Western

Regional air carrier Ravn Alaska has a new baggage policy that begins this month, and only the first checked bag will fly free. A second checked bag will cost $15.

Every year, thousands of people apply online for less than 200 winter permits to hunt muskox in Alaska. The truly devoted travel to Bethel to sign up in person.

On Friday night in Bethel, the Kuskokwim 300 celebrated its 40th annual sled dog race. Over four decades the race has attracted Alaska’s best mushers, while offering a growing purse and serving as a cornerstone of local mushing. The founders say they could not have predicted how well known and respected that the race would become, or the local champion it would shape.

When radar sites were selected in the 1950s, melting permafrost and coastal erosion weren’t long-term concerns. Now, even as the Defense Department acknowledges the problem of climate change, there are few solutions for how to keep the radars operational.

For decades, Bethel Search and Rescue has flown with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to monitor winter river conditions. But the shutdown has forced the group to turn to pricey commercial airlines for help.

There’s no physician for the mushers during the Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race, but a team of volunteer veterinarians checks each dog before the race, at the checkpoints, and after the teams cross the finish. The program has come together for nearly 30 years largely through of the efforts of one woman.

Even though temperatures may fluctuate month-to-month, Alaska climate scientist Rick Thoman says that for Bethel and many other Alaska communities, this trend of warmer winters is not going away.

Two priests in high-level positions at Gonzaga University resigned today. Both previously held leadership roles in the Jesuits’ Oregon Province while it sent Jesuits accused of sexual abuse to live in a home on campus.

St. Paul officials are scrambling to extend air service through the holidays. As of Thursday, the isolated island in the Bering Sea will continue to have flights to Anchorage through Sunday.

The company is trying to develop one of the biggest gold mines in the world in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. The mine, if built, would disturb 2,800 acres of wetlands. Because Donlin can’t restore all of those wetlands, it is required to protect wetlands somewhere else.