News

Jeff King of Denali won the Kuskokwim 300 sled dog race for the ninth time Sunday. Twenty-one teams competed.

Mushers in Fairbanks and Whitehorse handed over thousands of pounds of dog food, human food and personal items to Yukon Quest race officials last Saturday. The annual food drop brings both a sense of relief and taste of reality to those who are signed up to run in the international sled dog race.

Watch The Abolitionists Extended Preview on PBS. See more from American Experience.

The battle between pro-slavery and free-soil contingents rises to fever pitch. During his raid on Harpers Ferry, John Brown is captured, then executed, becoming a martyr for the cause. Abraham Lincoln is elected president in 1860. Southern states secede, war breaks out and the conflict unexpectedly drags on. TV: Tuesday 1/22 @ 8:00 pm

The unemployment rate in Alaska dropped to 6.6 percent in December. The decrease of point one percent from November continues a downward trend. The state has seen its unemployment rate decline since August.

Dirt has been turned for the new State Libraries, Archives and Museum in the capital city. The project to hold Alaska’s treasures in one building is already underway, as contractor PLC Construction prepares the ground behind the current Alaska State Museum.

Alaska’s summer months may be limited, but the growing season has no bounds. That is, as long as you grow indoors. AK’s Anne Hillman found out that indoor gardens in Anchorage are blossoming even in unexpected spaces.

This week, we’re off to Tuntuntuliak, which is located on a Kuskokwim River tributary near the Bering Sea Coast. Patrick Pavila is the tribal administrator for Tuntuntuliak.

Watch Downton Abbey, Season 3: Episode 3 Preview on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.

Two social revolutions arrive at Downton Abbey: the Irish civil war and the fight for women’s suffrage. A mysterious conspiracy keeps Anna and Bates apart. TV: Sunday, 1/20 at 8:00pm

President Barack Obama laid out clear directives to Congress yesterday. He wants the legislative branch to ban the sale of high capacity magazines and armor piercing bullets, require background checks for all gun sales, and crack down on straw purchases of guns – sales when a legally cleared person buys a gun for someone who is legally barred from purchasing one.

Gov. Sean Parnell's State of the State address last night underscored the priorities he's been pushing throughout his administration. He called for a comprehensive crime bill that would levy harsher penalties on sexual predators, and he set a goal of improving Alaska’s high school graduation rate from 70 percent to 90 percent.

The state run company pursuing a smaller volume in-state bullet line to bring North Slope gas to Fairbanks, Anchorage and other communities, has overhauled the project. The new plan puts the gas line on a diet.

Thursday, Federal wildlife officials announced an agreement that could lead to the re-introduction of Wood Bison into Alaska. Larry Bell, a Fish and Wildlife Service assistant regional director for external affairs, says a special rule has been drafted that would designate re-introduced Wood Bison as a “non-essential, experimental population”, which means land the animals occupy would not be designated as critical habitat.

Last month, a suspected serial killer from Washington state killed himself in a jail cell in Anchorage. Israel Keyes’ suicide abruptly halted progress into uncovering one of the widest-ranging serial killing sprees in the U.S. Now, the FBI is trying to piece together exactly what he did. As Jessica Robinson of the Northwest News Network reports, investigators are struggling to connect seemingly random dots that they hope will lead them to other victims.

The State’s fast-ferry lawsuit is underway again. There have been delays and bumps along the way in the complicated two-year old case, including the principal builder of the vessels being dropped from the lawsuit. But, now, the case now appears headed for trial in April.

Most people only drink green beer on St. Patrick’s Day. But next time you tip a bottle of Amber, Pale or IPA from Juneau’s Alaskan Brewing Company that’s exactly what you’ll be drinking: Green beer, as in good for the environment.

Early Wednesday morning a man from Togiak was found dead near the trail between Togiak and Manokotak. State Troopers had been alerted the night before that Douglas Gamechuk, 43, was overdue. His snowmachine was found out of gas about 35 miles west of Manokotak and searchers located his body 4 to 5 miles away from it.