Alaska

The great state of Alaska is located in the NW corner of North America is bordered by British Columbia, Canada and the Yukon Border, while sharing a Maritime-border with Russia to the West across the Bering Strait. By area, Alaska is the largest US state, and also the 7th largest subnational in the world. It is however the 3rd least populous state and most sparsely populated by area.

A major economic driver for the state is military bases and tourism. Alaska was purchased from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, and was admitted as the 49th state on January 3, 1959. The capital is Juneau and the largest city in Alaska is Anchorage.

Alaska is both the northern and westernmost state in the United States. It is also the only non-contiguous state in the country. Alaska has nearly 34,000 miles of tidal shores, active volcanoes, marshlands and wetlands, and glaciers covering over 16,000 miles of land. Its many state parks, national forests, and national wildlife, are among the many reasons why it is such a popular tourist destination for fishing, hiking, and cruises.

Gold rush fever struck between 1890 through 1910 by the Yukon Territory which brought miners to the territory who settled there. The discovery of oil in 1968 was another predominant period in the state’s history which led to the oil boom in 1977 after the completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. Today, energy, agriculture/fishing, tourism, and marine/air transport, are the most common types of work/employment in the state.  

Alaska’s government, like many of the state governments, is divided into three branches; the executive, legislative and judicial branch.

The Executive branch consists of the governor, and there are several state agencies, including the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development, the Fish and Game Department, and the Department of Labor and Workforce Development. 

The Legislative branch features a bicameral legislature, with the Alaska Senate and the Alaska House of Representatives.  The Senate has 20 members while the House has 40 members.  The legislature meets in Juneau, the state capital.

The Alaska Court System is centrally administered and completely funded by the state. The Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court is the administrative head of the Alaska Court System.  It consists of the Alaska District court, which mostly handles misdemeanors, the Alaska Superior Court, which handles felony cases, and the Alaska Supreme Court and the Alaska Court of Appeals are the primary appellate courts.

Instead of counties, the state is divided into 16 “boroughs.”

The National Law Review covers a broad range of news and cases which come out of Alaska. Among the cases covered on the site are: wage, labor laws, healthcare, public schooling, legislative, and other news. The National Law Review also covers information regarding general news in the state and the Alaskan government, and news from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which has jurisdiction over federal cases in Alaska.