Alaska News Nightly: Wednesday, September 3, 2025

Summary

Alaska News Nightly: Wednesday, September 3, 2025

Podcast: Alaska News Nightly
Host: Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media
Aired: September 4, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode delivers a wide-ranging snapshot of statewide news impacting communities across Alaska. Highlights include legal battles over SNAP aid, the resumption of electric vehicle charging initiatives, the ongoing saga of the aging Tustamina ferry, an oil spill near Kodiak, local advancements in healthcare education and sustainable building materials, and a vibrant recap of the annual Kingikmiyut Dance Festival in Wales.

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Key News Highlights & In-Depth Summaries

SNAP Backlog Lawsuit and Supreme Court Impact

[00:51 - 02:45]

• Alaska’s Department of Law seeks to dismiss parts of a class-action lawsuit regarding missed deadlines in SNAP (food assistance) applications.
• The state points to a recent Supreme Court ruling (stemming from South Carolina) that limits who can enforce federal aid program deadlines—arguing only the federal government, not recipients, has standing.
• Saima Akhtar (plaintiff’s attorney):

  “Unfortunately, for better or for worse, a lot of times agencies function better when there is oversight and when they are being, you know, held to standards and to account for what they are doing.” ([01:33])

• The state argues court proceedings drain resources from efforts to resolve the backlog, which has decreased to roughly 3,000 pending cases as of August.

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Federal Funding Unfreezes for Electric Vehicle Chargers

[02:45 - 04:39]

• Casey Grove introduces the infrastructure story:

  “Federal support for electric vehicle chargers is unfrozen, while some requirements are lower.” ([00:27])

• Trump administration's freeze on the federally-funded EV charger plan was lifted, and installation standards/bureaucracy eased.
• Curtis Thayer (Alaska Energy Authority):

  “The old plan had to have a certain size of chargers, which for Alaska they were oversized for a lot of our communities and they cost a lot…” ([03:45])

• New plan allows smaller, more practical charging units and places them more strategically (9 planned for the Parks Highway, with expanded focus on coastal communities to follow).
• Fairbanks secures an additional $2.5 million for local charging infrastructure.

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The Tustamina Ferry – A Floating Lifeline Nears Retirement

[04:39 - 09:47]

• Theo Greenlee rides the venerable “Tustamina” (nicknamed the Trusty Tusty/McTusty), serving both as essential transport and an impromptu restaurant for remote villages.
• Community impact: In False Pass, the ferry is a coveted, infrequent dining spot (“best restaurant in town,” [05:59]), drawing villagers on board for meals.
• Discussions on service reductions, aging repairs, and the quest for a replacement ferry.
• Captain John Mayer shares on caution and change:

  “I'm far more prudent in the weather I choose to go out in because she is a 61 year old ship. When I first started here, wouldn't be unusual to leave the harbor in 20 foot seas. Now I don't even think about that.” ([06:37])

• Ferry’s replacement plan delayed by issues sourcing American-made components and lack of viable bids.
• Captain John Mayer on shipbuilding challenges:

  “It's been very exasperating. They simply do not make the systems you need for a new ship in this country.” ([08:19])

• New bids to be solicited this fall, with hopes for a new ferry by 2028.

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Crime, Tragedy & Safety Updates

[10:05 - 14:11]

• Casey Grove details recent incidents:
  • In Metlakatla, a woman is charged with homicide following a fatal domestic dispute ([10:05]).
  • Search called off for an Italian tourist who fell into the Mendenhall Glacier; marks third recreational fatality in Juneau this summer ([11:04]).
  • Oil spill near Kodiak after fishing vessel “C Earn” ran aground, releasing up to 3,500 gallons of diesel.
    • Anna Carey (DEC):

      “So the response vessel that's headed out has skimmers on board and absorbent pads so they can deploy a skimmer in boom that collects the oil and skim the oil off the top of the water.” ([13:01])

    • No wildlife impacts reported so far, but the area is being monitored.

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Building Healthcare Capacity in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta

[14:11 - 17:44]

• UAF Bethel campus unveils a state-of-the-art simulation lab for nursing students, allowing rural Alaskans to receive training close to home.
• Rachelle White (professor):

  “My passion to raise up local nurses here to serve at our local hospital. So we are doing our mission.” ([15:59])

• Dan Winkelman (YK Health Corp.):

  “Nursing is so much more than the glue. Done well, it can actually represent the compassion of our shared humanity.” ([16:27])

• Simulation-based learning and facility upgrades expected to strengthen the local healthcare workforce.

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Fungal Insulation: Sustainable Building Innovations

[17:44 - 22:36]

• Alaskan scientists bioengineer building insulation using fungus grown on beetle-killed spruce pulp—an eco-friendly alternative to imported plastic-based insulation.
• Philippe Amsteslawski (materials scientist):

  “The term is biomimicry. Biomimicry, the same behavior we are observing in the forest in this process.” ([20:42]) “So we have one decimal way from EPS, but this material you can put in your garden and it'll decompose.” ([22:12])

• Their product approaches the thermal efficiency (“R value”) of expanded polystyrene, with the major benefit of biodegradability.
• Research ongoing to ensure the material meets Alaskan building and mold-resistance standards.

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Community & Culture: The Kingikmiyut Dance Festival

[22:36 - 25:57]

• Wales hosts the 24th Kingikmiyut Dance Festival—a three-day, round-the-clock celebration featuring traditional drums, dancing, and storytelling.
• Robert Tokiana Jr. (Village president/Drum leader):

  “They call this the Sleepless Festival where you get sometimes no sleep, but in the end it's always fun. It's a lot of fun to be here.” ([23:07]) “You start showing the kids who they are… it might be a shadow, but it's something that the kids could own, that they could know the story.” ([23:27])

• The festival revives and sustains Dancing traditions once suppressed, fostering cultural identity and intergenerational connection.
• Event culminates with all participants drumming and dancing as one community—“Everyone, no matter where they're from, is in the room together, drumming, dancing and singing as one.” ([25:26])

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “I'm far more prudent in the weather I choose to go out in because she is a 61 year old ship.”
  — Captain John Mayer, on the Tustamina ([06:37])

• “My passion to raise up local nurses here to serve at our local hospital. So we are doing our mission.”
  — Rachelle White, UAF Bethel ([15:59])

• “The term is biomimicry. Biomimicry, the same behavior we are observing in the forest in this process.”
  — Philippe Amsteslawski, building scientist ([20:42])

• “They call this the Sleepless Festival where you get sometimes no sleep, but in the end it's always fun.”
  — Robert Tokiana Jr., Wales festival ([23:07])

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Segment Timeline

• [00:51] SNAP lawsuit & federal law impacts
• [02:45] EV charger funding and deployment
• [04:39] Tustamina ferry’s legacy and future
• [10:05] Crime and safety headlines (Metlakatla stabbing, Mendenhall Glacier fatality)
• [12:24] Kodiak Archipelago oil spill
• [14:27] Nursing education grows in Bethel
• [17:44] Fungus-based building insulation research
• [22:36] Kingikmiyut Dance Festival in Wales

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Conclusion

This episode blends hard news, innovation, and cultural continuity, highlighting resilience and connection across Alaska. For both residents and those afar, it demonstrates the unique challenges and rich heritage woven through daily Alaskan life.

Transcript

[Brian Venoit]

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.

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

The old plan had to have a certain size of chargers, which for Alaska, they were oversized.

[Casey Grove]

Federal support for electric vehicle chargers is unfrozen, while some requirements are lower. From Alaska Public Media. This is statewide news on Alaska News nightly for Wednesday, September 3rd. Good evening. I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, she may be a trusty ferry, but the state hopes to replace the Tusta Mina by 2028.

[Captain John Mayer]

I'm far more prudent in the weather I choose to go out in because she is a 61 year old ship.

[Casey Grove]

Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Night. Alaska's Department of Law is asking a judge to throw out much of a class action lawsuit over the state's failure to process food assistance applications on time. Thousands of Alaskans are caught in backlogs that have plagued the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or snap, and other aid programs for years. But the state argues a recent Supreme Court case means they should not be allowed to sue. Attorney Saima Akhtar is part of the legal team suing the state. She says lawsuits like the SNAP case are an important way for citizens to hold their government accountable.

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

Unfortunately, for better or for worse, a lot of times agencies function better when there is oversight and when they are being, you know, held to standards and to account for what they are doing.

[Casey Grove]

In June, the Supreme Court ruled that a South Carolina Planned Parenthood chapter could not sue the state over violations of the federal law outlining the Medicaid program. The justices ruled 6 to 3 that only the federal government could enforce that law. Alaska Department of Law attorneys argue in a filing Tuesday that the decision means hungry Alaskans shouldn't be allowed to enforce deadlines set out in the law that created snap. The state says the ongoing court battle takes time and resources away from the Department of Health's efforts to end the backlog, especially because the department continues to struggle with understaffing. Akhtar says that's no excuse. She says the state's continued failure to clear the backlog means oversight is necessary.

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

I think we all have parts of our job we don't like and we wouldn't choose. And also we all have to do them. I file taxes every year. I don't particularly like the process. It takes me time and I do them.

[Casey Grove]

Department officials report they are making progress on the SNAP backlog, which stood at roughly 3,000 in August, down about a third from the number in June. A plan to bring more high speed electric vehicle charging stations to Alaska is back on track. That's after the Trump administration last month reopened a federal program intended to expand EV infrastructure. The move also loosened some requirements for how and where the charging stations can be installed. State and municipal entities had plans to bring more charging stations to Alaska with federal funds from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program. But progress was stalled back in February when the Trump administration put the program under review and froze funding. Curtis Thayer is the executive director of the Alaska Energy Authority, which oversees the state project to put more charging stations on the highway system. He says the new requirements are easier for Alaska to meet and that might put the project ahead of schedule. Even after the six month holdup.

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

The old plan had to have a certain size of chargers, which for Alaska they were oversized for a lot of our communities and they cost a lot of and also we had to have charging stations within 50 miles of each other.

[Casey Grove]

Demand for electric vehicles is up around the state, but unlike Anchorage and Juneau, EV owners in the interior have limited options to juice up charging stations on the highways. Those that actually work are scarce now that funds are flowing again. The state energy Authority expects about $50 million to close the gaps. It plans to put nine charging stations on the park's highway, which connects Fairbanks to Anchorage, with work to begin next summer. After that, Thayer says they'll take a look at putting stations on other highways and in some coastal communities Juneau, Ketchikan.

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

Sitka, Kodiak, Yakutat, Cordova wherever the ferries happen to go. So we have several years worth of work to do.

[Casey Grove]

Federal funding for a $2.5 million project to install charging stations around Fairbanks has also thawed. The local Metropolitan Planning Authority will reopen its call for site hosts on October 1st. The 61 year old Tustamina is the oldest ferry in the Alaska Marine Highway Systems fleet. The state has been trying to build a replacement for years, but logistical challenges have stood in the way. The Alaska Desk's Theo Greenlee took a ride on the Tustamina recently to see how she's handling the Aleutian chain run.

[Theo Greenlee]

The trusty Tusty, the rusty Tusty, the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry. Tustamina has a few different nicknames, but when she's in False Pass, she doubles as the community's only restaurant. That's why here she also goes by the McTusty.

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

We're going to have dinner. There's no other places to get food.

[Theo Greenlee]

Ellie Hoblet lives in False Pass. It's the first island community past the tip of the Alaska Peninsula. There's no restaurant or coffee shop in the fishing village of about 30 people, so the Tusty sort of doubles as a floating restaurant. Hoblit is one of a handful of locals waiting on the dock to go eat at the Tusty's galley.

[Casey Grove]

Best restaurant in town. There's not a lot. There's no options.

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

Get to have nice good food.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

It's pretty exciting.

[Theo Greenlee]

The Tustamina is more than just a ferry. It's a lifeline for Aleutian communities. But the aging vessel doesn't make it up and down the Aleutian chain as often as she used to. The state has been trying to replace the Tustamina, but that's been postponed and delayed for years. That's led to reduced service and canceled sailings for repairs. The aging ferry also doesn't sail as late into the year anymore. Captain John Mayer says one reason for that is to avoid inclement weather.

[Captain John Mayer]

I'm far more prudent in the weather I choose to go out in because she is a 61 year old ship. When I first started here, wouldn't be unusual to leave the harbor in 20 foot seas. Now I don't even think about that.

[Theo Greenlee]

Before the pandemic, the Tusty made two chain runs a month during the summer. They even handed out pumpkins when they sailed into October.

[Captain John Mayer]

We would pull in the port like say for Sandpoint. The whole town would be on the dock. It was total chaos.

[Theo Greenlee]

Mayer has worked on the Tusty for 25 years, working his way up through the crew to becoming captain in 2015.

[Captain John Mayer]

It's toned down quite a bit from years past and in the early part of my career we would start in mid April and end in the beginning of October. Now our last run is in the middle of September, so I would love to see us do that again. And maybe with the new ship we can because it gets it would be more resistant to heavier weather, but improved.

[Theo Greenlee]

Ferry service won't happen until the state builds the Tusty's replacement. A Tustamina replacement vessel has been in the works for over a decade, but Governor Dunleavey formally announced the project in 2021. The Alaska Department of Transportation solicited for builders the next year, but nobody bid. The ferry systems Marine director Craig Tornga told the Marine Highway Advisory Board at its July meeting that they'd finally be going out to bid this fall. Not a day too soon.

[Captain John Mayer]

Got a tired testament that needs a replacement.

[Theo Greenlee]

Tornga told the board that one of the biggest challenges is a requirement that 70% of the money spent on the project goes to American companies and Captain Mayer agrees.

[Captain John Mayer]

It's been very exasperating. They simply do not make the systems you need for a new ship in this country.

[Theo Greenlee]

But director Tornga says they're getting there despite the fact that the project hasn't gone out to bid yet and despite the fact nobody bid on it the last time. Tornga told the board that they're still trying to get the replacement ferry on the water at the end of 2028, but that date could change once they accept a bid and get a more realistic timeline. Tornga says there's a meeting with potential bidders next month when he'll give another progress. Meanwhile, back on board the current Tustamina, it's 6:30pm and the restaurant is packed. Right when the ferry is supposed to leave. Captain Mayor makes an announcement more like a restaurant manager than a ferry captain.

[Captain John Mayer]

Who'S waiting on the go order. Anybody here to go? Everyone staying on board?

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

Yeah.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

Oh perfect.

[Theo Greenlee]

He says he wants to make sure they don't see set sail for Accutan while folks from the village are still waiting for food from the best restaurant.

[Captain John Mayer]

In town, the McTusty. Yeah, yeah. I was almost thinking of getting a Golden Arches flag to fly, but I think there might be some copyright issues there.

[Theo Greenlee]

Best avoid any potential copyright issues and stick to the Tustamina's most popular nickname, the Trusty Tusty.

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

May I have your attention please.

[Theo Greenlee]

We have arrived at onboard the Tusta Mena. I'm Theo Greenlee.

[Casey Grove]

Still to come on Alaska news nightly, the three day 24th annual Kingikmiyut dance Festival wraps up.

[Robert Tokiana Jr.]

They call this the Sleepless Festival where you get sometimes no sleep.

[Casey Grove]

That's ahead. Stay with us. A Metlakahtla woman was arrested for allegedly stabbing her husband to death early Saturday morning. 33 year old Jay Jordan is charged with one count of criminally negligent homicide. Police say they arrived at a residence in the early morning hours and saw Jordan standing in the driveway with dried blood on her. Her 36 year old husband Kevin Jordan was lying face down in the driveway with stab wounds. Medics took him to the local medical clinic where he was later pronounced dead. The couple's two children were home at the time. Alaska state troopers from Ketchikan assisted the next morning. They say Jordan told them that she and her husband had been drinking and were arguing and pushing each other that night. That's when she stabbed him near the left clavicle with a kitchen paring knife. The public defender's office in Ketchikan is representing Jordan. They did not immediately return a request for comment. A preliminary hearing is set for Friday at the Ketchikan courthouse. An Italian man is missing after falling into a hole in the ice on the Mendenhall Glacier yesterday. Juneau Search and rescue responders have called off the search. Alaska State troopers have not named the man and are working to connect with his family. According to troopers, the man was on the glacier yesterday afternoon with two travel companions. Troopers did not say where on the glacier they were. Troopers say the man initially fell into a stream and was pushed by water into a hole in the ice. People with him said they couldn't see him after that. Juno Mountain Rescue attempted to locate the man but found the hole was filled with rushing water. They decided it would be too dangerous to try to locate him. At least three people have died while recreating in Juneau this summer. On Saturday, an Arizona resident was reported missing and his body was discovered on Monday near the Mendenhall Glacier. He's believed to have died from injuries suffered during a fall. An oil spill from a grounded fishing vessel was reported near a salmon hatchery in the Kodiak Archipelago on Monday morning. As KMXT's Brian Venoit reports, up to 3,500 gallons of diesel have been released.

[Brian Venoit]

Commercial fishing around Izuit Bay and Outer Cotoi Bay near Fognak island to the north of Kodiak is closed until further notice due to a fuel sheen in the area. That's after the 112 foot fishing boat C Earn, which is home ported in Seattle, ran aground in Isuit bay just after 6am on Monday morning. According to a press release from the Alaska Department of Environmental conservation, at least 3,000 gallons of fuel leaked into the waters near the Katoi Bay Hatchery, the largest salmon hatchery in the Kodiak Archipelago. Anna Carey, the department's environmental program manager, says hatchery staff have already deployed protective boom and a response vessel is on its way.

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

So the response vessel that's headed out has skimmers on board and absorbent pads so they can deploy a skimmer in boom that collects the oil and skim the oil off the top of the water.

[Brian Venoit]

A Good Samaritan helped ground the vessel on the nearby sandy beach, according to the department. There's a 12 foot gash in the hull, but it's not at risk of sinking.

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

We'll also focus on protecting sensitive areas like the hatchery and any of the other creeks in the area and watch for wildlife and any impacts there there hasn't been any impacts to wildlife reported.

[Brian Venoit]

According to the release. Several migratory birds and marine mammals like whales have been spotted in the area, though another estimated 12,800 more gallons of fuel are likely still on board. However, the remaining tanks appear to be undamaged, according to the release. There's also about 300 gallons of other oil and lubricants on board. Cary says the department will decide how to approach cleaning up the wrecked ship once the response vessel is on the scene.

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

They'll make a plan and then review that with us in the Coast Guard.

[Brian Venoit]

A spokesperson for the Coast Guard did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Kerry estimated a more robust response plan should be finalized within about a week. In Kodiak, I'm Brian Venoit.

[Casey Grove]

20 years ago, it wasn't possible to become a nurse without leaving the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta. The University of Alaska Fairbanks campus in Bethel has changed that. As KYUK's Samantha Watson reports, a newly updated learning space aims to grow the program's potential.

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

Come on in and I'll give you a little tour.

[Samantha Watson]

The room is set like a miniature hospital ward. Mannequins lie in two cleanly made beds. Empty water pitchers sit on their bedside tables, but it's actually a classroom. Tables and chairs also form a lecture setup beside the hospital scene. It's part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Kuskokwim campuses Chochalid, Namun, Konaknavet, Aladhnachut or Health Sciences Building.

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

You can see in here behind you. This is the simulation lab.

[Samantha Watson]

Rachelle White, an assistant professor of nursing, tours Bethel community members through the elements of the space as part of its grand opening. The mannequins are part of the campus's updated teaching space, also referred to as a skills lab. The mannequins are interactive animatronic patients that nursing and pre nursing students practice care on. White says she's already begun to teach the current cohort of students in the space.

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

Students we were in here yesterday doing blood pressures, practicing on each other, vital signs. And they were exploring with the new Simulation man.

[Samantha Watson]

In its previous iteration, the space housed the ANCEP Acceleration Academy for high school students. Eventually, the program outgrew the space and is now housed at nearby UT Khalidnavit. KUC's nursing program has been active in Bethel since the late 2000s and has been a closer to home option for many on the YK Delta looking to get their nursing certification.

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

We have one student who is from eec, which really makes my heart excited that it's always been my passion. I've been out here 20 years. My passion to raise up local nurses here to serve at our local hospital. So we are doing our mission.

[Samantha Watson]

At the space's grand opening event on Tuesday, Dan Winkelman, CEO of regional healthcare provider the ucon Cuskaquim Health Corporation, described nursing as the glue that holds a patient's healthcare journey together.

[Casey Grove]

Nursing is so much more than the glue. Done well, it can actually represent the compassion of our shared humanity. Because of today's investment by the university and Premier, many others will get to join this wonderful profession.

[Samantha Watson]

In addition to the new simulation tech, the interior of the Bethel Health Sciences building has been renovated. Project manager Jacob Toyrick says it's an investment in the Kuskokwim campus's nursing program.

[Philippe Amsteslawski]

Simulation based learning improves clinical decision making and patient outcomes.

[Casey Grove]

This renovation is more than a building upgrade.

[Philippe Amsteslawski]

It's an investment in our local workforce.

[Casey Grove]

And future of healthcare in rural Alaska.

[Samantha Watson]

The official ribbon cutting was a little tricky. With a giant pair of scissors, I'll whittle it down. Eventually, Haley Hansen, the newly named Kuskokwim campus director, dashed to the rescue with a pair of normal sized scissors. It's a space that's already being used to train local nurses, now part of the modern era of the KUC program. In Bethel, I'm Samantha Watson.

[Casey Grove]

Researchers in Alaska are mimicking natural relationships between trees and fungi in hopes of creating a new material to keep Alaskans warm in the winter. The technique produces a type of organic building insulation. It involves encouraging a common Alaska fungus to pig out on the pulp of spruce trees that have been killed by beetles. And last month the team took apart some test walls they'd put up in Fairbanks to see how their insulation is working. KUAC's Patrick Gilchrist joined the scientists and has this story.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

For about nine years, this particular section of wall has been lined with a wrinkled sand colored board. That board has been helping to insulate the small test cabin tucked behind some trees near the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Fairbanks. But on an August afternoon, lab staff yank off some of the siding and cut out chunks of the insulation with a razor.

[Philippe Amsteslawski]

For science, there is no data on aging on this foamed materials, right? Because nobody has ever done it.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

That's Philippe Amsteslawski. He's a materials scientist and public health professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage, and he's partnering with the National Energy Lab on the project. At Amsteslawski's feet sits a pile of dirt that used to look a Lot like the board in the wall next to him.

[Philippe Amsteslawski]

And this is what it looks like. If you just put it in the ground, you can see bugs crawling through it, and it turns into soil.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

Samples from the older version of the insulation aren't the only ones headed back to the main facility for closer inspection. The researchers are also testing newer versions of the material, which have now sustained their first winter. That's according to Robin Garberslat, a mechanical engineer at the Energy Lab.

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

So last summer, we made a bunch of these large form boards in Fairbanks and installed them in a wall, a test wall.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

And this August, the team disassembled sections of that wall as well, loading the boards into the bed of a truck and bringing them back to the lab. The experimental insulation is created through a process that Amsteslawski has been working on for years. It all starts with an insect, the spruce beetle, which kills spruce by eating tissue the trees rely on to feed themselves. The most recent outbreak of the beetle in Alaska began about a decade ago. Since then, it's affected more than 2 million acres of forest. And that, Garberslat says, has left behind swaths of dry, damaged, discolored spruce, which.

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

Is all over the state, and it kind of stands there dead and catches fire.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

Or the dead trees can meet a different fate. They can be converted to chips, pulped, foamed, and served to a hungry fungus in a controlled environment. The researchers won't say exactly which species for intellectual property reasons, but Amstislavski says it's a variety of shelf fungus which grows in and on the side of trees.

[Philippe Amsteslawski]

The term is biomimicry. Biomimicry, the same behavior we are observing in the forest in this process.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

After the dead tree mixture gets poured into molds, the fungus spreads its root like structure through the woody foam for about five days. The end product is a firm, dried board a couple inches thick, with the dense, white, webby network of fungus running across and through it. The scientists hope these boards can be an alternative to plastic materials shipped into the state, like expanded polystyrene or eps. But before that can happen, they need to figure out whether the fungus spruce combo can compete with its plastic counterpart. For one, it will have to stave off mold. This winter, the research team collected data to help them determine if the test walls were wicking moisture well enough to at least be on par with EPS in that regard, if not, better.

[Philippe Amsteslawski]

In many buildings in Alaska, we have mold problems because the mold loves moisture. And when you have a wall that's warm and humid inside, it's perfect. It's like a gigantic petri dish, amsteslavsky says.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

They're also tracking how well the technology keeps the cold out. That's measured by something called an R value, which rates how well a given material prevents heat from traveling through it. Amstislavski says a common R value for EPS is 4. One of their new boards tested at 3.9.

[Philippe Amsteslawski]

So we have one decimal way from EPS, but this material you can put in your garden and it'll decompose.

[Patrick Gilchrist]

The project isn't over, but Amstislavski says the data look promising. And he says if they can finalize a process that Alaskans can recreate in state on small or commercial scales, it could be a game changer. In Fairbanks, I'm Patrick Gilchrist.

[Casey Grove]

In Wales, the Kingikmyut School was filled with drums, dancing and community for the 24th annual Kingikmyut Dance Festival. Kom's Wali Rana joined the three day celebration and brings us this story.

[Wally Rana]

Wales sits on the westernmost point of the Seward peninsula, just over 50 miles from Russia. With a population just over 150 people, the community is quiet most of the year, but each year the King Agnes School gym is flooded with the beating drums and stomping feet of dance groups from across Alaska.

[Robert Tokiana Jr.]

They call this the Sleepless Festival where you get sometimes no sleep, but in the end it's always fun. It's a lot of fun to be here.

[Wally Rana]

That's Robert Tokiana Jr. President of the native village of Wales and drum leader of Wales own King and Mew dance group. On opening night, over 200 people watched six dance groups perform late into the morning hours.

[Robert Tokiana Jr.]

I feel that is important because you start showing the kids who they are. I mean it might be a shadow, but it's something that the kids could own, that they could know the story.

[Wally Rana]

The festival started in 2000 and has only missed one year during the COVID 19 pandemic. Tokiana says originally the goal was to bring more drumming and singing to the remote community.

[Robert Tokiana Jr.]

That was the motive at first, and then it turned into a gathering where they bring in professionals for the kids to visually see the storytelling and the drumming and singing that combines the two of telling a story and doing a dance.

[Wally Rana]

On night, two of the festival attendees paint vibrant colors on ice fishing hooks as elders sang religious themed music. Gnome resident Mary and Alana Oxerach was originally from Wales. She's in charge of meals for the festival and has done so every year since the first. She says the festival brought back a vital piece of Wales identity.

[Reporter/Field Correspondent]

It's very good for the kids because they long ago, when I was growing up, they cut off the dancing and as I get older, they bring it back to our children. And I don't even know how to dance, but I'm happy that children have it today.

[Wally Rana]

Tango Tanguanok is drumming for the Anchorage Kingakmu dance group this year. Although he lives in Anchorage, Tanguanok says the festival allows him to connect with his family's Kingakmu roots.

[Casey Grove]

It provides an opportunity for all of us to come together in spite of our differences in the way we've managed to eke out an existence, if not.

[Philippe Amsteslawski]

In an urban environment, in the villages.

[Casey Grove]

In the surrounding area of this region, to continue to come together, visit over coffee.

[Philippe Amsteslawski]

Watch and dance, make mistakes on.

[Casey Grove]

Some songs.

[Philippe Amsteslawski]

Sing the same songs.

[Wally Rana]

The festival culminates in a joint performance by all of the group. Drummers line the walls as dancers fill the gym floor. Everyone, no matter where they're from, is in the room together, drumming, dancing and and singing as one. In Wales. I'm Walton Rana.

[Casey Grove]

And that's all for this edition of Alaska News Nightly. We had reports tonight from Eric Stone and Clarice Larson and Juno Shelby Herbert and Patrick Gilchrist in Fairbanks, Theo Greenlee on the ferry Tustamina, Angela Denning in Petersburg, Brian Venoit and Kodiak, Samantha Watson and Bethel and Wally Rana in Wales. Our audio engineer is Chris Hyde. Madeline Rose is our producer. And I'm Casey Grove. Good night.