On today's Midday Report with Host Terry Haines:The University of Alaska Fairbanks is getting $7-and-a-half million from the U.S. Department of Energy to advance the nation’s domestic supply of critical minerals. No bids were received in the oil and gas lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. And the federal government says it no longer thinks the state underfunded school districts.

Photo: UAF Critical Minerals Lab analyst Piper Kramer places a rock sample in an x-ray spectrometer on Jan. 7, 2025. Photo by Shelby Herbert/AKPM