ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) -While a light snow fell, Casey Schuler looked out his office window.

“I see a lot of folks, you know, running out into the street against any of the lights crossing the street there,” Schuler said. “Oftentimes, down the street itself, crossing it, not the crosswalks. But I also see people crossing at the crosswalks and drivers, more or less, kind of ignoring the pedestrian right of way.”

They were hit by people driving under the influence, or while dashing across the street dressed in black, it happened because the lighting wasn’t bright enough and road conditions were slippery. There seem to be constant near misses.

“I mean, on a daily basis, I see it,” Schuler said. “I’ve seen people actually hit.”

In the past 12 months, 15 people in Anchorage were killed in pedestrian versus vehicle collisions according to the Anchorage Police Department.

In 2023, there were six.

Across the United States, according to data compiled by the Washington Post, there’s been a surge of pedestrian deaths in the Lower 48 — from 4,302 in 2010 to 7,314 deaths in 2023.

Revealed in its “Deadliest Roads in America” report, in Albuquerque, 34 pedestrians were killed along a three-mile stretch of Central Avenue between 2010 and 2023. In Los Angeles, 33 people were killed on Western Avenue just south of downtown during that time.

Alaska state data shows 19 percent of all fatalities on Alaska’s roadways happened when someone was walking or biking. Additionally, there are Alaska-specific problems such as snowy roads, dark clothing, and drugs and alcohol.

“We continue to see a trend with drugs alcohol or a combination thereof for both pedestrians and drivers,” Chief Sean Case with APD said.

Anchorage also follows national trends of people being hit by vehicles on multi-lane roads, by impaired drivers or pedestrians and people taking risks to cross outside of the crosswalk.

Case said city roads were designed to get any driver to their destination within 15 minutes and oftentimes, drivers are going faster than the posted limit.

From where he sits, Schuler says he often thinks about the driver going down the road, not looking for any problems, who then hits and kills someone.

“I actually think of the person that is riding along, you know going about their day, not looking to cause any issues, and then, you know, a pedestrian walks out in front of them. You hit them, you know, potentially kill that person and you have to live with that the rest of your life.”

Copyright 2025 KTUU. All rights reserved.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – An ice storm warning in effect for the Yukon Kuskokwim delta could impact travel, schools and power, as well as recovery efforts after Typhoon Halong.

An ice storm of this size is not unusual for the region, but with three quarters of an inch of ice expected, certain preparation and safety measures may be necessary. The storm could also change school schedules, according to Director of Operations for the Lower Kuskokwim School District.

“One of the most recent ice storms we had, an ice event that happened last December, took out a transformer by our district office, and we had a heck of a time, keeping schools warm, because it was also very, very cold,” Sweet said.

Sweet said in that 2024 storm, maintenance mechanics in Bethel worked 4 hours on and 4 hours off to ensure that glycol was circulating through the heating system in order to keep schools warm.

“So, when it’s cold and when it’s icy, of course, things break, generators can go down, anything that was fragile before sometimes decides it isn’t going to work,” Sweet said. “Of course, there’s a lot of damage that can happen to people. Slipping and falling is a huge risk. Most people wear ice cleats when it’s this icy. Most elders stay home.”

While ice presents the obvious falling risk, Sweet mentioned several other reminders to keep in mind, like not pouring water on vehicles to clear ice, let someone know if you’re going out of the house, and clear stairs and walkways to prevent falling hazards.

The Lower Kuskokwim School District covers a large area, roughly the size of the state of West Virginia. So, weather conditions can be dramatically different in Bethel and outer lying villages, so decisions on school closures or delays are made on a local basis.

“They might say school’s canceled, or school’s delayed an hour, school’s canceled,” Sweet said. “Whatever the message is, they put it on Facebook, they put it out VHF, they might have a phone tree that they call. It’s very grassroots, right?”

“One thing that’s really important to note, though, is that it’s a local decision.”

The storm also has the potential to slow rebuilding efforts in the wake of Typhoon Halong.

The ice itself can make outdoor tasks challenging, or even dangerous, but Sweet said one of the broadest impacts will be travel delays. Residents are familiar with weather delays, but during the recovery process, every delayed flight impacts the recovery effort.

“In Kwig, we need to have a power supply on a plane to help with our water plant there, and there’s no way we can get that on the plane,” Sweet said. “So, folks in Kwig who are at the school trying to rebuild the community are facing a water situation there at the school that we have no way of fixing right this second. So, the real impact to this storm is that the efforts to rebuild are put on hold for a minute while people are just trying to survive, and it’s really challenging.”

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Copyright 2025 KTUU. All rights reserved.

A new Alaska Airlines poster reminding employees to verify law-enforcement requests with a subpoena or warrant has touched off political outrage online, particularly among Trump-aligned commentators who view it as an act of resistance against police or federal officers.

A poster photographed inside an Alaska Airlines workspace has gone viral for its explicit instruction to employees: “If a law enforcement officer or government official asks you for guest information, don’t comply. Ask for a subpoena or warrant to verify.”

The poster, which features branding for Alaska, Hawaiian, and Horizon, emphasizes that front-line staff should not release customer data without proper legal authority, and should immediately notify a supervisor if approached. It also provides an email address for directing non-urgent government inquiries to Alaska’s legal department.

The policy itself is not new. Airlines routinely instruct employees to require legal process before turning over passenger records; in fact, this mirrors standard privacy practices across the aviation and hospitality industries. What is new is the political reaction.

The image was circulated widely by accounts supportive of President Trump, including retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Buzz Patterson, who suggested the poster represented an anti-law enforcement stance and was an example of woke corporate behavior. Commenters echoed that sentiment, accusing Alaska Airlines of “interfering with police,” “coddling criminals,” and “undermining authorities.” Some went further, suggesting the airline was preparing to obstruct possible immigration-related enforcement in a direct attack against the Trump administration.

That framing ignores the underlying reality: airlines do not have discretion to hand over passenger information when asked verbally by an officer. Without a subpoena or warrant, such disclosure is generally prohibited by the carrier’s own data privacy polices. Still, the optics of a cartoon police officer being told “ask why” before complying struck a nerve among social-media users predisposed to perceive corporate privacy protocols as political virtue signaling.

Sadly, even routine legal-compliance signage can become a partisan lightning rod in today’s environment.

Why This Policy Is Actually Aligned With Longstanding Conservative Principles

The criticism from some conservative commentators is ironic, because the principle behind Alaska’s poster…skepticism of government intrusion without due process…is traditionally a hallmark of the American political right.

Conservatives have historically championed:

• Limiting government power
• Requiring warrants for searches and data seizures
• Protecting private property and personal information
• Resisting unlawful or extrajudicial demands from bureaucrats or federal agencies

In that light, Alaska’s policy is not anti-police but pro-rule-of-law: if the government wants access to passenger records, it must obtain a warrant or subpoena, which is precisely how the legal system is designed to function. The alternative (handing over passenger data whenever asked) would be far more troubling to anyone concerned about surveillance, political targeting, or abuse of authority.

Put differently, the procedure that some have framed as “insubordination” is actually a safeguard that conservatives have defended for decades. It protects passengers from overreach, protects employees from liability, and protects law enforcement by ensuring evidence is gathered through proper channels.

In a polarized climate, even basic privacy compliance is easily misunderstood. But Alaska’s stance is neither radical nor new. It is simply the lawful, time-tested requirement that government power be exercised transparently and with judicial oversight.

CONCLUSION

In the end, Alaska Airlines’ poster is less a political statement than a reminder that customer data cannot be handed over on demand. Insisting on subpoenas and warrants aligns with long-standing conservative concerns about government overreach and due process. Whatever one’s politics, requiring proper legal authority before disclosing passenger information should be seen as a common-sense protection for both travelers and front-line employees.

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