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Former Anchorage Health Director Joe Gerace on June 30, 2022. Gerace resigned in August 2022 after a report revealed that he had vastly overstated and misrepresented both his educational credentials and military background. (Wesley Early/Alaska Public Media) Anchorage city auditors say their initial review of actions made under disgraced former health director Joe Gerace raised…

The Alaska State Capitol on April 22, 2022, in Juneau, Alaska. (Photo by Rashah McChesney) 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: The Alaska State House is going…

Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson at a June 1 2022 Assembly meeting (Lex Treinen/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: Months after an Eagle River teen…

Anchorage City Hall. (Hannah Lies/Alaska Public Media) Anchorage Assembly leaders say they want Mayor Dave Bronson to publicly respond to scathing allegations made against him by recently-fired Municipal Manager Amy Demboski.  An attorney for Demboski issued an 11-page demand letter on Wednesday, calling her firing retaliatory and illegal. The letter also accuses Bronson of numerous…

Reading teacher Eliza Warmack works with first graders on reading and writing at Stedman Elementary in Petersburg. (Rachel Cassandra/KFSK) Alaska schools are preparing to meet the new state educational requirements of the READS Act this fall. The legislation aims to make sure that all Alaska students can read well—before they graduate third grade. But implementing the law…

Air pollution in Fairbanks in Feb. 2022 (Lex Treinen/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. Wednesday on Alaska News Nightly: In the discussion about increasing education funding, some lawmakers say…

Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson fired Amy Demboski from the municipal manager job in December. (Lex Treinen/Alaska Public Media) Recently-fired Anchorage Municipal Manager Amy Demboski is accusing Mayor Dave Bronson of breaking city and state laws, creating a hostile work environment and other unethical behavior in a scathing letter released Wednesday.  Bronson abruptly fired Demboski last…

Students at Birchwood ABC Elementary on Nov. 1, 2022. (Elyssa Loughlin/Alaska Public Media) With the start of Alaska’s next legislative session right around the corner, many lawmakers are talking about boosting education funding. The baseline funding the state gives to school districts — known as the Base Student Allocation, or BSA — has, essentially, not…

A fish camp in the Nome area, seen on Sept. 24, shows damages wreaked by the remnants of Typhoon Merbok. (Photo by Jeremy Edwards/FEMA) 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…

The former Golden Lion Hotel in Anchorage at the intersection of New Seward Highway and 36th Avenue formerly served as a COVID testing site in Anchorage. It will soon become low-income housing. (Alaska Public Media) The city of Anchorage is working to turn a former Midtown hotel into low-income housing, Mayor Dave Bronson announced Tuesday. …

In this photo made available by NASA, the space shuttle Challenger launches the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite in 1984. On Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, the U.S. space agency said the 38-year-old NASA satellite is about to fall from the sky, but the change of wreckage falling on anyone is “very low.” (NASA via AP) CAPE…

The storm surge from Typhoon Merbok brought high water 17 miles inland to Chevak from the Bering Sea coast, where boats parked on the Ninglikfak River were tossed around like bathtub toys. These boats aren’t just for recreation; they offer residents a way to access subsistence food resources, including fish and moose. (Emily Schwing/KYUK) Stories…

The Alaska State Capitol in Juneau. (Rashah McChesney) Alaska legislators have so far prefiled 68 bills and resolutions ahead of the Jan. 17 session start date.  The bills address a wide range of issues, including political contributions, election security and electric bikes. One prefiled resolution proposes to amend an obsolete section of the Alaska Constitution…

Jennie Armstrong. (Wesley Early/Alaska Public Media) An Anchorage Democrat who won a November state House race meets residency requirements to take office, a state court judge ruled Monday. Superior Court Judge Herman Walker Jr. issued the ruling more than two weeks after hearing the case challenging Democrat Jennifer “Jennie” Armstrong’s eligibility to serve in the…

An Alaska State Trooper SUV in Anchorage. (Joey Mendolia/Alaska Public Media) A former Mat-Su Borough School District substitute teacher was arrested Thursday on charges of sexually abusing two children at a Wasilla home, and may have additional victims, according to Alaska State Troopers. Court records show Scott Anthony Pezzini, 31, of Wasilla is charged with…

Crowds gathered near the holding area at the official start of the Iditarod in Willow on March 6, 2022. (Lex Treinen/Alaska Public Media) Alaska’s population remained stable from 2021 into last year, as state officials say higher death rates from the COVID-19 pandemic and Alaskans leaving the state negated natural population increases. Population estimates released…

The Alaska State Capitol is seen on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022, in Juneau, Alaska. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon) Two weeks before the Alaska Legislature convenes in Juneau, members of the state House and Senate say they don’t expect much work this year on legislation involving controversial social issues like abortion and transgender rights. “I…

U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola in Anchorage on Election Day, Nov. 8, 2022. Peltola served the remainder of her predecessor’s term last year and was sworn in Saturday for the 118th Congress. (Mizelle Mayo/Alaska Public Media) Alaska – and every other state – has a fully fledged member of the U.S. House again. Along with the…

Joey Sweet is sworn in to represent East Anchorage on the Anchorage Assembly. Sweet will hold the seat until after the April municipal election. (Wesley Early/Alaska Public Media) The Anchorage Assembly on Friday selected Joey Sweet to fill the vacancy left by former member Forrest Dunbar.  Dunbar had represented East Anchorage since 2016, but is…

Artwork by Meg Anderson This week on State of Art we meet artist Meg Anderson. Her show “Yellow Skies and Black Birds” will be on display at Cyrano’s Art Gallery from January 6 through February 26. Originally from Wisconsin, Anderson spent 24 years as an interpretive graphic artist and illustrator for Alaska State Parks. We…