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Salmon fry swimming through rocks. (Brian Venua / KDLG) Bristol Bay is home to the largest sockeye run on the planet. But while the size of this year’s run broke records, the fish are getting smaller. Last year’s average weight for sockeye was 5.1 pounds. The 2021 average was just 4.5 pounds, according to the McKinley…

Kindergartner Allyson Zavala joined with other students and school superintendent Austin Buetner for a class selfie in April inside teacher Alicia Pizzi’s classroom at Maurice Sendak Elementary School in North Hollywood, Calif. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) It’s inevitable that when kids mix — returning from camp or heading back to school —…

An Alaska State Trooper cruiser. (Matthew Smith/KNOM) Alaska State Troopers have identified the 67-year-old Anchorage man whose body was found in a freezer near Tok earlier this year. They’re reaching out to the public for help in solving what they’re now calling a murder case. In a video message on Tuesday, Fairbanks-based Trooper Matthew Iverson…

Palmer Correctional Center in July 2021. The facility is scheduled to reopen after a $17 million renovation project. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media) The Palmer Correctional Center in Sutton is finishing up a nearly $17 million renovation project and is scheduled to reopen Monday, about 5 years since it was shut down.    The prison’s superintendents said…

Patrick, 17, (left). stands next to his mother Tasha Hotch (right), in front of their Mountain View home in Anchorage on Tuesday, Aug 3. (Mayowa Aina/Alaska Public Media) Tasha Hotch has always been a neighborhood mom, and a strong supporter of public schools. “Sometimes I would volunteer in the classroom … or the office, or…

Jose Urrutia gets a nostril swab on Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021, afternoon at the Loussac Library, one of Anchorage’s free COVID-19 testing sites. The Municipality has seen a significant increase in the amount of individuals getting tested. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media) Demand for COVID-19 testing is soaring in Anchorage.  To reduce wait times, the city has…

With the delta variant surging, “All people 12 years and older, including people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or trying to get pregnant now or might become pregnant in the future” should get vaccinated against COVID-19, the CDC urges. (DjelicS / Getty Images) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is doubling down on its recommendation…

Mountain view at Pilgrim Hot Springs. (Maddie Winchester/ KNOM) What does it take to grow a garden in the Bering Straits? That’s the question facing the staff at the remote Pilgrim Hot Springs, located about 60 miles northeast of Nome. The hot springs staff recently received the “Gather Grant” from the First Nations Development Institute,…

Children beat the heat Thursday in a misting pool at a park in Queens as temperatures reach into the 90s in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Some 195 million Americans — out of a population of more than 330 million — are facing dangerously high temperatures as much of the mainland U.S. is under…

The western blackheaded budworm larva is familiar to many forest users as a caterpillar hanging from a tree branch. (Photo curtesy of USDA Forest Service Alaska Region) After nearly 30 years in relative dormancy, the western black-headed budworm population is exploding in Southeast Alaska, leaving swaths of browning hemlock in its path. U.S. Forest Service…

A phone is seen in Grand Central Station in New York City on October 3, 2018, as it recieves an emergency test “Presidential alert” message. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images) The loud noises you may hear blasting from your electronic devices this afternoon are no cause for concern. At 10:20 a.m. Alaska time on Wednesday, the…

Cesar Carberry shows off his skateboards at his tent at the city snow dump in Anchorage’s Mountain View neighborhood in August, 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.…

Ships deploy a boom in Women’s Bay to contain a 300-foot sheen believed to be from a shipwreck disturbed by last month’s massive earthquake some 260 miles away. (Judy Heller via KMXT) A shipwreck from decades ago has begun leaking diesel fuel off Kodiak Island. State officials suspect last month’s massive earthquake disturbed the submerged vessel. “We know…

Anchorage musician Bethlehem Shalom. (Photo courtesy of the artist) This week on State of Art we’re hearing from Anchorage musician Bethlehem Shalom. She’ll be performing with her band Saturday, August 14 outside the Anchorage Museum at 8 p.m. Bethlehem Shalom has multiple releases that showcase her eclectic tastes and a kind of Jackson-Pollock-style songwriting. Her…

St Elias the trench, photoby John Bauman. Russell base camp, photo by John Bauman. Mt Deborah basecamp igloo, photo by John Bauman. Bauman Kayaking 1 Paddlng the Katmai Coast 1992, photo by Paul Twardock. Bauman Kayaking BaumanKayaking2 Alaska has thousands of world-class outdoor men and women. Most have gone about their business without fanfare or…

Gov. Mike Dunleavy (Dunleavy Flckr) Gov. Mike Dunleavy wants to amend the state constitution to enshrine an annual permanent fund earnings amount to use for government spending and dividends, impose a cap on annual spending and hold a statewide vote on any new taxes. As the second special legislative session gets underway to work on…

Mendenhall Glacier as seen from near the West Glacier Trail on April 18, 2021. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO) The Mendenhall Glacier is one of the most visited sites in Alaska. As it retreats, it opens up new land, and that federal land is open to potential mining claims. But the U.S. Forest Service, which manages…

Students play during recess at Dena’ina Elementary School in Wasilla in September 2020. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media) The Matanuska-Susitna Borough north of Anchorage gained the most people in the last decade, according to U.S. Census data released Thursday. The sprawling borough nearly the same size as Ireland and anchored by the communities of Wasilla and…

The FDA announced that it has authorized a third COVID-19 vaccine dose for people with weakened immune systems. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) The Food and Drug Administration is authorizing an additional dose of a COVID-19 vaccine for certain people with weakened immune systems caused either by disease, medical treatments or organ transplants. The move comes after…

A sample specimen of a dead Asian giant hornet, also known as a “murder hornet,” from July 2020 in Bellingham, Wash. (Karen Ducey/Getty Images) The first live Asian giant “murder hornet” of 2021 has been spotted in Washington state — and it was caught in the act of living up to its name, attacking a…

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks at the Capitol in Juneau in 2019. He announced this week that he’s filing for re-election. (Rashah McChesney/KTOO) After a bruising first term that presented a major earthquake, a pandemic and legislative gridlock — plus a recall campaign against him — Alaska Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy says he’s running for…