Published Oct 26, 2023 by Annie Berman

In Valdez, frequent staffing challenges at the city’s sole pharmacy has led to a backlog of people waiting on prescription refills, according to Tom Wadsworth, dean of the University of Alaska Anchorage’s school of pharmacy.

Alaska’s pharmacist shortage worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, when pharmacies faced an increased workload and difficult working conditions, causing many pharmacists to retire or leave the field early. But many of the conditions that led to the closures began years before COVID-19, pharmacists reached for this story said.

Nelson and Wadsworth attribute the problem to a relatively new and complicated reimbursement model involving pharmacy benefit managers, companies that act as middlemen between insurance companies and pharmacies to set prescription reimbursement prices, and often pocket large shares of the profits.

Wadsworth said staffing shortages now appear to be particularly noticeable at chain pharmacies, where working conditions are often more difficult, and pay is typically lower than at hospitals, clinics or tribal health organizations.

“Pharmacists don’t like those (retail) jobs as much because the working conditions are not ideal,” he said.

Nelson linked the new reimbursement model, and the resulting small profit margins for the pharmacies, to consistently low pay for pharmacy technicians and decisions by management to cut hours and reduce the number of staff at each store.

“One of the most expensive parts of running a pharmacy is staffing,” he said. “So they’ve cut their staffing in response to the low reimbursement rate.”

Published Oct 25, 2023 by Bob Yirka

A team of Earth scientists from North Carolina State University, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, North Carolina A&T State University, and Sandia National Laboratories has found evidence that suggests cyclones have become more common over the past half-century and have also become stronger.

In their paper published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, the group describes how they gathered resource data from a variety of sites covering decades of environmental research in the Arctic and what they learned about cyclones in the region.

Prior research has shown that temperatures in the Arctic are rising faster than anywhere else on Earth. Such changes have led to ice forming later and melting earlier each year; some scientists have predicted that there may be ice-free summers by the end of this decade. In this new effort, the research team focused their attention on Arctic cyclones. This came on the heels of the strongest known cyclone to ever strike the Arctic region last year. With wind speeds up to 67mph, the storm generated massive waves that broke up a lot of the winter ice.

To find out if such storms are becoming more prevalent, the research group gained access to a large number of data sets that hold climate information about the Arctic, going back to the 1950s. They then made comparisons of cyclones that have occurred over the past seventy years. In so doing, they found that cyclones in the Arctic have been growing bigger and stronger—and they last longer too. They also found that they have been happening more often.

Published Oct 25, 2023 by Adrian Peterson Adrian Peterson

The University of Alaska Museum of the North is holding it’s annual ask an archaeologist event; a time for the public to engage the archaeology program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Digging into the history of Alaska and Alaska Natives, the annual “Ask an Archaeologist” event at the Museum of the North began Monday, Oct. 23 and will end at 1 p.m. on Wed., Oct. 25. The three day event comes after National Archaeology Day, which was Saturday, Oct. 21.

The event has been running since 2014, with a couple exceptions for the pandemic years. The archaeology collection manager says the opportunity has been beneficial for both the visitors who come to learn and the researchers themselves.

Published Oct 25, 2023 by Staff report

The 32nd annual Dead Writers event will channel long-gone authors as they converge from 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26, in The Pub at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Dead Writers is a fundraiser for the UAF English Department’s Midnight Sun Visiting Writers Series. Tickets will be sold at the door — $5 for students and $10 for all others. Registered participants dressed in costume will get in for free. Attendees must be at least 21.

Participants can either dress up and read a brief excerpt from a departed author or simply spectate and cheer on others, according to release from the university’s English Deparetment. To participate as a dead writer, register before the start of the event at bit.ly/3sfwLQR.

All proceeds from the event go to the Midnight Sun Visiting Writer Series, which brings authors and poets to Fairbanks for workshops and public readings. The series connects audiences with renowned and emerging writers, providing an opportunity to engage with the world of literature on a personal level.

Published Oct 25, 2023

My brother had become good friends with Vic while working on the “Creating Alaska” series, a project Terrence had dreamed up to preserve the stories of those who helped make Alaska the 49th state.

The University of Alaska—thanks to Mark Hamilton, Karen Perdue, Brian Rogers and others—supported the effort more than 20 years ago to compile and document the origins of the state, preserving the voices of those who led the way, while there was still time.

My brother did extensive interviews with all the key people who were still alive, including Jack Coghill, Vic, George Rogers, Jay Hammond, Wally Hickel, Tom Stewart, George Sundborg, Katie Hurley and Maynard Longborg.

With Vic’s passing at 99 the key players are all gone now, though we are left with a priceless record that will allow future generations to hear directly from those who helped create the state.

Helping write the Alaska Constitution was “a highlight of my life,” Vic told Terrence. He said nothing in his decade of public involvement could come close.