KNBA News

Native communities in Alaska and around the country responded to a graphic in CNN’s Tuesday election coverage labeling voters that don’t identify as white, Black, Latino or Asian as “something else.” The gaffe led to the hashtag #SomethingElse trending among Natives on social media calling out the cable news network for its ignorance. While many Native voices made light of the situation with comedic memes and tweets, others said they were frustrated with the continued Native erasure. Barbara

Nearly 70 people weighed in on proposed changes to Kenai National Wildlife Refuge regulations during a series of public hearings . That’s on top of more than 44,000 written comments the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has received on the matter to date. Most who testified spoke in opposition to the proposal, taking particular issue with changes that would permit brown bear baiting where black bear baiting is already allowed and reversing restrictions on trapping by trailheads. Those who spoke in

A former teacher at the Trapper School in the village of Nuiqsut is suing the North Slope Borough School District, claiming the district did not properly address racist actions by students . In a lawsuit filed last week , attorneys for Candice Gardner, a Black woman, say that students in Nuiqsut made racist threats to Gardner in a classroom setting in 2017. That includes an incident where a student called Gardner a slurs and told her to “get [her] Black ugly ass out of our village.” Attorneys

The chief scientist at the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut is leading a pilot study on the stressors impacting beluga whales in Cook Inlet . Tracy Romano and her research team received a $10,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to look into genes that help Cook Inlet belugas, a critically endangered population of whales, respond to environmental and manmade stressors. “And so we’re trying to ground truth some of these molecular sequences and then look at the genes in

A faraway island in Alaska has had its share of visitors , but none can remain for long on its shores. St. Matthew Island is said to be the most remote place in Alaska. Marooned in the Bering Sea halfway to Siberia, it is well over 300 kilometers and a 24-hour ship ride from the nearest human settlements. It looks fittingly forbidding, the way it emerges from its drape of fog like the dark spread of a wing. Curved, treeless mountains crowd its sliver of land, plunging in sudden cliffs where they

Wayne Westlake is no longer president and CEO of NANA Regional Corporation . NANA officials announced the leadership change a board of directors meeting. Westlake, originally from Kiana, held the position for five years. In a statement, officials wrote Westlake “provided valuable leadership and exhibited consistent dedication to ensuring the continued growth and success of the corporation.” The Board of Directors appointed Bill Monet to fill in as interim president and CEO. Since 2012, Monet has

The announcement that the Trump administration will lift protections against development in the Tongass National Forest has sparked strong reactions for and against the changes. For many Southeast Alaskans who rely on the Tongass for food, the news is personal . On a rare sunny afternoon in the Tongass, Chuck Miller showed me a spot near the water where his grandmother would often take him. He pointed out where they’d collect salmonberries, blueberries and huckleberries, giving Tlingit names for

A collection of artifacts from the Tlingit Frog House Clan can continue to be displayed in a Klukwan museum . That’s despite a legal challenge that reached Alaska’s highest court. The state’s Supreme Court has apparently ended a decades-old dispute over control of art treasures. When Frog House clan members disputed the sale of artifacts to a Canadian collector in the 1970s, an Alaska Superior Court judge ruled that they actually belonged to all members of Klukwan’s Frog House. The court ordered

King̱eestí David Katzeek died Oct. 28, 2020 , according to an announcement from the Sealaska Heritage Institute. Katzeek was the clan leader of the Shangukeidi, the first president of Sealaska Heritage Foundation and an educator who championed Tlingit culture and language. He was born in Klukwan in 1942 but spent most of his life in Juneau. Katzeek helped establish the first Celebration in 1982. The biennial event in Juneau now draws thousands of Native people from Southeast Alaska and beyond

Alaskans spend nearly 60 percent more on energy than the national average , and in some rural communities, that number is much higher. The Kupreanof Island village of Kake is trying to bring down the high cost of energy by transitioning to renewables. They’ve looked at solar, wind, hydro and now biomass heating, an old technology with a new design . When Gary Williams retired after 30 years as executive director of Kake’s Tribe, the Organized Village of Kake, he decided to turn his attention to