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.
Alaska News Nightly: Thursday, May 20, 2021
Congress passes a bill that could allow cruise ships to return to Alaska ports this summer. And lawmakers wrap up the regular session without solving the big issues. Plus, state health officials report a sharp increase in a more contagious and severe strain of COVID
Alaska News Nightly: Wednesday, May 19, 2021
Anchorage business owners and residents react to easing COVID restrictions. And one bright spot during the pandemic for the seafood industry was online sales. Plus, the pandemic contributed to a surge in demand for backyard chickens in Alaska.
Alaska News Nightly: Tuesday, May 18, 2021
The Biden administration offers a bit of hope for advocates of the King Cove Road. And Southeast communities test out electric heat pumps, with mixed results. Plus, a 17-year-old swimming phenom from Seward prepares for Olympic trials.
Alaska News Nightly: Monday, May 17, 2021
How Anchorage took a sharp turn towards conservative politics with the mayoral election, the mental health crisis a Juneau hospital confronted along with COVID-19, and two companies want to tap into geothermal power from Mount Spurr.
LISTEN: Anchorage-raised journalist still seeking to unmask monsters in Hulu series
"Sasquatch" is the work of former Alaska journalist David Holthouse, who says traumatic events early in his life growing up in Anchorage set him on a path of finding and exposing monsters of all kinds.
Anchorage hotel owner lied to get pandemic relief money, prosecutors say
Federal authorities have seized more than $1 million in pandemic relief money they say an Anchorage hotelier received by lying on applications for the funds.
Bob Gross is co-owner of Inlet Tower Hotel and Suites,...
LISTEN: Alaska pediatricians talk vaccines with parents and kids as eligibility expands
Well before that news Wednesday, pediatricians in Alaska have seen intense interest by parents hoping to get their kids vaccinated. One of them is Dr. Michelle Laufer, a pediatrician in Anchorage for over 20 years.
LISTEN: Are unemployment payments causing a worker shortage? Economists say it’s complicated.
Is it true that bigger unemployment payments have caused people to stay home? Research suggests no, at least not entirely, says Nolan Klouda, director of the the University of Alaska Anchorage Center for Economic Development.
Man arrested in woman’s death after body found near Eklutna Lake
Anchorage police say 27-year-old Jerilyn Nicholson was reported missing Friday was found dead Saturday north of the city.
LISTEN: Alaska college grads to cap off tumultuous school years with virtual commencement
UAA's student commencement speaker, Jessica Reisinger, says the past several years of college have been pretty eventful, from seeing the university's budget slashed, to a major earthquake to all of her classes going online.
LISTEN: Acting Anchorage mayor talks economic recovery
Acting Anchorage Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson announced an economic recovery plan Thursday for the city as it continues to grapple with impacts from the coronavirus pandemic.
LISTEN: New study examines Alaska law enforcement officers’ use of deadly force
The report notes that a third of such incidents involved a person expressing they wanted officers to end their life and that, most often, the person displayed or used a firearm during the incident.
Former Alaska Arts Council employee wins $85K settlement after losing her job for criticizing governor
Keren Lowell worked for the Alaska Council on the Arts over a span of eight years and lost her job in 2019, when Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed the council's funding. When the funding was restored, most of her coworkers were hired back, but Lowell was not.
LISTEN: How Sen. Lora Reinbold’s anti-mask stance escalated to a ban by Alaska Airlines
Sen. Lora Reinbold has run afoul of airline and Capitol masking rules in the past. But on Saturday the Anchorage Daily News reported officials with Alaska Airlines said Reinbold was no longer allowed to fly with them after what they described as her “continued refusal” to adhere to the airlines mask policy.
LISTEN: Study finds Alaska’s airport testing program may have kept COVID rates lower
Dr. Liz Ohlsen, a staff physician with the state Department of Health and Social Service, is one of the study's authors. And Ohlsen says just in the first six months of the testing program, from June to November, the state found nearly 1,000 Covid-positive air travelers arriving in Alaska.
LISTEN: With tribe’s input, Wasilla High updated ‘warrior’ logo but kept Indigenous mascot
Wasilla High School is altering the logo of its warrior mascot, but not changing the mascot or logo from depicting an indigenous person, as some other sports teams have done recently.
LISTEN: Documentary film followed winning Metlakatla hoopsters, then won an award of its own
"Alaskan Nets," about the Metlakatla high school boys basketball
team, won the audience choice award at the Santa Barbara
International Film Festival this year.
LISTEN: In Alaska, relief and renewed calls for reform after guilty verdict in George Floyd’s murder
That was the case for Celeste Hodge Growden, president of the Alaska Black Caucus, who says there is still much more work to do on improving racial equity here and elsewhere, and not just in law enforcement.
Ask a Climatologist: Alaska’s spring weather whipsaw
National Weather Service climate researcher Brian Brettschneider, back for our Ask a Climatologist segment, says it's a remarkably quick switch.
Alaska prisons to open for visitation after year-long COVID closure
The state Department of Corrections plans to open visitation on Wednesday between fully vaccinated Alaskans in its custody and public visitors like family members.