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.
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The university is reporting a 6% increase in total student enrollment, a bump UAA Provost Denise Runge called “a big deal.” -
The grant supported the district’s Academies of Anchorage program, an initiative aimed at better preparing students to move into high-demand and high-paying careers in the state. -
It sounds technical, but Angvik said unification was about more than things like land-use boundaries and taxes. It also helped the community respond to disasters. -
Police department officials wrote that Christopher Barraza, 40, shoplifted from a South Anchorage Target store on Aug. 19. He was allegedly wearing his police department-issued jacket at the time. -
Cox most recently served as a senior vice president for Bristol Bay Industrial, a subsidiary for the Bristol Bay Native Corporation. Before that he was appointed by President Donald Trump to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas. -
Members voted 7 to 3 to postpone the ordinance indefinitely, with some citing Anchorage voters’ rejection of a similar ballot proposition in 2020. -
Rebecca Day, special agent in charge of the Anchorage FBI field office, said authorities have been investigating the Chelsea Inn for drug trafficking since 2020. -
An Assembly ordinance, if approved, would legalize the purchase and smoking of marijuana at businesses that receive an onsite consumption endorsement from the city and state. -
If built, the pilot project would have two trains running daily from Wasilla to Anchorage and back again on existing rail that’s maintained by the Alaska Railroad Corporation. -
The district plans to spend $3.5 million on hiring 27 more teachers and $2 million on improving teacher recruitment and retention.
