Inupiaq Spelling Bee winners, Aġnauraq Jaeleen Holder-Champion (Right) and runner-up, Uluġina Annabeth Huntington (Left). They attend the Kéet Gooshi Héet Elementary School in Sitka. (Courtesy Daniel Hofmann) 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: Nick Begich says he’d drop out of the race for congress if he doesn’t lead the primary, but not all ca ..read more

Romig Middle School’s Principal Carrie Sumner shows floor plans of where classes will be relocated. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media) Romig Middle School principal Carrie Sumner pointed to a pair of floor plans in her office in Anchorage last week showing where classrooms will be in the fall when hundreds of sixth-graders join the school. “We’re utilizing, as you can see, all classroom space, all space — period,” Sumner said. Across the Anchorage School District, thousands of sixth-graders and dozens of teachers will move from elementary schools to middle schools in the fall. District leaders ..read more

(Image courtesy of the Anchorage Park Foundation) Alaska’s mountains and oceans provide some of the most dramatic landscapes on earth. Anchorage trails have connected the Chugach Mountains and Cook Inlet for decades, with a few gaps. Just recently newly created trails make it possible to bike, hike, run or ski from Glen Alps to Knik Arm of Cook Inlet without crossing a single road. The Anchorage Park Foundation designated a route called “Mountains to Sea Trails” with a video, signage and other information to help people navigate from Glen Alps trail head in Chugach State Park to Westchester La ..read more

The aftermath of the April 9 fire at the South Tongass Volunteer Fire Department. (Jack Darrell/KRBD) The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly voted last week to enact a disaster declaration for the recent station fire that devastated the South Tongass Fire Department. Mayors from the borough and cities of Saxman and Ketchikan issued the disaster declaration on April 12. South Tongass Fire Chief Steve Rydeen choked up as he took the podium at the Assembly’s April 15 meeting.  “Normally, you see a grumpy old guy with no emotion. Tonight, it’s a little different. For the last 12 years I have ..read more

This is Lertuli Ian Agaya’s first statewide tournament. He’s a seventh grader at the Alakanuk school. His principal, Essie Beck, takes his picture as he steps out from behind the spelling bee poster. (Rhonda McBride/KNBA) Nunam Iqua, in the Yup’ik language, means the “land’s end” – a place on the Bering Sea coast that is so flat it’s hard to tell where the land meets the sea. But when it comes to spelling, this community stands tall. Once again, the champion for this year’s statewide Yup’ik Spelling Bee hails from Nunam Iqua. In the 12 years of competition, it was one of the first communi ..read more

Jenny Forner (left) and Patti Guist (right), are the cofounders of Anchorage re:MADE (Dave Waldron) Today is Earth Day, and in honor of it we’ll be discussing recycling. We find out what you can and can’t recycle in those bins you drag to the bottom of your driveway, and find a place for the other items that you may be looking to get rid of during your spring cleaning. Kelli Toth, acting director and recycling coordinator for Solid Waste Services posing with some recycled plastic and glass. (Dave Waldron) HOST: Dave Waldron GUESTS: Jenny Forner and Patti Guist, cofounders of Anchorage re:MAD ..read more

Works on display from the Denver Art Museum’s Northwest Coast and Alaska Native arts collection on April 16, 2024. (Ian Dickson/KTOO) Earlier this month, the Denver Post reported that Lingít tribal members have been requesting cultural items back from the Denver Art Museum in Colorado for years — to no avail.  The museum holds many Lingít items that may qualify to be returned under federal law.  Investigative reporter Sam Tabachnik says delegates from the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska sought the return of five items, including a 170-year-o ..read more

The air traffic control tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — Twice in a week, an airline pilot was forced to abort a takeoff because other jets were entering an active runway. A pair of incidents last week — one at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the other at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport — join a growing list of close calls on runways across the country, adding to concerns about aviation safety. The head of the Federal Aviation Administration acknowledged that the agency must do ..read more

An Anchorage police vehicle’s emergency lights flash blue and red. (Valerie Lake/Alaska Public Media) Anchorage police say they are continuing to investigate the deaths of three people in two separate incidents Thursday, with few details available on either case. In a brief statement, police said a person was brought to a local hospital and later died Thursday morning. Police were informed about the death at about 6:30 a.m. Thursday, and subsequently examined a home on the 100 block of Rusty Allen Place in Northeast Anchorage. “The circumstances of the incident are under investigation, but off ..read more

NOAA Fisheries said restricting all Chinook bycatch would effectively close the pollock fishery, which is the largest in the nation, as well as one of the most lucrative. (Theo Greenly/KUCB) 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: Sen. Sullivan rips the Biden administration on a pair of decisions protecting land in the Arctic from resource extractio ..read more