Image courtesy of Spenard Food Truck Carnival. This week on State of Art we’re learning about the Spenard Food Truck Carnival. A of couple time a week, 10 food trucks converge on the Chilkoot Charlie’s parking lot to serve up dishes ranging from classic BBQ and hot dogs to traditional Russian and Laotian food. We…
Alaska News Nightly: Friday, August 21, 2020
Tlingit carver Tommy Joseph sets a fist and feather he carved out of wood on top of a yellow cedar log. Joseph, who was born in Ketchikan, has carved nearly twenty totem poles in Sitka. His latest is a reproduction of the “Waasgo Pole” for Sitka National Historical Park. (Erin McKinstry/KCAW) Stories are posted on…
Treasury lays out options for city to move forward with controversial property purchases
The Best Western Golden Lion Hotel, which the city hopes to turn into a drug and alcohol treatment center. (Lex Treinen/Alaska Public Media) Uncertainty over the city’s controversial purchase of four properties for substance treatment and housing services seems to be at least partially resolved after the Berkowitz administration met with U.S. Department of Treasury…
Months after initial closures, how is Alaska’s economy fairing? | Alaska Insight
Five months after state and local governments’ initial COVID-19 closures, where is Alaska at in its recovery? Where are the gaps that must be filled to keep businesses and citizens whole? And how will changes to the U.S. Postal Service affect Alaskan communities. Lori Townsend speaks with Jonathan King, owner of Halcyon Consulting, and Mouhcine…
‘We’ll figure it out together’: Thousands of Anchorage teachers and students log on for the first day of school
Anchorage teacher Kelly Shrein welcomes 5th grade students to a live zoom session on the first day of school at Northwood Elementary in West Anchorage on August 20, 2020. Shrein says she was up until 11pm the night before responding to parents questions. (Mayowa Aina/Alaska Public Media) Thursday marked the first day of school for…
Alaska News Nightly: Thursday, August 20, 2020
Anchorage teacher Kelly Shrein asks students to use a thumbs up signal to show that they can hear her and understand what she’s saying. Students started classes online this school year August 20, 2020 due to the coronavirus. (Mayowa Aina/Alaska Public Media) Stories are posted on the statewide news page. You can subscribe to Alaska Public Media’s…
COVID-19 cases grow at North Slope oil fields, Anchorage Pioneer Home, as state confirms 86 positives
There have been eight cases of COVID-19 at ConocoPhillips’ Alpine facility on the North Slope. (Elizabeth Harball/Alaska’s Energy Desk) State and oil company officials confirmed 13 cases of COVID-19 between two different North Slope oil fields, as Alaska reported 86 new cases of the virus Thursday. To date, eight people have tested positive for COVID-19…
Alaska News Nightly: Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Matthew Alexie and Pavlos Baldounis give Anita Matignas her ballot at Dimond High School on Tuesday. (Photo by Kavitha George/AKPM) 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: Absentee ballots aside, there are some initial takeaways…
COVID-19 cases confirmed in St. Lawrence Island communities
An overview of Gambell, Alaska. (Photo from KNOM file.) An individual located in Gambell tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, Norton Sound Health Corporation confirmed in an email on Tuesday evening. This case is the first one publicly confirmed by NSHC in the St. Lawrence Island community. However, KNOM has previously reported…
Is the world’s best ice cream in…ALASKA?! | INDIE ALASKA
Elissa Brown always loved tinkering around in the kitchen, but she never thought it would evolve into her own business making ice cream with authentically Alaskan ingredients. Since 2015, Wild Scoops ice cream has not only created a huge following and tourist attraction around Anchorage, Alaska, but has also showed how small businesses can collaborate…
Alaska News Nightly: Tuesday, August 18, 2020
Michael Bauzon, a teacher and dean of student affairs at Lumen Christi High School, takes students’ temperatures outside on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020. The small Catholic school is among a handful of private schools in Anchorage holding in-person classes. Tuesday was the second day of the school year. (Tegan Hanlon/Alaska Public Media) Stories are posted…
Here are the races to watch in the primary election
Voting booths in Alaska. (Alaska Public Media file photo) Today is primary day in Alaska. The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to drive down election day turnout. And a record number of Alaskans have requested absentee ballots. Since absentee ballot counting won’t start until a week after the primary election day, results of close races may…
LISTEN: As school starts, here’s the latest science on kids and coronavirus
Kindergarten and 1st grade students at Kasuun Elementary in Anchorage head outside for recess on March 2, 2020. This year students have an extra 10 minutes to play outside as part of the district’s wellness initiative. (Mayowa Aina/Alaska Public Media) School districts across Alaska have been working for months to develop plans to start school…
Alaska News Nightly: Monday, August 17, 2020
The Porcupine Caribou herd in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain. (Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) 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: What to know about the latest science on kids…
DNA tests show brown bear killed near Hope was not responsible for fatal mauling
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says the female brown bear it killed near Hope earlier this month was not involved in the fatal mauling of 46-year-old Daniel Schilling. That’s based on a DNA analysis of samples collected from the animal and at the scene, the agency said in a statement Monday. Wildlife biologists…
Trump administration appeals ruling that blocked Izembek road
The Alaska Peninsula fishing village of King Cove has pushed for construction of a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, which residents say would allow more consistent access to a jet runway in neighboring Cold Bay for medical evacuations. (Photo by Berett Wilber/KUCB) President Donald Trump’s administration has appealed a federal judge’s rejection of…
Five employees of Bethel courthouse and jail test positive for COVID-19
The Alaska courthouse in Bethel (Anna Rose MacArthur / KYUK) Five people who work at Bethel’s courthouse and state-run jail have tested positive for COVID-19, as the number of cases in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta continues to spike. The positive cases include two Bethel courthouse employees, and three staff members at the Yukon Kuskokwim Correctional Center.…
5 ferry passengers with COVID-19 disembarked in Juneau Aug. 10
The Matanuska docked on Friday, February 7, 2020 at the Auke Bay ferry terminal in Juneau, Alaska. The ship is headed to Ketchikan for repairs. (Rashah McChesney/KTOO) Some 49 crew members on the state ferry Matanuska are being tested for COVID-19 after a group of infected passengers rode the ferry on Monday, August 10. That’s…
GOP hopeful Leslie Becker backs natural resource ‘stewardship,’ budget reforms
Republican State House candidate Leslie Becker at a meet & greet, August 14, 2020 (Sage Smiley/KSTK) Leslie Becker is running unopposed in the Republican primary for State House District 36. That means she’s set to challenge incumbent Dan Ortiz, a Ketchikan independent in November’s general election. She has positioned herself as a Christian conservative who…
Fighting COVID-19 at home and in Alaska’s largest hospital | Alaska Insight
The number of coronavirus infections in Alaska is growing. And as the disease continues its spread across the state, it’s impacting more and more Alaskans. Alaska Public Media’s Tegan Hanlon recently spoke with two of them: An Alaskan who just recovered from the virus and a nurse fighting it on the front lines every day.…
It was supposed to be a record year for Alaska tourism. Then COVID-19 hit.
(Leila Kheiry/KRBD) Alaska tourism businesses were anticipating a record year for visitors in 2020. Then the pandemic forced shutdowns and travel restrictions for visitors decimated prospects for the annual revenue boost so many Alaskans depend on. How much has federal CARES Act funding helped Alaska’s visitor industry and will these businesses survive the winter? We’ll…
Why is organ donation is an important part of modern medicine?
(Ryan/Creative Commons) In 2019, 129 organs were successfully donated and transplanted by Alaskan patients. In once case last year the lungs from a patient in Anchorage were successfully transported and transplanted in North Carolina, the longest distance lung transplant to date. Join host Dr. Justin Clark for a discussion on the incredible process and logistics behind…
