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 black and red tender with a white cabin with a hilly spruce tree forest in the background

Coast Guard seeks information from public on deadly 2019 sinking of tender

The F/V Scandies Rose sank on New Year's Eve last year and five crew died.
a child gets a shot

CDC clears the way for vaccinations for children 6 months to 5 years old

CDC advisers are recommending the use of two separate COVID-19 vaccines for the youngest children made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, paving the way for vaccine rollout as early as next week.
A yellow flag

New Anchorage climate plan calls for 80 percent cut to emissions by 2050

On Tuesday, the city’s Assembly is receiving the 106-page document, which outlines everything from transportation recommendations to emission reduction targets.

Court takes Anchorage assembly to task over Walmart rezoning

A superior court judge ruled  yesterday the Anchorage Assembly ignored municipal requirements when it rezoned some 20 acres in the Wal-Mart Supercenter and Sam's...

Haines Candidate’s Ads May Have Broken State Rules

Tara Bicknell, KHNS – Haines The state’s campaign watchdog agency is considering a complaint alleging wrongdoing by supporters of Haines Republican Representative Bill ...

Competing Alaska House and Senate bills propose fixes to homeschool laws ruled unconstitutional

After a judge ruled Alaska's correspondence school program violates the state Constitution, lawmakers are looking for a way forward.

One People Canoe Society to paddle for Standing Rock Tribe to protest controversial pipeline

Members of the One People Canoe Society will travel this week from Alaska to North Dakota to paddle in protest over a controversial pipeline. Listen now

Air Force to host meeting to unveil plan to provide potable water to Moose Creek

Air Force officials will host an open house meeting tonight to talk about proposals to provide drinking water to Moose Creek residents whose well water has been made unpotable due to groundwater contamination. Listen now
A crowd of people on bikes waiting in the road.

Anchorage Assembly passes code changes aimed at making city more bike-friendly

The ordinance gets rid of fines for jaywalking, and it allows cyclists to treat stop signs more like yield signs and red lights like stop signs.

Government scientists evaluate extent of ice melt in Alaska

Climate change is melting a lot of ice in and around Alaska. But federal government scientists quantified some of that loss today at Washington,...

Former PenAir owners say Unalaska crash raises questions about new operator’s standards

Through last week, U.S. commercial airlines -- distinct from the smaller bush planes that carry Alaskans to rural villages -- had gone a full...
A nurse wearing a face sheild pokes a person

Poll: Nearly half of Alaska Republicans won’t get COVID-19 vaccine

A statewide poll from late November shows that 45% of Alaskans who identify as Republicans said they won’t get the COVID-19 vaccine when they become eligible. That’s compared with just 13% of Democrats.

For third straight year, Gov. Walker proposes budget drawing from Permanent Fund earnings

Walker also proposed process changes. Lawmakers’ per diem payments would stop if they don’t pass a budget in the 90-day session set by state law. Their salaries would also be delayed. Another change would shift the state to a two-year budget. Listen now
a man and woman hug

Peltola says she’s still grieving but ready to return to work in Congress

The Alaska congresswoman will return to a speaker-less U.S. House where some are floating an idea she's familiar with: bipartisan leadership.

Interior Secretary signs order aiming to open more of the North Slope to oil leasing

On Wednesday, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke ordered new studies on the oil and gas potential of federal land on the North Slope, including in the coastal plain of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Listen now

Girdwood gathering leads to 5 COVID cases and concerns of more to come

Five individuals tested positive, but other attendees are showing symptoms of COVID-19. Officials say further spread is likely.

Murkowski: "Ted Was Alaska"

Annie Feidt and Lori Townsend, APRN – Anchorage Thousands of mourners and a long list of dignitaries gathered at Anchorage Baptist...
a hole in an airliner

Before a door plug flew off an Alaska Airlines plane, an advisory light came on 3 times

Flight crew said Friday's Boeing 737 Max 9 flight was chaotic, "loud" and "very violent" after a paneled-over door flew off during a Portland departure.

The lack of law enforcement in rural Alaska prompted promises of more police. Two years later, they haven’t been kept.

Gov. Dunleavy promised to put Alaska State Troopers and police in specific communities off the road system. But two years later, reporting by the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica has found the state has mostly failed to follow through on those promises.
people in wooden desks on the floor of the Alaska House of Representatives

Alaska Legislature breaks record for days in session, with frustration rising to the surface

The Alaska Legislature set a record on Thursday for the number of days that it’s been in session in a year — 212. But that doesn’t mean lawmakers have been in the Capitol lately. There’s an impasse on what changes should be made to balance the state’s budget in the long term.