Top Stories

News stories, radio and TV episodes that warrant one of six spots on our homepage. The homepage is in chronological order of publication date, so stories are moved off the homepage as more are categorized “top stories.”

A satellite image of Red Dog mine's pits flooded with water.

As Arctic warming accelerates, permafrost thaw hits Red Dog mine with $20 million bill

The problems at Red Dog, one of the world’s largest zinc mines, show how climate change poses a challenge not just to residents of Arctic Alaska, but also to the economy of the region, which is warming at triple the rate of the global average.
a row of cars lined up behind a sign that reads "covid-19 drive-thru testing"

Alaska reports highest daily COVID-19 count since December as Dunleavy warns about hospital capacity

A total of 701 Alaskans tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, and 127 patients were hospitalized with the coronavirus.
a woman points her finger at a moose

A moose on the loose: Combat shopping in an Anchorage Costco parking lot

Shopper Amber Rotar said the moose started showing too much interest in the bell peppers in her cart.

ACLU Calls for Independent Investigation of Anchorage Election

The American Civil Liberties Union is requesting an outside investigator look into the ballot mess in Anchorage. Voters reported widespread ballot shortages at polling places during municipal elections Tuesday, and there are allegations that some voters were turned away at the polls. Late today, the ACLU sent a letter to the Anchorage Assembly making the request. Read More
A ochre and white concrete building in a greay cloudy day

Proposal would cut Alaska legislators’ daily allowance during sessions

A member of a state commission that can change legislators’ pay proposed on Thursday that their expenses be limited to $12,000 per year. Legislators have averaged $29,481 in session expenses — known as “per diems” — over the last 12 years. 
people leaving a building under a sign that says "vote here."

Here’s how Alaska’s unique new election system will work

Alaska elections will be held for the first time this year under a unique new system that scraps party primaries and uses ranked choice voting in general elections.
This illustration shows the DART spacecraft approaching the two asteroids,

Move over, Bruce Willis: NASA crashed into an asteroid to test planetary defense

NASA successfully crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid in a test of planetary defense. Now it will determine whether the mission was able to alter the asteroid's course.
Three men talking in a room at the Alaska State Capitol

Alaska House debates bringing back limits to campaign donations

A House bill would limit individual contributions to candidates to $2,000 over two years. 
toys

Alaska does not have enough housing to keep survivors of domestic violence safe

Advocates say they have the money to house survivors, but no place to put them.
a canoe

Angoon students name, launch first dugout canoe since 1882 Bombardment

It was a celebration of enduring culture more than 140 years after the village was devastated by the U.S. Navy shelling.
Green, spruce covered mountains drop into the blue ocean.

Court deals potentially fatal blow to logging plan for tens of thousands of acres of Tongass National Forest

The court challenge ends the U.S. Forest Service’s plan to open up 24,000 acres of old-growth forest on Prince of Wales Island to commercial logging. It also halts road building for the 15-year project.
The Petersburg Borough with its final boundaries. (File photo)

Senate passes Petersburg land grant bill

Legislation to increase the Petersburg Borough’s land grant from the state passed the Alaska Senate on Monday (April 10). The bill would transfer more than 14,000 acres to the new borough, which hopes to develop or sell off some of the property. Listen now

Big parts of Gov. Dunleavy’s agenda remain unfinished. But he still has time, tools at his disposal.

With the legislative session winding down, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has gotten traction with some of his ideas, but many others have stalled. The governor's office is still holding out for more, but his allies say Dunleavy can still declare victory without passage of specific bills or initiatives.

Bethel voters back liquor store, sin taxes

Unofficial results for Bethel’s municipal election are in. Download Audio
A child in a winter hat, jacket and a mask stands in front of trees with lights on them.

Get a fan and get vaccinated, the CDC says in its safety tips for the holidays

"When you have something spread by aerosol, you absolutely want more ventilation," Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Biden, said in an interview with CBS.

Fairbanks hospital to require COVID-19 vaccine for staff as it wrestles with full ICU

“It’s really tough right now and I just feel for our employees who are overworked and — to some degree, I think —underappreciated when people don’t look at the science and don’t wear masks and don’t get vaccinated," says the board chair of Foundation Health Partners.

Author of measure to cut Ketchikan library funding over LGBTQ content says he doubts it will pass

Former Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly member John Harrington says he filed the initiative petition this summer on behalf of a group of parents that object to LGBTQ content at the Ketchikan Public Library.

Negotiations sour on tribal child welfare agreement

The agreement, which was signed in 2017 by then-Gov. Bill Walker, is being renegotiated by tribal organizations and the Dunleavy administration. The compact gives tribes more control over children’s welfare.
picture from the aid of an inlet with water on both sides

Hilcorp gas pipeline springs another leak in Cook Inlet

Oil company Hilcorp is reporting another undersea natural gas leak near one of its platforms in Cook Inlet, about six miles offshore from Nikiski.
A man talks with his hands

Former Juneau mayor and Alaska broadcaster Dennis Egan dies at 75

Former Juneau mayor and state senator Dennis Egan died Tuesday morning in Oregon. He was 75. Egan served as mayor of Juneau from 1995 to...