Rural Alaska

Great Sitkin Island, once the site of a military refueling station, was abandoned in 1963. Workers spent 65 days over the summer investigating the extent of contamination there.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Friday declared “squaw” to be a derogatory term and launched a policy to change all federal place names that contain it.

The bill signed into law by President Biden last week and supported by Alaska’s congressional delegation includes billions for rural Alaska water and sewer, internet connectivity and climate change mitigation efforts

A series of shootings, assaults and attempted robberies that began in July ended with the arrest of the last of five suspects in the Yukon River village in Southwest Alaska, troopers said.

Louis Eklund repeatedly threatened and harassed a state attorney and the then-executive director of the Native Village of Kotzebue because they were investigating a child abuse allegation against him, court documents said.

With relatively calm summer weather, an Utqiagvik crew landed at least 11 whales, Wainwright caught 50, and Kotzebue Sound saw the second-biggest harvest since 2007, according to local hunters.

Two years ago, the company abandoned a gravel barge near Aniak during freeze-up and had to retrieve it after breakup in the spring.

From the hunters’ years on the river, they never expected it to freeze so early or quickly. There had been no ice when they left home.

Officials are encouraging the public to be safe, report polar bears in the area and never approach the animals, which can be “dangerous and unpredictable.”

Complicated logistics, winter weather, and mechanical issues all stalled rescue efforts.

The party of seven has been stuck for a week at a fish camp 20 miles from Emmonak.

Reported impacts range from some types of crimes not being investigated to communities giving up on trying to get law enforcement to respond, said the head of the Alaska Justice Information Center.

The coronavirus is causing gaps in grief — gaps that are tragically familiar: Black, American Indian and Alaska Native communities suffer a higher bereavement burden given persistent disparities in life expectancy and mortality.

Lars Nelson and Trina Paul, who will represent Utqiagvik, took an insurmountable lead in this week’s runoff elections. The official results will be announced next week.

A passenger died when the Ravn-operated Saab 2000 turboprop skidded down the runway before coming to a stop dangling over the water at the airport’s edge.

Keith Nelson, 48, was arrested on charges of first-degree criminal trespass, troopers said. His actions caused the village to go into a lockdown for hours Tuesday.

The group stopped at the fish camp Thursday and stayed overnight on their way from Emmonak to Pilot Station, troopers said. By Friday, the river had frozen.

Andersen was also a former co-chair of the Alaska Federation of Natives, the state’s largest Native organization, and an outspoken opponent of the Pebble mine. He died of medical complications related to cancer, his family said.

John Hammonds, 48, was charged with eight counts of sexual abuse of a minor. Court documents say he sexually abused one of the students he taught at Akiachak School.

Ralph Waska shot and killed Yago Pitka after a night of drinking in April, charging documents said.