Alaska News Nightly: Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Support for Alaska Public Media On Demand comes from Aliaska Pipeline Service Company, maintaining and operating the 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline for nearly 50 years. You need to not be afraid to just peel this back and look at the implementation. Senator Lisa Murkowski votes against advancing a Trump-backed voter ID law. From Alaska Public Media, this is statewide news on Alaska News Nightly for Tuesday, March 17th. Good evening. I'm Wesley Early. Also tonight, state lawmakers consider a bill that would limit forever chemicals in drinking water. People do continue to be exposed to dangerous levels of PFAS and this failure to act. puts people at long-term risk. Those stores and more. Tonight on Alaska News Nightly. Alaska Public Media is all about community. Wear your community on your sleeve with the purchase of branded clothes and collectibles from our online store. Visit alaskapublic.org slash shop. The U.S. Senate today narrowly agreed to take up a voting bill that President Trump says is essential for the survival of the country and opponents say will disenfranchise millions of Americans. Senator Lisa Murkowski was the only Republican who voted not to open debate on the Save America Act. It would require voters to show photo ID at the polls and provide proof of citizenship to register. Lisa Murkowski says the devil is in the details. People around the country are looking at this and saying this should be a no-brainer. Of course, U.S. citizens should be the ones that have the right to vote. Of course, it is not unreasonable to require voter ID. What's the problem here? But you need to not be afraid to just peel this back and look at the implementation. Lisa Murkowski has a long list of items in the bill that she says would make it harder for Alaskans to cast a ballot. She cites, among other things, the requirement that new registrants present citizenship documents to an elections official in person. That, she says, might require an 18-year-old who lives in on Alaska to spend more than $1,000 on an airplane ticket. And hopefully, she has an official copy of her birth certificate in hand. But if she doesn't, it's a two-month wait right now at vital statistics to get... The certified documents that you need. An amendment Trump is pressing for would eliminate voting by mail, except for people who are ill, away on a military assignment, or... a few other circumstances. More than 50,000 Alaskans voted by mail in the last general election. Proponents of the bill can think of reasonable solutions for Alaska. Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cucinelli, who served in the first to Trump administration, says for new registrations, the state could send an elections official to the roughly 200 Alaska communities that are off the road system and don't have a division of elections office.

If you don't want citizens to have to come to the election officials, then election officials need to go to the citizens. The state would need to get moving quickly. The SAVE Act would stiffen voter registration requirements immediately after the president signs it. But it's not clear he'll have that chance. Just 51 senators voted today to start debate. That's far short of the 60 votes it would take to overcome a filibuster. Meanwhile, a federal judge last week rejected a lawsuit that sought to reinstate a management plan that allowed heavier logging in Alaska's Tongass National Forest. The Alaska Beacon reports that Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed the lawsuit filed by Viking Lumber, Alcan Timber, and the Alaska Forest Association on Friday. That leaves an Obama-era management plan in place, although the Trump administration is currently working on a new management plan that would allow for more logging. The Tongass located in Southeast Alaska is the world's largest temperate old growth rainforest. The three groups sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture last year, arguing in part that the Federal Tongass Timber Reform Act of 1990 required the Forest Service to offer enough timber sales to meet market demand. Pacific Legal Foundation, which represented the plaintiffs, said after Friday's ruling that the Forest Service's approach has been devastating to the plaintiffs. The group has 30 days to file in a pew. in the case.

Jubilant Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race fans are expecting a winner to arrive in Kristi Noem tonight. That is very likely to be the team of Jesse Holmes, who left the village checkpoint of White Mountain this morning with a sizable lead over his closest competitor in the final push to the finish. Holmes and his team can't stop dogs are expected to race under the Burled Arch, the Iditarod's finish line, in just a few hours. Alaska Public Media's Ava White is in Kristi Noem just a few feet away from the Burled Arch and joins us now. Hey, Ava. Hi, Wesley. So, Ava, it's not very common to have the same team win back to back, is it? No, it's not. So the last repeat champion we saw was Dallas TV, and that was a decade ago. And Holmes is going to be just the sixth muster to win the 1,000-mile race consecutively since it started over half a century ago. And besides Stevie, the list includes Rick Swenson, Susan Butcher, Doug Swingly, and Lance Mackey. What is Holmes said about his team this year and how their race is gone? Yeah, so Holmes' has been in the lead much of the race, but he's played leapfrog a little bit with some of the other front runners. He was planning to take his mandatory 24 rest in Cripple, but instead took it about 100 miles earlier into Katna. But since then, he's held a pretty steady lead. And when Holmes got to White Mountain, he told I did a run insider that he felt like he had made the right moves up to that point, and he wasn't thinking too much about the competition. I mean, it's just memorable country, memorable people there. You know, I want to make sure I take in, soak in every second of this and see it for what it is. It's not about that finish line. It's not about that victory, that paycheck, that trophy. It's about every mile that I got to spend with this incredible dog team. He also said he's trusting his dogs, which are the real athletes of the race. So it sounds like it's not really expected to be a close finish. How far behind are the other teams? Holmes has a nearly four-hour lead on his closest competitor, veteran Travis Beals of Seward. All measures are required to take an eight-hour rest in White Mountain before that last big push, the 77 miles to Kristi Noem. Veterans Jeff Dieter, Paige Drobney, and Wade Mards were also still on their breaks in White Mountain as Holmes and Beals were pushing for Kristi Noem. And so it should be a nice break between those first and second musher's arriving here, and then pretty close for third or fifth positions. And for a while there, it seemed like Paige Drobney would challenge homes for first. What happened there? Yeah, you're right. So they're also friends and neighbors on the Denali Highway. And Drobney was trailing homes for much of the race, but then she took a six-hour rest in Shaqtulik, where other front runners leapfrogged her. And there was a lot of talk and a lot of hope that Robney might take the lead and become the first woman to win the Idida Rod since Susan Butcher in 1990 when she clinched her fourth win, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. And Holmes actually joked about it while in Ruby that all woman in Alaska were rooting against him. And Robney currently, though, is enforced. All right, David, so take us back to earlier in the race. What have Mushers said about the weather and the trail conditions? They've seen a little bit of everything. I heard that the Fairwell Burn, which is notoriously challenging for its lack of snow, actually had a lot of it this year. Some mushers told me that they didn't even realize they were going through it, but they did run into bison. A rookie Jody Pops Joseph pulled a gun, which misfired, but she eventually got the bison to go away. And the weather has been really cold. I was in McGrath last week, and we had a wind chill of 45 below.

And on top of that, mushrooms were running into overflow on the way into the checkpoint. Coming over the Alaska range that went-poused rookie Jayfusha to scratch a week ago today, and Potts Joseph scratched earlier today between the Caltag and Uniloclete checkpoint, which is about two-thirds of the way into the race. And didn't we hear about a dog dying? What happened there? Yeah, a four-year-old dog in veteran Iditarod mushroom melee porcel's team died outside the village checkpoint at Elam, about 850 miles into the race, according to a statement from the Iditarod early this morning. And then in a separate statement this afternoon, they said that she had scratched from the race in Elam. So the Iditarod says veterinarians will perform a necropsy to try to determine why the dog, whose name was Charlie, died. So that leaves us with 31 mushers, and they're currently spread out on over 250 miles of trail. Well, you know, let's end on a positive note. You know, for those of us who won't be on Front Street tonight in, Kristi Noem, can you describe what the scene's going to be like? Yeah, well, there's always a ruckus as a cheering crowd when the first place scene comes in. And obviously, today's St. Patrick's Day. So imagine hundreds of people partying on a snowy street, but then there's a dog team running down the middle of it to a finish line that's up on a huge pile of snow. kind of looks like a stage. And then the team also gets a police escort down the street, and then Kristi Noem's emergency siren will be blaring for each of those teams that arrive, actually. People fly in from all over, surrounding villages and all over the world to see these mushers come across the world arch. We're expecting Holmes to come in late this evening sometime around 10 p.m., but that's certainly subject to change. Of course, then there's photos, speeches, sponsors to thank, all of that, plus the golden harness presentation of a wreath of roses for the winning musher's most valuable dog, sometimes two dogs. And I'm sure Holmes will give a team and especially yummy snack for running the 1,000 miles. Mushers often toss the nice cut to steak at the finish. All right. Well, that was Alaska Public Media's Ava White. Mere Feet from the famed Burled Arch, the Iditarod's finish line in Kristi Noem. Ava, thanks so much for the update. Thanks, Leslie. We'll have more online about the Iditarod's next champion and the scene in Kristi Noem. When they get there at alaskapublic.org.

Still to common Alaska News nightly, Sitkins go all in on a naming competition for the local science center's new resident octopus. It's been really fantastic seeing the community engagement and people, you know, stopping me on the street. That's ahead. Stay with us. Alaska Public Media is all about community. Wear your community on your sleeve with the purchase of branded clothes and collectibles from our online store. Visit alaskapublic.org slash shop. A bill meant to protect Alaskans from drinking water contaminated with PFAS had its first committee hearing last week. PFS, often called forever chemicals since they don't break down naturally, are toxic and known to cause severe health problems, including cancer. KTOO's Alex Solomon reports. Senate Bill 219 would limit the amount of PFAS allowed in Alaska's drinking water to levels announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2024, which follows the science on health effects. It would also require the state to test public drinking water sources annually, and to provide residents with clean water if they test above those legal limits. This comes two years after the Alaska legislature passed a law ending the use of PFAS in firefighting films, which is the leading source of PFAS in the environment, especially at airports and military bases. PFAS are also found in a variety of products like non-stick cookware, waterproof fabrics, and food packaging. Jenna Calhoun is a staffer for Senator Scott Kawasaki, who introduced the bill. She said at the Senate State Affairs Committee hearing that the bill would expand the responsibilities of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. Well, what it does is it establishes an annual expectation for the DEC to test all public water systems in the state for PFAS. That way, they are continually monitoring our drinking water to ensure that it's safe for Alaskan citizens. Health issues linked to PFAS include several types of cancer, reproductive problems, and immune system issues. DEC has logged PFAS at hundreds of sites around the state, including in Gustavis, Anchorage, and Fairbanks. Calhoun said the cost to provide clean drinking water would be borne by the party responsible for spilling PFAS or the chemical manufacturer. Janet Nilsen has lived in Gustavis for about 30 years. In 2018, the Alaska Department of Transportation alerted residents that PFAS was found in groundwater around the Gustavis Airport, which is located upstream from neighborhoods. Researchers tested her kids' blood as part of a study published in 2022 that traced PFAS contamination at the airport through the drinking water and into residence bodies. Nielsen testified at the hearing that her two kids were exposed to PFAS at school. Without SB219, Alaska is effectively telling its citizens that levels up to 70 parts per trillion in their water are safe and they are not. We know that. And I know now that my family was not so lucky. Even though we didn't live inside the plume, my kids were drinking contaminated, poisoned water at their preschool and at their school at 40 parts per trillion. Right now, Alaska does not have enforceable drinking water standards for PFAS, but recommends action at 70 parts per trillion. Many wells and Gustavis tested at or above that in 2024 the last time testing was done. DOT provides clean drinking water to some properties there.

Those levels 40 to 70 parts per trillion are far higher than EPA standards announced a couple of years ago, which capped levels for some PFAS chemicals at between 4 and 10 parts per trillion, after a slew of studies found serious health impacts even at low concentrations. For reference, one part per trillion is like a single drop of water in 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools. But under the Trump administration, the EPA announced its intent to rescind or delay those new standards. Nielsen said that means the state should take the lead on protecting Alaskans. Several states have enacted laws on PFAS in drinking water. DOT and DEC estimate that enforcement would cost nearly $19 million in the first year, according to the bill's fiscal notes. Pamela Miller is the executive director and senior scientist at Alaska Community Action on Toxics, a nonprofit that advocates for PFAS regulations. She testified at the hearing. People do continue to be exposed to dangerous levels of PFAS, and this failure to act puts people at long-term risk. Miller said she supports the bill, except for the section on using thermal remediation, since some studies have shown the technique doesn't always work. She also said the nonprofit has distributed more than 100 PFAS water test kits to communities across the state. A companion bill, House Bill 235, has been introduced by Representative Carolyn Hall. The bills are written to address public drinking water sources. Nielsen, the parent who raised her kids in Gustavis, says she hopes that will include private wells. In Juneau, I'm Alex Solomon.

The Alaska State Board of Education is establishing an ad hoc committee for Mount Edgecombe High School, a state-run boarding school in Sitka that serves mostly Alaska Native students from rural communities. The temporary committee will look into various aspects of the school, from academics to school climate, and will make recommendations to the board next fall. Its formation was requested by Mount Edgecom's alumni advisory board to address mounting concerns about conditions at the school, though administrators say the situation is improving. KCAW's Catherine Rose reports. Last fall, a group of alumni and a handful of former and current staff raised concerns about conditions at Mount Edgecombe High School. They said a high number of students were being treated for suicidal ideation and due to staffing and budget cuts had less access to mental health services. Enrollment, they said, was dropping precipitously. A group of lawmakers visited the school in February and found the facilities warranted additional scrutiny, with leaks, exposed wires, and a rat living in the gymnasium that students named tiptoes. Superintendent David Langford told the Alaska Board of Education and Early Development that 104 students have left the school as of March. That's about 25% higher than normal. While he said there are a lot of reasons students leave, he attributed the deteriorating facilities to long-time funding cuts. This isn't like a problem this year. This is a problem decades in the making. Funding not coming through, projects not being managed, maintenance not being up kept. And funding being cut, I think six, seven years ago, we had seven maintenance people, and today we have one and a half. They just can't do everything that needs to be done. Langford gave similar remarks in February to the House and Senate Education Committees alongside Education Commissioner Dina Bishop. They highlighted the improvements they've made, like replacing dorm furniture and upgrading bathrooms, and maintenance needs their working to address, including replacing the roof and ventilation system for the boys' dorm in May. Board member Pamela Dupra is a Mount Edgecom alumni. Those photographs were pretty deplorable and saddening to see because that isn't the edge come that I remember. So I'm glad that a lot of those are being addressed. Langford was hired as superintendent last year after already accepting a job overseeing the Chatham School District. The state board approved his appointment and Chatham agreed to him taking on the second job. Then last month, Mount Edgecom's alumni advisory board voted to recommend the state reopen the hiring process, this time with input from the board and other stakeholders. Dupra said the board had received feedback about reopening the position, but it also received positive input on the progress school leaders had made and asked for clarification about the mixed messaging.

We have been receiving emails and the emails ask for recall for the superintendent. And then the second part of that was the committee. And from what I'm hearing is we are getting a lot of input from the community. A lot of things are being addressed. So what are the continued? issues if these things are being addressed that you are facing. Commissioner Bishop said much of the recent feedback about the school has been positive and a lot of the issues that remain are, quote, adult issues. As concerns come in, we go and address them. And I would say a lot of these concerns were more about adults than they were students and what they were receiving. So I do believe that, you know, the... that we're moving forward with sorting out the adult issues and moving forward in the right direction for kids. She said while some advisory board members were interested in reopening the superintendent hire, she believed it would be a critical error. She said Lankford was the right fit, given his background in business and history with the school, and said she didn't include the advisory board in the process because the hire had to happen quickly. And there was a reason why David was selected to be able to bring Mount Edgecom, you know, pairing what had been done on the cultural side, bringing that strength back to the management side and other leadership is a need there. And I did exercise what I can. Folks that know me know when there's time to hire, we do engage a larger group. But this was critical. School needed to be opened. While the state's Board of Education did not signal any plans to reopen hiring for the school's top position, it did move forward with one of the advisory board's recommendations, the formation of an ad hoc committee for the school. The temporary committee will be comprised of students, staff, alumni, and other stakeholders who will spend the next spring and summer gathering information on the school and will return to the Board of Education next fall with its findings and recommendations. The board approved the formation of the committee unanimously. Reporting in Sitka, I'm Catherine Rose. Athletes, coaches, and spectators crowded Main Street in downtown Whitehorse on Saturday for the closing ceremonies of the Arctic Winter Games, also known as the Olympics of the North. From skiing to snowshoeing, to speed skating, hockey, and indoor soccer, to traditional native games, competitors from six circumpolar nations gathered for a week of competition in Canada. The gathering drew about 2,000 participants, and even as the games drew to a close, students made a last-ditch effort to trade pins, jackets, hats, and snowpants to cement their new friends. ships. And Team Alaska had a lot to celebrate. Among the six Arctic nations, it led the Oulu count, metals shaped like curved knives, emblematic of Arctic life. Alaska had 227 Ullus, followed by Team Yukon with 174 and Alberta North with 127. The next games will be in 2029, but no location has been decided yet. They have been held every two years, but the AWG International Committee is transitioning to a three-year cycle, at least through 2032, due to the cost of hosting the game.

The committee president believes this will help to maintain the quality and integrity of the games and most importantly support their long-term sustainability. Octavia. Squeegee, Octo-McOptopants. These are a few of the names Sitkins elected to be included in a bracket voting tournament to name the Sitka Sound Science Center's newest giant Pacific octopus. Now, after weeks of voting, Sitkins have finally chosen her new name. KCAW's Ryan Cotter paid a visit to see how the octopus has been adapting to her new home, as well as find out what name Sitkins settled on. She's adorable. I think you're going to fall in love. It's kind of hard not to. Maya Carter is the curriculum coordinator for the Sitka Sound Science Center. She leads me down the stairs to show me the aquarium's newest resident. Foreshadowing lines the hall on the walkover, from newly purchased octopus plushies on the merchandise table, to a whiteboard attached to a door sharing the clinket word of the day, nah? which is translated by the adorable octopus drawing below it. Oh, look at our go. The red and beige giant Pacific octopus sits on the rocky wall in the oval tank farthest from the aquarium's entrance, elevated from her tank mates. Her suckers stick on the glass to help her balance. Since her arrival at the science center in January, the octopus has grown to 12 times her initial size, yet she is still nowhere near as large as she will eventually become. An adult giant Pacific octopus can have an arm span of at least 15 to 16 feet. For the past few weeks, the Science Center has hosted a voting bracket contest to determine what the octopus will be named. 32 randomly selected names from donors, staff, and programming participants were listed for Sitkins to vote off one by one. For Aquarist Matt Wilson, it was very fulfilling to see how excited Sitkins were during the whole process. It's been really fantastic seeing the community engagement and people, you know, stopping me on the street to be like, what's the bracket this week? What's your pick? What's going on? Everybody always wants to know. And that's been fantastic. The final showdown came on March 4th, when Sitkins were faced with the top two contenders, Clementine versus Matilda. Carter was pleased with the finalist that Sidkins chose, with each name encapsulating a different valued trait of the octopus. Clementine, I think, represents how adorable she truly is, and what a delight it is to be able to see her and interact with her. Matilda, I do think, represents her sassier side or her more stubborn side. Carter says that there was a 50-50 divide amongst staff as to which name they hoped the octopus would get.

As somebody who has worked closely with the octopus since her arrival at the Science Center, Wilson was firmly on Team Matilda, as he felt the name best captured her, quote-unquote, troublemaker personality. Additionally, the name carries a lot of sentimentality to him. That name was pitched by our Aquarium Science Club, and so that was really nice for us, just because I would love to see those students to be able to get a little bit more out of their time here, even though they've spent a lot of time here already. And now, the moment you've been waiting for. Should I do a little drum roll? Let's do it. Clementine. Clementine is her name. With over 100 voters contributing to the final poll, it was a roughly 60 to 40% vote in favor of Clementine. We're very excited that she has a reasonable and cute name, and we're excited to post it on signage and let people who visit the aquarium know that this is. the name that the community chose for this octopus. While Wilson didn't get the outcome he was hoping for, he is glad Sitkins were able to make their voices heard throughout the voting process. Looking ahead to the future, Clementine is going to continue rapidly growing and will be moved to a larger tank. And while she will eventually grow to a point where she will be released back into the wild, Science Center staff are excited to continue welcoming visitors to meet Clementine and to engage more with learning about octopuses. and the qualities that make them so unique. In Sitka, I'm Ryan Kotter.

And that's all for this edition of Alaska News Nightly. If you missed any of tonight's stories, we're online at alaskapublic.org and wherever you get your podcasts. We had reports tonight from Liz Ruskin in Washington, D.C., Ava White in Kristi Noem, Alex Solomon in Juneau, Catherine Rose, and Ryan Cotter in Sitka, and Rhonda McBride in Anchorage. If you want to send us a news tip, question, or comment, email us at news at alaskapublic.org. Our audio engineer is Crystal Hyde. Kirsten Dobroth is our producer, and I'm Wesley Earley. Good night.