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.”

Fuel Sale in Nome Targets Spring Subsistence Hunters

Anywhere else in the United States, $5.47 per gallon for gasoline might be pretty frightening—but in Nome, it’s a sale for spring subsistence. Download Audio

Opt Out Bill Could Cost Alaska $97 Million in Federal School Funding

Senate Bill 89 aims to increase the authority of parents, allowing them to opt their children out of standardized tests, and educational programming dealing with sexual health. Download Audio

Battle Over Medicaid Spills Onto Capital Steps

The event is another strategy from the administration to get lawmakers to bring the issue to a vote in the Legislature ahead of session's end. Download Audio

The Blind Spot: Spaces Between Statistics

In Anchorage, the number of criminal offenses by minors referred to the Department of Juvenile Justice has dropped by nearly half in the past decade for almost every offense type – except severe drug and alcohol offenses. That number has stayed fairly steady. In fact, as a share of the whole, substance abuse cases in Anchorage are up, although as a share of the total they are proportionately small. But the numbers only tell part of the story. Download Audio

The Blind Spot: Harm Reduction at the Transit Center

If you're a teenager in Anchorage struggling with homelessness, hunger, or addiction there are few places to turn. One of the few organizations in Anchorage helping at-risk teens on their own terms is hidden in plain sight in one of the city's busiest buildings. Download Audio

Anchorage Church Officials Lead Rally For Medicaid Expansion

Hundreds of Anchorage residents gathered in Cuddy park Thursday night to rally for Medicaid expansion. The event was organized by AFACT, Anchorage Faith & Action Congregations Together- a coalition of local churches. Organizers hope the rally will make a difference as lawmakers enter the final days of the legislative session. Download Audio

AK: An Artist On A Quest To Bring Otter To The Runway

This spring, Sitka artist Peter Williams took a trip to New York City, to show his work during fashion week. A designer and marine mammal hunter, Williams makes everything from hats to earrings from sea otter and sealskin. He's been trying to break into the lucrative fashion world for years, and he's got a larger goal in mind – bringing Alaska Native designs to luxury buyers worldwide. Williams says that one way to save a traditional art form, is to create a market for it. Download Audio

Cultivating Native Values, NYO Tournament Continues Growing

500 athletes from across the state were joined for the first time in decades by a foreign delegation from the Yukon Territory in Canada. Organizers say the tournament continues because of more deliberate efforts to promote traditional values across Alaska. Download Audio

The Blind Spot: A System of Order Over Chaos

This week Alaska Public Media is exploring the Blind Spot – how youth who are part of and outside of the juvenile justice system are getting help for substance abuse. One option is residential treatment, like the kind offered through the ARCH program in Eagle River, which Anne Hillman toured with one young resident. Download Audio

I Am An Iñupiaq Carver | INDIE ALASKA

Iñupiaq artist Ross Schaeffer spent most of his life hunting, trapping, and fishing around Kotzebue, Alaska. Only in recent years has he transformed his lifestyle into creating artwork and carvings that blend traditional and modern techniques. Using age old materials such as woolly mammoth bone, Ross works on carvings inspired by his culture and natural environment, and encourages young folks to try artwork themselves.

The Blind Spot: Juvenile Justice And Substance Abuse In Young Alaskans.

Juvenile crime in Anchorage is down, but crimes involving drugs and alcohol is not. Many who work in the juvenile justice system say we’re not catching young people who are getting into trouble soon enough. A new series examines what services are available, how youth are getting help and how they're helping themselves. APRN: Tuesday, 4/28 at 10:00am Download Audio

A Moving Target: Stopping Booze at the River

Citizens in Bethel are weighing a decision on a proposal for the for the first liquor store in decades. In the shadow of the debate is a powerful and elaborate bootlegging economy across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. The region’s three Western Alaska Alcohol and Narcotics Taskforce investigators can’t be everywhere at once. Some villages are trying to fill in gaps where bootlegged alcohol reaches dry option communities. In the second of a three-part series on the law enforcements efforts to stem the flow of alcohol to the region KYUK’s Ben Matheson reports on Akiak’s tribal approach.

Alaska PTA, community speaks out against education funding cuts

Community members and education groups, like Alaska PTA, organized in Anchorage to speak out against public education funding cuts.

Controversial Anchorage Budget Bumps Up Taxes for Public Safety, Veto Likely

The Assembly passed a budget adding a 5.61% rise in property taxes, splitting the body between those calling for fiscal conservatism, and others stressing a need for spending on public safety.

A Moving Target: Postal Inspectors Root Out Liquor By Mail

Citizens in Bethel are weighing a decision on a proposal for the first liquor store in decades. In the shadow of the debate is a powerful and elaborate bootlegging economy across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. A small team of federal law enforcement agents with the United States Postal Inspection Service is working to keep alcohol out of the mail. It’s one of the oldest law enforcement agency in the country, a group with a unique mission that chases after each suspicious package.

Story Works Alaska gives high schoolers a voice

Think about being sixteen, in high school, and standing in front of a group of friends and strangers telling a story. Your story. That's what a new Anchorage organization called Story Works Alaska is teaching local students to do while helping them build community at the same time.

AK: A Forgotten Boat

A group in Kodiak recently completed an Alutiiq boat that was last seen in the mid-19th century. Alutiiq people once used the angyaq to travel over long distances and through rough seas. It’s an open boat, like a dory, with a flat bottom and bulbous bow. The artist leading the effort says the boat builders aren’t just recreating the past. They’re reviving a piece of Alutiiq history for use now and in the future. Download Audio

Anchorage senior wins national Poetry Out Loud competition

West Anchorage High Senior Maeva Ordaz won the national Poetry Out Loud competition this week in Washington DC. It's the first time an Alaskan has both reached the finals and won.

Cruise Ship Season Comes to Port

The first big cruise ship of the 2015 tourist season arrived in Ketchikan on Friday. In its inaugural visit to Alaska’s First City, the Ruby Princess brought more than 3,000 passengers and about 1,200 crew members. Download Audio:

Anchorage Adopts Budget After Battle Over Utility Funds, Public Safety Jobs

The $483.6 million budget came after vetoes coming from the mayor's office and a last minute deal over money connected to a utility the Administration has proposed privatizing. Download Audio: