Following a request by state legislators and similar action by other states, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Monday declared a 30-day state of disaster that allows the state to temporarily fund federal food-aid programs used by tens of thousands of Alaskans.

The state of Alaska will spend up to $10 million for direct financial assistance to Alaskans who use the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, as much as $5 million per week, the governor said…

Rashah McChesney is a multimedia journalist and editor who has reported and edited newsrooms from the Deep South to the Midwest to Alaska. For the past decade, she has worked in collaborative news as the...