The Ted Stevens International Airport was shut down for about three hours at around midnight on Sunday after a passenger made a joke about a bomb in a suitcase. The Anchorage Daily News reports that 44-year-old Peter Friesema, a hockey referee from Colorado, joked that his friend’s bag could have a bomb in it. The airport was evacuated, people were stuck waiting in the cold, and about half a dozen flights were impacted. Friesema was arraigned on Sunday, and the judge, deeming him a flight risk, said that he could not leave the state. He is charged with making terrorist threats and with disorderly conduct.
Anne Hillman is a behavioral health clinician working in rural Alaska. Before going back to school for her Masters of Social Work, she covered social justice issues for Alaska Public Media and ran the multimedia and arts project Mental Health Mosaics with Out North.