News

Alaska State Troopers in Ketchikan are offering new details in the Dec. 31 arson investigation in which a trooper left a woman at her ex-boyfriend’s home. The woman is accused of intentionally setting fire to the property a few hours later.

Initially, Alaska State Troopers wrote in a court filing that Kami D. Riley had used Trooper Joey Beaudoin’s cellphone to leave a voicemail for her ex-boyfriend threatening to burn his house down.

One of the biggest stories of 2019 was the display of passion that two young Indigenous women had for their environment.

“It’s our life. It’s our future.” said Quannah Chasing Horse – she’s a Lakota Sioux and Hans Gwich’in from Fairbanks. She’s also 17. “It is not just about us either. It’s about the world. The Arctic is feeling twice as much as the entire world. We are thawing twice as fast as anywhere else in the world. And it is right now.”

The only tribal gaming casino in the state is in Metlakatla, on the Annette Island Indian Reserve. But a federally recognized tribe near Anchorage wants to change that.

In the state’s early history, a federal law -- the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act -- parceled out land to 12 regional corporations, Native Village corporations and thousands of tribal allotments. In exchange Alaska Natives gave up further claims to land and most of the resources on and under the ground. 

Alaska also considers most gambling -- outside of state-licensed gaming -- illegal.

Every 10 years, the U.S. Census Bureau starts the year-long process of counting every American, and it begins right here in Alaska. Surveyors will start work in Toksook Bay on January 21.

Gabe Layman is chair of the Alaska Census Working Group. He explains why a complete count of all Alaskans is important to the state as a whole.

One Alaska representative wants Gov. Mike Dunleavy to ask President Donald Trump for an extension of the REAL ID deadline and additional funding for outreach in rural communities.

Olson wrote Tuesday to the governor that both Dunleavy and Trump have a responsibility to ensure the ID mandate is implemented properly so that Alaskans’ rights to travel are not infringed upon.

Last year, a company asked the Trump administration for permission to take the first steps toward oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: running a convoy of special oil-detecting trucks along the refuge’s coastal plain, to determine how much petroleum lies below. But the Trump administration never gave the go-ahead, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service saying that the initial proposal didn’t comply with federal rules under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Chinook salmon, also known as king salmon, are getting smaller, and a team of scientists at the University of Washington think they know why. A new study says killer whales might be behind chinook’s declining size.

Chinook salmon are an important part of life in Southeast Alaska. Part of the prized fish’s value is its size. Chinook are the largest Pacific salmon.

The reach and reliability of statewide public broadcasting in Alaska owes much to a man many have never heard of: Mel Sather, who died Dec. 4 after a long illness.

Sled dogs, community, and teaching the next generation. These themes come together in a new documentary about legendary sprint musher George Attla from the village of Huslia. The documentary has been making the rounds in Alaska: last week in Bethel, a community with its own rich history of sled dog racing.

Within an hour of stepping foot in Huslia, Catharine Axley found herself on a snowmachine behind a team of sled dogs.

In many Alaska coastal communities, ferry service is more than just a transportation link. It can also be a form of survival.

In Angoon, the ferry is the only way that some children can eat at school on a daily basis. But now that program is at risk with cutbacks to regular winter ferry service.

Mayor Joshua Bowen has a 9-year-old boy and 8-year-old girl attending Angoon school. Instead of eating breakfast at home, they usually leave a little early.