News

Iditarod veteran Jan Steves, of Willow, scratched early this morning at the Skwentna checkpoint - 83 miles into the race.

It was busy overnight in Skwentna as teams passed through the second checkpoint on the Iditarod Trail and made their way into the Alaska Range. Teams are shaking out the kinks early as they settle into race mode.

Girdwood musher Nicolas Petit has taken an early lead in the 2016 Iditarod. He's approaching the Rainy Pass checkpoint, which stands 153 miles into the race.

Red, white and blue flags flew high at this year’s Iditarod start line, but they weren’t the flags one might expect at an American race. These flags bear the Scandinavian cross and they were flown by fans who came out to cheer on more than ten percent of the race field. There are more Scandinavians in this year’s Iditarod than ever before. Iditarod - Day 1

Hundreds of race fans lined the chute on Willow Lake to send off one of the largest fields in years under warm March sunlight.

Photos from the 2016 Iditarod ceremonial start by Ben Matheson, Zachariah Hughes and Patrick Yack.

The 44th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race kicked off with the ceremonial start to the race in downtown Anchorage Saturday.

The Iditarod parties in Nome at the end of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race are legendary. But at another party 1,000 miles behind on...

Iditarod 2016 photos from the trail by Alaska Public Media's Zachariah Hughes and KNOM's Emily Schwing.

The 44th annual Iditarod trail sled dog race gets underway on Sunday, although the festive ceremonial start in Anchorage happens tomorrow. This is one of the largest fields in the race's history at 85 mushers signed up to start. KNOM News Director Emily Schwing and Alaska Public Media's Zachariah Hughes will be reporting from the trail. Before they take off, let's find out who they're keeping an eye on and what to watch out for along the trail. Download Audio

Two British explorers were rescued from the icy waters of Bering Strait yesterday afternoon. Neil Laughton and James Bingham left the village of Wales on the western edge of the Seward Peninsula on Wednesday. Download Audio

The Senate Finance Committee has been weighing a wide-ranging bill to overhaul Medicaid in Alaska. One provision is aimed at curbing the abuse of opioid drugs. Download Audio

Mark Urban, an associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at University of Connecticut, and other researchers say climate change could wipe out one-sixth of Earth’s species that won’t be able to adapt to the warming planet.

This week we're hearing from Mat Su Valley resident Dennis Ricker. Ricker came to Alaska from Colorado in 1978 and was a wildland firefighter until he retired. Download audio

The Arctic Winter Games start Sunday in Greenland. Nine athletes from Nome are representing Team Alaska at the international tournament. They’ll compete in four events: Dene Games, Arctic Sports, Biathlon Ski, and Alpine Skiing. Most of Nome’s athletes have competed in indigenous games since they were little kids. But at today’s practice, Coach Marjorie Tahbone has them trying something new.

Over the last eight years, a California man has snatched up dozens of parcels of land in the small community of Seldovia, on Kachemak Bay. His work on that property has dragged him into legal disputes with the city of Seldovia and some of his neighbors. Download audio

The next time you walk into a Kodiak business, you may notice a flailing salmon out of the corner of your eye. That’s one image that now decorates trashcans around town. It’s part of fisherman Bruce Schactler’s plan to turn historic canning labels into beautiful garbage cans – a project which he launched after he noticed the same trend in Oregon.