The Trump administration has finalized a plan to open the coastal plain of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, renewing long-simmering debate over whether to drill in one of the nation's most sensitive wilderness areas.
Russia lost a war in Crimea in the 1850s. To pay off war debts, Russia sold Alaska to the U.S. Now, Presidents Trump and Putin will meet Friday in Alaska to discuss another war involving Crimea.
Alaska has long ignored warning signs of a budget crisis. Now, it has no money to fix something that is posing serious health and safety risks to students and staff: crumbling rural schools.
One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Russia's Far East early Wednesday, sending tsunami waves into Japan and Hawaii and across the Pacific.
President Donald Trump wants to double the amount of oil coursing through Alaska's vast pipeline system and build a massive natural gas project, a top administration official said Monday.
A pilot and two girls survived on the wing of a plane for about 12 hours after it crashed and was partially submerged in an icy Alaska lake, then were rescued after being spotted by a good Samaritan.
Rural school districts depend on the state to fund construction and maintenance projects. But over the past 25 years, Alaska lawmakers have ignored hundreds of requests for public schools that primarily serve Indigenous children.
The 50-year-old had been reported overdue from a deer hunting trip. At least 30,000 brown bears are estimated to be in Alaska and mainly live along the southern coast.
The scene was relayed by a live webcam of bears on Alaska's Brooks River. “This is very difficult to watch and comprehend,” said Naomi Boak of the nonprofit Katmai Conservancy.
Climate change threatens many traditional foods in Alaska. But it’s also making farming more possible. A new training program aims to help Alaska Native communities grow more of their own food.
What happens when small town politics collide with the climate crisis? And how do hazard maps—maps that show which homes in your neighborhood are at risk of getting destroyed or damaged by a natural disaster—come into play? On today's episode, how some people—from Indiana to Oregon to Alaska—are facing some very real concerns about insurance and the ability to sell their houses.
The administration said it will restrict new oil and gas leasing on 13 million acres in Alaska to help protect wildlife such as caribou and polar bears as the Arctic continues to warm.
Sean Underwood made it 970 miles, nearly to the finish line of the 2020 Iditarod race, before having to call for emergency help after a storm put him at risk. He competed for a second time in 2021. A metro Atlanta native, Underwood now hosts Mushing Alaska, a popular podcast about dog sledding with his brother Brendan. We spoke with them about it and what brought Sean from the deep South to the deep snow.
Lately, paleoecologist Audrey Rowe has been a bit preoccupied with a girl named Elma. That's because Elma is ... a woolly mammoth. And 14,000 years ago, when Elma was alive, her habitat in interior Alaska was rapidly changing. The Ice Age was coming to a close and human hunters were starting early settlements. Which leads to an intriguing question: Who, or what, killed her? In the search for answers, Audrey traces Elma's life and journey through — get this — a single tusk. Today, she shares her insights on what the mammoth extinction from thousands of years ago can teach us about megafauna extinctions today with guest host Nate Rott.
Thoughts on other ancient animal stories we should tell? Email us at shortwave@npr.org and we might make a future episode about it!
