Northwest Alaska

Longtime Kotzebue lawmaker decides to retire

Longtime Kotzebue state Rep. Reggie Joule has decided to not seek re-election.

Man charged with breaking into Shungnak store

laska State Troopers say a 19-year-old Kiana man broke into the Native grocery store at Shungnak, stole $800 in merchandise and barricaded himself in the city's water pump house.

Meeting considers role for Alaska Native language council

Should a semester of Alaska Native language studies be required in high school? Should every school have a Native language teacher? Those were among suggestions Monday at a meeting called in response to passage of a bill creating a state Native language council.

Whaling commission's ex-chief pleads guilty to stealing funds

A longtime head of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission pleaded guilty Monday to stealing and misspending hundreds of thousands of dollars from the organization, and her successor is scheduled to plead to similar charges Wednesday.

Chukchi Sea depths hold vast environmental complexities

Hidden beneath the surface of the Chukchi Sea off Northwest Alaska is a remarkably varied environment, according to industry-funded researchers working in areas of planned drilling by Shell, Conoco Phillips and Statoil.

Nome Native leader Charlie Johnson dies of heart failure

Charlie Johnson, a former chairman of the Alaska Federation of Natives and a longtime Native leader from Nome, died Thursday in Anchorage of heart failure. He was 72.

Inupiat tribal leader wins prize for opposing offshore drilling

Caroline Cannon's lifelong connection to the Arctic Ocean pushed her to become one of the state's most vocal opponents of offshore oil drilling. Now, just as Shell Oil is poised to drill exploration wells off Alaska's northern coast, her advocacy has won her a coveted environmental award.

Fairbanks man dies in snowmachine crash

A Fairbanks man died in a snowmachine crash Thursday along the Nakolik River, north of Kotzebue in Northwest Alaska, according to Alaska State Troopers.

Nome residents roll with higher fuel prices

The measure of how challenging it can be to live in Nome starts with a dollar sign. At the grocery store, it's $39.25 for a 12-roll package of paper towels. Toilet paper costs $37.85 for a 36-roll package. If there's any good news for Nome's 3,500 residents, it's that gas is cheap compared to what it could have been.

Wind-blasted Northwest village asks for disaster assistance

The Northwest Alaska village of Kivalina sought federal disaster assistance after a windstorm swept snow into huge piles.

Sick seal near Yakutat shows possible spread of disease

Federal scientists said Wednesday that a nearly bald, lethargic seal recovered from the southeast Alaska coast showed the same symptoms of a disease that sickened ringed seals and Pacific walrus on the state's north coast last year.

One man dead, another hurt in fishing boat accidents

A 47-year-old man on a trawler in the Bering Sea was the second to be struck in the head by cables in separate incidents on major commercial fishing vessels in the past week. One man died.

Scientists ID plant fungus that caused Kivalina's orange goo

Last fall's mystery "goo" covering the water off Kivalina was found to be a harmless-to-animals plant fungus. Scientists have finally narrowed that identification further to spruce-Labrador tea needle rust, reports Scientific American.

Moderate quake hits Bering Strait region

The Alaska Earthquake Information Center says a moderate earthquake early Tuesday rocked the Bering Strait region off Alaska's northwest coast.

Kobuk man sentenced in weapons case

Federal prosecutors say a 39-year-old Kobuk man has been sentenced to almost four years in prison for his conviction of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Rural Alaska air travel subsidies survive budget cuts

Subsidies for rural Alaska air travel survived the cost cutting talk as Congress passed a four-year funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration on Monday after years of dispute.

FAA bill speeds switch to GPS for airliners

Shell still hopes to drill this summer in Arctic waters

It's the billion-dollar question in Alaska for 2012: Will this be the year Shell Oil begins large-scale offshore exploratory drilling in Arctic waters? Two months into 2012, the oil giant is beyond the lead time it said it needed to assemble the flotilla of support vessels that must accompany drill ships.

Shell's Arctic drilling plan gets major boost

Icebreaker Healy returns to Seattle after 254 days at sea

The Coast Guard cutter Healy is back in Seattle after a 254-day patrol that included clearing a path for a crucial fuel delivery to ice-bound Nome.

Photos: Coast Guard Cutter Healy, tanker Renda reach Nome

Man charged with shooting rifle into neighbor's home

A Brevig Mission man on Wednesday fired a rifle from inside his house into a neighbor's home, missing the people inside by inches, Alaska State Troopers said.

Village revisits pre-plumbing days after pipes freeze

Water and sewer systems froze in the Northwest Alaska village of Selawik in late January -- villagers blame a muskrat, system design problems and the unusually cold winter. The systems still aren't totally fixed, and that means a new generation of Selawik residents is learning the joys of honey buckets and water hauling, reports Alaska Dispatch.