Programs

The Civics & Conservation Summit brings 20 youth leaders to our state capital for a week of high-impact, fun, and adrenaline-pumping civic engagement lessons. During this event, youth will learn: how to talk with the media, how to communicate with elected officials, how to read a bill, and how to impact decisions our leaders make about our environment and our lives. The application period ends January 15. Read more.

Senator Lisa Murkowski took the occasion of the 105th anniversary of Ray Mala’s birth to share the memories and the meaning of the nation’s first Native film star. An Alaska Native and the first non-white actor to receive top billing in Hollywood entertainment, Mala was born on December 27th, 1906 in Candle, Alaska. Over the course of his career, Mala worked with cinema legends like Alfred Hitchcock and Cecil B. DeMille. Click for more

The first weekend in December was the American Bankruptcy Institute’s conference in Palm Springs and Dave’s turn to find an excuse for us to travel. But before driving through California’s desert, we flew into San Francisco to view Pissarro’s People. Pissarro is considered a father-figure to Impressionists as he empathized with those who wished to take their easels and palettes outdoors observing the sublime of nature - wind, rain and changing light patterns. Read more.

The Kroschel Wildlife Refuge is located at Mile 1.8 Mosquito Lake Road, Haines, AK 99827. The center houses 15 species of Alaskan Wildlife, including grizzly bear, wolf, moose, lynx, fox, reindeer, porcupine, snowy owl and wolverine. This gallery is focused on their grizzly bear, Kitty. Click for the gallery.

Novelist John Straley has been named to one of the most prestigious lists in the country – for poets. The National Poetry Foundation has included the Sitka author’s poem “Every Single Day” in the anthology of pieces used by students in Poetry Out Loud, a national recitation competition. Straley’s work rubs shoulders on the list with literary icons like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ezra Pound, and Robert Browning. Read more.

Marines from Stewart Air National Guard Base in New York, have been supporting Toys for Tots in Alaska since 1995. A C-130 and full flight crew provide transportation to Delta Company, Anti-Terrorism Battalion, 4th Marine Division, located at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Click for video.

Handy Alaskan hint #1097: next time you go to give your eagle a bath, have a couple of stress balls handy. They make great talon defusers. The Bird Treatment and Learning Center is a nonprofit dedicated to rehabilitating sick, injured or orphaned wild birds and providing avian education programs to the public. Click for more bird bath photos.

Hard economic times call for a greater need in our community. Anchorage School District teachers and students find ways to give back to the community throughout the school year, and especially during the holiday season. Read more.

While running through Bicentennial Park in Anchorage, biologist Jessy Coltrane spotted a porcupine in a birch tree. On her runs on days following, she saw it again and again, in good weather and bad. Over time, she knew which Alaska creature she wanted to study. “I thought, ‘Oh my god, how does he do it? How does this animal make it through winter?’” Coltrane said during the December defense of her doctoral thesis in Fairbanks. Read more.

Earlier this year, I returned to Alaska after 27 months of U.S. Peace Corps service in Central America. I worked as a community health volunteer in Nicaragua, the second-poorest country in the western hemisphere (after Haiti). After returning to Alaska, I began to search for local volunteer opportunities. A friend told me of the famed Dr. Jill Seaman and her involvement with the nonprofit, the Alaska Sudan Medical Project (ASMP). Read more.

My name is Rohan Silbaugh. I am 11 years old and I am traveling with my parents around the world at from my home in Anchorage. We started our trip late in May, 2011 and will return exactly one year later. We have traveled in Asia for five months and will leave tomorrow. We have been to China, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, India, and Thailand. I was fascinated by all the astonishing things I saw. Asia is extremely photogenic, requires immensely difficult traveling, and has captivating culture. Click for more photos.

KSKA will air special NPR coverage of the Iowa Caucus Tuesday, January 3 and the New Hampshire Caucus the following Tuesday, Jan. 10 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm.

• The Caucuses: A Quick Guide
• Election 2012 NPR

Conversations that Matter: Teen Suicide in Alaska Suicide is difficult to talk about. But often, the conversations most worth having are the hardest to tackle. Suicide can close us off from one another. It can divide a family and an entire community. And the suicide problem has reached a level of epidemic in Alaska. With Conversations that Matter, we hope to take the first steps toward opening up about suicide by beginning a statewide dialogue on this important issue. KSKA: Tuesday 1/3 at 2:00 pm

The Northern Susitna Institute, a collaborative nonprofit educational organization, provides students of all ages the opportunity to learn, share ideas and develop real life skills through creating, supporting, facilitating and implementing a variety of experience-based academic programs, workshops, conferences, and community partnerships. Talkeetna Build a Plane program is one of their offerings. Click for larger view.

Can Alaska Learn from Norway's Oil and Gas Success? On January 13th, the Alaska World Affairs Council will present a panel discussion in Anchorage where Alaskan industry experts will discuss that very question. Learn more.