Northwest

For one Iñupiaq woman, hearing the words doctor next to her name was emotional: Her response to passing her dissertation defense went viral this month after hundreds of thousands of people watched her reaction.

As the only team to complete the original upper Kobuk loop trail through the storm, 38-year-old Ryan Redington took home the $16,000 first prize.

While Browning was first back in Kotzebue, a race champion has yet to be named: Race officials still must adjust teams’ times to account for different distances traveled during the weekend’s harrowing storm.

Many teams were pinned down by the weather for hours, unable to find each other and unsure if they were on the trail at all. 

Braving heavy winds and below-zero temperatures, a dozen mushers embarked across the sea ice for their chance at claiming victory in this year’s Kobuk 440 Sled Dog Race.

Blizzards and winter storms battered the Seward Peninsula and surrounding region throughout the month of March, but the sea ice has proved more resilient than in recent years.

Eighth grader Fannie Williams played all of both regional tournament games for Kiana’s boys high school team.

The private access Ambler Road would run roughly 211 miles from the Dalton Highway to the Ambler Mining District in the Northwest Arctic Borough. The funding from the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA, was matched by Ambler Metals, the company that hopes to use the road to access mineral deposits in the Ambler Mining District.

As local, regional and state officials worked to solve the issue, the community of roughly 800 people was without running water and had to conserve power, relying on back-up generators while power was slowly restored. 

The state emergency management department says the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative is working with regional entities on clearing frozen well transmission lines as well as restoring power to parts of the community.