News

Monday was Labor Day, set aside in both the U.S. and Canada to recognize workers. In Alaska, it was a day to collect signatures on two initiatives to protect workers. One is statewide – to increase the state’s minimum wage. The other asks Anchorage voters to overturn a municipal law that limits the rights of city employees.

A single engine plane crashed southeast of McGrath, near Rohn in the foothills of the Alaska Range on Friday. The pilot, Scott Mueller, age 58, of Big Lake, was killed. A passenger, Traeger Anderson, age 30, of Wasilla, was injured.

Meth hasn't been a common narcotic on Dillingham streets. Its appearance last week has the Western Alaska Alcohol and Narcotics Team concerned that the drug problem is getting worse.

A hunting guide from Wasilla is heading to jail after being found guilty of two counts of big game violations by a jury in Cordova District Court. The violations stemmed from an illegal wolf hunt a year ago.

A Petersburg Republican plans to run for House District 35 in hopes of unseating a freshman Democratic representative from Sitka. Legislative districts for next year have not cleared a legal challenge but at least two people intend to run for the new district that includes Sitka, Petersburg, Craig and other communities on the northern half of Prince of Wales Island.

Friday the latest reality television show set in Alaska premiered. It's about welders. That's right - shipyard welders in Kodiak. "Alaska Men of Steel" is running on the Discovery Channel.

Pepe's North of the Border is no more. The world's northernmost Mexican restaurant burned to the ground on Saturday. The fire also sent a good deal of smoke into the attached Top of the World Hotel.

This week, we're heading to Chefornak - a small village on the Bering Sea:- to talk Alexandra Anderson, the city clerk.

Kuskokwim Chinook salmon—or Kings as they are known locally--did not make it to the spawning grounds this year as managers had expected. Counting projects are showing the lowest escapements in history for nearly all of the river’s tributaries. Managers and residents are trying to make a plan for next year.

A plane crash north of Sutton Thursday night claimed the lives of both men on board. Alaska State Troopers sid the Rescue Coordination Center received a report of an overdue aircraft Thursday night. No formal flight plan had been filed and the plane was reported overdue by family members. The 210th and 212th Rescue Squadrons were deployed and located the aircraft, a Citabria Champion, early Friday morning. Rescue personnel were unable to land, but were hoisted to the ground. The team discovered Adam Norton and Derrik Swanson, both of Palmer.

Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gina McCarthy wrapped up her Alaska trip yesterday in Fairbanks. She toured the area, which suffers from elevated wintertime fine particulate pollution that often violates federal clean air standards. McCarthy had only praise for how Fairbanks is responding to smoke from wood and coal burning.

Residents of Adak, in the western Aleutians, are used to frequent earthquakes. But Friday morning’s magnitude 7.0 quake left residents a little more rattled than usual.

The eruption of the Veniaminof Volcano on the Alaska Peninsula increased in severity Friday morning.

The humpback whale that was tangled up in a gillnet near Petersburg earlier this week has made its way to Juneau waters. A National Marine Fisheries Service spokeswoman said a disentanglement team was out Wednesday observing the whale. On Friday, the three-person team was out trying to cut it free.

The Obama Administration announced Thursday that it won't sue states like Alaska that allow medical marijuana. Not only that, it won't sue Colorado or Washington for legalizing recreational use of the drug, something that Alaska might do next year. Listen Now

Syria does not produce much oil. It's allies do, though, said Ed Hirs, an energy economist at the University of Houston. Listen Now