Anne Hillman, Alaska Public Media
Anne Hillman is the healthy communities editor at Alaska Public Media and a host of Hometown, Alaska. Reach her at ahillman@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Anne here.
Data show positive skill-building improves Anchorage youth behavior
Newly compiled data shows kids in Anchorage are better behaved than they were 20 years ago. A comparison of data from 1995 and 2013 shows teenagers are participating in fewer risky behaviors like smoking, drinking, and unprotected sex. And it may be because we're relating to kids differently.
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Chester Creek Trail To Close This Summer for Repaving
Parts of the Chester Creek Trail will be closed for most of the summer starting on Tuesday while it's being repaved and improved.
‘Seeking the Source’ of Anchorage’s Trails and Their Community
People traveling on the Chester Creek Trail in midtown Anchorage this week might notice a group wandering about in Kelly green vests and sashes adorned with a distinctive merit badge. They aren’t overgrown Girl Scouts; they’re artists who are “Seeking the Source” of the trail and it’s role in the community.
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Anchorage mayor-elect announces community-driven transition process
Anchorage Mayor-Elect Ethan Berkowitz is developing a plan to transition into his new role. He says it will be created by a group of community leaders in his transition team and use input from public discussions and town hall-style meetings.
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Suspect arrested for attack on biker on Chester Creek Trail
A man biking to work along the Chester Creek trail near the Goose Lake overpass was assaulted by a group of three young men on Monday morning and struck in the face by a thick branch.
Parents Sue ASD Over Vague Suspension Notification Policies
Two families are suing the Anchorage School District for illegal suspension practices. The mothers say that the suspension notices the district sends out don't include the full reasons for the suspensions, just simplified codes like "74-Dangerous Actions" or "14-Willful Disobedience."
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AK: Biking a Century
Have you ever thought about biking one hundred miles in one go? KSKA's Anne Hillman did, so she signed up for the Clean Air Challenge. It's a bike ride the American Lung Association hosts every year to raise money for education and research on lung disease. At first Anne was in it more for the challenge of the ride than for the cause. But then something happened along the way.
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How can Alaska solve its fiscal crisis?
We’ve been hearing for months about Alaska’s fiscal crisis. The budget is being cut and we’ll have to dip into reserves. Some economists predict that the state will run out of savings in less than a decade. But is there an alternative? Can the state make money for the general fund from sources other than oil revenue? Some economists say yes.
KSKA: Friday, 5/15, at 2:00 p.m. and Saturday, 5/16, at 6:00 p.m.
KAKM: Friday, 5/15, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, 5/16, at 4:30 p.m.
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Coalition Uses A Data-Driven Approach To Find Behavioral Health Solutions
Anchorage organizations are using the wealth of data about youth behavioral health to develop local, community-relevant solutions for things like substance use and suicide.
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Graduating 5th grade with a javelin toss
As the school year wraps up, some fifth graders are preparing to move from protective elementary schools to more grown-up middle schools. For the area's Waldorf school students, that transition includes spears and hand embroidered tunics at the tri-school Greek Pentathalon.
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Program providing housing, life skills helps youth succeed
Research shows that kids who age out of the foster care system are less likely to finish high school, find jobs, or go to college. But one organization in Anchorage is trying to change the outcome for former foster kids and other young adults who need to learn the skills to live independently.
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Anchorage School Board amends budget, moves charter school facility money to save teaching jobs
The Anchorage School Board amended their budget to account for proposed legislative funding cuts.
Building A Community, One Story At A Time
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 StoryWorks is teaching local students to do--and helping them build community at the same time.
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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.
ASD’s revised budget cuts 57 filled positions
The Anchorage School District plans to cut 57 currently-filled positions next year because of a $16.7 million funding cut from the state legislature. They will also eliminate the pilot programs but keep sports.
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.
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.
Anchorage Nepalese community reacts to quake
Anchorage's 80-member Nepalese community is trying to reach out to family members still in Nepal.
The Blind Spot: Beyond No-Man’s Land
In spite of high substance abuse rates across Alaska, state officials and non-profit workers see policy measures are dove-tailing with new evidence that perceptions about drinking are starkly different from realities on the ground.
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The Blind Spot: Quitting Meth, Together
This week we’re exploring the Blind Spot, it’s a focus on the teens who are abusing substances but aren’t being caught by the system that’s set up to help them. In this story, KSKA’s Anne Hillman spoke with two young women who are relying on each other rather than an organization to end their methamphetamine addiction.
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