Alaska Natives

Every year, Alaska hunters eagerly await not only the hunting season, but also the rules and regulations that apply to the taking of wolves, coyotes and bears. Earlier this week, the National Park Service made its annual proposals focusing on three main changes -- which officials think are necessary to preserve the health of specific animal populations. The Park Service has proposed prohibiting the hunting of wolves and coyotes between May 1 and Aug. 9, as well as the hunting of brown bears at bait stations.

Senator Daniel Inouye, of Hawaii, and longtime friend of the late Sen. Ted Stevens died Monday at the age of 88 after respiratory complications, according to his office . Sen. Inouye, D-HI, was a World War II veteran and served in the Senate since 1962 for nine consecutive terms - the second longest serving Senator in U.S. history. Inouye and Stevens shared a history in the Senate with Inouye even testifying as character witness for Stevens during the corruption probe in 2008 and was one of the many dignitaries who attended Stevens' funeral in 2010.

The top ten in sexually transmitted infections is not a list that any state wants to find itself on, but in Alaska that's the case for gonorrhea and chlamydia. The state issued a report Tuesday that shows an increase in the gonorrhea rate that is alarming state health experts.   In 2009, 1,006 cases of gonorrhea were reported statewide, a jump of almost 70 percent from the year before. That puts Alaska's rate at ninth in the nation When compared to the infection rate in the lower-48, Alaska's numbers loom large.

Alaska Native and rural communities across the state shared a special relationship with former Sen. Ted Stevens. Like many Alaskans, they're still trying to make sense of his loss -- but they say they're grateful for the many opportunities he left behind. It was Stevens’ landmark work on the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act that set up Native corporations across the state. Leaders say it initiated a future of jobs and services, which is a work in progress. Alaska Natives have been crafting artwork for centuries, but it was not until Stevens came along that the work became truly valuable.

Tuesday kicked off Sexually Transmitted Disease Awareness Month. Across Alaska, health professionals are encouraging people to get out and get tested. Last year the number of gonorrhea cases across the state reached epidemic levels. Doctors say if people don't get tested and treated, that number could spike even higher. It's something that's not easy to talk about, but in Alaska, it's a problem that's getting increasingly worse. "When we looked at the data for 2009 we saw that the numbers were really high, and at first I thought it was an error," said Susan Jones, the manager of the state's HIV/STD Program.

Mat-Su Valley The valleys are rimmed by three major mountain ranges: the Alaska Range, the Talkeetna Mountains and the Chugach Mountains. The surrounding mountains include many mountain passes, as well as working and abandoned gold mines. Like many parts of Alaska, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley was carved by glaciers which left many small and large lakes. Both the Matanuska and Susitna Rivers have major salmon spawning streams. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough (the Alaskan equivalent of a county, encompassing more than 24,000 square miles)

The intricate relationship between Alaska Natives and the federal government took center stage at Fairbanks’ Carlson Center during the Alaska Federation of Natives convention Friday. It’s often been a love-hate relationship, as rural communities are heavily dependent on federal money yet feel shackled by federal control, especially over subsistence. The message Friday was that it will take hard work to bring this partnership into balance. Like many of those sitting at booths in AFN’s crafts fair, Nancy Butler, originally from Huslia, takes great pride in paying attention to detail and excellence.

The story of the Fairbanks Four has remained alive for so long in large part thanks to the Alaska Native community in the Fairbanks region, where activists backing the men imprisoned for Jonathon Hartman's 1997 death have created websites, staged protests and held fundraisers. There's a reason they call Fairbanks the Golden Heart City: It's because feelings here run deep. For Alaska Natives, feelings about Kevin Pease, Marvin Roberts, Eugene Vent and George Frese also run deep, but they've taken years to come to the surface.

This is the third in a five-part Channel 2 series on teen prostitution and its toll in Alaska. In this part, reporter Rhonda McBride examines the sex trade's harsh effects on Alaska Native teens in Anchorage. The Anchorage Police Department say one-third of the women it arrests for prostitution are Alaska Natives. Since the average age of entry into the sex trade is 14, Native teens are at high risk for exploitation -- especially those from rural Alaska. “They should just stay in the village -- stay in the village,” said Jessica, a 23-year-old Native woman at Anchorage's Downtown Transit Center.

Innovation in health care is usually exported from the Lower 48, not from rural Alaska, but many states are looking at an Alaska Native dental program. Some say the program is to dentistry today what nurse practitioners were to doctors years ago. Seven dental health aide therapists graduated recently, the third group of Alaska-trained students to finish the program. The very first had to be trained in New Zealand because there was no school in the United States for dental therapy, but a group of Alaska Native tribal health organizations has changed all that.