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The Distinguished Flying Cross is America’s oldest military aviation award and none too easy to earn – it’s only awarded for remarkable acts of heroism. Like what happened south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts one February morning in 2015. A little after 8:30am, the same time many of us are getting to work, a helicopter team from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod hovered above a fishing vessel stranded in nine-foot seas and 40 mph winds with conditions worsening. One of the pilots – now based in Kodiak - won a Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts that day.

Many were pushing for a move to mail-in ballots, but the Lieutenant Governor said that the current voting system, including absentee ballots, will be able to meet the demands of voters should a sharper outbreak of the coronavirus occur.

Around 70% of Alaska’s waters are unmapped — a percentage that’s much too high for staff with NOAA's Seascape Alaska initiative.

Seiners landed only 16,000 tons of herring last year, which was just under half of the harvest guideline. In 2020 and 2019, there were no fisheries at all.

Gov’s budget veto has at least one fan: rating agency S&P; uptick in oil prices helps Alaska’s bottom line, but not much; tribal assistance, employment programs run out of money; Pioneer homes won’t take new residents, at least for now; plankton population and the power of pink salmon; national podcaster discusses data and Alaska political climate; Eielson Air Force Base has new construction plan for incoming F-35 fighters; winter ferry schedule better than last year; Homer art gallery hosts “Decolonizing Alaska” exhibit

Alaska Republican leaders from all parts of the GOP spectrum are uniting behind Donald Trump for president. On Monday, the Trump campaign’s Alaska branch released a list of honorary co-chairs. Download Audio

The Alaska Republican Party wants to require drug testing for welfare recipients. That’s one of the new planks it added to the party platform at its convention in Fairbanks over the weekend.

Two healthcare workers are among Ketchikan’s six confirmed coronavirus cases. That’s according to a Sunday afternoon news release from PeaceHealth, the Washington state-based nonprofit that runs Ketchikan’s hospital.

Rounding out our coverage of congressional races, we turn to Alaska's junior U.S. Senator, Dan Sullivan, who is campaigning to retain his seat in the Alaska Congressional delegation. How will he work to overcome deep divisions in Congress to get things accomplished?

The coronavirus has now killed more than 800,000 people in the U.S., just two years after the first COVID-19 cluster was reported in Wuhan, China, and a year after vaccines were first rolled out.

The National Archives in Anchorage is closing its doors to researchers in less than two weeks, despite impassioned pleas by historians and researchers. But they aren't the only ones who use the stacks of historical records. Playwrights, federal and state agencies, and native organizations do as well. And the archives leaving could impact them all, to a degree. Download Audio

“It shows those kids that you can be a really sweet, kind person and still achieve greatness in a sport," said one coach about Jacoby, "You don’t have to be a cocky superstar or anything like that."

Fairbanks Memorial Hospital has set up a mobile morgue in the parking lot to prepare for any mass casualty event. The refrigerator container is not running yet, but can be ready in two hours.

The Sitka Tribe of Alaska’s tannery is up and running in its own building, at the far end of Halibut Point Road. And now that the business has bought a new home, tribal officials are hoping for its long-term success.