Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media - Anchorage
Casey Grove is host of Alaska News Nightly, a general assignment reporter and an editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach him at cgrove@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Casey here.
Anchorage’s early snow unofficial but pleasing to zoo’s polar bears, otters
Snow blanketed parts of Alaska’s largest city Tuesday morning, as Anchorage saw an early, though unofficial, first snowfall of the season. It's technically unofficial because none was reported at the National Weather Service’s official measuring spot on the city’s west side.
Alaska News Nightly: Monday, September 20, 2021
Alaska residents weigh in on the proposed redistricting maps. Also, scientists find a culprit in the dramatic fur seal decline in the Bering Sea: the pollock industry. And a new study will look at snow cover in Alaska.
Norway ambassador visits Alaska to talk climate, Russia and, yes, Norwegian dog mushing success
Anniken Krutnes, Norway's first female ambassador to the U.S., was recently in Anchorage meeting with state leaders to discuss shared interests.
Alaska News Nightly: Friday, September 17, 2021
Lower Kuskokwim School District has hired foreign teachers to fill positions. And researchers study a woolly mammoth that lived thousands of years ago in Alaska.
Alaska News Nightly: Thursday, September 16, 2021
Alaska's rate of COVID-19 infection ranks fourth in the nation, as hospitals try to keep up. Also, local health care providers in Bethel caution residents not to take physical risks, including riding ATVs. And a Belgian pilot making a stop in Juneau hopes to become the youngest woman to fly around the world.
Alaska has one of the worst rates of COVID in the country
Alaska's 93 COVID cases per 100,000 residents is the fourth highest in the country, tied with South Carolina and behind West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, according to the New York Times.
Anchorage refugee assistance program readies for up to 100 people fleeing Afghanistan
Catholic Social Services CEO Lisa Aquino says the refugee program's staff and volunteers will help with things like finding housing and employment, as well as learning English.
Alaska News Nightly: Wednesday, September 15, 2021
Doctors plead with Alaskans to wear masks and get vaccinated as the state notches a new record in COVID cases. Also, virologists track new cases of an emerging virus called Alaskapox. And low stocks shut down the red crab fishery made famous on deadliest catch.
Officials arrest ‘drug kingpin’ who’s accused of trafficking drugs from Mexico to Alaska
Federal prosecutors say Miguel Baez Guevara recruited Alaskans through social media and encrypted texting apps to help smuggle drugs to the state from Mexico.
Alaska News Nightly: Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Doctors at Providence say they're overwhelmed with covid patients and are rationing care. Also, Democrats in Southeast question the proposed redistricting maps. And a restaurant in Chicken Alaska plays along with a national fast food ad campaign.
Former Anchorage epidemiologist says mayor’s inability to help with rising COVID hospitalizations ‘doesn’t quite make sense’
Janet Johnston is now senior epidemiologist at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. She says it's important for any city to have sufficient hospital capacity, but in Anchorage it's particularly important.
Alaska News Nightly: Monday, September 13, 2021
ustration over the Anchorage mayor's inability to help with rising COVID hospitalizations. Also, scientists work to get rid of an invasive isopod that's been discovered in Sitka and Ketchikan. And scientists spot two groups of right whales near Kodiak.
Alaska News Nightly: Thursday, September 9, 2021
Doctors describe harrowing conditions as Alaska sees day after day of record COVID hospitalizations. And, environmental groups are cheering an EPA decision to try to block the Pebble mine, while Gov. Mike Dunleavy vows to fight federal overreach.
Alaska water can be teeming with Giardia, as this science writer knows well
Giardia are a one-celled creature that get inside mammals — science columnists included — and multiply by the millions.
Anchorage hockey boosters raised the funds, but a lot of work remains for Seawolves to skate again
The University of Alaska Anchorage announced Tuesday it was reinstating the hockey program after a group called Save Seawolf Hockey said it had raised the necessary $3.1 million.
Alaska’s COVID hospitalizations hit another record high
The state health department on Wednesday reported 161 COVID-19 hospitalizations and 801 new coronavirus infections.
Alaska overdoses and deaths rise, as global pandemic overshadows state opioid epidemic
Drug overdoses in Alaska have continued to increase the past three years, and, last year, Alaska had the most opioid overdose deaths ever reported.
Denali Park Road landslide slumping prompts closure and search for long-term fix
Underneath a 100-yard section of road going through Polychrome Pass is a thawing rock glacier, causing the road to slump. And the rate at which it's slumping has increased in recent years, making it harder to maintain for bus traffic —the most popular way for visitors to access Denali National Park.
Come sail away: Bering Strait Festival to open border with Russia in 2022
The seven-day festival is a multi-year effort to bring together residents of the high north from both sides of the strait, some of whom are relatives, and to honor their shared culture.
17-year-old charged in Two Rivers, Pleasant Valley arsons
The boy -- named only as “J.G.” in a statement from Alaska State Troopers -- will be tried as an adult on multiple charges of arson, burglary and criminal mischief, troopers said.