Health
Study links lack of running water to prevalence of ear infections among rural Alaska children
Bering Strait region children in households without running water are much more likely to get middle-ear infections, a newly published study confirmed. Data from screenings of more than 1,600 schoolchildren in various communities in that part of western Alaska found that lack of running water – a chronic problem in rural Alaska – corresponded to […]
Public can weigh in on how Alaska should use millions of opioid settlement money
The Alaska public has a chance through the end of September to weigh in on how the state should spend its share of a landmark settlement over pharmaceutical companies’ role in the nation’s opioid epidemic. The total amount coming to state and local governments in Alaska is $58.5 million from drug manufacturer Janssen/Johnson & Johnson, […]
Marjorie Taylor Greene leads GOP drive to criminalize gender-affirming care for transgender youth
WASHINGTON — Conservative Republicans gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday to commit to bringing legislation to the floor that would make it a felony to perform gender-affirming care on transgender youth, should the GOP take control of the U.S. House following the November midterm elections. “How on earth can this be happening in America? […]
U.S. senators criticize federal health officials for lagging monkeypox response
WASHINGTON — Congress held its first hearing on monkeypox Wednesday, with lawmakers rebuking federal public health officials for their slow response to the outbreak, even though the hearing came four months after the first U.S. case was diagnosed. “By any measure, in fact by every measure, the response from the Biden administration on the monkeypox […]
First shipment of new COVID-19 booster signals shift in fight against disease
More than two years after the COVID-19 pandemic reached Alaska, the fight against the disease is pivoting from testing to vaccine boosting. Fall is here and winter is coming, and health officials are encouraging Alaskans to view vaccine boosters as part of the normal preparation for the time of year when people spend more time […]
Alaska governor vetoes bill to tax e-cigs and raise minimum age for tobacco
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Friday vetoed a bill that would have raised the minimum age to purchase and legally possess tobacco products from 19 to 21 years old. The bill also included a tax on electronic smoking products that contain nicotine, which is what Dunleavy took issue with. Currently, Alaska has a cigarette tax […]
Use of new 988 suicide and crisis hotline shows Alaskans are willing to seek help, officials say
Alaska in July switched its suicide hotline system to an easy-to-dial 988 hotline, calls have increased by 22% – an indication that more people in crisis are reaching out for help and now know how to do so, state health officials and suicide prevention experts said on Thursday. Increased use of the line is a […]
COVID-19 vaccine may become annual, like flu shot
WASHINGTON — COVID-19 boosters shots are on track to become as frequent as the annual flu shot, though high-risk people may need more than one dose per year, Biden administration officials said Tuesday. “For a large majority of Americans, we are moving to a point where a single annual COVID shot should provide a high […]
CDC endorses updated COVID-19 vaccine boosters for this fall
WASHINGTON — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Thursday signed off on the approval from the agency’s independent vaccine advisers that recommended an updated coronavirus vaccine booster this fall. The CDC recommended boosters from Pfizer-BioNTech for those who are 12 years old and older and from Moderna for those who are 18 and […]
Two people die after just one day in Alaska corrections custody this month
Janet Minock got a knock on her apartment door the morning of Aug. 23. It was two Anchorage Police Department officers telling her that her 35-year-old daughter, Nastashia Minock, was dead. According to Janet Minock, the police officers told her this: Nastashia was found unresponsive at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center around 1:30 a.m. Aug. 23. […]
Former Juneau hospital senior employee arrested Thursday for theft
A former senior level employee at Juneau’s hospital was arrested early Thursday evening for allegedly stealing $108,000 from the medical institution. Bradley Grigg, former chief behavioral health officer at Bartlett Regional Hospital, was indicted in Juneau Superior Court on Thursday on two counts of theft in the first degree. Bartlett Regional Hospital is owned by […]
Alaska’s COVID ‘superstorm’ experience of 2021 offers lessons for future pandemics, study says
Alaska’s experience with the delta wave that emerged in the COVID-19 pandemic is likened to a “superstorm” in a new study that compares pandemic patterns in regions across the Arctic. The study, by a research group at the University of Northern Iowa that is focusing on COVID-19 in the Arctic, was published on Aug. 17 […]