News

A new study from Alaska Native Tribal Health Center shows that cancer rates among Alaska Native people have gone up over the last half-century. Researchers say the data points to opportunities for prevention.

The most common cancers among Alaska Native people are breast, colorectal and lung cancer. With screenings like mammograms and colonoscopies, they can be detected and treated early.

Thousands of troops and the latest in American military hardware will soon descend on Alaska for war games between branches of the armed forces. “Northern Edge” is a biennial, large-scale exercise held in May. And planners are looking ahead at the next decade of maneuvers in Alaska’s skies and waters. 

Northern Edge 2021 will span from the Aleutians to Fairbanks to Juneau, in the air, and on the water in the Gulf of Alaska. 

The Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation installed a specialty water filtration system in the Tuluksak school on March 2, 2021. YKHC said that the system could provide enough drinking water for the entire Tuluksak Native Community, but soon the system was only being used by the school. 

Human skeletal remains found on Kruzof Island near Sitka in 2020 are modern, but not especially recent.  A DNA sample will be compared to a national database of missing persons, and could shed light on who the individual was, and how they came to an end in the woods behind Shoals Point.

Alaska lawmakers are considering legalizing hatcheries to boost wild shellfish stocks like king crab and mussels. It’s an idea that’s been around since at least the 1990s, and the goal would be to replicate the economic success of Alaska’s enhanced salmon fisheries.

A lawsuit challenging the Indian Child Welfare Act received a split decision in federal appeals court on April 6, 2021. The law, the lawsuit and the split resulted in a 300-plus-page decision that confounded experts and lay people alike. The decision won’t impact Alaska directly. But legal experts  say Alaska should still keep an eye on the case.