Yeah those plates came out just in time for me to get my car re-registered, and yes AK requires front plates.. I quite like these new plates..

As for the parking lights, its the same on my truck too. You press one button to turn the parking lights on, push the same button again to turn the headlamps on. So you can't have the headlamps on without the parking lights on, but you can have the parking lights on w/o headlamps. If that makes sense.