People & Culture
RSSAlaska News coverage of people and culture topics including community events, arts funding, local businesses, and cultural institutions.
Anchorage officials fail to agree on shared school-closure committee
The Assembly and School Board could not agree on giving both bodies votes on a school-closure committee. The existing board-led panel remains.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago5 min read
Sitka school policy committee rejects copying Ketchikan's student drug-testing rule
Sitka turned down copying Ketchikan's student drug testing rules. One of its two new drafts could extend testing past sports to band, drama and debate.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago1 min read
Kotzebue gets $1.5 million to keep growing food above the Arctic Circle
Kotzebue gets $1.5 million for Alaska Native food sovereignty work. The USDA calls it national security. The people doing it call it something else.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
Alaska's tribal college wins federal money for students and food knowledge
Alaska's only tribal college won $352,000 from the USDA to help students stay in school and to teach Iñupiaq food systems on the North Slope.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
Visiting dentist to hold five-day clinic in Nondalton
A dentist comes to Nondalton for five days starting Monday, one of the periodic visits that fill in for a permanent practice around Iliamna Lake.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read
Three locally drawn library cards are free at the Soldotna library through September
Soldotna's library is handing out three limited-edition cards designed by locals, including a moose under the northern lights by a 12-year-old.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago1 min read
Alaska school tests show early gains and a one-in-five participation gap
Alaska's younger students gained ground, but one in five enrolled students had no AK STAR score. Correspondence testing barriers explain part of the gap.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago3 min read
Anchorage's school funding gap has shrunk to about $6 million
Anchorage's school funding gap for next year has halved to about $6 million, after the Legislature capped how much the local contribution can grow.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
Alaska rural health notices pass $239 million with $30 million round
Alaska sent out $30 million more in rural health awards this week, funding a Girdwood telepharmacy, a Norton Sound scheduling hub and rural X-ray machines.
by Melinda Communities.News1w ago1 min read
Summit on Aging offers 15-minute one-on-one slots with Alaska health leaders
Alaska's aging summit runs Oct. 15 to 17 in Anchorage, and you can book 15 minutes to tell state health leadership exactly what you think.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read
Alaska urges flu shots now as influenza activity climbs
Flu is climbing in Alaska, where 36 people died last season and adults get vaccinated at less than half the national rate. Now is the window.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read
Alaska reports 36 flu deaths in 2025-26 season, most in four years
Thirty-six Alaskans died of flu-related illness this season, the worst in four years. The vaccine didn't match the strains that circulated here.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
Federal library grants open to qualifying Alaska Native tribes and corporations
Qualifying Alaska Native entities offering library or archival services can seek $6,000 to $150,000 from IMLS by Nov. 13.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
Alaska ended childhood liver cancer, and Washington noticed
Alaska Native children once had the world's highest rate of liver cancer. A newborn vaccine ended it, and Washington is now citing that as the model.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read
Migratory students lose ground moving between Alaska districts; the state's new alert is an email
Alaska says a new in-state alert tells districts when migratory students move between them. Its own 2026-27 district manuals describe no such alert.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read
Cook Inlet Tribal Council runs free career classes toward certification
Cook Inlet Tribal Council runs free 90-minute career classes at its Anchorage campus, each counting toward its ARCTIC Workforce Certification, with Developing a Leadership Mindset repeating at noon Sept. 22 and Sept. 29.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read
Kodiak may close an elementary school its building plan still invests in
Kodiak may close East Elementary in 2027. Three weeks before that was proposed, the board was handed a plan with $5.75 million of work for the building.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
Anchorage adds behavioral health care to its WIC program
Anchorage will place a behavioral health provider in its WIC program after a survey found many low-income mothers reporting anxiety, depression and hunger.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read
Alaska Supreme Court declines emergency bid to open Fairbanks charter school
Fairbanks said no to a charter school. The state said yes anyway. The Supreme Court declined to referee, and 352 enrolled kids were left in limbo.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago2 min read
Three Southcentral villages get visiting primary care this week
A doctor is in Chenega Bay through Monday, in Nanwalek through Friday. Tyonek got one day, and sees a primary care provider every two months.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Anchorage named a day for Dolly Parton three weeks after her death
Anchorage kids get more than 73,000 free books a year in the mail. The Assembly named Sept. 25 for the woman behind it, three weeks after her death.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Juneau's city-owned ski area has carried EPA's most urgent water violation for six months
Juneau's city-owned Eaglecrest Ski Area has carried the EPA's most urgent drinking water violation for six months, with no record of it being resolved.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Alaska proposes to drop its $190.50 newborn screening fee and set the charge by a formula
Alaska proposes calculating newborn screening fees by formula instead of a fixed charge, with written comments due by November 2.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
A bill would guarantee vehicle access for the village inside Gates of the Arctic
A national park was drawn around Anaktuvuk Pass in 1980 without asking. A bill would guarantee the village the right to drive out and go hunting.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago2 min read
Alaska has $272 million to change rural health care. The requests reached $2.5 billion.
Alaska has 217 preliminary rural health awards worth about $209 million — enough to replace equipment and add services, but not to replace Medicaid coverage.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago4 min read
Anchorage put $100,000 into five public art projects, Hillside mural among them
Anchorage is putting $100,000 into five public art projects, including a Hillside mural its arts commission ranked first among eight applicants.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Parents warn Mat-Su that cutting school nurses puts children at risk
Parents and staff told the Mat-Su school board that cutting nurses puts children at risk, as a Teeland Middle School nurse prepares to leave.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Alaska proposes a new payment formula for its 24-hour behavioral health clinics
Alaska wants to change how it pays two clinics providing 24-hour behavioral health care, setting rates in advance. Public comment is open through Oct. 30.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
A free Juneau talk on how a manuscript becomes a book
Two editors from the press that publishes the University of Alaska's books will explain how a manuscript becomes a book, at a free Juneau talk Saturday.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Alaska could lose $80 million in school money over a two-point miss
Alaska could lose $80 million in federal school money over a funding-equity failure it missed by less than two points, and partly triggered itself.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago3 min read
Dunleavy proclaims Sept. 13-19 Suicide Prevention Week in Alaska
Alaska has marked this week for suicide prevention. The message is simple: if you are worried about someone, ask them directly, and stay with them.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
Every number in Dunleavy's annual literacy proclamation has fallen since 2024
Every figure in the governor's annual adult literacy proclamation has fallen since 2024, and the proclamation doesn't say why.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Three Mat-Su school roofs are failing, and the money may take years
Three Mat-Su school roofs are failing, and fixing them may take more than one budget cycle. The district's deferred repair backlog stands at $411 million.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2w ago1 min read
Assembly members seek equal vote on joint school rightsizing panel
Three Anchorage Assembly members want a real vote on how the city closes schools, not the non-voting seat the School Board offered, as consolidation looms.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
Alaska proposes to pay for crisis mental health beds for the first time
Alaska proposed Medicaid rates for crisis mental health beds meant to keep people out of hospitals, its first pricing for that tier of care.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Southwest Alaska carried most of the state's tuberculosis cases last year
Southwest Alaska, with about 5% of the state's population, had 46 of Alaska's 77 tuberculosis cases last year — roughly nineteen times Anchorage's rate.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2w ago2 min read
Alaska would swap dated national manuals for an undated state guidebook
Alaska hospitals would follow a state guidebook instead of two national manuals for data reporting. The guidebook has no edition date. The manuals do.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Anchorage grant would keep HIV testing and outreach going through 2027
A $114,470 state grant on the Anchorage Assembly's agenda would keep the city's offsite HIV education, counseling and testing running through June 2027.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Dunleavy proclaims Sept. 9 FASD Awareness Day, citing Alaska's high per capita rate
Gov. Dunleavy proclaimed Sept. 9 FASD Awareness Day, citing Alaska's high rate of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and urging pregnant people to abstain from alcohol.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Two closed Anchorage school buildings head back to municipal hands
Two closed Anchorage schools, Abbott Loop and Campbell STEM, are set to return to the municipality, moving their fate from the School Board to the Assembly.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
