Top Stories

News stories, radio and TV episodes that warrant one of six spots on our homepage. The homepage is in chronological order of publication date, so stories are moved off the homepage as more are categorized “top stories.”

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In last-minute move, Trump administration shrinks ANWR oil lease sale by almost a third

The Bureau of Land Management announced the decision to shrink the available acres by about 30% on Friday evening, just three days before it began accepting sealed bids for drilling rights.
a person holds a vial of the COVID-19 vaccine

As groups clamor for vaccine, here’s how Alaska will decide who’s next in line

An advisory committee made initial recommendations about who should receive Alaska's first doses of COVID-19 vaccine without much uproar. But now its work is entering a more delicate phase, as letters pour in from state agencies, trade groups and nonprofits asking to to be among the first in line.

The 2021 Iditarod sled dog race is still on, but will end in Willow

Teams will now travel on a 860-mile loop that starts and ends in the Southcentral community of Willow, instead of heading to Nome.
Person holding white cardboard box

Ketchikan’s first COVID-19 vaccine shipment was too warm and had spoiled, officials say

Ketchikan’s first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine was spoiled and couldn’t be used. But replacements have already arrived.

Without tourists or in-person markets, 2020 has been hard on Alaska artists

Artists in the state are trying to adapt by moving business online. But some artists say they’re making a fraction of normal sales.
People standing in front of white capitol dome holding banners that say protect the Arctic.

Biden’s pick for Interior secretary is a passionate foe of drilling in Arctic Refuge

The New Mexico Democrat is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe. If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first Indigenous person to serve as a cabinet secretary.
A white woman with glasses speaks at a podium

Health officials ‘cautiously optimistic’ about Alaska’s COVID-19 case plateau

This time, the lower numbers don’t appear to be a case of underreported data, which happened a few weeks ago when staff couldn’t keep up with reporting on the spike in new infections.
a vial of the COVID-19 vaccine

Alaska hospitals find bonus COVID-19 vaccine doses in their Pfizer vials

It's one of the most coveted substances in the world. And, like their colleagues around the country, Alaska providers say they're finding an extra dose, and in some cases two extra doses, in their five-dose vials, presenting both benefits and complications.

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).

Frustration builds for Southcentral restaurants amidst third shutdown

Halfway through the city’s third pandemic shutdown, Anchorage’s hospitality industry is struggling, and increasingly frustrated.
A white man holds some paper

Rep. Lance Pruitt violated campaign finance laws, watchdog finds

Rep. Lance Pruitt violated Alaska’s campaign finance laws and should pay a penalty. That’s according to staff for the state’s elections watchdog agency, the Alaska Public Offices Commission.

Checks of $600 are likely, aid to states is not as Congress negotiates pandemic relief bill

"This is not just paper. This is hope," Sen. Lisa Murkowski says of coronavirus relief bill.
a person holds a vial of the COVID-19 vaccine

‘Lightning’s going to strike somewhere’: Juneau health care worker hospitalized, another treated after COVID-19 vaccination

A Juneau health care worker had a "serious allergic reaction" Tuesday and was hospitalized after being injected with the COVID-19 vaccine produced by drug companies Pfizer and BioNTech, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
A white man in a suit speaks

Gov. Dunleavy will get COVID-19 vaccine, but stops short of recommending it for Alaskans

“I’m going to do what I think is best for me,” Dunleavy said at a news conference on Tuesday. “I would encourage others to do what they believe is best for them.”
A snow covered mountain erupts

Thirty-one years ago, Redoubt eruption triggered seismic shift in Alaska volcano research

John Power remembers a set of foreboding, low-frequency volcanic earthquakes under Redoubt 23 hours before the eruption. That was AVO’s first hint of the six-month eruption that followed
A snowy scene with a village visible through some trees

Russian Mission post office closure threatens infant formula supplies

Russian Mission’s post office has been closed on and off for nearly six months, and mothers have had to scramble to get infant formula for their babies. It's led to inconvenient, expensive, and uncertain options.
Two silhouetted figures in the distance around some lakes with mountains in the background

Gwich’in, conservation groups ask court to block ANWR oil leasing

The Trump administration has scheduled the first-ever lease sale in the coastal plain for Jan. 6, and it's moving toward allowing seismic work in the area this winter. But the groups behind the recent court filings are asking a judge to prevent the administration from doing both until the ongoing lawsuits are resolved.

With ‘laser focus,’ Anchorage School District commits to in-person study beginning Jan. 19

The district is taking a phased-approach that prioritizes elementary and special-needs students.
About two dozen long guns propped up on a table in a line and buckets of ammunition.

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.
Trees eroding from a bluff

Large crack in Haines hillside has geologists worried about more slides

Geologists studying the landslide that swept Beach Road are concerned that more material could break loose. During helicopter flights, they identified a deep crack in the hillside extending south from the crown of the existing slide area.