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.
Several Mat-Su schools close after increase of COVID-19 cases tied to maskless sports, activities
Several Matanuska-Susitna Borough schools remain closed this week amid an increase in COVID-19 infections that the school district attributes mostly to student athletes going maskless while playing indoor sports.
LISTEN: Sure it’s cold, Alaska. But these chilly days are becoming more scarce.
Temperatures have dipped to colder than 40 below in parts of the Interior and windchills down to 70, 80 and even 90 below in some places.
LISTEN: Alaska’s top doctor says misinformation hurts vaccination effort
In part, Dr. Anne Zink is responding to a report this week by the conservative blog Alaska Watchman under the headline, "At least five Alaskans died and 111 suffered adverse reactions after COVID vaccines."
Alaska public safety group to review fatal, near-fatal domestic violence cases
State public safety officials say they hope to find ways to prevent people from being killed or seriously injured by their partners or someone with whom they live.
LISTEN: Another Alaska attorney general resigns amid scandal
For the second time in about six months, Alaska’s attorney general has resigned amid questions by the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica into their behavior. One case involved harassment of a state employee. The other involves possible criminal allegations of sexual abuse.
Feds investigate: Does Alaska lock up too many kids with behavioral health issues?
The investigation is the result, in part, of the Alaska Disability Law Center's 2020 complaint that the state has failed to provide appropriate treatment and relied too heavily on locking up children with behavioral health disorders, often at out-of-state, for-profit psychiatric institutions.
Former Alaska Bush pilot found guilty of international parental kidnapping
More than six years after he took his children from Alaska to the Philippines, a former Anchorage-based pilot has been convicted of international parental kidnapping.
LISTEN: Giant Alaskan legend from early UFC dies of COVID-19
Paul Varelans was a 6-foot-8, 300-pound giant from Fairbanks and a pioneer in the now wildly popular Ultimate Fighting Championship. He died at the age of 51 battling COVID in an Atlanta hospital.
Troopers seek help in Hooper Bay woman’s homicide after body found north of Willow
Troopers said in a written statement Tuesday that Arnoldine Simone Hill, 26, was last known to be alive in Midtown Anchorage on Dec. 10 and might have been in Anchorage, Wasilla or Willow prior to her death.
LISTEN: Anchorage attorney says prison during pandemic shouldn’t be a death sentence
Anchorage attorney Gavin Kentch represented one of five Alaska inmates to die of COVID-19. He wants Alaskans to remember that even people who have committed crimes don't deserve to get sick and die from COVID-19.
LISTEN: Anchorage police monitoring for threats, preparing for protests
While Anchorage Police Chief Justin Doll says residents might see a bigger police presence at some government buildings, Doll says there are currently no specific threats of violence.
Anchorage man swerved to hit friend in fatal Glenn Highway collision, charges say
Brian McGee, 25, is charged with murder after police say he left his friend on the side of a highway, then came back and hit him with a car.
Ask a Climatologist: An Alaska-sized storm sets record
A massive storm way out in the Aleutian Islands at the end of the year set a record for the lowest atmospheric pressure ever recorded in the North Pacific... but you've probably never heard of it.
LISTEN: Alaska’s population keeps shrinking
The estimate says Anchorage lost about 3,000 residents from July 2019 to July 2020, while Fairbanks gained about a thousand people, associated with a buildup related to F-35 fighter jets stationed nearby. And the Matanuska-Susitna Borough continued its long-term, steady increase with about 520 new residents.
LISTEN: Alaska law enforcement has routinely failed to follow DNA collection law
The DNA is supposed to go into a database that can help police connect offenders to unsolved crimes, including rape and murder. But according to the ADN’s reporting, that’s not what’s happening.
Number of unsentenced Alaskans behind bars climbs under COVID-19 court, prison constraints
Jury trials remain suspended, and many people have no idea when they will get their day in court. Plus, defense attorneys say their inability to meet with clients put a damper on resolving cases through plea deals.
LISTEN: The survey says… majority of Anchorage residents taking COVID-19 recommendations seriously
As of early December, two thirds of Anchorage residents supported additional COVID-19 restrictions.
Ask a Climatologist: Anchorage avoids Chinook wind events, holds onto snow
Anchorage is within its usual range, and has held onto its snow, as the city's been missed by a couple Chinook wind events like those that've caused melting in recent winters, like 2019 (pictured).
Anchorage police charge brothers in Chelsea Inn homicide, one still at large
Only one of the homicide suspects, 31-year-old Josiah Pouli, is in custody. Police are still looking for 26-year-old Jacob Pouli (pictured).
Alaska guns sold in private sales discovered in secret shipments to Mexican drug cartel
Smuggling charges against the now-jailed Miguel Moreno-Cortez allege he was an Alaska-based gun purchaser who was part of a larger network exporting guns from the United States to a drug-trafficking organization called Autodefensas de Michoacán Cartel in the Mexican state of Michoacán.