Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media - Anchorage

The Iditarod can be a cathartic experience, with all those good dogs, bad dogs, #uglydogs… In this episode we catch up on the race and discuss how it's nearly impossible to analyze who's really in the lead as mushers start to take their mandatory 24-hour layovers at different checkpoints. Alaska Public Media's Tegan Hanlon has a story about Jeff King's substitute Sean Underwood, AKPM's Zach Hughes and Ben Matheson take in the Blood Moon in Takotna, we have a somewhat surprising answer to a listener question, and Brent Sass talks about his lead dog, Jeep.

With plenty of snow on the Iditarod Trail this year, some of the more technical runs have not been as difficult as years past. But the Happy River steps and the Dalzell Gorge are always a challenge, and Alaska Public Media's Tegan Hanlon joins Iditapod host Casey Grove to discuss why we call both of those sections "technical."

It’s Monday, and Iditarod sled dog teams are heading into their second full day of racing after the official start yesterday in Willow. From there they mushed west to the Yentna checkpoint about 50 miles into the race, on to Skwentna at about 80 miles, and the front-of-the-pack teams are already heading up and up and up into the Alaska Range, toward the mountainous checkpoint of Rainy Pass.

The Iditarod rookie came in for a rather lengthy interview last week. We talked about his past and present, and, among other things, Quince’s experiences being transgender. As far as we know, he’s the first openly trans person in the Iditarod.

The 2020 Iditarod began in earnest Sunday with the official restart in Willow, where, to the surprise of many, musher John Schandelmeier replaced his wife, Zoya Denure, who reportedly had some last-second health issues. What wasn't a surprise, at least for this winter, was more snow!

The Iditapodders took to the streets of downtown Anchorage, and the trails of midtown Anchorage, for the ceremonial start of the 2020 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Alaska Public Media reporters Zachariah Hughes and Tegan Hanlon joined Iditapod host Casey Grove in talking to mushers, but then Casey hopped on a sled with Quince Mountain, riding the entire 11-mile course. AKPM reporter Liz Ruskin also joined in with an audio postcard from the trail-side parties.

On the eve of Iditarod 2020, we discuss four-time champion Jeff King dropping out due to a medical emergency, how his rookie handler is taking King's top-notch team, and how heavy snow along the Iditarod Trail (a trench in places) will surely affect this year's race. Host Casey Grove is joined in the studio by Alaska Public Media reporters Tegan Hanlon and Zachariah Hughes.

This year's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race will be the first for its new CEO Rob Urbach, who took over in July. Urbach came to the Iditarod after six years as CEO of USA Triathlon and, previously, had worked in sports marketing and management.

The thousand-mile Iditarod kicks off with the ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage on Saturday, and this year's race will be the first for its new CEO Rob Urbach, who took over in July.

Instead of hiding in our cozy little radio studio at Alaska Public Media or out on the sparsely populated Iditarod Trail, we took the Iditapod to the Beartooth Theatrepub in Anchorage on Monday, March 2 for a live, onstage event, where about 300 people joined reporters Zachariah Hughes, Tegan Hanlon and Casey Grove for a wide-ranging discussion with Iditarod mushers Jessica Klejka, Matthew Failor and Jeff King.

Three-time Yukon Quest champion dog musher Brent Sass is headed back to Alaska’s other thousand mile sled dog race, the Iditarod, after some trial and tribulation.

...and we're back! Kicking off the 2020 Iditapod, host Casey Grove and Alaska Public Media trail reporter Zachariah Hughes discuss the 2019 running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, as well as the 2020 Copper Basin 300 (briefly) and the Kuskokwim 300 (at length). And Casey talks to three-time Yukon Quest champion Brent Sass about his recent victory in that other thousand-mile sled dog race and his impending return to the Iditarod.

As first reported by the Arctic Sounder newspaper, Capstone Publishing described its own book, "Take Your Pick of Disgusting Foods," as racist and says it will remove the book from active sales.

As public historian David Reamer points out in a recent installment of his column for the Anchorage Daily News, called Histories of Anchorage, there’s little doubt that Alaska Natives are “real” Alaskans. But what about everybody else?

The National Aeronautic and Space Administration does a lot of work in Alaska, from looking inward monitoring the effects of climate change, to launching rockets to conduct experiments away from Earth.

The book is centered around a tragedy: It describes the disappearance of Roman Dial’s son, Cody Roman Dial, who vanished in the rainforest of Costa Rica in 2014.

This version of matchmaking involves both introducing would-be lovers in person and improving their experiences in the online realm.

Once a month, the Anchorage Museum's SEED Lab hosts a mending workshop where participants repair clothing and other gear in an effort to extend their use, reduce waste and teach participants new skills.

There’s a project in the works to bring wireless, broadband internet to all of Alaska, this time via satellite.

Little public information released so far about the Yute Air crash that killed five passengers in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Also, the Kaktovik school, a gathering place for the entire community, burns to the ground. And and update from Dawson City, the halfway point of the Yukon Quest sled dog race.