Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media - Anchorage

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.

Unseasonably cold air swept into Alaska’s largest city Thursday, and forecasters expect it to stay through the weekend.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Since we left off, an Iditarod musher has tested positive for COVID-19 and been withdrawn, Dallas Seavey has taken the lead in his return to the race and, instead of leaving problematic sections of trail behind, mushers are heading back over them,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.

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.

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.

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.

The 2021 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is going to look a lot different, one year into a global COVID-19 pandemic. (The Iditapod’s going to be pretty different this year, too, as we'll explain). The ceremonial start is canceled, so the race begins Sunday in Willow under strict COVID-19 protocols, with a shortened trail that doubles back on itself, a challenge to sled dog teams to cross the Alaska Range not once, but twice, plus coronavirus testing along the way and less access to indoor spaces at checkpoints... This Iditarod is certainly going to be unique.

Bert Christopher Heitstuman, 50, faces seven counts of second-degree sexual assault and two counts of second-degree attempted sexual assault.

A week ago, parts of Texas were suffering through cold weather and prolonged power outages. And while that state continues to recover, it got us wondering: Could that kind of thing happen in Alaska?

So far, expert witnesses have described serious problems with the boat’s stability report, which is a rating of how stable the vessel is and how much equipment it can bear. And those issues might extend to many other fishing boats around Alaska.

Hurley was a longtime assistant to territorial Governor Ernest Gruening, the chief clerk at the Alaska Constitutional Convention, and, later, a state legislator, among many other roles.

FEMA will provide disaster assistance to Haines, to recover from the deadly landslides in December. And, a large solar array will power a lodge at Denali National Park, after a delicate installation. Plus, remembering Katie Hurley, who helped draft Alaska's constitution.

A Facebook video of Wasilla police pinning down and arresting a woman last weekend at the local Walmart has gotten tens of thousands of views and drawn some criticism to the Wasilla Police Department.

Anchorage Police Chief Justin Doll plans to leave the police department this summer and is under consideration for a job as chief of police in San Jose, California.