Iditarod Leaders Pull Into Manley Hot Springs
Girdwood's Nicolas Petit pulled into Manley Hot Springs just after 3 a.m. Tuesday, with Martin Buser, Hugh Neff, DeeDee Jonrowe and Aaron Burmeister less than two hours behind. The competition in this year’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race can only be described as stiff. There are six returning champions and a handful of other mushers vying for a top-10 finish. But, mushers are all feeling a little new to the race as they travel down an unfamiliar, rerouted trail.
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Iditarod Mushers Prepare For New Route Through Interior Alaska
The Ceremonial start of the 43rd Iditarod filled Downtown Anchorage with dogs, fans, and snow trucked in from Goose Lake. Unusually warm weather has hampered Southcentral Alaska's winter snowpack and led officials to move the race start to Fairbanks for only the second time ever. The new route through the Interior will challenge even the most tenured seasoned racers as long-held strategies are scrambled.
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Sled Dogs in Slow Motion
The dogs were ready to pull on this unseasonably warm day in downtown Anchorage at the ceremonial start of the 2015 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
What is the Iditarod?
Whether you've lived in Alaska for decades or you're a newcomer to the state, you're probably still curious about the "Last Great Race on Earth." How long does the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race take to finish? Where does it go? What's with all those dogs? Alaska Public Media answers all of your questions about the most popular sporting event in Alaska.
I Run a Custom Knife Shop
For Virgil and Dawn Campbell, making and selling knives is a way of life. The I.R.B.I. ("I'd Rather Be Independent") knife shop on the Seward highway has been in the family for three generations and serves as workshop and a landmark for passerbys from near and far.
Developing State Regulations on Marijuana Mirror Alcohol, Cap Personal-Use Plants at 12
The majority of House Bill 75 spells out regulations for marijuana that mirror measures in place already for alcohol, granting local communities leeway with registering protests and setting civil fines.
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3,000 Pounds of Auctioned Antlers Highlight State’s Role Managing Trafficked Wildlife
The unprecedented tonnage of caribou antlers were the result of a trafficking case stretching from Juneau to the Northwest Arctic community of Selawik.
New Technology Proves Vital To Alaska’s National Weather Service Forecasters
Today we’re doing the weather. Dave Snider is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. He does a daily statewide forecast for public television stations. The final product you see is full of graphics, but inside the massive TV studio it’s just Snider and a single green screen.
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Salmon Sisters Meld East Coast Education With Commercial Fishing Roots
Today we meet a pair of Alaskans who run the business Salmon Sisters. Emma and Claire Laukitis were born and raised on the Aleutian Islands near False Pass. Emma says it was quiet and simple upbringing.
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“Stagnant” Anchorage Software Project To Move Forward After Two Separate Audit Reports
Internal and external audits of the SAP software implementation find poor management, lack of accountability, and problems with scheduling, but conclude it's too late to start over.
From Frozen To Cover Girl, Drag Queen Style Hinges On Hair
James Hoagland is in the business of wigs. Not just your ordinary costume and fashion wigs – his are specifically for drag queens. He spends hours styling hair and stitching it into wig caps. Last year, he sold 300 mostly to clients in the Lower 48 and internationally.
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Brent Sass Extends Yukon Quest Lead
The first two Yukon Quest dog teams had smooth runs up and over American Summit and arrived safely in Eagle, the sixth checkpoint on the trail.
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Layovers Vital To Yukon Quest Mushers, Dogs
After Yukon Quest mushers arrive in Dawson City, they drive their teams head across the Yukon River to a public campground, where handlers build elaborate camps for the dogs. They’ll get massaged, fed and sleep for the 24 hour layover.
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Three Weeks, No Flights: Diomede Residents Stranded without Mail, Food Deliveries
The only aircraft flying to one of Alaska’s most remote communities has been down for maintenance for nearly three weeks—leaving residents of the Bering Strait community of Little Diomede with empty mailboxes, bare grocery store shelves, and no way on or off the island.
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Seabird Decline Could Signal Drop In Ocean Productivity
Seabirds are on the decline in the North Pacific, from the Western Aleutians to Vancouver Island. Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey compiled and filtered the data of hundreds of thousands of surveys of different species conducted in the last 40 years to document the decline. They say the decline could signal a drop in the overall productivity of the ocean.
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Yukon Quest Trail Puts Dog Sled Designs To The Test
On the Yukon Quest Trail, there are a few things mushers have to be especially picky about including a sturdy sled. Jumble ice near McCabe Creek, half way to Pelly Crossing is testing sled engineering this year.
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Combating Anchorage’s Violent Crime Spike
A recent uptick in deadly shooting incidents and assaults in Anchorage have police and public safety advocates sprinting to organize a response to curb the violent trend. The Anchorage Police Department is organizing a task-force to tackle the problem, but what can communities do to help remedy the problem?
KSKA: Friday, 2/6 at 2:00pm and Saturday, 2/7 at 6:00pm
KAKM: Friday, 2/6 at 7:30pm and Saturday, 2/7 at 4:30pm
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How Much Debris Litters Alaska’s Beaches?
Thanks to funding from the government of Japan, plans are being made to pick up hundreds of tons of plastic marine debris that has been gathered from Alaska beaches.
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Social Entrepreneurs Driving Innovation
Today we’re innovating. If you head up to the fourth floor of the Loussac Library on just about any given day, you’ll find a number of different groups working in the innovation lab.
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String of Earthquakes Shakes Up Pribilof Islands
The Pribilof Islands aren’t usually prone to shaking. But more than a dozen earthquakes have been recorded in between St. Paul and St. George since Friday afternoon.
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