More than 100 years ago, a man traveled north on a mission most people thought was ridiculous — to see if crops would grow in the frozen wasteland known as the Territory of Alaska
That man, Charles C. Georgeson, was a special agent in charge of the United States Agricultural Experiment Stations. The secretary of agriculture charged Georgeson with the task of finding out if crops and farm animals could survive in the mysterious land acquired just 21 years earlier from the Russians.
Since the late 1970s, the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute has provided this column free in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell ned.rozell@alaska.edu is a science writer for the Geophysical Institute. A version of this column appeared in 1998.
TOK, Alaska (KTUU) – Alaska State Troopers released dash cam video and 911 audio Friday from an officer-involved shooting in Tok in October 2023 and said that the trooper who fatally shot a Northway man has been cleared of wrongdoing.
Viewer warning: The video in this story may be disturbing for some readers. Watch at your own risk.
The trooper involved was not wearing a body camera, according to the Department of Public Safety.
Phone records show that at 2:35 a.m. on Oct. 30, 2023, troopers received a call that 21-year-old Timothy Thomas of Northway was attempting to break into occupied motel rooms and making threats at the Three Bears Motel in Tok.
The caller relayed information to the Department of Public Safety:
Caller: “We were sleeping and we heard banging on the door.”
Dispatcher: “Oh he heard through somebody else that you guys were there, so he just showed up?”
Caller: “Yup and that’s a bottle of alcohol and blacked out.”
Dispatcher: “Okay.”
Caller: “He’s in the gray sweater.”
Dispatcher: “Okay, is he threatening anything?”
Caller: “To break down the door.”
Troopers say the same caller called dispatch four times as Thomas tried to break the window and get into other motel rooms.
Trooper Timothy Rosario arrived just after 3 a.m. and saw Thomas was carrying an AK-47 style rifle outside the motel.
Officials say the dash cam video has no audio due to the in-car video recording being activated after the shooting, and Rosario was unable to activate the video system in time.
Rosario gave Thomas multiple commands to stop, but he refused stating, “I’d rather not.”
Troopers say Thomas appeared to be approaching a “position of cover,” which they say would have put the life of the trooper and occupants in the motel at risk.
Rosario then shot Thomas three times and was declared dead at the scene.
The Office of Special Prosecutions reviewed the case, stating they would not be pressing charges against Officer Rosario, finding that use of force was lawful.
Copyright 2024 KTUU. All rights reserved.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Rainy, windy weather greeted southcentral on Friday. Unsettled weather will keep a dearth of clouds, rain showers, even some snow showers over the state through the weekend. Temperatures cooled considerably along the north slope and interior with the rain’s arrival.
Southcentral is on the lucky end of the weather pattern, expecting to see clearing skies, drying conditions and sunshine into the weekend.
An upper trough is driving the wet weather across the state.
This is the first round of wet weather, with another big storm arriving over the Aleutians and western Alaska on Sunday. Southcentral can anticipate the return of wet weather by Monday.
Southeast will see showers, and cloudy skies. Highs in the low to mid 60s.
Copyright 2024 KTUU. All rights reserved.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/adn/B4HY456RDFCC7NNPF7EGXSCF5E.jpg "Troopers responding to reported gunfire in Southwest Alaska village find a house fire and human remains")
Updated: 1 hour ago Published: 2 hours ago
Alaska State Troopers who were called to the village of Aniak on Thursday for reports of gunfire found a home engulfed by flames and later found human remains inside, they said.
Several people in the village had reported hearing random gunshots, although there were no reports of threats or anyone being shot at, said troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel. Aniak-based troopers and wildlife troopers were patrolling the village near the slough around 11:30 a.m. to try to find the source of the sporadic gunfire when they saw a house fully engulfed by flames, McDaniel said.
They worked with community members to suppress the fire, and later the remains of the homeowner were found inside, troopers said.
During the investigation, troopers identified the homeowner as the person suspected to be firing a gun, McDaniel said. The remains will be sent to the State Medical Examiner Office for an autopsy to determine the cause of death, McDaniel said.
The State Fire Marshal’s Office will investigate the cause and origin of the fire.
Aniak is situated along the Kuskokwim River roughly 90 air miles northeast of Bethel.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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