News

All news stories, regardless of topic (local, statewide + national news stories, as well as Talk of Alaska, Alaska News Nightly, Alaska Insight, Alaska Economic Report). Some news stories may also have other categories marked, which will also put them on a subpage. Not all news stories will fall into a subpage.

Staff volunteers queue to receive a fourth dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Sheba Medical Center in Israel on Dec. 27, 2021, as the hospital conducted a trial of a fourth jab of the vaccine.

Who might benefit from a 4th shot — and who might not

Some countries are moving ahead with plans to offer a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine. But studies are raising questions about the potential advantages of this extra booster.
A woman in a red jacket stands at a podium in a meeting room

Murkowski touts infrastructure success, tells Legislature she’s fighting Biden admin daily for resource development

Condemned by her party, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski gave an address to the Legislature marked by her moderate brand of politics.
A white woman in a pink coat speaks with a microphone

Watch: Sen. Lisa Murkowski addresses Alaska Legislature at 11 a.m. Tuesday

Lisa Murkowski is Alaska’s senior senator, serving since late 2002. She typically takes questions from state lawmakers on the floor after her address.

Line One: Community vaccine outreach in Anchorage

Alaska’s COVID case rate appears to be improving, but omicron remains a concern for  vulnerable populations in and outside of Anchorage.

An Alaska legislator for 30 years, friends remember Johnny Ellis as caring and a coalition builder

As a Democrat representing districts in Anchorage, Ellis served in the state House from 1986 to 1992, when he was elected to the state Senate, and he served there until 2016.
The loading dock of a white building with a sign that says Qawalangin

With food insecurity rising, Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska opens island’s first official food bank

Unlike the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the Unalaska Food Bank doesn’t have any income requirements.
A snow blower crosses an intersection in front of a giant puddle in the roadway

Icy roads again close Anchorage and Mat-Su schools after overnight windstorm hits Southcentral Alaska

The Anchorage School District said early Tuesday that there was "extreme ice on roads and parking lots."
People standing around a row of about 10 snowmachines on the open tundra

Togiak basketball team travels 70 miles by snowmachine to its first competition since the pandemic began

With no planes flying, 10 students, coaches and chaperones snowmachined across frozen tundra, streams and lakes to the tournament.
Vials of testing fluid and packages of nose swabs in boxes on a table

More contagious version of omicron spreads in US, fueling worries

The virus, known as BA.2, is a strain of the highly contagious omicron variant that appears to spread even more easily — about 30% more easily.
People in suits seated around tables in a meeting room

Alaska Senate considers different proposals to change PFD formula

The Senate Finance Committee considered two bills on Monday that would set PFDs at a lower level than the roughly $2,500 Gov. Mike Dunleavy proposed. 
A profile shot of a building.

Think you have supply chain woes? Try building in rural Alaska, where prices are high and the season is short.

Every step of the supply chain, from manufacturing to shipping to distribution, has lost any sense of a normal rhythm.
A large building

Roland Maw reaches plea deal on PFD fraud

Roland Maw will no longer be allowed to collect PFDs.
An opal

Huge opal sells for nearly $144,000 at Alaska auction

The opal, dubbed the “Americus Australis,” weighs more than 11,800 carats.
Olympic ice skaters

‘A deep depression after the Olympics’: The challenges facing athletes at home

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee formed a mental health task force ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
a family on a couch watching tv with antlers in the background holding up ski goggles

After more than a decade, overcrowded Shaktoolik is finally getting new homes

Alaskans are twice as likely to live in an overcrowded household than the national average. Rates are highest in small, off-the-road-system communities like Shaktoolik.
an anchorage police car is parked in a parking lot

Anchorage police have no timeline on implementing body-worn cameras as current draft policy draws scrutiny

Anchorage voters approved the purchase of the cameras during an election last spring. But Chief Michael Kerle says the department is still sorting through the thorny issues involved with implementing the policy.
A cruise ship next to a forested hill

Bill from Alaska delegation would allow cruises to bypass Canada ports again

Royal Caribbean International’s Ovation of the Seas, a quantum-class cruise ship, in Skagway’s port. (Claire Stremple/KHNS) Alaska’s congressional delegation wants to extend the waiver of...
A bulletin board in teacher Katie McDaniel’s kindergarten classroom at Huffman Elementary School. The signs remind students to wear a mask, use hand sanitizer and stay home if they’re sick.

Anchorage School District to make masking optional on Feb. 28

Superintendent Deena Bishop said the change follows a rapid drop in COVID cases in the state and the widespread availability of vaccines.
Three students in front of yellow lockers

Hometown Alaska: Teens talk about coping with COVID

On this week's Hometown Alaska, Anchorage teens describe how they have suffered, endured, and even grown through living under the COVID-19 pandemic. We'll hear...