Nick Hornshuh, 60, began tailing the Nissan on Sixth Avenue, looking for clues in the pre-dawn fog. The sedan drifted lazily between lanes, Hornshuh noted as he followed in an unmarked pickup. No turn signals. The car swerved and jerked, nearly missing an exit. Hornshuh, a volunteer, dialed 911. That call in mid-September marked […]
Inside the crash that killed Citari Townes-Sweatt
Citari Townes-Sweatt, 20, stopped home to change clothes after her shift at Costco. She picked out a cute brown-and-white dress, posted a selfie to Instagram and nibbled the steak her mother had made for her. Another warm, sunlit Saturday night began in Mountain View. Citari bounded down the apartment stairs and a friend drove her […]
‘I was so angry’
Lanita Sweatt-Sanders lost her daughter to a drunk driver on June 30, according to Anchorage police. The death of Citari Townes-Sweatt, 20, began a string of deadly DUI accidents in the city that sent police scrambling for solutions. Lanita last saw her daughter alive here in her Mountain View home. “Nothing prepares you for this. […]
Patrick Dougherty: Time to take another long, hard look at Alaska’s struggle with alcohol
Twenty-five years ago, the Daily News sent a handful of reporters to rural Alaska to investigate the surprisingly high death rates of young Alaska Natives. As they talked to people — from village residents to health officials to law enforcement agents — they quickly saw the outline of what was in fact a statewide epidemic […]
Expert: Health care bills for children with FASD are 9 times higher than other kids
No one knows exactly how many Alaskans have fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. The disability is tough and time-consuming to diagnose, and symptoms may take years to surface. What we do know is that no matter how many children, teens and young adults have FAS, researchers are finding time and again that […]