AK

When a fire breaks out, it’s not always obvious how it started. Not only could the entire structure be wiped out, but items that started the fire could be partially destroyed or altered beyond recognition. That’s the job of the fire investigator: interview witnesses and find clues at the scene that would help them determine how the fire started. Listen now

This week on AK... bees. We've all seen them, fat and fuzzy, zigzagging from flower to flower in a seemingly erratic flight to somewhere. Bumblebees were so named for their clumsy trip from bud to bud, not to mention their signature sound, like tiny buzzsaws.

More and more programs have sprung up locally to familiarize students with trades and professions in the hopes of getting more Alaska Natives employed. That’s what the University of Alaska Anchorage did 20 years ago for Alaska Native nurses. The program is called RRANN: Recruiting and Retaining Alaska Natives into Nursing. Listen now

Residents of Anchorage got a chance to get up close and personal with the film Black Panther when one of the stuntwomen and actresses from the film visited Clark Middle School to talk to the Mountain View community last Saturday. Listen now

Earlier this month, Angoon’s mayor asked for help after discovering high levels of mercury in subsistence seal. With only one grocery store in town, the small Southeast village is dependent on what’s in the water. And according to a tissue sample test, that might include contaminants from a nearby mine. Download Audio

The Tenakee Springs Museum is filled with pieces of the town's fishing and canning past, as well as stone tools and other household items from the Tlingit people who first inhabited the land.

Last weekend, nearly 1,600 people ran a 10-part race from Skagway over the Coast Mountains and into Whitehorse, Yukon. It’s part endurance trial, part road trip and part party. For many on both sides of the border, running the 110-mile Klondike Road Relay is an annual tradition. Download Audio:

Despite all the snow piled up around the state, spring is just around the corner. To prove it, Shaguyik and Taqouka, two Kodiak grizzly cubs, crept out of their log dens at Portage’s Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center this week to enjoy some welcome sunshine. The two little bears, both orphans, have been on view at the Center, as have many other rescued animals, much to the delight of area schoolchildren.

Ricci Adan is a performing artist in Juneau. Locals know her as an actor, dance teacher and choreographer, most recently of Perseverance Theatre’s “Chicago.” What people may not know is that in 1981, her husband Richard Adan was killed – stabbed on the streets of New York City by a released convict who was a protégé of Pulitzer Prize winning writer Norman Mailer. The murder trial was highly publicized. But, Adan is just beginning to tell her side of the story. Download Audio

November is Native American Heritage Month. To celebrate, we’re taking you down the catwalk and into the heart of contemporary Native fashion. From seal skin corsets to gowns fringed like Eagle feathers, today’s designers are finding new silhouettes for traditional art. And their customers love it. Listen Now

As 2015 came to a close, Juneau artist MK MacNaughton finished a art project that portrayed 52 of her fellow community members—or, a portrait a week for a year. MacNaughton picked her subjects not for how they look, but for what they do, where they do it, and how hard they work at it. Download Audio

What happens when five teenagers pile onto a research vessel and go island hopping through the Aleutians in the name of conservation? Science. Education. And maybe a peek into their futures. Listen now

Haines seems like a quintessential Southeast Alaska town. There are eagles, bears, salmon, big mountains and rough water. It’s a picture-book no stoplight, no movie theater, low crime type of community. But there’s a seedier and eclectic side of Haines that emerged late this winter: the underground puppet scene. Download Audio

Outside room 119 at Juneau-Douglas High School, a sheet of paper taped to the wall says, “FOG MACHINE IN USE.” It’s the Friday before Halloween, and the usually no-nonsense control room and JDTV News anchor desk is dressed with spider webs, skeletons, jack-o-lanterns, black lights, and strobes. Download Audio