Alaska

Remote Alaskan villages are some of the last places in America patrolled by unarmed officers. But an officer's death last year has challenged ideas about policing on the last frontier.

The troopers who police rural Alaska can't do their jobs without a good bush pilot to fly them into remote areas. In Bristol Bay, that pilot is John Bouker.

GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is set to head the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. It can be easier for her oil-reliant state to adapt to the changing climate rather than address its causes.

Lara Imler was one of the first people in Alaska to sign up for health insurance on HealthCare.gov. Turns out, the website miscalculated her subsidy. She wants to start over and get a new plan. But a stubborn software kink is standing in her way.

A hairdresser in Alaska is one of the first people to get health insurance through HealthCare.gov. The 37-year-old woman has a chronic thyroid problem, so she's thrilled to find affordable coverage. Insurers are bracing for sick people like her to be among the first entering the market.

A proposed road in Alaska is pitting residents against environmentalists. The people who live in a remote village want better access to an airport with year-round flights to Anchorage for medical emergencies. But the road would cut through a wilderness area, which environmentalists say would set a bad precedent.

For 20 years, Linda Smith was a successful ER doctor. But she started to regret doing painful procedures on patients without having the time to sit down and talk with them. So she became a palliative care doctor, one of a growing number helping people deal with life-threatening illnesses.