Claire Stremple, KTOO - Juneau
Alaska House votes to cut Medicaid funding for abortion services
Lawmakers who oppose the measure say it’s likely to be signed into law even though similar measures were found to be unconstitutional.
Alaska’s top doctor on living with COVID in the post-restriction era
KTOO’s Claire Stremple spoke with Alaska Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink about this moment of living with COVID while many are ready to move on.
State fines Juneau’s Bartlett Hospital for COVID safety violations after whistleblower report
Hospital staff tipped off the state, leading investigators to find the city-owned hospital’s health and safety program inadequate. They issued more than a dozen citations.
Millions of relief dollars are finally on the way for Alaska’s child care centers
The state of Alaska received nearly $100 million last year to support the ailing child care system, but by the end of the year, the state had distributed only about 5% of it.
Cruise lines are predicting a record year, but Southeast Alaska is proceeding with caution
“It’s hard. It’s terrifying. And people are making real business decisions at this point with a lot of hope, but with no concrete knowledge of what the season is going to look like,” said an owner of one Juneau tourism company.
Why one Hoonah family rooted for the Czech women’s hockey team this Olympics
The Czech team captain is married to Thomas Mills, who grew up in Hoonah and Juneau. They now live together in Russia.
How climate researchers and Juneau composers are turning data into song
Through the project, music composers will interpret glacier outburst floods, high latitude mirages and arctic sea ice changes.
Hot dam: Beavers have gnawed their way into the Arctic, speeding permafrost thaw
Beavers are moving to the Arctic as the Alaskan tundra heats up and the beaver population rebounds after centuries of trapping. A study published in December shows the small, industrious mammal is accelerating climate change in the north.
Alaska is changing how it tracks the pandemic. Here’s what you need to know.
Omicron is now the dominant COVID variant in Alaska — and it is transforming the way the health department looks at the pandemic.
Southeast Alaska’s ever-deepening snow ‘a real problem and a real hassle’
Winter weather is in full effect across Alaska, but unusually high snow accumulation is testing Southeast. Usually some snow melts between storms, but that’s not happening this winter.
Retreating glaciers will open up salmon streams in Alaska, study says
A new study shows retreating glaciers are likely to open up thousands of miles of salmon spawning habitat by the year 2100. While that may sound like the distant future, it’s the blink of an eye in geologic time.
Omicron is likely already spreading in Alaska, state says
Alaska has only identified one case of the omicron variant in the state so far, but state epidemiologist Louisa Castrodale says it’s likely here and spreading.
Juneau drops its mask requirement for vaccinated residents
A decrease in COVID-19 cases and increased hospital capacity prompted the city's Emergency Operations Center to end the mask requirement.
A year after Haines’ deadly landslide, signs of recovery but still work to do
It's been one year since a huge landslide tore through Beach Road in Haines, destroying houses and killing two people, whose bodies were never found.
State proposes an official end to TB screening in schools
The state health department says the school screening program hasn’t turned up a single case in years. But critics of the proposal question the plan because Alaska regularly tops the list of states with the most cases of the disease.
Alaska’s top doctor shares tips for avoiding COVID spread at holiday gatherings
Dr. Zink recommends over-the-counter COVID-19 tests if someone in your holiday gathering is immunocompromised or if there will be a large group of people in attendance.
Alaska’s COVID-19 rates dropped but remain some of the highest in the country
New COVID-19 cases in Alaska have dropped by more than a third in the last couple of weeks, but Alaskans are still getting infected and dying from the virus at rates that lead the nation. And state health officials caution that the declining trend might not be the case in future weeks.
Climate change is making Glacier Bay unstable. Scientists are mapping the risks to visitors
Landslides and tsunamis aren’t historically common in Glacier Bay, but because more than half a million visitors tour the park each year park managers want to get a clearer picture of the risks of tsunamis and landslides, which have become more common recently due to a changing climate.
Eating disorders are on the rise in Alaska, but local resources are scarce
The number of Americans with eating disorders has skyrocketed during the pandemic. Alaska does not have enough resources to help them.
Alaska scrambles to spend nearly $100M in federal child care relief as centers close
The state received about $95 million from the federal government this spring to address the child care crunch. So far, the state has written a grant program to distribute only $5 million of that statewide.