Top Stories

"Walk to Fisterra" is a new documentary film showing tonight in Fairbanks featuring Alaskan born cellist Dane Johansen walking over 500 miles carrying his cello on his back, playing the Bach Cello Suites along the Spanish pilgrimage to Carmino de Santiago. Johansen is the son of Fairbanks School of Talent Education founder and current Fairbanks Suzuki Institute Music Director Gail Johansen so learning a string instrument was almost a given in the Johansen household. Johansen picked up the cello when he was just 4 and as he grew in talent and stature, so did the weight and size of the cello which posed a few challenges as he trekked with tens of thousands of other pilgrims on the walk to Fisterra. Download Audio

A U.S. Senate bill introduced last week could allow Alaska Natives in five Southeast communities to form urban corporations. Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell each stand to gain about 23,000 acres of land if the bill passes. But, the legislation does not come without controversy. Download Audio

Governor Bill Walker has declared June 3rd to be recognized as Dutch Harbor Remembrance Day. Statewide all flags will fly at half-mast to recognize Japan’s World War II attack on Dutch Harbor. Download Audio

One person is dead and three others are injured after a fire at a remote fishing lodge on Kodiak Island. Download Audio

Anchorage Democratic Sen. Johnny Ellis and Wasilla Republican Sen. Charlie Huggins announced they won’t seek re-election. Download Audio

Ex-Anchorage mayor Dan Sullivan says he didn’t want to file for Sen. Lisa Murkowski's seat until he knew who else was running. Late in the afternoon, he spoke to Murkowski’s 2010 rival, Joe Miller. Download Audio

The Legislature took three actions this week that will help foster care children -- passing two bills aiming at finding kids adoptive homes and adding money to the budget to help keep struggling families together. Download Audio

The budget passed by the Legislature this week doesn't include about $775 million owed to oil companies in refundable tax credits this year. Democrats say, if companies want those credits, there has to be oil tax reform. Download Audio

Gov. Bill Walker said the Legislature’s work is a long way from being over. While lawmakers stopped pink slips from being sent to state workers by passing a state budget on Tuesday, Walker said the Legislature must act now to prevent a replay in the future. Download Audio

Former Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan is apparently challenging U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the Republican Primary. The news, broken by an ADN reporter on Twitter, raises the prospect that Alaska would have two Republican U.S. Senators named "Dan Sullivan." Download Audio

Three new fires in the Matanuska Susitna Borough were sparked over the long weekend. On Monday, fire crews were called out to two fires in the Palmer area. Despite the area being under a burn suspension, both of the fires were human caused on private land, when residents chose to burn debris piles. Forestry crews from Palmer responded to those fires, which were declared contained. Download Audio

The Legislature is poised to pass a state budget that would prevent layoff notices going out to state workers tomorrow. But the budget could draw three billion dollars from the state’s piggy bank, the constitutional budget reserve. And it’s not clear how Governor Bill Walker will respond to a spending plan that doesn’t address Alaska’s long-term state fiscal imbalance. Download Audio

One IT security firm estimates 80 percent of its business is consulting on surveillance and data storage to bring cannabis companies into compliance with state rules. Download Audio

On a busy summer day, thousands of people -- mostly cruise ship passengers -- visit Juneau's Mendenhall glacier. The U.S. Forest Service wants those tourists to take in the dramatic views, but also consider why the glacier is shrinking. Visitor center director John Neary is making it his personal mission.

Congress is considering funding a new icebreaker to serve in the Arctic. It would be a heavy, polar-class Coast Guard cutter, to get through thick ice. But size isn’t everything when it comes to Coast Guard ships. A Juneau man has made a film about the Storis, a dainty icebreaker by polar standards, that rescued mariners and enforced the law along Alaska’s coast for almost 60 years.

My bed is an island. It’s covered with books, notebooks, research, pens,paintbrushes and, often, my beloved granddaughter. Still, it's an island. No part of my sheets or other bedding touches the floor or a wall. My pillows, mattress and box spring are each encased in squeaky bug proof covers.

Alaska Congressman Don Young will have a say in drafting the final version of Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s energy modernization bill. That’s because the U.S. House passed its own energy bill this week, to match the Murkowski bill already passed in the Senate. House leaders then picked Young to serve on the conference committee that will negotiate a compromise between the two bills. Download Audio

The Legislature is on Day 126 of what was supposed to be a 90 day session -- and many Alaskans are wondering, what’s taking so long? Download Audio

Last week a group of scientists traveled to a small village in the Arctic to find as many different species as they could. It was happening all over the country in celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the National Park Service. But it had special meaning in Anaktuvuk Pass, where the local Inupiaq people live a subsistence lifestyle inside of a national park. Download Audio

Alaskans will be headed outdoors to enjoy the Memorial Day weekend - the unofficial start of summer for many, but fire managers are reminding state residents that the risk of wildfire is extremely high and they are urging caution. Download Audio