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.”

A female teacher points to a word projected on a white board in a classroom with three students sitting a tables facing the front of the classroom

Concerns about in-person learning reach Anchorage Assembly

Top leaders from the Anchorage School District will present the plan next week to bring some students back into classrooms starting Nov. 16.
Steel boats on a grassy bank in a brown muddy river

Coast Guard ends search for 7 boaters missing from Quinhagak

Local search efforts continued for the boaters, who were last seen near Eek.
Man in car. Subtitle quotes him saying "you aren't held to your promises"

New Pebble tapes: ‘You aren’t held to your promises’ in election season, mine exec says

The group that captured Pebble Mine executives bragging about their sway over Alaska's senators and governor have released new footage.

The Alaska Psychiatric Institute says it’s resuming admissions after investigating COVID-19 cases

The decision is a reversal from Friday, when the health department said that the state-run psychiatric hospital would not admit new patients for two weeks after four of patients tested positive for the virus.
UAA Chancellor Cathy Sandeen at a desk.

UAA Chancellor Cathy Sandeen takes new job in California

The news of her departure comes about two years after Sandeen became the leader of Alaska’s largest public university.
Red billowy objexxt with blue rods latching onto them

In the Mat-Su and on the Kenai Peninsula COVID-19 case rates are doubling every week

The Matanuska-Susitna and Kenai Peninsula boroughs are seeing the most rapid increase in coronavirus cases in Alaska.
A white man speaks as he sits at a table with an american flag in the background

Health care providers, municipalities call for Dunleavy to extend disaster declaration

Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s public health emergency disaster declaration is set to expire on Nov. 15. Health care providers and local governments say they need that declaration, which allows them to better respond to the pandemic.
A forest floor

Alaskans react to Trump Administration’s Roadless Rule rollback in the Tongass

Proponents of the change say that the industry is at risk of disappearing, while environmentalists and Indigenous tribes say that logging threatens the ecosystem.
A square tan and grey building

State blames obsolete technology on delay in $300 weekly unemployment payments

Dunleavy says he hopes the state can start paying the benefits by the end of this week.
A sign on a beige wall that says "Anchorage Health Department"

Anchorage residents urged to stay home, reconsider travel plans as COVID-19 cases hit record highs

“If we continue on this path, our local hospitals could soon exceed their capacity,” said Anchorage Health Department director Heather Harris.
Drift wood in the foreground of a photo of a beach, greenish ocean water and jagged cliffs in the background

LISTEN: Here’s how it feels to go to the most remote place in Alaska

Writer Sarah Gilman went to St. Matthew last year on the research vessel Tiĝlax̂, and her piece, "The Island That Humans Can't Conquer" appeared recently in Hakai Magazine.
A hand with a blue glove drops a test tube in a ziploc bag held by two green hands.

Amid COVID-19 surge in Y-K Delta, health officials call for lockdowns, school closures

Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation is recommending that 19 villages in the region enter lockdown and that all schools close their doors to in-person classes.

Trump administration will eliminate roadless protections for Alaska’s Tongass forest

President Donald Trump’s administration announced Wednesday that it is finalizing its plans to reverse roadless protections for more than 9 million acres of the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska, or a little less than 15,000 square miles.
A nurse in a white suit, mask and clothes holds a vial

As coronavirus infections surge across the state, Alaska finds itself at ‘a tipping point’

Either Alaskans get the spread of the virus under control again, some health experts say, or infections will continue to multiply and could overwhelm the state’s health care system.
A female teacher points to a word projected on a white board in a classroom with three students sitting a tables facing the front of the classroom

Tutoring programs give a window into what reopened Anchorage schools may look like

The Anchorage School District's tutoring program is targeting children who most need in-person instruction, and testing out its protocols for when more students return to classrooms in November.

A torrent of Democratic absentee ballots could reverse Alaska’s Election Night vote counts

More than 75,000 Alaskans have already cast absentee ballots in this year’s election -- nearly one-fourth of the total number of votes cast in the state in the last presidential election, in 2016.
A cloudy seascape

Search continues for 7 boaters missing near Quinhagak

Searchers continue looking for the seven people who went missing while boating to Quinhagak last week.
An aerial view of one of the exploration pads and wells that ConocoPhillips drilled during the 2018 exploration season at its Willow prospect.

Trump administration approves Conoco’s Willow project in National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt signed the record of decision for the Willow project on Monday, earning praise from Alaska's Republican Congressional delegation and governor, and condemnation from environmental groups.
A beige building with a red metal roof labelled "Sitka Police Department"

Neighbors shaken but unhurt after 4-year-old fires AK-47 in Sitka

Sitka police are investigating a near-tragedy that occurred over the weekend when a small child playing with a high-powered rifle fired shots into his trailer court. No one was injured in the incident, but police say it was a very close call.
A white woman in a blue blouse with a photo fo a white man with big glasses

Will full PFDs spell problems for Permanent Fund’s future?

Legislative candidates have divergent ideas about how to pay dividends from the Permanent Fund while maintaining state services.