AK

In Southeast Alaska, the last cruise ship visit is as much a signal of the season’s changing as the weather. And in Sitka, the residents have created something of a ritual to mark the season’s end.

Seventy-five years after Japan invaded the furthest tip of the Aleutian chain, Attuans are returning home. Listen now

‘Hansel and Gretel’ is a classic German opera, often performed around the holidays. But an upcoming performance in Anchorage packs a uniquely Alaska twist. For an opera singer from Unalakleet, the performance blends a European performance with the traditional Inupiat folk lore she knew as a kid. Download Audio:

On March 27, 1964 a 9.2 magnitude earthquake struck Alaska. The tsunami that followed killed more than 100 people and devastated many communities. The village of Old Harbor, on Kodiak Island was almost completely destroyed. Only two homes and a church remained standing. Recently, radio producers Elizabeth Meister and Dan Collison visited Old Harbor and spoke with Mary Haakanson and the Reverend Gregory Parker- of Three Saints Russian Orthodox church- about the earthquake and tsunami.

For one month each fall, Interior residents wade into the crystal clear waters of the Chatanika River to catch whitefish. They spawn in the fall, unlike other fish in Alaska. The state limits both the number of permits and the harvest. This isn’t your typical fishery. Instead of rods and reels, or nets, fishermen use spears. Download Audio

In this spooky pre-Halloween edition of AK, we revisit the scene of the crime, the site of a cold-blooded murder over a hundred years ago in Juneau. KTOO’s Matt Miller spent this summer researching what happened when the Birdman of Alcatraz killed for the first time. Listen now

Summer is here and with it, the siren call of the ocean waves. That’s certainly the case in Yakutat, home of the Icy Waves Surf Shop. Listen now

Friday, July 29 Yard sales are a great summer tradition in this state. Thrifty Alaskans scour neighborhoods for good deals on used kitchenware, baby clothes and furniture.

Researchers from the Smithsonian Institution visited Sitka recently. The group works at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC. The collection includes countless items from Alaska. Staff members at the museum are well acquainted with those items. But they don’t often get to see where the items began. To do that, they turned to Sitka resident and renowned Tlingit weaver Teri Rofkar.

Your high school might have had a wrestling team, but how many wrestlers were girls? There are more than a dozen girls on Sitka’s Mt. Edgecumbe High School wrestling team, and they regularly beat boys in their weight class. Download Audio

In the last few years, crawdads have been found scuttling along the bottom of a popular fishing area near Kodiak. Now, a local tribal organization is studying their movement, distribution and diet. Listen now

Before acclaimed South African musician Vusi Mahlasela kicked off his Alaska tour this month, he hosted a special show for inmates at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center. Listen now

Gerry’s Barbershop has been around for nearly three decades in Juneau. Listen Now

This year 78 mushers are signed up to drive dog teams in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, but only a third of them are women. In the Yukon Quest, only 3 of 26 mushers who started this year were women. Despite the small numbers, many are up-and-coming mushers who are redefining what it means to run dogs. Download Audio

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