Annauk Olin and her mother, Maggie Pollock, translated information about the COVID-19 vaccine and the Census into Iñupiaq. The mother-and-daughter duo worked on a panel working to translate information into Iñupiaq for the Alaska Public Interest Research Group, or AKPIRG. Olin says they had to add some things along the way. “When we worked on Census material, there were words that we had to create, because it didn't necessarily apply to our everyday life and culture." The two worked on the

As our climate changes around us, the unusual is becoming more frequent. Whether it be shorter snow seasons, intense wildfires, or most recently-- storms and lightning across the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. Alaska climate specialist Rick Thoman ,(TOE-min) says thunderstorms need a few different ingredients. "One, they need a moisture, and they need a fairly steep decrease in temperature of loft." Storms over the oceans aren’t particularly rare, but Thoman says these storms form differently. "We

At the turn of the 20th century, the federal government created boarding schools in an attempt to assimilate Indigenous children into “American society.” The lasting legacy of the boarding school era devastated Native cultures across North America. Now, people all across the country demand accountability and working to bring the remains of boarding school students home. One student is the first Alaska Native student buried in a cemetery at the former Carlisle school in Pennsylvania to return to

Gwich’in artist Colleen Firmin Thomas is from Fort Yukon and is known for her abstract paintings. In her piece, “Boundaries as Battlelines,” Thomas uses a brush to make vertical stacks of gray and brown. In the gray, porcupine quills and moose fur are placed in a way to demark and mark a boundary between the layers of earthen-colored streaks. “For me painting is the way to process the world,” she said. “And a way to like I tell people, It's kind of like a therapy.” Where gray is more prominent,

The mood is buzzy as we make the walk from the local Tlingit Tribe’s cultural center to Wrangell’s Reliance Harbor. Sixth-grader Devin Aleksiev is already wearing his life jacket, which he demonstrates he can put on even if it’s already buckled. “It’ll hurt like heck on your wrist if you have a watch on,” Aleksiev says, pausing to take off his watch. He says he likes everything about culture camp and is happy to be here. “Just wasn’t happy when I woke up,” he adds, wryly. About 15 middle school

The remains of an Alaska Native student buried more than 100 years ago at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania will return to Alaska. Beginning June 19, the U.S Army will begin the process to return the remains of 10 Native students buried at the Carlisle school. According to a U.S. Army news release , nine students are from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and one student -- Sophia Tetoff is identified as an Alaskan Aleut. Sophia entered the school on June 26, 1901, and died there May 6

The Juneau Assembly started to include a land acknowledgment as part of its regular meetings in February and made it an official part of meetings in May. But then it got a letter from a group called the Áak’w Kwáan Coalition Council asking the city to stop acknowledging another clan, the T’aaḵu Kwáan, at the beginning of its assembly meetings. Wayne Klusaa Áak’w Smallwood represents the Áak’w Kwáan Coalition Council. He says T’aaḵu Kwáan aren’t Native to the Juneau area and that they came from

Former Lieutenant Governor Valerie Nurr’araaluk Davidson will step down from her role as president of Alaska Pacific University to lead the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium as its president. In March, Davidson was named as interim president of ANTHC after the former president resigned. Davidson took a leave of absence from her role at Alaska Pacific. Davidson – who is Yup’ik from Bethel and a Tribal citizen of Orutsararmiut Traditional Native Council -- previously served as senior director

The University of Alaska will launch a system-wide program geared toward retaining more Alaska Native students at the school and increasing the number of Alaska Native staff members. The school recently found that Alaska Native students are enrolling, but they don’t always stay. Tukshaak’éi Sarah Peele (Haida) is a student at University of Alaska Southeast. She transferred from the Fairbanks campus, where she said the professors didn’t make her feel welcome. “They were all white,” Peele said.

Regulations for halibut charters are looser this summer for the second year in a row . The bodies regulating halibut fishing in Alaska relaxed restrictions on the fleet to again make fishing more appealing to Alaska anglers amid the pandemic. That was before reservations started pouring in to charter operators. “We tried to anticipate the possibility back in December of the fact that it was going to take a lot longer to be able to administer vaccines than it actually has," said Andy Mezirow, of