Author: Nicole Thompson

The K.L. Simon Community Center opened its doors on Sunday, marking a significant milestone for Youngstown’s South side community. The Center, located within the 100-year-old New Bethel Baptist Church, honors the vision of the late Rev. Lonnie K.A. Simon and his enduring commitment to community empowerment.  The facility, renovated from an older sanctuary, aims to serve as a hub for unity. The Center hosted a ribbon-cutting event where more than 100 community members, elected officials, and leaders gathered to honor the $320,000 center, representing a year of vision and planning. Rev. Kenneth L. Simon, pastor of the New Bethel Baptist…

The Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery space crisis has left families considering stacked burials as public plots rapidly vanish. Officials are squeezing extra graves into poorly mapped sections of the historic property while hoping for new donations from the Catholic Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau. The remaining public burial plots will likely run out by June, forcing residents to explore costlier options. The cemetery, founded in 1915, is a historical site that contains the graves of notable politicians, Bush pilots, and early business owners. Although more than 15,000 graves fill nine square city blocks downtown, the public burial areas are already full. Around…

In a break from the conservative leadership of the previous session, Alaska’s new bipartisan reforms intends to make steady education funding its first priority. In line with the electorate’s demands for change, incoming Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, highlighted the need for schools with small class sizes.  The coalition has a slim majority of 21 members, including 14 Democrats, five independents, and 2 Republicans. This shift marks a departure from the previous majority, which backed Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a $680 per student funding increase. The governor labeled SB 140 which proposed funding for transportation, rural internet, and reading programs…

Alaska’s new minimum wage laws will increase employees’ pay from 2025 to 2027. On January 1st, Alaska’s minimum wage workers will see a raise in their hourly pay by 18 cents to $11.91. The state measured this increase due to a 2014 ballot measure using the Anchorage area’s 1.5% consumer price index rise in 2023. The minimum wage will climb to $13 an hour on July 1st after the initial bump in pay in January. Voters approved a new ballot initiative earlier this year, further leading to this development. With future inflation adjustments, the same measure will raise pay to…

For a third consecutive year, the Alaska turkey bomb has ensured remote Alaskan families’ Thanksgiving despite living off the grid. Esther Keim, a pilot based north of Anchorage, flies a small plane to deliver frozen turkey to isolated communities. With 80% of Alaska lacking road access, residents often rely on planes or snowmobiles for transportation during winter. Keim began this tradition after hearing about a family with little to eat for one Thanksgiving. Using a plane she rebuilt with her father, she dropped them a turkey, which has continued since. This year, she distributed 32 frozen turkeys to families in…

A terrifying Anchorage shooting near University Lake left a man injured after a gunman opened fire. Gamble resident Nikolai Avalnun had been in Anchorage for only two days after the tragedy. Avalnun was in town to assist his uncle with medical appointments and stepped outside to smoke along the University Lake trail at 10:30 p.m. Earl and Victor, two of Avalnun’s acquaintances, heard faint screams for help coming from the woods. “And we’re like, that is someone saying help,” Avalnun said. As Victor tried to get close to the woods to better understand where the sound was coming from, a…

A 17-year-old Cassandra Canaveral Kodiak Beach explosion victim has returned home after surviving the devastating explosion that left her with severe burns. Canaveral spent 16 days in the Alaska Native Medical Center pediatric burn unit in Anchorage before being cleared to return to Kodiak.  “I’m doing really good,” Canaveral said. “It’s just a crazy thing to go through.” The explosion happened earlier this month during a party at White Sands Beach. According to witnesses, someone threw a 55-gallon drum of fuel into the fire, causing an instant blast. Eight people were injured in this incident, including Canaveral. While recalling the…

The Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veteran Land Allotment Program (ANVLAP) has faced significant delays, frustrating both veterans and lawmakers alike. The program, which allows eligible Alaska Native Veterans to claim 160 acres of land, aims to compensate for lost opportunities during the Vietnam War era. However, despite its creation in 2019, progress has been slow. Senator Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, has voiced strong concerns about the slow pace of implementation. He expressed frustration that the Biden administration and the Department of the Interior have slowly rolled out the initiative. Sullivan’s concern coincides with the Department…

Kodiak Harbor Convention Center is changing its name to Kodiak’s main public event, which would significantly alter the city’s primary public event space. Located at 211 W. Rezanof Drive, the renovation of the Kodiak Harbor Center is shifting its focus from hosting significant events to offering lodging and retail services. Island Hotels, LLC, owned by Susan Johnson, manages multiple facilities. She also handles nearby hotels like the Best Western Kodiak Inn and the Kodiak Compass Suites hotel. Johnson confirmed that they will turn the top floor of the former convention center into seven kitchenette rooms, many featuring stunning harbor views. …

Due to the Park Highway collision, traffic was severely disrupted late Sunday afternoon. This incident occurred when two cars crashed into each other, causing the lane to stop for two hours. Alaska State Troopers reported that a 1998 Jeep Cherokee traveling north crossed the center line and struck a southbound 2012 Honda minivan. Emergency responders transported three individuals with severe injuries to a local hospital for treatment following the crash. While troopers directed traffic around the crash site, an hour later, another vehicle struck a trooper in an unrelated accident. The driver, Warren Slater, a 43-year-old from Talkeetna, ignored the…

District officials say the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District may have a $32 million budget shortfall in Fiscal Year 2026. Fairbanks school district budget deficit depends on there not being a one-time state funding increase like the one that was given in FY25. Lawmakers failed to override the governor’s veto of a permanent per-student funding system known as the Base Student Allocation (BSA). The borough’s chief operations officer, Andy DeGraw, clarified that the state’s contribution may decrease by $20 million without more financing. During the presentation, DeGraw listed three possible outcomes, all of which involved impairments. He determined that…

A family of six escaped a Matanuska Valley fire but lost their home and possessions. Adam Barnes, the father, woke up at 4:30 a.m. to discover the motorhome they were living in completely enveloped in flames. “My wife was screaming that the house was on fire,” he said. Looking outside, Barnes saw the entire roof consumed by the growing fire. Despite grabbing a fire extinguisher, Barnes quickly realized the fire had spread too far to be controlled. “I realized thirty seconds into waking up that there was no putting this fire out,” he said. Adam and his wife, Heather Barnes,…