Glenn Highway

Mendeltna is off the Glenn Highway about 153 miles from Anchorage.  You have to watch for the sign, otherwise you might miss it. No more than a few dozen people live there. But on Memorial Day weekend, all that changes, thanks to the Mendeltna Creek Music festival. For three days, several hundred people gathered at the Mendeltna Creek Lodge, bringing their fiddles, guitars, stand-up basses, banjos and mandos, or mandolins. Nick “the Dream” Weaver came packing his guitar and ukulele, as well as his bongos.  “It really is a heart-felt experience for me,” says Weaver, an Anchorage singer-songwriter.  “I wish life could be like this, just on a regular basis.”  Weaver can be found leading jam sessions at the lodge into the early morning hours, which were a lot more packed this year, due to the chilly weather.

If you decide to take a day trip to the range, here are some things you should know: Birchwood Recreation & Shooting Park 20269 Ike Walton Road Chugiak, AK 99567 (907) 688-2809 Directions: Take the North Birchwood Exit off the Glenn Highway. Go West and we are located right next to the Birchwood Airport. General Membership: Limited Daily Members $15.00 Student (Student ID Required) $10.00 Individual General Membership $95.00 Individual Senior/Active Duty Military General Membership $75.00 Shotguns for clay sports are available on-site.

The MatSu Borough Emergency Operations Center issued this summary earlier today. Check with KTUU.com and Channel 2 News for the latest. At least three structures have fallen in water, two cabins in Willow Creek, and one house Thursday in the Matanuska River. More than half the town of Talkeetna left homes yesterday, according to Talkeetna Fire Chief Ken Farina, after a fight to plug a breached revetment was lost to the Talkeetna River. The river crested at the second highest recorded level reaching 15.65 feet at 5 pm yesterday, according to a NOAA site.

by Channel 2 News staff Monday, July 19, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- An Anchorage teen drowned Saturday night after falling off an embankment while hiking with two friends near Nelchina, which is near Mile 127 of the Glenn Highway. Alaska State Troopers say 18-year-old Keith Reed was hiking when he fell into the Little Oshetna River just before 11 p.m. Troopers say his two friends, 22-year-old Jeremiah Crawford and 20-year-old Tyler Duncan of Wasilla, attempted to rescue Reed by jumping into the river.

Firefighters from Palmer, Sutton and the Mat-Su Valley responded to a blaze at a Sutton home Friday afternoon which spread from a burn barrel, causing no injuries but destroying two outbuildings. Officials at the scene, near Mile 65.5 of the Glenn Highway, say flames apparently escaped from the barrel and spread across a lawn and some logs, subsequently reaching the outbuildings. The blaze was quickly brought under control, and neither the main home nor a second home initially reported to be on fire were ever burned.

A man was killed Saturday evening when he drove his truck off an embankment on the Glenn Highway near Palmer, according to Alaska State Troopers. Benjamin Loyer, 40, was traveling northbound around 5:30 p.m. when he began riding along the guard rail for about 200 yards. He then drove off the highway and his 2004 Chevy truck began rolling down a steep embankment. Loyer was ejected from the vehicle, and was found about 60 yards down the embankment, about 100 yards away from his truck.

A nine-car pileup on the northbound lanes of the New Seward Highway drew Anchorage police and firefighters to the scene Wednesday afternoon. APD dispatchers say the collision was reported at about 12:30 p.m., between the Dimond Boulevard and Dowling Road exits. No major injuries were reported, and tow trucks were en route to the scene to clear the highway Wednesday afternoon. The crash came less than two hours after a series of wrecks on the Glenn Highway inbound near Muldoon Road briefly closed the roadway, with one lane of the Glenn reopening at about noon.

A 40-year-old ATV rider suffered serious head injuries in a crash early Saturday morning near Sutton, according to Alaska State Troopers. In a dispatch, troopers wrote that they received reports of a man found unresponsive on the Glenn Highway around 2:09 a.m. Saturday. According to troopers, Glenn Milowski, of Sutton, was “pinned under a Polaris ATV in the north bound lane,” near Mile 61.5 of the Glenn Hwy and was “was not wearing a helmet [at] the time of the accident.” EMS transported him to the Mat-Su Regional Hospital and troopers say his injuries were non-life threatening as of Saturday evening.

The Food Bank of Alaska will be helping families who struggle to put together a Thanksgiving dinner with their “Thanksgiving Blessing” food handout Monday. At locations across Anchorage, the Food Bank will be providing families with turkey and all the other Thanksgiving trimmings. In all, they're preparing for 7,000 families to show up. " I've been at the Food Bank for 10 years and we've never seen a decrease in need," said Susannah Morgan, Executive Director. The event takes place Monday, Nov. 21 from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the following locations: Crosspoint Church (Dimond and Minnesota in the Burlington Coat Factory mall)

Anchorage police have identified the five teenagers who were all injured in a Birchwood car crash Tuesday morning, one of them critically. APD spokesperson Lt. Dave Parker says driver Jesse Contreras, 18, had four passengers in a Ford sedan: Ciara Akers, 16; Tyler Schaf, 17; Brendan Weaver-Rocha, 18; and Jonathan Parsons, 18. Emergency crews were called to the scene at about 6:10 a.m. after the car, headed south on Aurora Borealis Road near...