alaska officials hope that gives enough time to stop it, or at least mitigate the loss. Gov. Bill Walker Thursday pledged a campaign to retain Alaska’s military forces and attract new ones.

The Army said today it plans to cut 2,600 troops from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage and another 75 soldiers from Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks. That would slice two-thirds of the personnel from the 4-25th, the only airborne brigade in the Pacific. Download Audio:

The Inspector General for Veterans Affairs has verified a host of problems at the VA’s Mat-Su outpatient clinic.

The Affordable Care Act has special provisions for American Indians and Alaska Natives. They’re exempt from the individual mandate requiring Americans to purchase health insurance, since they’re already entitled to health care through the Indian Health Service.

More than 16,000 Alaskans will keep their health insurance subsidies under a ruling issued Thursday by the United States Supreme Court. The Court ruled 6 to 3 in favor of the argument that the Affordable Care Act allows residents in states like Alaska to access federal subsidies on healthcare.gov. Download Audio

Congress does not appear close to finding $1 billion to fund a new Coast Guard icebreaker, but Thursday, the Senate Commerce Committee approved a bill authorizing $14 million to plan for one.

A new Veterans Affairs program aimed at reducing long wait times for health care has had the opposite effect for scores of Alaska vets. At a congressional hearing today, Sen. Dan Sullivan said the Choice program is undermining older systems that helped Alaskans use their VA benefits to get treatment outside the VA. Download Audio

Environmental groups say they’ve found a fundamental flaw in Shell’s plan to drill in the Chukchi Sea this summer. They say Shell’s plan to use two drill rigs at once violates a 2013 Fish and Wildlife regulation aimed at protecting walruses. Listen now:

Of the throng of Republicans known to be running for president, the state party says Marco Rubio is the first to announce an Alaska team. Anchorage political consultants Art and April Hackney have signed on to lead the Alaska campaign. Download Audio

When the scandal erupted last year over long wait lists at the Phoenix VA, Alaska was found to have quite short wait times. The Alaska VA has for years been buying care for veterans outside the VA, from the private sector and the Native health care system. That’s the model Congress chose when it passed the Veterans Choice Act last year, aimed at solving the VA backlog in the Lower 48. But as the new Choice program spreads to Alaska, vets and providers say it’s undoing parts of the Alaska-grown system that have worked well.

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough government plans to meet individually with residents this afternoon to tell them if their homes are still standing. Sessions begin at 1 p.m. at the Houston Middle School.

An appropriations bill authored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski would undo two of the Obama administration’s highest profile environmental efforts, and compel a land exchange to build a road in the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, to connect King Cove and Cold Bay.