Wesley Early
Anchorage ReporterWesley moved to Anchorage in 2008, graduating from Bartlett High School and the University of Alaska Anchorage with a degree in journalism and public communications.
He started working in public radio in January 2016 as an intern at Alaska Public Media during his last semester of college. After graduating, he was hired full time and spent three years as a web editor, producer for Alaska News Nightly and education reporter. He then moved to Kotzebue (Qikiqtaġruk in Iñupiaq) to work at KOTZ-AM, where he was the community’s first news director in more than a decade.
After two years covering Arctic climate change, subsistence, Iñupiaq culture and the region’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wesley returned home to Anchorage where he covers city government and Anchorage life. When he’s not at work, he enjoys reading, finding new music to obsess over and searching for a new restaurant to try with his wife.
Reach Wesley at wearly@alaskapublic.org or 907-550-8421.
-
Officers saw a gun in Utuva Alaelua’s lap and shot him after he didn’t respond to requests to put his hands up, Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case said. -
Mayor Suzanne LaFrance says she wants the area to be safe and inviting for the public. -
Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance said the city has cleared 23 homeless camps so far this year, and it will abate two large camps in Mountain View soon. -
Experts say the Trump administration has rolled back a number of Biden-era refugee policies that have left people who entered the country legally now told that they need to leave the country. -
Body camera footage of the Feb. 21 incident shows 41-year-old Puipuia Alaelua holding a woman on top of himself, with a gun pointed at her, before police shot and killed him. -
The roughly $5 to $6 million the city receives in marijuana taxes annually will go towards covering child care costs for those working in the sector, as well as projects aimed at expanding existing programs. -
The multi-year, $500 million project would free up space at the landfill and help power the city’s electrical grid, officials say. -
The event was primarily to support workers, with a focus on health care, education and other union laborers, but many took the opportunity to criticize the Trump administration. -
Tribal administrator Crystal Standifer says the tribe has assembled care packages for residents and put up flyers around town highlighting precautions for ashfall. -
A flurry of lawsuits followed the Trump administration’s crackdown on thousands of foreign students’ visas and records.
