Alaska News Nightly: Monday, March 30, 2026

Summary

Alaska News Nightly: Monday, March 30, 2026 – Episode Summary

Main Theme

This episode offers an in-depth look at the critical issues facing Alaska, from controversial state policy debates (gas line tax breaks, Anchorage homelessness policies) and federal subsistence management conflicts, to community activism, crime stories, and an unusual wildlife visitor. The reporting paints a rich portrait of statewide concerns, ongoing legislative tension, and the human stakes present in Alaska’s news.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Controversy Over Proposed Gas Line Tax Breaks

• Segment starts: 03:02
• Mayors from the five boroughs most impacted by the proposed Alaska gas line project express unified concerns over Governor Mike Dunleavy’s bill, which would cut state and local taxes on the project by approximately 90%.
• Key Issues:
  • Mayors worry tax exemptions will leave communities covering increased costs (schools, infrastructure) without sufficient revenue.
  • Mayor Peter Machicki (Kenai Peninsula) voices particular alarm at the potential for local taxpayers to “subsidize” the pipeline, stating, “Below zero is not better than nothing.” (03:39)
  • Fairbanks Borough Mayor Greyer Hopkins notes the pipeline’s route brings costs but little benefit, and suggests more discussion is needed about a Fairbanks “spur line.”
  • Mayors criticize what they see as a rushed negotiation process but signal willingness to find common ground.

2. Anchorage Homelessness and City Policy Impacts

• Segment starts: 05:23
• Outreach workers and the Anchorage Mayor’s office debate the fallout of policies targeting unauthorized camps.
• Clearing entrenched homeless camps and new anti-camping laws have forced people into more perilous situations, with many homeless individuals now walking through the night to stay warm.
• Notable Quotes:
  • Duke Russell (homeless meal volunteer): “We break down that barrier between the haves and the have nots, and we’re just humans.” (05:47)
  • Jessica Parks (Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness): “So many people who are just walking all night long to stay warm and to stay upright and stay alive…” (09:01)
• The mayor’s office frames the discomfort as a strategy to encourage shelter use, but also admits limitations due to resource constraints.
• Policy Tensions: Advocates point to insufficient shelter availability and ‘brutal’ conditions, while city officials emphasize balancing public space access with outreach:
  • “We have to have this combination of a lot of engagement, trust building... and we also do have to enforce the rules and the laws that our communities agreed upon.” – Thea Agnew Benben, Mayor's Office (08:03)

3. Campaign Finance Complaint Against Mary Peltola

• Segment starts: 01:14
• The National Republican Senatorial Committee alleges House candidate Mary Peltola misused campaign funds after her 2024 loss before announcing a 2026 Senate run.
• The complaint centers on whether a candidate can spend raised funds prior to making a campaign public.
• Mary Peltola’s campaign dismisses the complaint as unfounded and a political distraction.

4. Anchorage Police Shooting and Fire

• Segment starts: 10:59
• Early Saturday, a shootout with Anchorage police resulted in a residential fire and the suspect's death.
• Details include police being shot at, return fire, a house fire (believed started by the suspect), and an ongoing investigation.
• “At this point, Case says the cause of the suspect’s death is unknown.” (11:40)

5. Federal Subsistence Management Debate

• Segment starts: 12:33
• Over 1700 Alaskans submit comments as the U.S. Department of Interior reviews changes to federal subsistence management.
• The powerful Safari Club International wants to repeal tribal representation on the federal subsistence board and return to state-heavy management.
• Tensions:
  • Tribal leaders argue for lived experience and fair representation; existing policy changes took over three years to implement.
  • “It’s a revolving door of these regional administrators that come through our state... making management decisions not really knowing being on the land.” – Gayla Hossit (13:39)
  • Safari Club’s John Sturgeon contends state biologists’ expertise has been ignored and calls for more federal “deference” to state advice, but not outright state control.

6. Protest Against Federal Policies and the ‘No Kings’ Movement

• Segment starts: 16:35
• Over 1,000 people gather in Anchorage’s Town Square for a major protest against President Trump’s administration and federal immigration policies.
• Diverse speakers address civil liberties, war, and the fear felt by immigrants and Indigenous communities.
• Memorable Quotes:
  • “They’re targeting the weakest, the most vulnerable... The poor, the alien.” – Joel Potter (17:17)
  • Ruthann Zent expresses determination to remain persistent: “This is my third, no kings and I will be at the fourth and the fifth and the seventh and the 23rd and 107th if that’s what it takes.” (18:09)
• Protesters arrange themselves for an aerial message: “ICE OUT statewide.”

7. Invasive Possum Makes Its Way to Juneau

• Segment starts: 19:15
• A possum, later named “Chester,” is found in Juneau, sparking amusement and concern as the species is not native to Alaska and potentially invasive.
• The possum is captured and transported to the Alaska Zoo for relocation.
• Reference is made to another possum, “Grubby,” who made headlines for her escape and capture in Homer in 2023.

8. University of Alaska Fairbanks Students Tackle Cold Case

• Segment starts: 21:26
• New criminal justice class partners with Fairbanks Police Department to examine the city’s oldest cold case homicide, dating to the 1980s.
• Former FBI agent Derek Stone leads the class; students review extensive documentation and write essays on likely suspects.
• “All they need is... one piece of information to push this case over, and that’s what they’re hoping we’ll find this semester.” – Derek Stone (22:43)
• The course is likely to expand or become an internship, depending on outcomes and interest.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker & Quote | |-----------|-------------------| | 03:39 | Mayor Peter Machicki: “Below zero is not better than nothing.” | | 05:47 | Duke Russell: “We break down that barrier between the haves and the have nots, and we’re just humans.” | | 09:01 | Jessica Parks: “So many people who are just walking all night long to stay warm and to stay upright and stay alive...” | | 08:03 | Thea Agnew Benben: “We have to have this combination of a lot of engagement, trust building... and we also do have to enforce the rules and the laws that our communities agreed upon.” | | 13:39 | Gayla Hossit: “It’s a revolving door of these regional administrators that come through our state... making management decisions not really knowing being on the land.”| | 15:29 | John Sturgeon: “The word deference means consideration. It’s not mandate.” | | 17:17 | Joel Potter: “They’re targeting the weakest, the most vulnerable... The poor, the alien.” | | 18:09 | Ruthann Zent: “…I will be at the fourth and the fifth and the seventh and the 23rd and 107th if that’s what it takes.” | | 22:43 | Derek Stone: “All they need is... one piece of information to push this case over, and that’s what they’re hoping we’ll find this semester.” | | 25:05 | Graham Jones: “I would liken it to reading a 2,500 page novel, basically.” |

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Timestamps: Segment Index

• Gas Line Tax Breaks & Borough Concerns: 03:02 – 05:23
• Anchorage Homelessness Policy Debate: 05:23 – 10:13
• Mary Peltola Campaign Finance Complaint: 01:14 – 03:02
• Police Shooting and Residential Fire: 10:59 – 12:09
• Federal Subsistence Management Debate: 12:33 – 16:35
• Community Protest (‘No Kings’/ICE Out): 16:35 – 19:15
• Escaped Possum in Juneau: 19:15 – 21:26
• UAF Students Investigate Cold Case: 21:26 – 26:38

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Episode Takeaways

• Alaska’s resource politics remain fraught: Even projects intended to fuel the state’s economic future come with concerns about fair treatment for localities and uncertainty for both municipalities and taxpayers.
• Homelessness and public policy: Anchorage’s efforts to clear camps and criminalize outdoor sleeping have made survival more difficult for unhoused people, while city leaders balance these hardships against the needs and demands of property owners and the limits of available resources.
• Subsistence management is a flashpoint: Federal, state, and tribal priorities continue to collide over who governs Alaska’s land and resources and whose voices matter in subsistence decisions.
• Community activism remains vibrant: Alaskans are actively protesting federal actions on both war and immigration, emphasizing solidarity and vigilance.
• Unexpected stories matter: From possums stowing away in shipping containers to students helping law enforcement solve historic crimes, Alaska’s news is never dull and always deeply connected to its people and landscape.

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This episode provides a vivid cross-section of Alaskan life and politics, illustrating both the challenges facing the state and the passion of its people to create positive change—even when the issues are as diverse as tax law, homelessness, subsistence rights, and wayward marsupials.

Transcript

[Alaska Public Media Announcer]

The PFD application is open. Just a small amount of your PFD will help share local news and stories about Alaskans with Alaskans across this great state. When you choose Alaska Public Media through Pick Click Give.

[Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Machicki]

We're not looking at getting rich off of this line. We're looking at getting what's fair.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Mayors of boroughs near the proposed Alaska gas line say they're not on board

[Wesley Early]

with the governor's tax break bill from Alaska.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Welcome back to Public Media. This is statewide news on Alaska News

[Wesley Early]

nightly for Monday, March 30th.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Good evening.

[Wesley Early]

I'm Wesley Early.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Also tonight, some homeless outreach workers say recent Anchorage policies are making life much

[Wesley Early]

harder for those who sleep outdoors.

[Jessica Parks]

So many people who are just walking all night long to stay warm and to stay upright and stay alive.

[Wesley Early]

Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly.

[Alaska Public Media Announcer]

The PFD application is open. Just a small amount of your PFD will help share local news and stories about Alaskans with Alaskans across this great state. When you choose Alaska Public Media through

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Pick Click Give the National Republican Senatorial Committee filed a complaint alleging that candidate Mary Paltola spent campaign money as a

[Wesley Early]

slush fund on personal expenses.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

The NRSC is working to defend US Senator Dan Sullivan's seat and is asking

[Wesley Early]

the election commission to investigate Peltola, his Democratic challenger. Alaska Public Media's Liz Ruskin reports the

[Liz Ruskin]

Republican complaint hinges on a legal question that sounds like a philosophical Does a political campaign exist if the public isn't aware of it? At issue is money Paltola raised for a 2026 U.S. house race and spent last year when she wasn't saying what her future plans were. The Republican group alleges Peltola had no visible house campaign in 2025, so she shouldn't have spent her campaign money on speaking engagements, travel and meals, as the NRSC complaint puts it, because there's no indication that Peltola was in fact seeking office during this time. The more than $100,000 in meal and travel expenses paid by her campaign must have been for for her personal use. On paper, though, Peltola was a candidate in 2025. Days after losing her House seat in November 2024, she filed federal forms to campaign in the 26 U.S. house race. She didn't announce her U.S. senate run until January of this year. A representative of the Peltola campaign declined an interview request, but said the complaint is completely unfounded and an effort to distract voters from Sullivan' to deliver for Alaska. Reporting from Washington, I'm Liz Ruskin.

[Wesley Early]

Mayors of the five boroughs that would host elements of the Alaska gas line project say they're not on board with a bill from governor Mike Dunleavy offering tax breaks for the project.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

It had cut state and local taxes on the project by 90% or more,

[Wesley Early]

according to preliminary estimates.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Dunleavy is pitching the bill as necessary

[Wesley Early]

to make the gas line pencil out.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

He argues that without a tax break,

[Wesley Early]

municipalities wouldn't get any revenue from the

[News Anchor or Reporter]

project and because it wouldn't be built. But Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Machicki

[Wesley Early]

told the Senate Resources Committee on Friday

[News Anchor or Reporter]

it's not quite that simple. His borough would see higher costs without enough revenue to cover them.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

We heard earlier that a little of

[Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Machicki]

something is better than nothing. In my case, below zero is not better than nothing.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Machicki says he supports the project, but he says all that activity means more

[Wesley Early]

costs for local taxpayers, more kids in school, more more vehicles on the road and so on.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

And he says he's worried that means local taxpayers will wind up subsidizing the project. All five mayors said they had significant

[Wesley Early]

concerns about the bill.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Fairbanks Borough Mayor Greyer Hopkins says for Fairbanks, tax revenue isn't the primary concern.

[Wesley Early]

The permanent route for the pipeline barely touches the borough boundaries.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

But he says Fairbanks will be a

[Wesley Early]

construction hub and face a lot of the same costs as Kenai.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

And with the pipeline far from the local gas network, he says the project

[Wesley Early]

wouldn't drive down energy costs.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

He says he'd like to see support

[Wesley Early]

for a spur line to Fairbanks.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

So he and the other mayors say

[Wesley Early]

they need time to negotiate with the administration, the Legislature and pipeline developer Glenn Farn.

[Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Machicki]

We're not looking at getting rich off of this line. We're looking at giving what's fair, maintaining our autonomy and our ability to negotiate or get a fair deal and make sure that the project benefits our community, not just financially for many of us, but economically.

[Wesley Early]

Hopkins criticized what he said was a rushed process.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

He says he and the other mayors

[Wesley Early]

started meeting with the administration just this past January, but all five mayor said

[News Anchor or Reporter]

they were willing to negotiate to find

[Wesley Early]

a solution that works for everyone. Additional hearings on the governor's tax proposal are scheduled this week. The cold, snowy winter in Anchorage has been difficult for homeless people, and some outreach workers say new city policies are making life much harder for people who sleep outdoors.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

But as Alaska Public Media's Hannah Fluor reports, city officials say that's part of the strategy.

[Hannah Fluor]

In his kitchen in Spenard, Duke Russell leans into his oven. He's checking a big pan of macaroni with mozzarella so I'm gonna get that

[Duke Russell]

nice and hot and melty.

[Hannah Fluor]

In an hour, he'll bring it to Anchorage's Town Square Park. There, he and other volunteers will serve homeless people a meal and hand out warm clothes.

[Duke Russell]

It's a time where we just. We break down that barrier between the haves and the have nots, and we're just humans.

[Hannah Fluor]

In the past, he went into homeless camps to give out food. But over the last year and a half, the city cleared out all the entrenched camps. Now people are scattered. A new law criminalizing camping in much of the city means people get moved along by the Anchorage Police Department. They wander from place to place.

[Duke Russell]

There's still a lot of people that are sleeping outside, and they're in harm's way. I've seen them. They're super cold.

[John Sturgeon]

They're.

[Duke Russell]

I see people without any socks. Very specific, like bright red skin, frostbite all over the place.

[Hannah Fluor]

Officials say one aim of the policies is to make people uncomfortable enough that they're motivated to move into shelter to take services that break the cycle of homelessness. But some people on the front lines of homeless outreach say the policies have made it excruciating for people to live outside. But services like shelter beds and behavioral health care aren't always available. Thea Agnew Benben is with the mayor's office. She says she wishes there was more shelter space, but that takes money the city doesn't have. And while the new policies have made it harder for people living outside this winter, it's not the end goal, she says. It's part of an ongoing strategy, one that balances everyone's needs.

[Thea Agnew Benben]

This is a community where we have to live next to each other and we share these spaces. So when someone privatizes a public space, which is what it is when they set up a big camp there and then no one can use it, it's no longer a shared space.

[Hannah Fluor]

When police find people sleeping in areas of the city they're not allowed to be, they move them along. But Ben Ben says outreach workers are also constantly making contact with people sleeping outdoors, trying to find them a place to sleep or whatever else they might need. And she says if a person is willing to go indoors, usually there's a bed available somewhere within a couple of days. But sometimes, no matter how tough the conditions are outside, people don't want the chaos or the rules of a shelter. They aren't interested in behavioral health care or addiction treatment. Agnew Bedman says. You can't force people to accept help.

[Thea Agnew Benben]

We have to have this combination of a lot of engagement, trust building, helping each person figure out where they're going to go next. And we also do have to enforce the rules and the laws that our communities agreed upon.

[Hannah Fluor]

Jessica Parks is with the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness. She says she appreciates that the city is willing to go out on a limb and try all sorts of things to address homelessness. But she says these particular policies are negatively impacting people who live outdoors. She says she and her outreach team see a lot of defeat. People are focused on what they need to do just to survive.

[Jessica Parks]

Not even just the day, but the hour. What do I need to do to get through the next hour and then the next hour after that and the

[Wesley Early]

next hour after that?

[Hannah Fluor]

Part of it, park says, is that it's a lot harder for people to sleep in tents now. Those tents draw attention, attract police. Life is warmer in a tent, especially when you cram a dozen people in on the coldest night.

[Jessica Parks]

So many people who are just walking all night long to stay warm and to stay upright and stay alive, and then during the day finding places where they can just sit and nap.

[Hannah Fluor]

Before, camps allowed people to stash things that made life easier propane and bedding, changes of clothes, food and water. Now people have to carry everything. Park says homelessness has always been uncomfortable, but this is different. So why don't people go into shelter? Park says not only are shelter beds in short supply, there are other barriers like behavioral health needs that aren't met by the current health care system. Agnu Bemban says there are options available, like addiction and crisis care. But she says often people aren't ready.

[Thea Agnew Benben]

The things you're describing are brutal. I totally get it. And that is not our goal. We are not done. We are not stopping. We are pushing ahead every single day.

[Hannah Fluor]

She says the city will continue its relentless outreach, trying to connect people with services even as they move them along. In Anchorage, I'm Hannah Fluor.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Still to come on Alaska News Nightly, University of Alaska Fairbanks students try to crack a cold case as part of

[Wesley Early]

a new criminal justice class.

[Derek Stone]

It'll be interesting to see the future of this as long as I'm brand new to the faculty. So as long as I'm here, I'm going to continue to push this.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

That's ahead.

[Wesley Early]

Stay with us.

[Avery Elphelt]

Hi, I'm Avery Elphelt, 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 [e-mail] the Alaska Desk is only possible with the support of grants and listeners like you. Thank you.

[Wesley Early]

A man is dead following a Saturday morning shootout with police officers that involved a south Anchorage residential fire, police officials say.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Around 3:30am Saturday, police say they responded to a report of shots being fired

[Wesley Early]

in the Klatt neighborhood. Officials say when officers arrived, a male suspect began shooting at them from inside a home.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

At a news conference later that morning,

[Wesley Early]

Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case said he

[News Anchor or Reporter]

believes the suspect also fired on a

[Wesley Early]

police drone that was monitoring the situation.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Police say an officer fired several times

[Wesley Early]

toward the suspect about half an hour after they arrived.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Shortly after the officer shot at the suspect, a fire that police believe was

[Wesley Early]

started by the man engulfed the home. Case says the man was found dead in the home after firefighters extinguished the blaze. At this point, Case says the cause of the suspect's death is unknown. Case says the incident was captured on police body cameras. The shooting will be investigated by the state's Office of Special Prosecutions to determine if the use of deadly force was justified.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

The suspect's name will be released after

[Wesley Early]

next of kin are notified, police say. Additionally, the name of the officer who fired on the suspect will be released three days after the incident. That officer has been placed on four days of administrative leave.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

This is the first Anchorage police shooting

[Wesley Early]

this year and the first since May.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Last year, five people were shot by

[Wesley Early]

Anchorage officers, three of whom died. There's no shortage of opinions when it comes to hunting and fishing in Alaska,

[News Anchor or Reporter]

especially in the public comments submitted to the federal government.

[Wesley Early]

As part of its review in subsistence

[News Anchor or Reporter]

management, the U.S. interior Department extended the deadline until today.

[Wesley Early]

As of late this afternoon, more than 1700 comments have been posted online. As KNBA's Rhonda McBride reports, it's a

[News Anchor or Reporter]

debate that continues to strike at the

[Wesley Early]

heart of the Alaskan identity.

[Rhonda McBride]

The letters are emotional, overwhelmingly from rural hunters and fishers worried that the Safari Club International's proposals to the US Interior Department will undo years of work and threaten their ability to live off the land. The powerful sport hunting advocacy group seeks to overturn Biden era policies that added three tribal nominated seats to the federal Subsistence Board. It also wants to remove three other public seats and return the board to its original makeup of five federal agency heads.

[Gayla Hossit]

We're oftentimes repeating ourselves over and over.

[Rhonda McBride]

Tribal leaders like Gayla Hossit says these battles feel like the movie Groundhog Day.

[Gayla Hossit]

We've said this many times on the record that it's a revolving door of these regional administrators that come through our state and that are here for a time and they're making management decisions not really knowing being on the land.

[Rhonda McBride]

As a senior advisor to Interior Secretary Deb Haalam during the Biden administration, Raina Thiel shepherded the process of adding the additional tribal seats.

[Raina Thiel]

It's an incredibly rigorous process, process when done properly, and it's also incredibly time consuming because there's just so many pieces of due diligence that must be done to do it properly. But really for the public, the public has to do a lot of work.

[Rhonda McBride]

Although it took about three and a half years to get those tribal seats in place, Thiel says it was worth the effort. Along the way, tribal leaders, hunters and fishers weighed in from across the state and brought forward many ideas on how to improve subsistence management on federal federal lands. Among those ideas Moving the Office of Federal Subsistence Management out of the Fish and Wildlife Service into the Interior Secretary's office to help federal managers better understand Alaska's subsistence way of life.

[Raina Thiel]

Nobody really lives the way we live in Alaska. It's an incredibly unique system, and so folks just don't have the context or the history with it to really understand it.

[Rhonda McBride]

The Safari club wants the federal subsistence office moved back to the Fish and Wildlife Service. It's also called on federal managers to defer to the state when overseeing wildlife on federal land, which opponents say conflicts with the Alaska National Interest Lands conservation Act, or ANILCA. The 1980 law gives rural Alaskans priority for hunting and fishing on federal lands.

[John Sturgeon]

The word deference means consideration. It's not mandate.

[Rhonda McBride]

John Sturgeon, a longtime Alaska Safari Club policymaker, says the group does not oppose rural priority.

[John Sturgeon]

So bottom line, Fish and Game does not have the authority to promulgate regulations. We're not asking for that. We're saying that they have to listen to the Fish and game, and we don't think they've been doing that over the years.

[Rhonda McBride]

Although Alaska has a dual management system for its state and federal lands, Sturgeon says state biologists provide most of the research that the federal subsistence board has sometimes failed to consider. But opponents of the safari club say the board also weighs real time information that comes directly from people who are on the ground hunting and fishing, information that is just as valuable. They also say it's too soon to roll back the changes, that there hasn't been enough time to See how they're working. But either way, this is just the start of a long process. In anchorage, I'm Rhonda McBride.

[Wesley Early]

Town Square park in Anchorage was densely packed with no Kings demonstrators on Saturday for the third protest of its kind. Independent gubernatorial candidate Meta DeWitt opened the event with a land acknowledgement. A mix of speeches and live music followed.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

More than 1000 sad, angry and fed up people were there to protest President Donald Trump's actions, especially the war in

[Wesley Early]

Iran and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ice.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Joel Potter is an academic who identifies as independent politically. One of his hand painted signs says Christians Against Christian Nationalism. He says the Trump administration is attacking the very pillars of civil society that keep power accountable.

[Joel Potter]

They're targeting the weakest, the most vulnerable. And as a Christian, I'm charged with loving my neighbor and my neighbor being those who are unlike me and those who are in need and vulnerable, the poor, the alien.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

The disenfranchised participants stretched out over four

[Wesley Early]

blocks as they marched to the Delaney park strip.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

There they arranged themselves for an aerial

[Wesley Early]

drone photo into a giant message ICE out statewide. Hundreds more turned out from Kotzebue to Ketchikan.

[Ruthann Zent]

My grandsons are Inupac and they're afraid to travel because ICE has been detaining people that look brown and that often are citizens. The more times we come out, the more people that'll want to, that won't be afraid to join us next time. And so this is my third, no kings and I will be at the fourth and the fifth and the seventh and the 23rd and 107th if that's what it takes.

[Chelsea Tremblay]

Petersburg is not unaffected by what's going on. We have prices going up because of this illegal war and tariffs. We have neighbors who've lost their jobs at the Forest Service. We have neighbors not getting paid right now because of the conflict happening with the Senate and House and what have you. And then we just have people scared.

[Aaron Tilly]

Getting out and waving signs is good, but it's only a very, very first baby step. And this is a good way to connect with the community and give people kind of more of a, you know, a feeling of something's happening. We're feeding people, we're making community engagement happen while we're also protesting.

[Meta DeWitt]

Love, not hate, that's what makes America great. Love, not hate. That's what makes America great.

[Wesley Early]

That was Ruthann Zent in Kotzebue, Kathleen

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Jorgensen in Juneau, Chelsea Tremblay in Petersburg,

[Wesley Early]

Aaron Tilly in Fairbanks, and the no Kings crowd chanting in Wrangell.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

A highly unusual and four legged suspect

[Wesley Early]

was apprehended Thursday in Juneau. Tim Travis works at NC Machinery near the airport. Late Thursday morning, while headed out for

[News Anchor or Reporter]

their lunch break, he and his coworkers

[Wesley Early]

discovered a possum roaming about outside the shop.

[Tim Travis]

I was inside the shop and one of my co workers comes running in and goes, you have the number for animal control? We have a possum. And I said, no way. We don't have possums in Alaska. He's like, well, there's a possum outside.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

And sure enough, he was right.

[Wesley Early]

Possums are not native to Alaska and don't live in the state, but somehow

[News Anchor or Reporter]

this one made its way all the way to Juneau.

[Wesley Early]

They are considered an invasive species.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Travis says that upon detection, the possum

[Wesley Early]

attempted to evade the scene and scurried into a shed where it hid under a pallet.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

He says he and some co workers spent their lunch break working with Juneau

[Wesley Early]

Animal Control to wrangle him into a carrier.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

They delivered him to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game office in Dublin.

[Wesley Early]

Douglas, his co worker, promptly named him Chester.

[Tim Travis]

We had only had Chester here for like maybe 10, 15 minutes, and he's like, I'm gonna name Chester. I'm like, okay, Chester it is.

[Wesley Early]

Stephanie Semeniego is a wildlife biologist and orphan animal coordinator with Fish and Game.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

She says the department arranged to relocate

[Wesley Early]

Chester to the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage. He flew out Friday afternoon.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Samuego says she isn't exactly sure how

[Wesley Early]

Chester arrived in Juneau, but suspects he probably was barged in on accident inside a shipping container.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

She says invasive species can have detrimental

[Wesley Early]

impacts on the native environments they inhabit, so it was crucial to find Chester a new and more appropriate destination.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Chester's arrival mirrors a similar story of

[Wesley Early]

another possum that hitchhiked to Homer in a shipping container from Washington in 2023.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

That female possum named Grubby quickly became a social media icon.

[Wesley Early]

After evading capture and remaining on the

[News Anchor or Reporter]

lam from officials for weeks, she was eventually taken into custody by the Homer Police Department. But not first.

[Wesley Early]

Before biting an officer in the hand.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

College students are stepping into the past to try to crack Fairbanks Police Department's

[Wesley Early]

oldest cold case homicide.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

It's part of a new criminal justice

[Wesley Early]

course at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

And as KUAC's Patrick Gilchrist reports, the class guarantees plenty of reading, but but not necessarily success.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

Three ring binders, overstuffed with witness and suspect interview transcripts, rest on the table inside a small conference room at the Fairbanks Police department. It's an afternoon in mid March, and the spread also includes things more common to a college level seminar, like colorful water bottles and empty coffee cups. But it's the beefy stacks of paper that required students to complete background checks, not the highlighters or half eaten bagel.

[Derek Stone]

I need to go get more binders.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

Derek Stone worked as a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for over two decades, mostly in Fairbanks. He retired last year and now teaches at the University of Alaska Fairbanks as an assistant professor of justice. Seven students fill the chairs around Stone, and he gives tips and pointers on what to keep an eye out for in the documents.

[Derek Stone]

All they need is they're looking for one piece of information to push this case over, and that's what they're hoping

[Patrick Gilchrist]

we'll find this semester. The class is looking into just one of Fairbanks Police Department's 19 cold case homicides.

[W]

These cases just, you know, they don't get the attention that they should have.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

Lieutenant Amy Davis has been at the department for six years. She's assigned to the detectives unit, which handles major crimes. She says before her time with the department there was a detective who solely worked cold cases, but not anymore.

[W]

It's just a resource thing. Like we work on them when we can, but it's not getting like a lot of focus.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

Davis helped bring the class to life. She read an article in the June 2025 issue of Police Chief magazine about Western Michigan University partnering with police agencies so students could work cold cases. Davis then started putting out feelers for information and expertise to figure out how to replicate the program in Fairbanks.

[W]

We're not recreating a wheel or anything, so it came together pretty quickly.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

A department spokesperson declined to say which case was selected for the students, and Stone and Davis also didn't provide identifying details. In December, Chief of Police Ron Dupe told the Fairbanks City Council the department keeps a list of cold cases ranked by solvability. A public records request for that list was denied, but Davis says they picked a case they think is solvable and that detectives believe they know who did it.

[W]

We just need a little like confirmation, maybe a piece of evidence that didn't get tested, or maybe there's new DNA that can, or new methods to test DNA that they didn't have back when this happened.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

Davis says the homicide happened in the 80s and that it's the oldest cold case homicide on the department's books. Crime scene photos and page after page of interview transcripts make up most of what the students have reviewed so far, says Graham Jones, because of this particulars

[Wesley Early]

of this case,

[Graham Jones]

I would liken it to reading a 2,500 page novel, basically.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

Jones is in his fifth year in the University of Alaska system. He's studying music composition and plans to continue into graduate school to hopefully become a music professor. Justice is only his minor, he says.

[Graham Jones]

I might not ever get the chance to really work in a field of justice, and so this is my chance to kind of experience it and experience what it's like before I might move on to different things.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

Jones says he's confident his classmates fresh eyes could help crack the case, though he's not as confident that'll happen before the spring semester ends. But Stone, his professor, says it's not for lack of effort.

[Derek Stone]

The class is scheduled for a certain time period, but most students are here hour to two hours early and they stay an hour two hours late.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

Later, he says each of the students will write an essay at the end of the semester about who they think the most probable subject is. Those will then be turned over to fpd, and Stone says the course likely won't end there.

[Derek Stone]

It'll be interesting to see the future of this as long as I'm brand new to the faculty, so as long as I'm here, I'm going to continue

[Patrick Gilchrist]

to push this, he says. The course could transform to become two semesters long or perhaps even an internship in Fairbanks. I'm Patrick Gilchrist,

[News Anchor or Reporter]

And that's all for

[Wesley Early]

this edition of Alaska News Nightly.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

If you missed any of tonight's stories,

[Wesley Early]

we're [e-mail] and wherever you get your podcasts.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

We had reports tonight from Liz Ruskin in Washington, D.C. eric Stone and Clarice Larson in Juneau, Hannah Flor, Michaela Finnerty,

[Wesley Early]

Rachel Cassandra and Rhonda McBride in Anchorage,

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Patrick Gilchrist and Shelby Herbert in Fairbanks, Desiree Hagan and Kotzebue, Taylor Heckert in

[Wesley Early]

Petersburg and Colette Czarnicki in Wrangell.

[News Anchor or Reporter]

If you want to send us a

[Wesley Early]

news tip, question or comment, email [e-mail]

[News Anchor or Reporter]

Our audio engineer is Crystal Hyde, Kirsten

[Wesley Early]

Dobroff is our producer and I'm Wesley Early. Good night.

[John Sturgeon]

This is statewide news on Alaska Public Media.