The Aanchich’x Kwaan Tlingit dance group performs at Alaska Pacific University for Indigenous Peoples Day on Monday, October 9, 2023. (Adam Nicely/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. Monday on…
‘We’re still thriving and we’re still happy’: Hundreds gather at APU to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Ileen Sylvester addresses the crowd gathered at Alaska Pacific University for Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Monday. (Adam Nicely/Alaska Public Media) Speaking to a packed gymnasium at Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage, Ileen Sylvester said she didn’t have a Native name growing up. Instead, she said, her grandfather always sang her the same song when he…
Tlingit and Haida, Forest Service plans to expand cultural education at Mendenhall Glacier
Visitors take images of Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau in summer 2022 from inside the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. (Photo by Ned Rozell) The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska and the U.S. Forest Service will collaborate on managing the Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area going forward, with plans to better educate…
New AEDC president focused on making Anchorage more attractive to workers
Jenna Wright stands in her new office at Peterson Tower in Anchorage on Tuesday, October 3, 2023. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media) Jenna Wright was named president and CEO of the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation on Sept. 27, after serving in an interim role following the resignation of Bill Popp. Wright joined AEDC last summer, while…
AFN convention launches Oct. 18 with exhibit honoring veterans
Benno Cleveland, an Alaska Native Vietnam veteran who received a Purple Heart, will be one of the veterans honored at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention on Oct. 18, 2023. (Courtesy Bill Hess) When Anchorage hotels fill up at the start of October, traffic picks up and stores and restaurants do brisk business, it’s a…
Researchers say Unangax knowledge can help solve the mystery of Unalaska’s ancient bear bones
Lilly Parker and Kaylee Tatum at the Museum of the Aleutians helping sort fish, mammal, and bird remains from an archeological midden site in Unalaska. (Photo courtesy of Lilly Parker) Archaeologists found brown and polar bear bones – some over 5,000 years old – at two dig sites on Unalaska and Amaknak Islands in the…
A traditional Unangax̂ boat sails for the first time in over 200 years
It’s been about 200 years since Russian colonizers demolished the last remaining examples of large Unangax̂ boats called a niĝilax̂. The wooden framed boats were used in the Aluetian islands to transport goods and people. Now, a group of boat builders have resurrected the niĝilax̂ and returned the practice of making them to the Unangax̂…
State of Art: Reflect on the eventful life of Senator Ted Stevens with ‘Uncle Ted’
Dan Morrison portrays Senator Ted Stevens in the one-man play “Uncle Ted.” (Elyssa Loughlin) This week on State of Art we’re discussing Cyrano’s Theater Company’s current production of “Uncle Ted.” The one-man show depicts the life of Ted Stevens who served as a U.S. senator for Alaska from 1968 to 2009 and had its world…
For Anchorage’s homeless residents, the path out is precarious and rarely straight
Impound notices are posted on a chain-link fence where a motley array of vehicles — many being used as shelter — are parked at an unofficial homeless campground along Third Avenue in Anchorage on Oct. 2, 2023. Towing began a few days later. (Jeremy Hsieh/Alaska Public Media) Marie Nickolai says she’s been living at the…
Alaska News Nightly: Friday, October 6, 2023
Arthur Warren, pictured here on Sept. 28, 2023, says he was recently evicted from low-income housing and has been living out of the car behind him for a few days at a vacant lot along Anchorage’s Third Avenue. The car was impounded a few days later. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media) Stories are posted on the statewide…
The Niĝilax restoration project | Alaska Insight
The design of a traditional large skin-on-frame boat used by the Unangax people was thought to be lost after Russian colonizers destroyed the last remaining examples in the 1800’s, but after decades of work, the design of the niĝilax has been restored. Now, the recreated boats are touching Alaskan waters for the first time in…
Peltola says she’s still grieving but ready to return to work in Congress
Mary Peltola hugs her husband, Gene “Buzzy” Peltola Jr., on Aug. 31, 2022, when she learned she’d been elected to Congress. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media) Alaska Congresswoman Mary Peltola says she’s ready to return to Washington. She’s been in Alaska since learning that her husband, Eugene “Buzzy” Peltola, died Sept. 12 following a plane crash.…
Alaska News Nightly: Thursday, October 5, 2023
Sen. Dan Sullivan in Anchorage in July 2021. (Jeff Chen/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 on Alaska News Nightly: Alaska’s Senators work to reframe the debate about funding…
Alaska’s U.S. senators pair help for Ukraine with border funds
Sen. Dan Sullivan in Anchorage in July 2021. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media) One of the fault lines dividing Congress is whether to continue aid for Ukraine as it defends itself from Russia. A number of hard-right Republicans say no, and they say they’re willing to shut down the government over it. Alaska’s Republican senators aren’t…
Palmer voters approve bond for new library
The roof on the Palmer Public Library partially collapsed on Feb. 15. (Courtesy PND Engineers) With nearly 80% of the votes, Palmer residents approved a $10 million bond Tuesday to repair or replace the Palmer Public Library. The roof of the library collapsed under a heavy snow load in February and the city has provided…
Alaska News Nightly: Wednesday, October 4, 2023
Odin Brunie drops off his ballot at City Hall on Oct. 3, 2023. (Anna Canny/KTOO) 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. Wednesday on Alaska News Nightly: Several incumbents lose in Fairbanks as…
Tommy Beaudreau, a Biden administration official who had Murkowski’s trust, resigns from Interior
Tommy Beaudreau at his confirmation hearing at the Senate Energy Committee, April 29, 2021. (Still from U.S. Senate video) Former Alaskan Tommy Beaudreau is stepping down from the No. 2 position at the U.S. Department of Interior. The deputy secretary of Interior has been a key contact for Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who said she trusted…
State lawmaker Josiah Patkotak is poised to become the next North Slope Borough mayor
Rep. Josiah Patkotak recounts how he harvested a bowhead whale in early May. (Lex Treinen/Alaska Public Media) State Rep. Josiah Aullaqsruaq Patkotak of Utqiaġvik is the presumed winner in the race for North Slope Borough mayor. Unofficial results show Patkotak with 54% of the vote so far, over 400 votes ahead of the next closest…
Alaska News Nightly: Tuesday, October 3, 2023
In addition to the shelter, TWC also operates Bethel’s only thrift store. (MaryCait Dolan / 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 News Nightly: Two soldiers from Fort Wainwright…
Dramatic day in U.S. House as members oust the speaker
The U.S. Capitol, viewed from the east side. (Liz Ruskin/Alaska Public Media) The U.S. House is without a leader after hard right Republicans moved to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy and eight of them voted with all House Democrats to do so. That makes McCarthy’s tenure as House Speaker the shortest since 1875, and that Speaker…
A young leader fights for Yukon River salmon, her community – and herself
Kenzie Englishoe stands by an idle fish wheel once used by her community in Gwichyaa Zhee on Aug. 31, 2023. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media) In August, MacKenzie Englishoe returned home to a place she’s never actually lived. Englishoe is 20 years old, a student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. As summer waned, she packed…
Alaska News Nightly: Monday, October 2, 2023
Biologists conduct a necropsy on a humpback whale that washed ashore near Kodiak on Sept. 25, 2023. (Brian Venua/KMXT) 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 continues…
