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Alaska public school students would be required to learn hands-only CPR under a proposal advancing through the state legislature. In a 19-0 vote in mid-February, the Alaska Senate approved Senate Bill 20, which requires the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development to "adopt curricula to instruct public school students on hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation." Conventional CPR involves chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth breathing, whereas hands-only CPR uses compressions...
The Senior Voice has been publishing articles about people 100 or older, the centenarians in our midst. They have provided fascinating stories of early memories of the Great Depression, wartime heroism and homefront support, and homesteader adventures. The Alaska Commission on Aging works with the Governor's Office, Pioneer Homes and Long Term Care Ombudsman to celebrate Alaska's centenarians. Each centenarian receives a letter from the governor and other acknowledgements to coincide with National Centenarian's Day on Sept. 22. If you or...
The Alaska Veterans Museum is throwing itself a birthday bash on April 18 from 1 to 4 p.m. The party will feature live music, food and beverages, and free entry. The museum, at 411 W. Fourth Ave., Suite 201 in the yellow Sunshine Plaza, honors, educates and inspires with stories of military veterans. It also has a focus on Alaska's unique military history. Come hear, see, and touch military history, as well as learn little known facts. Winter hours are Wednesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5...
The Alaska Native Media Group (ANMG) and partner Alaska Teen Media Institute are releasing four one-hour radio/podcast episodes. Listeners can find the podcasts at alaskanativemedia.org/radio-show/. They are also available on PodBean, Apple Podcasts and Spotify. NATIVE Voices features Alaska Native community leaders in conversation about lived experiences and issues that are often misrepresented or left unanswered in public discourse. The first four episodes are hosted by Hannah Bissett (Dena’ina Athabascan) and produced by longtime Alaska r...
The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) Foundation is offering up to four $3,500 scholarships for law students who plan to enroll in a qualifying course in elder or special needs law. The students must be enrolled at law schools accredited by the American Bar Association. The need for skilled elder and special needs law attorneys is growing rapidly amid significant demographic shifts. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 73 million Americans will be 65 or older by 2030, increasing demand for legal services related to long-term...
Recent Anchorage Assembly discussions have highlighted senior transportation pressures, particularly around the municipally supported AnchorRIDES paratransit program, which provides door-to-door transportation for seniors and people with disabilities who are unable to use fixed-route bus service. A lifeline for older adults Riders rely on AnchorRIDES for medical appointments, grocery shopping, senior center meals and other daily needs that support aging in place. Each trip represents a...
Alaska Chinese Association is marking its 50th anniversary with Golden Jubilee Lunar New Year celebration from noon to 4 p.m. Feb. 15 at Dimond High School (2909 W. 88th Ave., Anchorage, AK 99502) will feature performances, food, and family activities. Tickets and information are available here. The community celebration leads into the Year of the Horse, which begins with Lunar New Year on Feb. 17, 2026, marking half a century of Chinese heritage, community building, and cultural fusion in...
Music has a remarkable ability to reach people living with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, often long after other forms of communication become difficult. Melodies, rhythm, and familiar lyrics can spark recognition, ease anxiety, and create moments of joy and connection. Research and lived experience show that music engages multiple areas of the brain, allowing emotional memory to remain accessible even as other abilities change. I know firsthand the transformative power of music....
Editor's Note: National Centenarian's Day is Sept. 22. The day honors those who've celebrated 100 birthdays or more. We're publishing profiles of people who have hit this milestone. The Alaska Commission on Aging is working with the Governor's Office, Pioneer Homes and Long Term Care Ombudsman to celebrate Alaska's centenarians. This interview was made possible thanks to the Alaska Commission on Aging. Every morning before dawn, Susie Ford is up. Coco, her little dog, is waiting. At 5 a.m., she...
This year's Fur Rondy will be different in that there is now an Anchorage Mushing District arch over Fourth Avenue, marking the starting line for the Fur Rendezvous Open World Championship Sled Dog Race and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the state's most famous international event. The landmark was inaugurated in November 2025, and it was the culmination of a multi-year effort by led by Jim Huettl, the president of the nonprofit Anchorage Mushing District. "He was indefatigable," said Rod...
In the past, scammers preferred using gift cards, bank transfers, and payment apps to swindle money from their victims. But scammers have had to adapt as awareness and protections have increased among consumers, law enforcement, and businesses. Their latest tactic involves directing victims to pay at a "crypto ATM," a new and less familiar method. About one in 17 U.S. adults (6%, or 14.2 million people) have been tricked into converting cash into cryptocurrency or know someone who has fallen...
Alaska has one of the highest smoking costs in the nation, according to a report from personal-finance company WalletHub. The company calculated the potential monetary losses—including the lifetime and annual costs of a pack of cigarettes per day, health care expenditures, income losses and other costs—brought on by smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke. Smoking impacts your health and your pocketbook. Tobacco use is responsible for nearly half a million deaths in the United States each year and remains the leading cause of lung cancer, acc...
Many cold-weather cities have a winter carnival, and Anchorage is no different. Fur Rendezvous is Feb. 26-March 8 this year. The festival – informally called Fur Rondy or "Rondy" – is a significant part of the city's history and tradition. In the mid-1930s, Anchorage was a town of about 3,000 people that stretched between Park Strip and Ship Creek. Winters were long and with few of the modern-day entertainments we take for granted. Though it started as a way for trappers and hunters to show off...
Feb. 1-28 National Black History Month. It is observed annually in the United States and Canada in February. It is also called African-American History Month. In 1926, Historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and announced the second week of February to be “Negro History Week” in honor of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, according to Wikipedia. It has evolved since then to occupy a month. Feb. 1 National Dark Chocolate Day. Editorial opinion: The best kind of chocolate. Feb...
Irish traditional musical group Cherish the Ladies performs in Kodiak on Feb. 4, in Fairbanks on Feb. 6, and in Anchorage on Feb. 7. In Kodiak, the performance is at 7 p.m. at the Gerald C. Wilson Auditorium. Tickets available through the Kodiak Arts Council. In Fairbanks, the group will be at Hering Auditorium. In Anchorage, you can see them at the Alaska Performing Arts Center and tickets are available at CenterTix.com … Cyrano's Theatre Company is producing the romantic musical “The Fantasticks,” from Jan. 30-Feb. 22. The performance on Fe...
Alaska House Rep. Will Stapp has introduced HB 255, known as the PFD Senior Raffle Bill, which would establish two new funding mechanisms, the Senior Citizen Grants Endowment Fund and the Senior Citizen Grants Dividend Raffle Fund, to strengthen financial support for organizations serving older Alaskans. If the bill passes, Alaskans could choose to direct a portion of their Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) toward these funds and participate in associated raffles, creating a voluntary and dedicated...
When Eleanor Frisby smiles, the entire dining room at the Palmer Veterans & Pioneers Home seems to brighten. Staff and residents say she has always had that kind of warm, steady and unmistakably strong presence. Frisby, who will celebrate her 100th birthday on Jan. 25, built her life on hard work, family devotion and an unwavering instinct to care for others. It's fitting she now lives where she worked as part of the original trio of staff hired when the home opened in the early 1970s. Even on...
Start the new year off right with a run through the woods. The First Howl is in Palmer on Jan. 1. Runners will have four hours to complete three separate loops on the Crevasse Moraine trail system. There will be a 5-mile, 3-mile, and 1-mile loop. At bib pick up, each runner will spin the wheel to determine the order of their loops. At the halfway point of each loop, runners must find a hidden book and tear out the page that matches their bib number (Barkley style) and return their page to the race director at the completion of that loop. After...
On a cold Thursday morning in the Fairbanks Job Center, a small group of seniors gather to learn more about computers and how to work with them. Their guide is also a senior, also still learning about computers. The seniors are participants in the MASST program. MASST stands for Mature Alaskans Seeking Skills Training. It's a federal program of the Department of Labor, administered by the state of Alaska Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, within the Alaska Department of Labor. The MASST...
Four Chaplains Day will be celebrated at 2 p.m. Feb. 3 at the Alaska Veterans Museum at 411 W. Fourth Ave. in Anchorage in the yellow Sunshine Building. The sinking of the U.S. Army Transport Dorchester on Feb. 3, 1943, was a tragic event during World War II, caused by a German torpedo. Of the 902 men aboard the USAT Dorchester, 672 died, leaving 230 survivors. When the news reached American shores, the nation was stunned by the magnitude of the tragedy and heroic conduct of the four chaplains. As the ship went down, survivors in nearby rafts...
Individuals impacted by the October 2025 West Coast storms have until Feb. 20 to apply for state and FEMA assistance. The State and FEMA IA programs are available for survivors in the declared areas who have experienced damages or emergency expenses from the severe storms, flooding, and remnants of Typhoon Halong that occurred Oct. 8–13, 2025. As of December 13, 1,920 survivors have applied for State IA and 1,558 FEMA IA applications have been received. Ongoing assessments and community assistance visits have indicated that many households in r...
The League of Women Voters Anchorage is organizing a Democracy Fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 10 at the Loussac Library, 3600 Denali Street. The fair is open to all ages and is a free event. The public is welcome, emphasized board vice president Shirley Pittz. “We’re hoping that they come and they keep an open mind, and that they think about democracy more deeply than they do on a normal basis, about what it takes to keep a democracy strong and vibrant.” The League of Women Voters Anchorage celebrated its 75th anniversary in November 2025....
As the Senior Voice January 2026 edition was going to print, Congress was still tied in knots about whether to extend the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits, which were set to expire Dec. 31. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a Republican-backed health care bill in mid-December that does not include an extension of expiring tax credits that help millions of Americans pay for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Four Republican members of Congress sided with Democrats’ petition to try to...
Alaska Behavioral Health has a mental health lunch-and-learn series beginning Jan. 5. It’s Mondays from noon to 1 p.m. through Feb. 23 via Zoom. The free online educational series is open to everyone. Weekly webinars are presented by therapists to explore topics related to mental health. Register to attend any or all of the sessions here. Call 907-762-8668 to email bsalvatore@akbh.orgbsalvatore@akbh.org. The first webinar on Jan. 5 is titled “In with the New, Out with the Old: Evaluate and Modify Automatic Thoughts, Beliefs and Behaviors to...
The Alaska Training Cooperative provides non-academic trainings for people who work in Alaska’s direct service professional and behavioral health workforce and who work with people who are affected by Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias as well as other mental health issues. Training and technical staff collaborate with communities and partners to offer trainings and training assistance to agencies, organizations, businesses, and associations. This enhances workforce development blending evidence-based practices with traditional wis...
