The Kobuk River runs through the Ambler Mining district, where a new road would be built to connect the Northwest Arctic with the Dalton Highway to Fairbanks. (Berett Wilber/Alaska Public Media) A key landowner in the path of the proposed Ambler Road in Northwest Alaska has said it will no longer support development of the…
Alaska, do you have questions about climate change? We want to hear them.
Participants of Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage on Saturday, October 21, 2023. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media) Climate change is rapidly shifting the way many Alaskans live. The state is warming more than twice as fast as the rest of the country. In many places, it’s altering the landscape and making the weather more…
Alaska News Nightly: Monday, October 23, 2023
Vic Fischer in October 2021. (Bob Waldrop) Stories are posted on the statewide news page. Send news tips, questions, and comments to news@alaskapublic.org. Follow Alaska Public Media on Facebook and on Twitter @AKPublicNews. And subscribe to the Alaska News Nightly podcast. Monday on Alaska News Nightly: Alaska’s last living constitutional delegate Vic Fischer dies at age 99. Plus, the Alaska…
5 passengers sue Yute Commuter Service over 2022 plane crash near Bethel
A Cessna 207 operated by Yute Commuter Service is seen on the tundra where it crashed near Bethel in November 2022. (National Transportation Safety Board) Five of the six passengers aboard a Yute Commuter Service flight that crash-landed near Bethel in November 2022 are now suing the company for damages related to emotional suffering. The…
Vic Fischer, the last surviving signer of Alaska’s constitution, dies at 99
Vic Fischer in October 2021. (Bob Waldrop) Vic Fischer, the last living signer of Alaska’s constitution, died Sunday at his Anchorage home. He was 99. Fischer was born in Berlin in 1924, to a Russian mother and an American father. He grew up there and in Moscow, his childhood shaped by the brutal regimes of…
Hundreds of people are moving from Anchorage homeless camps into hotel rooms
Nemo Asaivao runs a security wand around an Alex Hotel resident in Anchorage on Oct. 20, 2023. Residents of the 50 rooms reserved in the hotel as part of the city’s emergency cold weather shelter plan must make regular check-ins. (Jeremy Hsieh/Alaska Public Media) Angie Carter found out on Tuesday morning that she could get…
State of Art: Anchorage Opera sets classic comedy in the 1980s
Anchorage Opera’s new General Director, Ben Robinson (lower right), poses with “The Elixir of Love” chorus. (Ben Robinson) Gaetano Donizetti’s famous opera “The Elixir of Love” tells the story of a man trying to win the affections of the woman he loves with the help of a love potion as comedy ensues. But what happens…
A Petersburg tender holds open mics on board, with its fish hold as the sound stage
Roedda crewmember Aaron Gore-Rife plays the gut bucket bass with visiting guitarist Brandon Raines in the Roedda’s fish hold. (Shelby Herbert/KFSK) There’s a nearly 100-year-old wooden boat in Petersburg that’s become a staple of the tight-knit local music scene. Musicians in town have a few performance spaces to choose from, a lot of them in…
Alaska foster kids were great source of profit for psychiatric facility’s owners, reporter finds
Former foster child Trina Edwards cycled in and out of North Star Behavioral Health in Anchorage, where she experienced physical and chemical restraints, seclusion and a feeling of hopelessness from thinking she’d never get out. (Ash Adams/Mother Jones) The company that owns one of Alaska’s main psychiatric hospitals for children made over $13 billion in…
Feds fund improvements for Alaska’s Railbelt electric grid
Some transmission lines on the Railbelt haven’t been upgraded in decades. (Sabine Poux/KDLL) The Biden administration is sending Alaska more than $200 million to improve the Railbelt electrical grid, which runs from Homer to Fairbanks. The project includes a high-voltage submarine cable between the Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage and multiple battery energy storage systems. All…
Alaska’s 2 U.S. senators address AFN convention from afar
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan spoke in a pre-recorded message at Alaska Federation of Natives Conference in Anchorage on Friday. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media) Alaska’s two Republican senators provided their yearly reports to the Alaska Federation of Natives convention Friday, though neither was physically present. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski addressed the Anchorage convention live via Zoom…
Alaska News Nightly: Friday, October 20, 2023
Audience members join The Qaluyaarmiut Dancers on stage at Quyana Night on Thursday, October 19, 2023. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media) Stories are posted on the statewide news page. Send news tips, questions, and comments to news@alaskapublic.org. Follow Alaska Public Media on Facebook and on Twitter @AKPublicNews. And subscribe to the Alaska News Nightly podcast. Friday on Alaska News Nightly: Interior…
Alaska Native dance groups perform for packed crowd at Quyana Night
Dancers of The Lower Yukon Drummers and Dancers group perform at Quyana Night in Anchorage on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media.) Hundreds of people gathered at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage Thursday night to experience the moving sounds and colors of the first of two Quyana Nights at the Alaska Federation of…
Bigger than ever, AFN arts market showcases ‘microcosm of Alaska’
George J. Bennett Sr. poses with his bentwood cedar boxes during the 2023 AFN arts market in Anchorage. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media) Hundreds crowded the main exhibition hall at the Dena’ina Center in downtown Anchorage Thursday for the first day of the Alaska Federation of Natives arts market. Each year, Indigenous artisans converge for three…
Alaska News Nightly: Thursday, October 19, 2023
Sophie Minich, outgoing CEO and president of CIRI, speaks at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media) Stories are posted on the statewide news page. Send news tips, questions, and comments to news@alaskapublic.org. Follow Alaska Public Media on Facebook and on Twitter @AKPublicNews. And subscribe to the Alaska News Nightly podcast. Thursday…
Peltola floats bipartisanship as way out of House speaker morass but GOP still stalled by infighting
Alaska Congresswoman Mary Peltola in the halls of the Capitol in January. (Liz Ruskin/Alaska Public Media) Alaska Congresswoman Mary Peltola said she’s ready to help forge a bipartisan solution to the leadership crisis that has paralyzed the U.S. House, but so far the Republican majority seems determined to select a leader on their own. “I…
Census seeks sound evidence of music’s economic impact in Alaska
Ukulele players strum for cruise ship visitors in Sitka on a sunny day in September. (Meredith Redick/KCAW) In cities like Austin, Nashville and Seattle, music is a key driver of the economy. Alaska isn’t a music destination like those places — but a group of independent musicians wants to change that. They launched Alaska’s first…
Alaska News Nightly: Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Dalaay Young Shrieks with joy as she receives freshly pickled salmon at the Elders and Youth Conference in Anchorage. Monday, October 17, 2023. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media) Stories are posted on the statewide news page. Send news tips, questions, and comments to news@alaskapublic.org. Follow Alaska Public Media on Facebook and on Twitter @AKPublicNews. And subscribe to the Alaska News Nightly…
With Ravn out, Grant Aviation says it will increase flights between Anchorage and Kenai by 30%
The Kenai Municipal Airport in October 2023. (Riley Board/KDLL) Following the news that Ravn Alaska will no longer fly to Kenai, competitor Grant Aviation announced Tuesday it will add up to 50 flights a week out of the airport. Ravn will cease operations from the Kenai Municipal Airport Friday, citing a pilot shortage for the decision. But…
Alaska syphilis case numbers drop a bit after years of increases, but concerning signs remain
A notice posted on a bulletin board at the University of Alaska Anchorage’s School of Allied Health, seen on Nov. 30, 2022, warns about rising rates of syphilis. The notice provides information about prevention and treatment. Detected cases dropped in 2022 from 2021 levels, but health officials worry that many cases may be going undetected.…
Alaska News Nightly: Tuesday, October 17, 2023
Search and rescue volunteers from Akiachak and Bethel raft up to drag Church Slough on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. (Evan Erickson / KYUK) Stories are posted on the statewide news page. Send news tips, questions, and comments to news@alaskapublic.org. Follow Alaska Public Media on Facebook and on Twitter @AKPublicNews. And subscribe to the Alaska News Nightly podcast. Tuesday on Alaska…
Alaska ski guide’s new book, ‘The Avalanche Factor,’ aims to improve education on snow slides
Joe Stock, author of The Alaska Factor and, now, The Avalanche Factor, skiing in the Alaska Range. (Peter Throckmorton) It’s that time of year when Alaska’s backcountry skiers, snowboarders and mountaineers are thinking about enjoying the snow-covered mountains. And, of course, it’s on those snowy slopes that avalanches can strike. Well, one of Alaska’s foremost…
