More than a decade ago, a DUI charge left Doreen Schenkenberger with two options. She could face months in jail — and be separated from her kids, 6 and 8 at the time — or she could enter the Anchorage Wellness Court. “I was ready, I was ready to do something to change my […]
A Moving Target: WAANT Pursues Bootleg Liquor
Citizens in Bethel are weighing a decision on a proposal for the for the first liquor store in decades. In the shadow of the debate is a powerful and elaborate bootlegging economy across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. In the first of a three-part series on efforts to curb the flow of alcohol KYUK’s Ben Matheson reports […]
The Blind Spot: Quitting Meth Alone, Together
This week we’re exploring the Blind Spot, a look at teens who are abusing substances, but aren’t being caught by the system set up to help them. In this story, KSKA’s Anne Hillman spoke with a couple relying on each other to end their methamphetamine addiction. Two young women sit in an empty classroom, their hands entwined. A […]
The Blind Spot: Harm Reduction at the Transit Center
If you’re a teenager in Anchorage struggling with homelessness, hunger, or addiction there are few places to turn. One of the few organizations in Anchorage helping at-risk teens on their own terms is hidden in plain sight in one of the city’s busiest buildings. The POWER […]
The Blind Spot: A System of Order Over Chaos
This week Alaska Public Media is exploring the Blind Spot – how youth who are part of and outside of the juvenile justice system are getting help for substance abuse. One option is inpatient programs like the Adolescent Residential Center for Help in Eagle River, part of the Volunteers of America in Alaska, which Anne Hillman toured with one […]
The Blind Spot: Spaces Between Statistics
In Anchorage, the number of criminal offenses by minors referred to the Department of Juvenile Justice has dropped by nearly half in the past decade for almost every offense type — except severe drug and alcohol offenses. That number has stayed fairly steady. As a share of the whole, substance abuse cases in Anchorage […]
Different kind of court is a last chance before big trouble
Nick Zywot’s mom stopped talking to him because of his drinking. After a decade of sobriety, police arrested him a few days after Christmas for DUI No. 6. Jesse Powell notched his fourth DUI in September. Tia Smart went to court 10 times for underage drinking before her latest assault charge. That was last […]
‘It never ceases to amaze me what people will do to other people’
From the driver’s seat of his Anchorage police cruiser, Officer Barry Hetlet sees many people out wandering the streets of Fairview and downtown Anchorage in the middle of the night. At all hours, people stand on the street corners of Ingra and linger downtown. During rare quiet moments, between the mayhem of 911 calls, […]
After making millions on liquor store, Kotzebue plans city-owned bar and restaurant
In an ongoing experiment to pay for city services with liquor sales, Kotzebue officials plan to open a city-owned bar and burger restaurant later this year. The restaurant and a city-run liquor store launched in 2010 are expected to generate about 15 percent of the general fund cash needed to operate the Northwest Alaska city in […]