Paths to Recovery was a project-based partnership between Recover Alaska and the Daily News-Miner in Fairbanks, Alaska. The project looked at Alaska’s history with alcohol, the system of care for alcohol abusers, how that system might be improved and underage drinking and what’s being done about it. […]

FAIRBANKS — Alaska has a problem with alcohol misuse, and residents are increasingly aware of it — a crucial step in addressing the related health, social and economic impacts. While vastly complex, subjective and little studied, public perceptions of alcohol consumption are key to finding a solution to Alaska’s rate of alcohol misuse, which is […]

A small first step has been taken toward opening a sobering center for incapacitated inebriates in Fairbanks. An informal coalition of four entities — the city of Fairbanks, Fairbanks Native Association, Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and Tanana Chiefs Conference — submitted a joint letter of interest to the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority requesting a grant […]

Barack Obama stood inside a 9-by-10-foot prison cell meant to hold three men. It was July 2015, and he had just become the first United States president to visit a federal prison. As he stood in the small cell, he reflected that it was only “by the grace of God” he was standing there as […]

Between the trauma of war and the cold and darkness associated with living in Alaska, Fort Wainwright soldiers have a special predisposition to drink. As members of the military and as Alaska residents, the more than 6,500 soldiers stationed at the far north military post are simultaneously part of two populations with histories of high […]

Taking incapacitated inebriates off the streets and putting them into protective custody might seem like a simple act of compassion, a lifesaver in Alaska’s cold climate enshrined in state law, but it comes with some problems. Among the issues that the state’s behavioral health advocates and public officials are wrestling with in 2016: How do […]

On a cold Friday night earlier this month, Fairbanks Police Department officers pulled up to a South Fairbanks home in response to a report of an assault. A 19-year-old had been heavily drinking and had allegedly attacked a family member. The teen would later record a preliminary breath-alcohol content of .260, which is more […]

The Alaska Legislature in 2012 passed a bill to measure the performance data of every school in the state, allowing administrators and legislators to track the success of programs and interventions at the school level. But at the same time the state is making it easier to track school performance, it also is making […]

Jaalen Phillips, left, and Ransom DuBois, have trouble keeping their balance while walking a line wearing Fatal Vision Simulation Goggles, goggles used to demonstrate alcohol impairment as a prevention technique, during lunch at Lathrop High School on Wednesday, October 28, 2015. Kevin Illingworth was first brought home by police officers when he was 7 years […]