Nathaniel Herz

With state and federal money, University of Alaska researchers plan to explore the viability of a new coal plant in the Susitna River valley that would inject its carbon emissions underground.

Lawmakers unanimously approved adding heavily scrutinized state corporations, like AIDEA, to a database of public spending. But two months after a legal deadline, the new system hasn't launched.

Other highlights: money for tree planting and thinning, a new state vessel and plane, and a major budget boost for the state grant program funded by oil production in the National Petroleum Reserve.

Buried in GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy's new budget plan are items to escalate the state's subsistence fight with the feds, enhance drone use for law enforcement and pay for a growing number of autopsies.

Plus, Alaska's state-owned economic development agency could invest in a new North Slope infrastructure project.

The federal government says it's considering submitting a friend-of-the-court brief in a lawsuit over fishing rights between the state and the Southeast Alaska tribal government of Metlakatla.