Craig Medred is an independent Alaska journalist with over 35 years of professional experience as a reporter, writer & staff editor. This is his news site.

The ‘Soft American’ grows ever softer With the unUnited States of America having become, collectively, the fattest, unfittest, unhealthiest and, in some ways, unfriendliest nations in the Western ...

Alaska-connected financier accused of swindle A one-time best bud of Alaskan Gabrielle "Ellie" Rubenstein, a member of the Permanent Fund Corporation's board of directors up until last summer, now has ...

Last Great Race By 1983, the Iditarod was building toward its peak on a wave of media coverage, the romanticized vision of the old Alaska of Jack London and the enthusiasm of a new generation of ...

Only in Alaska can reality prove stranger than reality TV, and when the two converge, the outcome is near unbelievable. Consider the case of 78-year-old Duane Ose who off and on for years lived ...

Alaska inattentiveness blamed in billionaire's death The once richest man in the Czech Republic did not die because of a helicopter crash in the Chugach Mountains just north of Alaska's largest city ...

At trial in Anchorage earlier this year, Pugh testified that when he and his Russian-born wife, Oksana, bought the property in 2012 they knew nothing of the road running across it, but one would have ...

Soviet-style economics Prior to the 1990s, wild salmon dominated the world market and Alaska was the biggest producer of fish. And long prior to that, Alaska politicians made a Statehood decision to ...

Iditarod PR badly, badly botched The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, an event that claims to be “all about the dogs,” this week disqualified a musher who was all about the dogs, lied about disqualifying ...

Given the reflective vest, Mr. Glover was wearing, he should have been visible from the rear even if his taillight and the light on his helmet weren’t working. Mrs. Glover said she is still struggling ...

Who fuels Iditarod behavior? The greatest threat facing the survival of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race today is not the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA); the ...

State mismanagement Though Alaska fishery managers have done an admirable job of managing for salmon abundance since the 1980s, they have done a terrible job of managing salmon for economic value. In ...