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- [00:00]
Siri Representative
Support for Alaska Public Media on Demand comes from Siri, an Alaska Native corporation with operations and investments spanning five continents, 45 states and two US territories.
- [00:19]
Brian Brettschneider
Even old timers have to go way back to remember a time it was this cold in Fairbanks.
- [00:25]
Casey Grove
From Juneau to Fairbanks, the state saw record breaking weather in recent weeks. From Alaska Public Media, this is statewide news on Alaska News nightly for Monday, January 5th. Good evening. I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, hear about one Alaskan's personal story of addiction and recovery.
- [00:42]
De (Addiction Recovery Subject)
I've never had the flu that lasted over 24 hours, but Dopesick just keeps going on and on and on and on.
- [00:48]
Casey Grove
Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly.
- [00:59]
Shelby Herbert
I'm Shelby Herbert, a reporter with the Alaska Desk. That's a joint reporting effort from Alaska Public Media and kuac, where I work in Fairbanks and other public radio stations in Anchorage Haines and the allusions. It allows us to connect to the issues happening in communities all across the state. You can hear our stories during the morning news, Alaska News Nightly or online@alaskapublic.org the Alaska Desk is only possible with the support of grants and listeners like you. Thank you.
- [01:30]
Casey Grove
U.S. senator Lisa Murkowski struck a note of skepticism in her reaction to Saturday's military operation ousting Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. In a social media post, Murkowski said she hopes Maduro's removal makes the world a safer place. But that authorization is important for military actions. She said the Trump administration hasn't given Congress enough information to evaluate the legal basis for it. Murkowski is among a handful of Republicans in Congress who raise questions about the operation. In November, she was one of only two GOP senators who voted to support a measure that would have blocked military action in Venezuela without the approval of Congress. Senator Dan Sullivan's response was more in line with the majority of congressional Republicans. He issued a statement praising President Trump and commending the military for its skill and courage. Sullivan's post did not directly address Trump's pronouncement that the US Would temporarily run Venezuela, but he did reference painful and difficult lessons Learned from the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. That invasion rid a country of its dictator, but enmeshed the United States in an eight year war. Alaska Congressman Nick Begich also praised Saturday's military action in Caracas, calling it a flawless execution of American power and capability and end quote. Alaska had a cold and in some parts of the state very Snowy end to 2025. Last month in southeast Alaska was one for the record books with historic snow and cold, including Juneau with its snowiest ever December and its coldest 30 day stretch in over 40 years. Known for cold as much as Juneau is known for snow. Fairbanks just saw its chilliest 30 day stretch in a half century. National Weather Service climate researcher Brian Brettschneider, back for another Ask a climatologist segment, says the early part of the season in Alaska has been characteristically wintry across the state.
- [03:31]
Brian Brettschneider
Well, everywhere in all of Alaska has been cold. In Southeast, it's really been focused on the central and northern panhandle. So from Juneau northward to Skagway and Haines, the coldest in Deca. And for it to just keep going on and on in Juneau is a once in a generation or two generation event. They had 10 days, the temperature has dropped below zero. That's the most in any December in 70 years. And only one full winter. And forget just December, only one full winter has had more since 1980.
- [04:12]
Casey Grove
So you mentioned the snow. What is the situation with that? I mean we heard about, you know, avalanche warnings, advisories, boats that were sinking in the harbor. I mean, how much snow did Juneau get?
- [04:26]
Brian Brettschneider
So at the airport in the month of December they had 82 inches which shattered the December record by almost 30 inches. In a five day total they had 49 inches. And that shattered their three day record, their four day record, their five day record. But even more snow fell farther north. There were some places in Haines that reported as much as 77 inches of snow in that same five day period. So for the people in Juneau who think it couldn't have been any worse, it actually could have been worse, but it was pretty bad nonetheless.
- [05:04]
Casey Grove
I know some people up in Haines that would say it couldn't have been any better. But let's turn our thoughts to our friends to the north in Fairbanks where just historic cold in a place that's known for cold too, right?
- [05:17]
Brian Brettschneider
Yeah. So you know, really kind of deep cold in the interior is less and less common, you know, than it used to be. So these kind of cold snaps pre1980 were not that uncommon, but they can still happen. And the fact if you look at the most recent seven day period and the most recent 30 day period, those are the coldest in 50 years. Even old timers have to go way back to, to remember a time it was this cold in Fairbanks, 1975 was the last time it was, it was this cold. Over this long period of time there have been colder individual days. But as far as an extended period this is really remarkable. There's a chance that the airport could set a record for most consecutive days with a high temperature below zero. It's already top 10 longest streaks for days where it got to 45 below zero, top six or seven for the consecutive days where the high temperature didn't get above 35 below zero. So again, even for old timers, this would be a, a noteworthy cold snap.
- [06:26]
Casey Grove
Yeah, definitely. And I mean, here in Anchorage, we're, you know, as we're speaking, kind of in the middle of a snowstorm, but it has been a pretty dry, cold winter so far. And how cold has it been here in the big city?
- [06:42]
Brian Brettschneider
Well, Anchorage is a little bit tricky because there were so many wind events in the month of December, and when it is windy, it often stays much warmer, which kind of can seem kind of counterintuitive, but there were times where it was 20 degrees at the airport, and where I live on the east side, there was no wind and it was 10 below zero. So a 30 degree difference. That makes the Anchorage airport temperature comparison a little bit tricky. I think they were about 13 and a half degrees also in the month of December, whereas Merrill Field was like six degrees for the entire month. So that's, that's a big difference in just a few miles. Nevertheless, it was still, for Anchorage International, the coldest December since 2010. And in fact, most parts of the state, south of the mainland, south of the Alaska Range, had their coldest December since 2010. Places like Talkeetna, Anchorage, Homer, and like you mentioned, it was quite dry. I think there was only four inches of snow. And speaking of the wind, a little farther to the north up in Palmer, which was hit by four different windstorms. Turns out this is their windiest month that we have good data for on record any month, not even just December. So each of the big cities in Alaska have had its own different set of challenges, either with cold or snow or wind or something. It's been a highly impactful early start to the winter.
- [08:07]
Casey Grove
That was National Weather Service climate researcher Brian Brettschneider, the climatologist in our Ask a Climatologist segments. Still to come on Alaska News Nightly, a historic first find for birders in Alaska. And ex typhoon ha long might be.
- [08:23]
Susie Ghaulodoff
The cause, but I never would have guessed that we'd have three great egrets in the lake over there on the Mackinac.
- [08:30]
Casey Grove
That's ahead. Stay with us.
- [08:32]
Rachel Cassandra
Hi, I'm Avery Elfelt, a reporter with the Alaska desk. That's a joint reporting effort from Alaska Public Media KHNs where I work in Haines and other public radio stations in Anchorage, Fairbanks and the Aleutians. It allows us to connect you with the issues happening in communities all across the state. You can hear our stories during the morning news on Alaska News Nightly or online@alaskapublic.org the Alaska Desk is only possible with the support of grants and listeners like you. Thank you.
- [09:02]
Casey Grove
The State Bureau of Investigation on Sunday identified two Alaska State trooper recruits who fatally shot a Fairbanks man Thursday after he allegedly charged at one of the officers with a knife. The troopers also wounded a family member, KUAC's Tim Ellis reports.
- [09:18]
Tim Ellis
The investigation bureau identified the officers as Trooper recruit John Fall and trooper recruit Wyatt Miller. Both have been placed on administrative leave as is required by Department of Public Safety policy after an officer involved shooting, according to a dispatch posted Sunday by the agency. Fall has served as a trooper for five and a half months and had years of prior service in law enforcement, the dispatch said. Wyatt had five and a half months of service as a trooper. The shooting occurred after troopers responded to a report at around 11:30 Thursday morning about a man damaging property at a home in Fairbanks. When the troopers arrived, they talked with the Suspect, identified as 24 year old William Rexford, an Alaska native man, and with family members to find out what happened was according to trooper spokesperson Austin McDaniel.
- [10:12]
Austin McDaniel
As we were talking with the family members and Rex were kind of working to determine what happened, we made the determination he was experiencing some mental health issues. He was also making some suicidal statements to troopers as they were all calmly speaking together.
- [10:27]
Tim Ellis
At one point during the conversation, troopers say Rexford abruptly fled the living room as one of the officers tried to stop him.
- [10:35]
Austin McDaniel
Without any warning, Rexford jumped up from the couch he was sitting on, ran into a kitchen, armed himself with a kitchen knife and then charged one of the troopers that was right behind him, McDaniel said.
- [10:47]
Tim Ellis
The troopers sustained a minor cut during the attack.
- [10:51]
Austin McDaniel
Multiple state troopers that were in the residence fire their handguns at Rexford. He was fatally shot as a result of that, and then another adult male that was in the residence was also struck by gunfire.
- [11:06]
Tim Ellis
Troopers then immediately began life saving efforts on both men until paramedics arrived and pronounced the suspect dead on the scene. Troopers say the other wounded man, who's a family member of Rexford's, sustained serious injuries and was taken to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital where he remained hospitalized as of late Friday. Rexford's body was sent to the state medical examiner's office for autopsy, McDaniel said. Major crime investigators with the Alaska Bureau of Investigation were called in to conduct a forensic examination, interview people in the house and collect evidence. Once their investigation is completed, it'll be sent over to the state Office of Special Prosecutions, which will independently review the investigation to determine if any criminal charges should be filed against the troopers. In Delta Junction, I'm Tim Ellis.
- [11:59]
Casey Grove
The city and borough of Juneau issued an avalanche alert via text this afternoon telling residents in the Mount Juneau slide path to be prepared. It's the second avalanche alert issued in the last week as record breaking snow blankets the community and the mountains above it. Ryan o', Shaughnessy, Juneau's emergency programs manager, says the alert is not an evacuation advisory. It's not an evacuation advisory, it's reminding folks to be prepared to evacuate and that conditions can change rapidly. He says the historic four foot snowpack appeared to stabilize over the weekend, but today the avalanche risk rose again due to a change in the weather. With new snowfall today, warming temperatures and high winds in the forecast, avalanche danger is increasing. The alert covers residents in the Barrens and White neighborhoods as well as Thain Road. The road remains open, but drivers are reminded not to stop in the avalanche zone in the event of an avalanche evacuation. O' Shaughnessy says Centennial hall will be the emergency shelter and the American Red Cross has resources staged there now. He also says the Alaska Department of Transportation is prepared to clear evacuation routes. O' Shaughnessy says the avalanches that DOT triggered above Thain Road on Gastineau Ridge last week were not very large and that tells him two things. The snowpack is a bit more stubborn than anticipated and there is still a lot of snow up there. Well, snow has been falling all day in Anchorage and National Weather Service meteorologist Virginia Rucks says the city could see as much as a foot of snow.
- [13:31]
Austin McDaniel
By tomorrow morning because it is a light, fluffy snow that can reduce visibilities if we get just a little bit of wind or from any vehicles on the roads kicking the snow back up into the air.
- [13:46]
Casey Grove
Anchorage and the Matanuska Susitna Borough remain under a winter weather advisory until 7am Wednesday. The weather service warns that the blowing snow could make travel very difficult. Rucks says fluffy snow also allows for faster accumulation. The forecast calls for the snow to slow by tomorrow afternoon but possibly linger into Wednesday. Temperatures are also expected to plummet again on Wednesday with lows near 15 below. Kenny Friendly with Anchorage Public Works says all of the municipality's graders and plows are out clearing the streets.
- [14:16]
Austin McDaniel
Our Crews are out 24 hours a day working and working. So it's just not. It's a nonstop operation.
- [14:22]
Casey Grove
He says. The city's plow plan prioritizes main roads first, followed by neighborhood streets, sidewalks and trails. Friendly says he's optimistic the city's fleet can handle the snow. Meanwhile, the Anchorage school district is working with the municipality and joint base Elmendorf Richardson to monitor road conditions. District spokesman Corey Allen Young says decisions on school closures depend on multiple factors.
- [14:45]
Austin McDaniel
We obviously live in a winter city where we deal with weather, inclement weather all the time. So the goal is just to make sure that roads are safe for families and staff to be able to get to school.
- [14:56]
Casey Grove
The district will Alert families by 5:30am tomorrow if it decides to close schools. More than 300 Alaskans died of overdose in 2024, most of them involving opioids. It's a tragic consequence of the state's opioid crisis, and the struggles of most of those with addiction remain hidden. Alaska Public Media Health reporter Rachel Cassandra talked to one man whose experience with addiction and recovery mirrors that of so many others in the state.
- [15:36]
De (Addiction Recovery Subject)
Come on, chickens.
- [15:38]
Shelby Herbert
There you go.
- [15:39]
De (Addiction Recovery Subject)
There's corn in this one.
- [15:40]
Rachel Cassandra
Dee is on his land in Nanel on the Kenai Peninsula.
- [15:45]
Tim Ellis
We're here feeding the chickens.
- [15:48]
De (Addiction Recovery Subject)
And the horse. The horse.
- [15:51]
Rachel Cassandra
We're just using De's first initial to protect his privacy.
- [15:54]
Austin McDaniel
Okay, ladies.
- [15:56]
Rachel Cassandra
De doesn't take even the simple things like household chores for granted. He's a fisherman, an artist, and he's been in recovery for more than a year. But for more than a decade, De struggled with an active opioid addiction. It all started when he fell off a ladder and got injured.
- [16:12]
De (Addiction Recovery Subject)
Before 2012, I didn't know what dope sick was. I drank beer and smoked pot like the good Lord intended. When I got hurt, I started taking those pills.
- [16:22]
Rachel Cassandra
He says his doctor put him on 80 milligrams of OxyContin a day to manage the pain, a high dose.
- [16:28]
De (Addiction Recovery Subject)
I thought that I wasn't addicted to him until I didn't have him no more.
- [16:33]
Rachel Cassandra
When D's doctor wouldn't prescribe more pain pills, he went through withdrawal. Sometimes called being dope sick.
- [16:39]
De (Addiction Recovery Subject)
It's like having the flu. The worst part of having the flu, you know, but it don't go away. I've never had the flu that lasted over 24 hours. But Dopesick just keeps going on and on and on and on.
- [16:51]
Rachel Cassandra
D isn't alone. His story follows a common pattern in Alaska and the rest of the U.S. the state has now lost about 2,000 Alaskans to drug overdoses in the past decade, many of them from opioids. Like Dee, many became dependent on opioids after they were prescribed them following an injury. Then when their prescriptions ran out, many turned to heroin and more recently, fentanyl. Now, addiction medicine experts say medications like methadone and buprenorphine can treat addiction long term and prevent overdoses before they happen. D says when he couldn't get another opioid prescription from his doctor, he found heroin, and it took over his life.
- [17:32]
De (Addiction Recovery Subject)
Virtually every dime I was making, I was just spending on heroin. But if you're spending that much money on one thing, you can't do nothing else. It's not good for your relationship. Believe that. And my woman put up with it for 10 years.
- [17:49]
Rachel Cassandra
He says the damage to his relationship with his partner eventually pushed him to get treatment. He'd tried an oral medication for opioid use disorder, but he didn't stick with the treatment. But about a year ago, he decided to try buprenorphine injections, which last for a month. That's been a game changer for him because it's reduced his cravings and need for street opioids. Dr. Sarah Spencer is his provider and an addiction medicine specialist working on the Kenai Peninsula. She says buprenorphine is the most widely used medication for opioid use disorder. And she says she's seen it transform the lives of her patients. One of the things people say that they like the most about the medication is that they just wake up feeling normal every day. Like, they don't wake up feeling like.
- [18:33]
Shelby Herbert
They'Re sick and in withdrawal.
- [18:36]
Rachel Cassandra
And she says that means they can spend their time on other things, not just finding and using opioids. Dee says that's been true for him for the year he's been in recovery.
- [18:45]
De (Addiction Recovery Subject)
Yeah, this saved my relationship, definitely. It saved my life, period. Yeah, I still have a relapse now and again, but for the most part, I don't even think about it.
- [18:56]
Rachel Cassandra
Spencer says returning to opioid use like Dee describes is common and doesn't mean the treatment is a failure. She says the medication both reduces cravings for illicit opioids and makes using them less pleasurable. Medication also dramatically reduces people's risk of dying of overdose. Dee says he's grateful that he has survived his disorder so far.
- [19:18]
De (Addiction Recovery Subject)
I can see how you could die really easy. I'm so sick of people dying, it's not even funny. I look at my Facebook and half the people are dead, you know, all from fentanyl I don't want to do that to my kids or my woman. So that's why I'm trying. Yeah, that's why I'm trying to.
- [19:44]
Rachel Cassandra
He says now he's grateful he doesn't have to waste his life trying to find opioids. And he encourages more people who have a problem with opioids to seek out help. In Anchorage, I'm Rachel Cassandra.
- [19:57]
Casey Grove
For the past several years, a team of scientists has been trying to answer a surprising question. Are beavers contributing to climate change? The furry rodents have spread into parts of Alaska once thought too harsh for them to survive. That expansion has researchers concerned about possible unintended consequences. One of those consequences is mostly invisible, except for a brief window in October when Kanom's Ben Townsend went out to see it for himself.
- [20:24]
Siri Representative
We're on our way to Swan Lake, but more specifically a pond adjacent to Swan Lake. And like, what are we doing?
- [20:33]
Keene Richards
Well, we are going to try to get pictures of the ice over the top of the beaver pond, or what used to be a beaver pond in this case.
- [20:43]
Siri Representative
This is Keene Richards, a science teacher at Nome's Anvil City Science Academy. He's helping a team of scientists from the University of Alaska conduct a five year study on beaver ponds.
- [20:53]
Keene Richards
Yeah, as the Earth is warming and the Arctic is warming and shrubs are increasing their spread and density, I guess beavers are expanding because they have more things to eat. So they are relatively new to the gnome area and kind of just have exploded in their populations.
- [21:09]
Siri Representative
Heen's daughter Amelia Richards, is in the backseat. She's somewhat of a beaver researcher herself.
- [21:15]
Keene Richards
I would say my experience is mainly like, observing them and like eating them.
- [21:20]
Siri Representative
Eating them. Okay.
- [21:21]
Keene Richards
They actually taste pretty good.
- [21:22]
Siri Representative
She says having more beavers around can be a good thing. Historically, indigenous populations have used beavers, which can weigh as much as £100, as a food source.
- [21:32]
Keene Richards
Also, a lot of people, like, look at them as like, you know, rodents, which they are. They are large rodents, you know, they are rodents, but like, they're our food source. Same as moose and caribou and bear. Occasionally they're food, you know, they're also like amazing animals that we should, like, you know, respect. I think there's going to be a road off to your left and go just past it kind of to the top of this hill.
- [21:57]
Siri Representative
60 miles up the road from Nome, we pull over and gear up for a chilly half mile hike. Out here on the expansive open tundra, it's a lot colder and windier than town. After crossing the crunchy, ankle breaking tundra. We arrive at the survey site. The pond is freshly frozen with a light dusting of snow on top. Keane gets out a broom and begins sweeping a three foot wide path on the ice stretching out from a twig covered beaver den in the middle of the pond. The bare path reveals hundreds of bubbles trapped inside the ice. The bubbles, researchers say might contain methane that was once trapped in the permafrost below. They believe water from the beaver ponds could be speeding up the release of the harmful gas, which has accounted for about 30% of global warming, according to a United Nations Environment Program report. To try and identify potential hotspots, the researchers have tasked us with capturing detailed drone imagery of the bubble filled ice. Here's where I come in. I'm going to start. I fly the drone in a grid pattern snaking north and south while periodically taking high resolution photos. It doesn't look like much now, but with some light processing, it turns over 50 photos into one giant 3 gigabyte photo. Yeah, with a G. After venturing out to three more sites, we return to the car to steaming hot chai tea and and dreams of cup of noodles back home. After stitching the photos together, isn't that crazy? I can zoom in and I can see me. We send the huge files over to the research team and await their findings. Maybe beavers aren't so bad after all. Reporting in Nome, I'm Ben Townsend.
- [23:42]
Casey Grove
Attention all birders. Great egrets landed in Unalaska for the first time in recorded history in early December. Biologists suspect the remnants of Typhoon Ha long brought them in. KUCB's Sophia Stuart Rossi reports.
- [23:55]
Shelby Herbert
Birders across the Aleutians noted something unusual this winter. Elegant white wading birds showing up in places they've never seen before. Local naturalist Susie Goladoff says last month, nine egrets turned up in Adak, five in Nikolski, and for the first time documented three in Unalaska.
- [24:15]
Susie Ghaulodoff
It's funny when you spend time outside and you're always looking at things and watching the weather and the birds and whatnot. Sometimes I see certain spots and I think, oh, maybe someday something will show up there. But I never would have guessed that we'd have three great egrets in the lake over there on a Mac neck.
- [24:35]
Shelby Herbert
Ghaulodoff says this isn't the first time great egrets have shown up in the central and western Aleutians, but it is the first time so many have appeared at once in the past. It's just been a single bird or two, sometimes alive but mostly dead. So how did so many great egrets get to the Aleutians? Well, Ghaulodoff says the bird biologists that she's talked to suspect October's typhoon Ha Long pushed them across the Pacific Ocean. It's not confirmed, but it's the leading theory.
- [25:05]
Susie Ghaulodoff
They were all, as far as they know, so far, all from Asia, all that subspecies of Asian great egret, which is fabulous to see something like this, but also a little tragic because they're going to have a tough time.
- [25:21]
Shelby Herbert
Gholidov says these wading birds hunt by standing motionless in shallow water waiting to spear fish, frogs, snakes, snails, crabs and other prey with their dagger like bills. And she says Alaska's ponds, which are soon to freeze over, won't offer them much. But finding food isn't the only struggle. They'll have to watch out for eagles, a bird that Unalaska has plenty of. When Unalaska birders got word that great egrets had landed at a Macknack Lake on Dec. 9, Ghalledoff rushed over. By the time she arrived, the eagles were already harassing the visiting birds.
- [25:57]
Susie Ghaulodoff
And just in that quick span of time, the eagles like got them up off the ground, flushed them up and had them spiraling around and all three egrets kind of got separated.
- [26:07]
Shelby Herbert
Ghauledov says she hasn't seen the great egrets since, and it's hard to say where the birds went.
- [26:12]
Susie Ghaulodoff
What you'd guess is that they just got out of town because all the eagles are so concentrated here. So they might have just gone over to Broad Bay or someplace else with some habitat that might provide them food.
- [26:23]
Shelby Herbert
Ghaulodoff says the great egrets found in Nikolski were picked off by eagles. She says these birds are going to need some serious luck to survive in Alaska. For KUCB News, I'm Sophia Stuart Rossi.
- [26:36]
Casey Grove
Last month, great egrets were also spotted in the Pribilofs, Kodiak and Cordova and in southeast Alaska, including Yakutat and Petersburg. And that's all for this edition of Alaska News Nightly. If you missed any, the of tonight's stories were online@alaskapublic.org and wherever you get your podcasts. We had reports tonight from Liz Ruskin in Washington, D.C. tim Ellis in Delta Junction, Alex Solomon in Juneau, Hannah Fluor and Rachel Cassandra in Anchorage, Ben Townsend in Nome and Sophia Stuart Rossi in Unalaska. If you want to send us a news tip, question or comment, email us@newsalaskapublic.org Our audio engineer is Crystal Hyde. Madeline Grose is our producer. And Casey Grove. Good night. This is statewide news on Alaska Public Media.