Hooper Bay experiences Yukon-Kuskokwim region’s largest COVID-19 outbreak in months
Almost half of the village’s population is vaccinated, the same percentage as the region at large, but a larger portion of Hooper Bay’s population is children.
Rural Alaska
Kotzebue man pleads guilty to 2018 murder and sex abuse of 10-year-old Ashley Johnson-Barr
Ashley Johnson Barr disappeared from a Kotzebue playground in 2018. Her body was discovered on the tundra more than 2 miles away after an eight-day, multi-agency search.
New York-based charitable trust announces $20M grant to help address rural Alaska water issues
The money, from the Helmsley Charitable Trust, is intended to support improvement projects and a utility assistance program in 15 rural communities in the Norton Sound region of the state.
New Stuyahok woman found dead in skiff believed to have died from exposure or hypothermia
Troopers said Rachel Alexandra Hanson was believed to have traveled to Dillingham and back in a small aluminum skiff.
Dunleavy signs bill to protect Aleutian Islanders cemetery in Southeast Alaska
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has signed legislation aimed at protecting the graves of Unangax people sent to internment camps in Southeast during World War II.
Shishmaref man dies in attempt to ‘water skip’ a snowmachine, troopers say
A passenger on the snowmachine survived by swimming to shore.
Curious Alaska: What’s up with Alaska’s remote island cattle herds?
A handful of islands in the Aleutians and Kodiak archipelago are home to cows, domestic and feral.
Western Alaska is experiencing an unprecedented rabies outbreak, officials say
For the first time in more than 20 years, rabies was confirmed in a river otter, officials said.
Will a Native-led initiative spur an agricultural revolution in rural Alaska?
A grassroots project to build biomass-heated greenhouses aims to alleviate food insecurity in the communities most affected by it.
Crews fully contain 2 fires in Southwest Alaska
Fire officials are urging Alaskans to be aware of fire danger heading into the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
Alaska’s DEC commissioner supports key approval for proposed Donlin Gold mine
The commissioner said the issuance of a certificate of reasonable assurance for the Donlin Gold project was supported by “a reasonable basis in law and substantial evidence in the record.”
Bill protecting Southeast Alaska cemetery with graves of Aleutian Natives advances to governor
The Unangax cemetery holds more than 30 graves of people who died at Funter Bay during World War II after they were relocated to internment camps from the Aleutian Islands.
Holy Cross man suspected of killing his father fatally shot by trooper after daylong standoff, official says
Investigators believe Devyn Walker, 34, had fatally shot his father, 71-year-old Alden Gerald Walker Sr., in a boat in the Southwest Alaska village, said a spokesman for the troopers.
Southwest Alaska wildfire burns several structures in fish camp but isn’t a threat to nearby village
The wildfire on the Kuskokwim River near Akiachak had spread to about 180 acres by Wednesday morning, a spokesman for the Alaska Division of Forestry said.
Murder suspect barricaded in Holy Cross found dead of apparent gunshot wound, troopers say
An Alaska State Troopers special team forcefully entered the home and one trooper discharged a service weapon, the agency said.
Crews work to contain wildfire near Pilot Point; blaze no longer a threat to village
A fire escaped a dump in the Alaska Peninsula community and spread onto tundra grass. The fire grew quickly and had devoured at least 500 acres by Tuesday, officials said.
Village of Tazlina eyes return of ancestral lands
Fifty years after the once-thriving school was shuttered, the Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau wants to sell the 462-acre property back to its Indigenous inhabitants for more than $4,000 an acre — or put it up for sale on the open market.
Member of Utqiagvik whaling crew dies in hunting accident
William Kittick had been taking part in the spring subsistence bowhead whale hunt.
Musk oxen stranded on sea ice off Western Alaska are fair game for hunters
Residents do not need a hunting permit or a tag to kill musk oxen and can take up to two of them.
Dunleavy declares disaster for Buckland after ice-jam flooding
Although the waters have receded, some homes in the Northwest Alaska village are without heat and a boil-water notice is in place, the governor’s office says.