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.”

The glass door to the entrance of the PFD office. In black lettering is "PFD State of Alaska, Lobby hours Monday-Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m."

Woman with 5 kids accused of 24 fraudulent Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend filings

Prosecutors say Otaota Mokoma, 35, received more than $25,000 in fraudulent dividends from the state from 2018 through 2020.
Beth Weldon

Juneau’s mayor runs for reelection after husband’s death

Beth Weldon says her husband Greg’s death in an April motorcycle crash gave her doubts, but she thinks he would want her to run.
a phone

‘An unfair fight’: The U.S. surgeon general declares war on social media

Vivek Murthy called this week for social media platforms to carry warning labels like those put on cigarettes and alcohol, due to their effects on teens.
an icebreaker

Coast Guard icebreaker Healy headed to Alaska for 3 Arctic research missions

This year's cruises by the nation's biggest icebreaker will support long-term ocean research and help train young scientists.
Young caucasian woman smiles for a portrait outside

Seward’s Lydia Jacoby won’t swim at Paris Olympics

Jacoby took third during Monday's 100-meter women's breaststroke final in Indianapolis, then withdrew from the 200-meter Tuesday.
a woman talks into a microphone at a podium on stage

Coalition of labor and Alaska Native leaders throws its weight behind Peltola

Alaska Jobs Coalition announced a $500,000 ad campaign. It's an independent expenditure group and doesn't have to disclose its donors.
former President Donald Trump claps his hands as a crowd around him cheers and holds their cellphones up

Trump announces his pick in Alaska’s U.S. House race: Dahlstrom

The former president chose Alaska's lieutenant governor over fellow Republican Nick Begich. Trump claims Begich has "Democrat tendencies."
a hospital

Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly considers $38.5M Homer hospital bond

The bond would go towards acquiring land and much needed maintenance for South Peninsula Hospital.

Federally funded heat pumps are coming to Prince of Wales Island

Spruce Root partnered with Alaska Power & Telephone to secure the $2.5 million award, which will also support a technician training program.
a helicopter

Half of U.S. military bases in the country are in ‘health care deserts’

For hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops and their families, when the Pentagon orders them to find health care off base there is none.
a grave

Relatives of King Cove couple killed in suspicious Anchorage fire await answers

Niece Amy Carlough says James and Kathryn Gould, who were killed in the February fire, ran a general store in King Cove before their deaths.
Palmer

Alaska has a new nonprofit newsroom in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough

Mat-Su Sentinel founder, editor and reporter Amy Bushatz has worked in news for more than two decades and said she aims to fill a local news void.
RVs

State sues Alaska Motor Home after customers say they were swindled and harassed

Prosecutors say the company abruptly closed Friday without providing refunds, likely affecting hundreds of customers.
A man in waders and bright orange gloves holds a chum salmon by a river.

An influx of chum salmon in the Canadian Arctic could be the same fish missing from Western Alaska

A recent study found that climate change is expanding salmon habitat into the Arctic, but the new fish aren’t exactly welcome in Canada.
a jackup rig in the water

An Alaska energy blogger breaks down the looming, much-nuanced Cook Inlet gas shortfall

Erin McKittrick looked at a few different possible timelines related to the gas shortfall that utilities and producers say is coming.
a choir performs onstage, outside

Anchorage Juneteenth festivities kick off this weekend

Juneteenth is recognized as the oldest African American holiday in the United States, and marks the anniversary of when the last American slaves were freed in Texas on June 19, 1865.

What medieval calligraphy taught this Eagle River lawyer | INDIE ALASKA

https://youtu.be/3z-Fs-TxsCw In this Indie Alaska feature from @PBS and @pbsdigitalstudios hear how Greg Henrikson, a lawyer in Eagle River, became fascinated with Medieval History and delved into medieval calligraphy...
A woman in a pink sweater welcomes in people to her store.

Anchorage sisters tap readers’ rapture for romance with new bookstore

Beauty and the Book Alaska specializes in the romance genre- a growing trend in Alaska and around the country.
Night photo featuring domed capitol.

Murkowski votes with Democrats on IVF bill. Sullivan joins most GOP senators to block it.

Alaska's senators say they support the reproductive technology, but they split on a Democratic "show us who you are" vote.
two parked police cars

Juneau man dies in Seattle hospital after a city-owned truck struck him

The 38-year-old man was lying in the drive-through lane of a Mendenhall Valley business when he was struck.