Fairview group proposes banning alcohol sales to city’s biggest problem drinkers

Under fire for his remarks on birth control in this Daily News Q&A, Sen. Pete Kelly told colleagues today that his FASD prevention think tank might one day embrace contraception as a prevention tool but is instead focused on free pregnancy tests for now. “We’re hesitant to say, ‘Use birth control as your protection against […]

Q&A: Senator proposes state-funded pregnancy tests in ‘war’ on FASD

Juneau – Senate Finance co-chairman Pete Kelly, who says he is declaring war on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders in Alaska, this week described his plan of attack. Kelly says he will propose that the state: – Flood Alaska bars and restaurants with publicly funded pregnancy tests. The tests would be available for […]

‘I feel blessed and very thankful that I’m here’

Like many teens, Devon Hilts was anxious about moving out on her own and starting college after her high school graduation in Seldovia. What she overcame was less commonplace. Hilts, now 19, carries unpleasant memories of her early childhood — homelessness on the streets of Seattle, abusive men and a birth mother addicted to drugs […]

Inside Legislature’s war declaration on FASD, 2 ideas for fighting epidemic

A resolution that Sen. Pete Kelly has called a kind of war declaration on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders sailed through Alaska state Senate this week. The proposal is heavy on ambition and light on specifics for now. How exactly would the governor wipe out a generations-old epidemic? But look closely at the declaration and its companion, a […]

Driver accused of killing 2, injuring 23 at SXSW was wanted in Alaska

Friday noon update: Rashad Charjuan Owens was impaired by marijuana, not alcohol, when Fairbanks police arrested him on a DUI charge in 2011, Fairbanks District Court records show. Police were investigating a collision reported Oct. 17 at Chena Landings Loop when they arrested Owens. A Comfort Inn employee said Owens was driving a […]

Alaska families try to sever the link between sexual abuse and FASD

In a church-owned classroom circled by 58 acres of frosted spruce and frozen lakes, 10 children sat at a cafeteria table learning what to do if someone sexually abuses them. The kids, most born with a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder that may make them especially vulnerable to Alaska’s many sexual predators, had just watched an […]