Dan Bross, KUAC - Fairbanks
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
Fairbanks hospital faces persistent staffing shortages, higher turnover
In hopes of attracting staff as COVID-19 hospitalizations spike, the Fairbanks hospital has created a new temporary part-time position called a COVID relief aide. It's also offering bonuses and hiring incentives.
Fairbanks schools to require face masks as COVID-19 cases climb
The Fairbanks North Star Borough School District Board voted this week to start requiring that everyone in school buildings age 2 and up wear a face mask.
Fairbanks Pioneer Home reports 8 COVID-19 cases over past month
Carolyn Hall said her 78-year-old father is one of the Fairbanks Pioneer Home residents who recently tested positive for COVID-19. “This isn’t just a story about my dad, my loved one, my family,” she said. “It’s about our entire community because you never know when it might be your loved one.”
Fairbanks hospital to require COVID-19 vaccine for staff as it wrestles with full ICU
“It’s really tough right now and I just feel for our employees who are overworked and — to some degree, I think —underappreciated when people don’t look at the science and don’t wear masks and don’t get vaccinated," says the board chair of Foundation Health Partners.
Damaged plane makes emergency landing in Fairbanks after big mid-air drop
A social media post by a passenger said the Wright Air Service Cessna Caravan “twirled upside down twice,” and photos of the plane on the tarmac in Fairbanks show a bent aileron on the aircraft’s right wing.
Champion dog musher Lance Mackey diagnosed with cancer again
Lance Mackey survived throat cancer nearly 20 years ago, prior to racking up four Iditarod and four Yukon Quest wins.
Fairbanks hits 88 degrees, crushing temperature record set more than a century ago
The previous record for Aug. 2 was 85 degrees set in 1919 and 1911.
Labyrinth helps Fairbanks man through chronic pain
Labyrinths have long been used as meditative and therapeutic tools, and a Fairbanks man credits walking and maintaining a labyrinth on his property with helping him cope with chronic pain.
Fairbanks man shoots grizzly bear he says was charging him
48-year-old Robert Wyble said he and his son Kendall and the family dog were hiking Monday in a familiar area past the end of Smallwood Trail near Mile 7 Chena Hot Springs Road when the grizzly sow charged.
Beaver dams burst, blocking Richardson Highway with debris. Twice.
No vehicles were caught in either slide, and in both incidents the highway was cleared and re-opened in about 2 hours. But there’s concern that another such release could result in a more serious outcome.
As Munson Creek wildfire grows, Chena Hot Springs stays open
The Munson Creek Fire near Chena Hot Springs East of Fairbanks is burning nearly 20,000 acres and is just a half-mile from Chena Hot Springs Resort. Yesterday, residents along the last few miles of the road were ordered to evacuate. But the resort itself still taking in new visitors.
Firefighters focus on protecting Chena Hot Springs Resort, homes as wildfire advances
As of 4 p.m. Friday, no evacuation order had been issued, and guests and staff remained on site at Chena Hot Springs.
Wildfire near Chena Hot Springs grows to 9,000 acres
Area residents were alerted by the Fairbanks North Star Borough Thursday to be ready to evacuate in case conditions worsen, and the state parks department has closed the popular Angel Rocks trail.
Yukon River chinook, chums, on track for dismal season
"Fish and Game and everybody else better be prepared to go out and get some crab or pollock or halibut and bring it to each household on the Yukon River," said one resident of Pilot Station about the poor runs, which prompted the state to close the subsistence fishery.
Troopers investigate 2 recent cases of possible abduction, sexual assault near Fairbanks
Both involve Alaska Native women who were found along Chena Hot Springs Road east of Fairbanks in recent weeks.
Developers hope to open Railbelt electric vehicle charging corridor by summer 2022
Efforts are underway to build a network of electric vehicle charging stations along the Railbelt that developers hope could connect the Kenai Peninsula to Fairbanks by the summer of 2022.
Troopers fatally shoot Anchorage man after he pointed replica assault rifle at them
Troopers said further investigation revealed that Dimitri Lanahan actually brandished a paintball gun. It was "designed to look like an assault rifle and did not have any markings that readily distinguished it from a firearm," according to the trooper report.
Alaska dinosaur discovery points to year-round Arctic living
The findings of young dinosaur bones on the banks of an Arctic river suggests that dinosaurs lived in the area year-round, enduring snowfall and darkness, according to a recent study.
Group of 12 stranded mountaineers rescued from Wrangell-St. Elias glacier
The climbers were attempting to summit the 16,000-foot Mt. Bona. Three suffered injuries from the stranding.
Low salmon run forecast for Yukon River
A forecast points to a run of between 102,000 and 189,000 Chinook, putting it potentially in line with some of the weakest runs in the past 20 years.