RUBY — Beneath a bulbous waxing moon, we roll along on a ribbon of packed snow. The clear river ice beneath our tires is four feet thick.

That ice we can’t see is the crystal memory of so many cold days of the winter of 2025-26. The remaining spruce pile of our Tanana friends Charlie Campbell and Ruth Althoff was small enough to be covered by a single tarp.

To get to Tanana, Forest Wagner and I pedaled to Alaska’s largest river via a newish road from Manley Hot Springs.

When I first saw Forest backdropped by that massive expanse of chunky white, my jaw dropped to my chest in a real-life cliché. You forget how big this river is when you haven’t seen it for a while.

Forest and I are pedaling the White Lonely for the next week and a half, two ants crawling over a cold moon. We never get very close to shore.

In our attempt to ride from home to Nome, the section from the village of Tanana to Ruby is the one that kept me up at night in January. People just don’t travel it much. We are dependent on a packed trail, which Hudson Stuck noted was the greatest gift one northern traveler can give another.

While we float at the speed of a canoe, we shove our bikes off the trail to allow passage of a few snowmachiners each day. Between Tanana and Ruby, they all fit the same profile: one man wearing a praying mantis helmet driving a modern black machine with a plastic red jug of gas strapped behind his seat. Only one stopped to chat. Most waved or gave a thumbs-up in passing while surfing the deep snow around us.

“Travelers,” Forest said.

The 120-mile stretch between Tanana and Ruby features a few log cabins separated by many miles of frozen river and a few more structures that were once there when I skied this stretch with Andy Sterns 25 years ago. That’s long enough for floods to wash some away or for leaky roofs to collapse.

While we were in Tanana, our hosts remembered summers past during which they harvested king and chum salmon. Those fish were once so numerous beneath our wheels in their pinky-size fry stage, waiting for the river to break up so they could torpedo to the ocean.

In the largest natural-history change in recent times in Alaska, salmon numbers have nosedived to the point that no one can fish for them anymore. The spruce fish wheels anchored now in deep snow will remain at the Tanana boat landing again this summer. Ruth called it a fish-wheel graveyard.

Being out here reminds this urban Alaskan of what we have all lost with the end of those runs of swimming protein and soil nutrients that seemed infinite. Tanana, once famous for its number of dog teams that ran on dried chum salmon from the river, is down to a limited number of aging veterans whose owners can afford to feed the expensive imported-from-America kibble that my wife and I feed our dogs.

The ghosted-out fish camps we pass on this section of the river tell a story of that huge change, when we pay attention to it. But sometimes we just daydream and stand on the pedals to get off the seat. Every hour, we stop rolling, plant our boots on the trail and eat. When we pause to stop chewing, the hum of utter silence wraps itself around us like a hug.

When my satellite tracker is on, you can see our arrow creeping across the landscape here: https//share.garmin.com/NedRozell.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (ALASKA BEACON) – University of Alaska staff announced a vote to form a union on Wednesday. The union would represent 2,300 permanent staff across the three universities and a dozen community campuses, Corinne Smith with the Alaska Beacon reports.

Staff voted to form the union Coalition of Alaska University Staff for Equity, or CAUSE, which would be part of the national United Auto Workers union, in a 1,106 to 610 vote, with 64% voting yes.

UA staff that would be represented by the union include student services staff, researchers, fiscal and administrative staff, development staff, science communicators, information systems specialists, library workers, athletics coaches and many others, according to a statement announcing the vote.

“Amid growing uncertainty around state and federal funding for the University, staff cited several reasons for forming a union: consistency and competitiveness in pay and benefits; greater transparency in promotion, career development, and retention; fair workload; and more,” the statement said.

“This is an exciting day for staff at UA,” said Mike DeLue, a researcher with the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, in the emailed statement.

“We did our research, discussed and debated, and overwhelmingly chose to unionize. As soon as the result is certified, we’re ready to sit down with the University and work constructively on addressing the issues that motivated us to form a union in the first place. Improving our working conditions will help us serve more students, enhance UA’s research capacity, and support Alaska communities,” he said.

The results of the union vote are expected to be certified on April 8, barring any objections or challenges filed by either of the parties, said Jonathon Taylor, director of UA public affairs, by email on Wednesday.

Taylor also cited financial uncertainty as one of the reasons the university opposed the union effort, which he said was communicated to employees ahead of the vote.

“The university opposed unionization because we believed it would reduce flexibility, slow decision-making, and limit our ability to respond to financial uncertainty,” he said. “That position was operational, not ideological.”

“UA respects the outcome and the right of staff to organize,” he said by email. “We’ll be bargaining in good faith with CAUSE-UAW in accordance with Alaska labor law.”

Taylor noted that existing wages and working conditions will remain in place while the contract is negotiated. He said initial contracts take roughly 400 days to negotiate. He said a 3% salary increase the university requested of the Alaska State Legislature in next year’s budget for all unionized and non-union staff will not apply to the new union members since they are in the process of forming the union and have not yet negotiated a new contract.

“Under Alaska labor law and case law, a contract with a bargaining unit must be in place for negotiated raises to be requested and approved by the legislature,” he said. Taylor said the issue was communicated to staff ahead of the union vote.

“Non-represented staff remain eligible for that increase,” he said.

But Charlie Banks, an organizer for the union effort and an academic advisor with the University of Alaska Anchorage, said Thursday that it is the university’s choice, and the new union members should be eligible.

“We believe that the university has the ability to issue the pay increases to us,” she said in a phone interview.

She said support for salary increases is also a show of support for retaining staff, which she says is a common goal of both the union and the university.

“We agree with university admins concerns about difficulties with recruitment and retention. One of the main reasons for this is that Alaska is not keeping up with its peers in maintaining competitive packages for workers,” she said. “Not surprisingly, our peer institutions that have staff unions have much stronger recruitment tools because their contracts are responsive to their needs.”

The new staff union follows the 2024 unionization of UA graduate workers to form the Alaska Graduate Workers Association within the United Auto Workers Local 1907. The union represents graduate teaching assistants, researchers and fellows. They bargained their first three-year contract within 96 days, which secured higher pay, an updated grievance process and a change from at-will to just-cause employment, according to reporting from the student-run newspaper The Northern Light.

The new staff union joins the national UAW union, which includes approximately 120,000 higher education workers across the country, including staff at the University of Washington and University of California.

This story has been republished with permission from the Alaska Beacon.

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Alaska B4UDIE Comedy Festival

Thursday-Sunday, locations throughout Alaska

The biggest comedy festival in Alaska wraps up its sixth year during the fest’s final weekend. It includes dozens of comedians, from national acts to the best of Alaska’s comedy scene.

The remainder of the fest will feature shows at Koot’s, The Broken Blender, The Whale’s Tail and Bear Tooth Theatrepub. Check the festival’s site for full schedules and ticketing information.

Welcome Home Alaska’s Olympians

5:30-7:30 p.m. Friday; Town Square Park, 544 W. Fifth Ave.

Anchorage and community partners will host this free event to welcome home the city’s 2026 Winter Olympians. Attendees will receive an official event poster to be signed by the Olympians at the event. There will also be food trucks, music and family-friendly activities.

Disney ’80s-’90s Celebration in Concert

7:30 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; Atwood Concert Hall, 621 W. Sixth Ave.

This live stage show features some of the best Disney and Pixar hits from two iconic decades. There will be selections performed from “Toy Story,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Newsies,” “Aladdin,” “Tarzan,” “The Lion King,” “Mulan” and more. Tickets start at $39.

The Beat of Us

6-8 p.m. Saturday; Alaska Native Heritage Center, 8800 Heritage Center Drive

This celebration of World Drummers Day features famed bucket drummer Jared “Choclatt” Crawford and will blend local traditions with global grooves. Tickets to support the event vary in price from $15-$25, but there are a limited number of free Community Beat tickets available.

Emerging Voices

2:30 p.m. Saturday; Discovery Theatre, 621 W. Sixth Ave.

Alaska Dance Theatre, UAA’s Dance Program, West High’s DanceWest and East High’s Dance Contempo unite for this very special show. Tickets are $16, or $13 for 18 and younger.

Sink or Skim Pond Skim Celebration

3 p.m. Saturday; Hilltop Ski Area, 7015 Abbott Road

It’s $20 to enter this pond skim contest with the field limited to the first 60 sign-ups. A costume is required and the theme is party animal. Registration starts at noon and there’s an afterparty with Posterchild.

Bear Grillz

10:30 p.m. Saturday; Williwaw Social, 609 F St.

EDM favorite Bear Grillz hits the stage in Anchorage with local support from Saxafras and Hephay. General admission tickets start at around $34 with VIP options available.

First Friday

Anchorage Museum: Featuring a gallery talk on Iñupiaq and Eastern Siberian cultural belongings; the launch of the “Alaska Literary Field Guide” with speakers Nancy Lord and Marybeth Holleman; and the Planetarium show “The Incredible Sun,“ 625 C St. Free entry from 6-9 p.m.

Stephan Fine Arts: Featuring Kaitlin Vadla, Sierra Armstrong, Kara Oestgaard and Kelly Curtis. Plus live music by Pete Nolfi, 939 W. Fifth Ave., 5:30-10 p.m.

The Kobuk: Featuring Shannon Hartley, 504 W. Fifth Ave., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Turnagain Ceramics: Featuring Christina Barber and Susanna Mishler, 1343 G St., 6-8 p.m.

IGCA: Featuring exhibits by Amy Meissner, Simonetta Mignano and the UAA Camera Club, 427 D St., 5-8 p.m.

Akela Space: Featuring artist Forrest Leo’s “The Venus Project, Vol. 1,″ 320 W. Sixth Ave., 6-9 p.m.

Sevigny Studio: Featuring Richard Rearick with live music by Steve Hendricks, 312 G St., 6-9 p.m.

Turnagain Brewing: Featuring Sara Allen of Laughing Lupine Studios, 7920 King St., 5-8 p.m.

Wildbirch Hotel: Featuring artist Crystal Worl, 410 W. Third Ave., 6-8 p.m.

Cyrano’s Theatre Company: Featuring author Sandy Harper, designer Rick Miller and Cyrano’s Theatre Company resident playwright Dick Reichman to celebrate the launch of Harper’s new memoir, “The Little Theatre That Could and Did,” 3800 DeBarr Road, 5-9 p.m.

Ravens Ring Brewing: Featuring Emily Rose Carman from Alaska Wild Rose Co., 12150 Industry Way, 5-8 p.m.