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An empty hallway at a Kenai Peninsula Borough School (Sabine Poux/KDLL) In addition to the coronavirus crisis, Alaska education officials say they’re preparing for a budget crisis. Lisa Parady, the Executive Director of the Alaska Council of School Administrators, and other officials spoke to legislators during a legislative committee meeting Wednesday. School districts need financial…

A screengrab from Coast Guard video shows rescue swimmer Grant Roberts (left) and survivor Kurt Brodersen (right), holding on to all that remains of Brodersen’s boat “Irony” — the hatch cover. (Courtesy U.S. Coast Guard) When a retired Southeast Alaska fisherman found himself adrift after his boat suddenly sank in a storm, he didn’t expect…

The Central Peninsula Hospital in Soldotna. (Sabine Poux/KDLL) Sixteen residents have tested positive for the coronavirus at Heritage Place, the eldercare facility operated by Central Peninsula Hospital. That’s over 30% of the facility’s 52 residents. Meanwhile, the hospital is working with a diminished number of staff members and opening up surge spaces to accommodate the…

The Tok electric bus looks like any other bus from the outside (Image from YouTube) The eastern Interior town of Tok has Alaska’s first and only electric-powered school bus. The vehicle has in use since mid-October, and it was put to the test earlier this month, when it transported students without any problem after the…

Pollock are transferred from a fishing boat into a processing plant in Dutch Harbor, in the Aleutian Islands, in January, 2019. (Photo by Berett Wilber) Stories are posted on the statewide news page. You can subscribe to Alaska Public Media’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @AKPublicNews Wednesday on Alaska News Nightly: The Anchorage Daily…

Assembly chair Felix Rivera and Assembly member Austin Quinn-Davidson at the Anchorage Assembly meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020, where Chief of Staff Jason Bockenstedt announced Mayor Ethan Berkowitz’s resignation. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media) Stories are posted on the statewide news page. You can subscribe to Alaska Public Media’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @AKPublicNews Tuesday…

A polar bear in Arctic Alaska. (Photo Credit: Terry Debruyne/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Conservation groups are suing the Trump administration to halt the approval of a development plan for a ConocoPhillips oil project in Alaska, arguing that officials underestimated the plan’s harm to local wildlife. The groups filed a lawsuit…

Caribou graze on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, with the Brooks Range as a backdrop. (USFWS) Starting Tuesday, oil and gas companies can pick which parts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain they’re interested in drilling. It’s the latest push by the Trump administration to auction off development rights in the…

Hannah Halvorsen of APU Nordic Ski Center at a recent training session at Hillside Ski Area in Anchorage on Friday, Nov. 13, 2020 (Lex Treinen/Alaska Public Media) Stories are posted on the statewide news page. You can subscribe to Alaska Public Media’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @AKPublicNews Monday on Alaska News Nightly: Former…

No one aboard the plane was injured when an Alaska Airlines jet struck and killed a brown bear at Yakutat’s airport on Saturday. The plane’s left engine cowl was damaged and remains in Yakutat for repairs. (Photo courtesy of RE Johnson) An Alaska Airlines jet struck and killed a brown bear at Yakutat’s airport on…

A scanning electron micrograph of a cell (blue) heavily infected with particles of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Image captured from a patient sample at a federal lab in Maryland. (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) Alaska reported its second-highest daily COVID-19 case count on Sunday with 654 new cases reported. 642 of…

Left to Right: Molly Dieni, Lisa Hawkins, and Adriana Latonio make up a cappella group Pipeline Vocal Project (Photo courtesy of Pipline Vocal Project via Facebook) This week on State of Art we’re hearing from Pipeline Vocal Project. This homegrown a cappella trio’s mission is to sing, perform, and educate. From virtual performances and an…

Incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (left) and Congressional candidate Dr. Al Gross (right) debate for one of Alaska’s U.S. Senate seats, on October 23 at Debate for the State. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media) There are still more ballots to count, but U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Congressman Don Young seem to have cemented their re-election. “It’s…

A scanning electron micrograph shows a cell (green) heavily infected with particles (yellow) of SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) State health officials reported 745 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday in Alaska residents and non-resident visitors to the state. This is a new high number of cases reported…

Alaska voter stickers sit ready for voters who have cast their ballots in Kodiak in the 2020 election. (Photo by Dylan Simard/KMXT) Ballot Measure 2 grew closer to passing on Friday, with 1,141 more yes votes than no votes after the day’s count.  The measure would overhaul Alaska’s election laws, with a single primary open…

A health care provider provides care on April 7, 2020, for a woman hospitalized in an isolation room in the critical care unit of Bartlett Hospital, in Juneau, Alaska. on (Rashah McChesney/KTOO) Stories are posted on the statewide news page. You can subscribe to Alaska Public Media’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @AKPublicNews Friday…

Republican U.S. Rep. Don Young speaks to moderator Lori Townsend at a debate in Anchorage last month. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media) A day after 87-year-old U.S. Rep. Don Young said he’d tested positive for COVID-19, the only information available about his condition remained the tweet announcing he’d been infected with the potentially life-threatening illness. Young,…

National and state elections were, and continue to be, major distractions from a global pandemic that is tightening its grip around Alaska. Congress and the President have failed to agree on a supplemental CARES Act to stabilize U.S. small business and residents facing evictions. On the next Justice Alaska on Hometown Alaska, we’ll speak with…

A voter mails an absentee ballot in October. (Lex Treinen/Alaska Public Media) A new round of vote-counting Thursday put the citizens initiative to overhaul Alaska’s election system on track to win. After officials counted another 35,000 votes, Ballot Measure 2 has a tiny lead of 500 votes, or less than .25%. It’s not certain that…

A screenshot from Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s emergency message on Nov. 11, 2020. Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office issued an emergency alert on Thursday, urging Alaskans to take more precautions to slow the spread of COVID-19.  The alert was sent to cellphones in Alaska, with a link to a YouTube video of the governor. The governor’s office said…

Incumbent Rep. Don Young addressing moderator Lori Townsend during a debate with Congressional candidate Alyse Galvin for Alaska’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, on October 22 at Debate for the State. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media) U.S. Rep. Don Young, 87, has tested positive for COVID-19, he announced in a tweet Thursday. I have…