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.
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.
LISTEN: Anchorage sets vaccination target to ‘do it for summer’
Acting Anchorage Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson announced this week a target vaccination rate for when residents can expect the remaining restrictions to become advisories rather than mandates, on things like the size of indoor gatherings.
Arctic air hitting Anchorage ‘like a freight train,’ with -25 F wind chill
Unseasonably cold air swept into Alaska’s largest city Thursday, and forecasters expect it to stay through the weekend.
Judge orders state to allow in-person visits for lawyers and jailed clients, whether vaccinated or not
A judge has ordered the Alaska Department of Corrections to allow in-person visitation between lawyers and their clients in jail, regardless of an inmate’s COVID-19 vaccination status.
LISTEN: Alaskans struggling with alcohol misuse could benefit from this medication, but it’s not widely used
Vivitrol alleviates alcohol cravings, helping patients work toward stability in their lives. But it’s not widely used, even though many experts say it should be.
LISTEN: An Alaska ski legend is accused of murder. This writer went inside ‘The final descent of Dean Cummings’
Dean Cummings was a champion skier and a pioneer in the Alaska heli-skiing industry, but according to reporting by Outside Magazine, colleagues described him as increasingly out of touch with reality in the years before he allegedly shot and killed a man.
Iditapod: A familiar champ for a unique Iditarod
Dallas Seavey has won the 2021 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, tying Rick Swenson's five first-place finishes for the most ever. Will he be back next year to vie for a sixth? That is the question... Also, a sleepless but not tired Alaska Public Media reporter Tegan Hanlon fills us in on the scene at the finish, including interviews with Seavey and Aaron Burmeister, who took second.
‘I’ve dreamed about this my whole life’: Dallas Seavey wins record-tying 5th Iditarod
This is Seavey’s fifth Iditarod win, tying him with Rick Swenson for the most Iditarod victories ever. Swenson has held the record alone since 1991.
Iditapod bonus: Raymie Redington interview with Quince Mountain
Dog musher Quince Mountain sat down with Raymie Redington, son of Iditarod founder Joe Redington Sr., to talk about dog mushing, the history of the race and a lot more.
Iditapod: Bouncing back to Willow
Since we left off, an Iditarod musher has tested positive for COVID-19 and been withdrawn, Dallas Seavey has taken the lead in his return to the race and, instead of leaving problematic sections of trail behind, mushers are heading back over them, on a modified, out-and-back trail. We talk to three-time champion Mitch Seavey, who's a spectator this year, as well as Iditapod co-founder Zachariah Hughes in McGrath, and we get an Iditarod veteran's take on a listener question about dog booties.
Iditapod bonus: Talkeetna interview with Dallas Seavey
Alaska Public Media's Tegan Hanlon talks with four-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey in February in the dog lot at his Talkeetna-based kennel. Seavey is back in the Iditarod this year after taking three years off following a scandal in 2017's race, after which the Iditarod said two of Seavey's dogs had tested positive for a banned pain-reliever, then later cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Iditapod: Slip slidin’ away
We rejoin the Iditarod something like 48 hours in, and, on what sounds like a hard and fast trail, mushers are pacing themselves for the shorter 850-mile race. There've been a total of three scratches so far, none bigger than Aliy Zirkle, who suffered a concussion and upper body injury in the Dalzell Gorge and had to be flown out of Rohn by helicopter. Also, we catch up with our pal Zachariah Hughes in McGrath.
LISTEN: From Anchorage to LA, this screenwriting duo just won an award at Sundance
Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch received Sundance's Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for "On the Count of Three," a dark comedy directed by and starring Jerrod Carmichael.