Kyle Hopkins is special projects editor of the Anchorage Daily News. Through 2020, he is working with ProPublica on a project as part of the Local Reporting Network. Contact him at khopkins@adn.com.
The head of Alaska’s leading tribal health organization stepped down after a former assistant accused him of “forcing and requiring sex” to keep her job. He denies wrongdoing and says their relationship was consensual.
Ed Sniffen stepped down as the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica were preparing an article about his relationship with a 17-year-old girl three decades ago. The state has now launched an investigation into the allegations.
By failing to collect those DNA samples, law enforcement has left Alaska’s DNA database with crucial gaps, allowing at least one serial rapist to go undetected.
First of two parts: In the state with the highest rate of sexual assault in the nation, testing the backlog of rape kits may not be enough. Many were from cases where the identity of the suspect was already known, or were opened only to find no usable DNA.
The woman received hundreds of “uncomfortable” texts from Alaska’s attorney general, leading to his resignation, and says Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s staff knew of the misconduct for months but no investigation began until a whistleblower appeared.
A Kenai jury heard from a second woman who said Carmen Perzechino assaulted her in a vehicle. It was the first felony jury trial held in Alaska since March.
As scandals force Alaska politicians to resign, nowhere have the accusations been more severe than a remote rural district where male leaders are proving to be part of the very problems they’re supposed to be solving.
Ethan Berkowitz has so far refused to answer questions about whether he sent inappropriate messages to a news anchor during work time or using city resources.
An Eagle River woman said she went to an Anchorage TV station Friday for an interview about her book. Before she left, comments she made about Ethan Berkowitz — which she now says were incorrect because of a misunderstanding — triggered a series of events that included a death threat and his admission of a relationship with an anchor at the station.
Berkowitz’s resignation takes effect on Oct. 23.
In 2018, Jody Potts was the target of misconduct from then-Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott. He resigned two days later, but the details of what happened have never been publicly told until now.
An investigation by the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica found Kevin Clarkson texted a woman 558 times in one month, repeatedly commenting on her appearance and asking her to come to his house.
