Top Stories

News stories, radio and TV episodes that warrant one of six spots on our homepage. The homepage is in chronological order of publication date, so stories are moved off the homepage as more are categorized “top stories.”

These three Alaska weddings were derailed by the pandemic. Here’s what the couples did next.

They planned for months. Then everything changed. Here are their stories of rushing to the courthouse for paperwork, trying on wedding dresses by Zoom and moving their first dances from ballrooms to living rooms.

Fifth nonresident seafood worker tests positive for coronavirus in Alaska

The state also announced that an 11th staff member of Juneau's Lemon Creek Correctional Center has tested positive for the virus.
A white man with grey hair and a grey suit

Despite the pandemic, Alaska’s primary and general elections to follow normal voting process

Many were pushing for a move to mail-in ballots, but the Lieutenant Governor said that the current voting system, including absentee ballots, will be able to meet the demands of voters should a sharper outbreak of the coronavirus occur.

Alaska Gov. Dunleavy will leave quarantine mandate in place for two more weeks

Dunleavy's quarantine mandate has been credited with helping to keep Alaska's COVID-19 case count the lowest of any state's, and it was set to expire Tuesday. The extension will run two weeks from that date, Dunleavy said at a news conference Friday.

As Alaska’s economy begins to reopen, Anchorage officials say the city is facing a childcare shortage

Of the 247 childcare facilities in the municipality, only 141 are open right now.

Alaska’s quarantine order has helped thwart COVID-19 but devastated tourism. Will Dunleavy keep it?

Public health experts have credited measures like Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy's two-week quarantine order for travelers with holding the COVID-19 case count below every other state in the country. But the order is set to expire Tuesday, and Dunleavy hasn't said what he'll do next.

Small business on the brink: Alaska faces a ‘generational loss’ as owners throw in the towel

Alaska businesses have received $1.3 billion from one federal program "That is a ton of money. And it still feels like it's not nearly enough."

Four girls now allege Bethel school principal abused them. They’re suing the school district for inaction.

The four plaintiffs say that the Lower Kuskokwim School District failed to properly investigate and sanction a former principal of a Bethel elementary school even after multiple allegations of inappropriate contact with underage girls.

Juneau man sues to block state’s $1.5 billion coronavirus aid plan, citing improper process

A retired carpenter and former University of Alaska regent is suing the Dunleavy administration, saying that the entire legislature must approve any state spending.

10 staff members at Lemon Creek Correctional Center have tested positive for COVID-19

Three new cases have been reported since the DOC confirmed the last case, but the department says that two new covid cases reported in Juneau yesterday were both linked to Lemon Creek.
A woman wearing a mask mixes a drink wbehind a bar with a TV playing on the background.

Reopening for Anchorage bars pencils out better than for restaurants. Many are giving it a go.

Most bars in Anchorage say they are planning on reopening during the first week allowed under the municipality's plan.

Alaska could be empty of tourists this summer. For residents, there’s an upside.

For Alaskans, a summer without tourists could translate into resident discounts, busy fishing holes transformed into blissful calm, open roads normally clogged with RVs, and cruise destinations with no ships in sight.
Empty swings in front of a school on a winter day

A rural school district said it was blindsided by a Bethel principal’s arrest. Except he’d been investigated twice before.

The principal for one of Alaska’s largest rural elementary schools, in a region with some of the highest sex crime rates in the country and a state with a history of failing to protect students, was allowed to remain on the job until the FBI got involved.

Restaurant closures create uncertainty in the market for premium Copper River salmon

Restaurants may not be reliable buyers this year, as owners grapple with reduced business amid the coronavirus pandemic.

As the state lifts restrictions, some Juneau bars and restaurants aren’t rushing to reopen

The City and Borough of Juneau has opted out of reopening public facilities for now, and many business owners in Juneau say that while the COVID-19 closures have devastated their businesses, they’re not rushing to open their doors, either.
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Two weeks after Alaska’s first inmate tested positive there’s still no clear answer of how virus got in

Inmates and advocates worry that inmates' health isn't being taken seriously, but the Department of Corrections says that the lack of any further positive cases points to the success of its protocols.

‘Sometimes we get bored’: Unalaska fish processors work back-to-back seasons to keep their jobs

Managers decided that keeping workers on the island would help prevent new arrivals - many of whom come from other countries - from bringing in the coronavirus.