Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media - Anchorage

Prosecutors say Erick Almandinger, 18, was part of a small group of teenage accomplices in David Grunwald's beating, kidnapping and execution. Almandinger's attorney says it's true his client failed to stop the others, but that he isn't guilty of murder. Listen now

According to the state ombudsman's investigation report released Monday, the Division of Public Assistance is swamped with applications and has failed to meet state and federal mandates for processing them in a timely manner. The report also says members of the public have had great difficulty getting responses to questions, and that the division's processing for long-term care is "inefficient and ineffective." Listen now

Charged with attempted sexual abuse of a minor, 57-year-old Vance Peronto, is no longer a trooper. The Department of Public Safety said the 16-year veteran of the force is not employed by the state anymore, as of Tuesday morning. He had been based in Soldotna.Listen now

An Alaska State Trooper, 57-year-old Vance Peronto, is charged with attempted sexual abuse of a minor after allegedly trying to meet a 16-year-old girl at an Anchorage hotel Sunday, according to a written statement from the Department of Public Safety. Listen now

It's the start of wildland fire season in Alaska, and to make sure they're ready for it, firefighters have been testing their proficiency at operating equipment, as well as their mental and physical fortitude. Listen now

The state Department of Transportation is gearing up for another busy construction season on Southcentral highways, and delays for motorists could be felt most acutely on two popular thoroughfares. Listen now

The Borough Assembly voted at its last meeting to give local schools a set percentage of area-wide property taxes, and the borough will provide education funding to the school district by Feb.1 each year, much earlier than in the past. Listen now

The policy change, which starts May 1, includes requiring a signed affidavit that the animal is trained to behave in public and that the owner accepts liability for its actions. Passengers with emotional support animals will also now have to provide all documentation to Alaska Airlines at least 48 hours before their flight. Listen now

Clare Baldwin and two of her colleagues with the Reuters news agency won the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for their series on a brutal, ongoing drug war in the Philippines. Listen now

The former chief executive of an Alaska company working on a massive fiber optic project in the Arctic is charged with committing fraud while she led the company. Listen now

A proposed ordinance before the Mat-Su Assembly would direct the borough to calculate funding of schools as a percentage of the property taxes it takes in each year, and it would set the rate for five years. Listen now

One of Alaska's three cannabis testing labs, Steep Hill Alaska, has closed because of complications with a loan connected to the space the business leased, its CEO said. Listen now

Under an agreement announced Friday, an Anchorage city prosecutor will work on felony cases in the state District Attorney's office. Listen now

About 7,000 people live inside Palmer city limits. It would nearly double the police department's budget -- adding an estimated $3 million every year -- to provide police service to another 6,500 people in unincorporated areas nearby, according to a study compiled by the police department at the city's request.

A man survived being struck by a plane that was taking off from sea ice 140 miles north of Deadhorse on the Beaufort Sea, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Listen now

A tall load on a semi trailer collided with a highway overpass bridge on Wednesday, and damage to the bridge forced transportation officials to close the highway's southbound lanes. Then the state's busiest commute was detoured through Eagle River on Thursday, causing hours-long delays. Listen now

The road into Hatcher Pass in the Talkeetna Mountains north of Palmer was expected to open Wednesday night after avalanches blocked it Monday morning. Listen now

Alaska Public Media's reporter on the Iditarod Trail, Zachariah Hughes, talks from Nome about the scene there as race finishers mush into town, and KNOM interviews with third-place finisher Mitch Seavey shed some light on his race, including a tough trail along the Bering Sea coast and becoming better friends with Joar Leifseth Ulsom (the new champ!) and runner-up Nicolas Petit. Plus, we go rapid-fire with questions about how fast the dogs run, trail mail and the Burled Arch.

The Iditarod has crowned a new Norwegian champion: Joar Leifseth Ulsom. The 31-year-old pulled under Nome’s Burled Arch at 3 a.m. Wednesday with eight dogs in harness to claim his first championship, taking the win in Iditarod 46. Ulsom is the first Norwegian musher to win the thousand-mile sled dog race since Robert Sørlie in 2005. Girdwood's Nicolas Petit arrived a little over two hours later, and he spoke to reporters about how his race went and where it went wrong.

There was a major shakeup at the front of the 2018 Iditarod on Monday, when Joar Leifseth Ulsom slipped past previous leader Nicolas Petit while Petit lost the trail on the Bering Sea coast between Shaktoolik and Koyuk. The table is now set for Ulsom, first to White Mountain and only 77 miles from the finish in Nome, to win his first Iditarod championship and the first for a Norwegian -- or anybody else not originally from the U.S. -- since 2005. But, as we hear in this episode, a lead and a long rest at White Mountain hasn't always translated to a win. Meantime, many of mushing's old guard are happy to pass the mantle to the next generation of elite mushers (not including defending champ Mitch Seavey, still mushing near the front in third place).