Emily Schwing
News ReporterEmily has covered land and wildlife management, wildfire and local government extensively in Alaska since 2006. She has worked all over the state, from the Chukchi Sea Coast to the Wrangell Narrows and from the Canadian Border to the Seward Peninsula.
-
Nunacuarni school district-aat akikiterkaat kitugutkanun state-amek kingunengqelartuq. Taugam allrakut yuinaq talliman cipluki, Alaska-mi alerquuciurcet nallungualarait amlleret ikayungcaucet elitnaurvignek nunamta nutem yukekain elitnaurviit. -
Rural school districts depend on the state to fund construction and maintenance projects. But over the past 25 years, Alaska lawmakers have ignored hundreds of requests from public schools that primarily serve Indigenous children. -
This week, KYUK will release the first part of an investigation with ProPublica that looks at infrastructure issues in rural Alaska schools. -
For years, school districts statewide have submitted hundreds of millions of dollars in requests for help with construction and maintenance. And for years, Alaska's lawmakers haven’t been able to fund those needs. Now, the state’s rural school districts are facing a public health and safety crisis. -
There are 128 open rural schools in Alaska. Just under half of them are owned by the state, and many of them are falling apart. KYUK dug through state data and found decades of neglect and lacking accountability that’s put students, teachers, and staff at risk. -
Chemical leaks, standing raw sewage, extensive black mold, exposed electrical wiring, and malfunctioning fire alarms. These are all things that pose serious public health and safety risks to students, teachers, and staff inside Alaska’s rural public schools. -
On Dec. 1, local tribal leadership decided to shut down the power and water plants, and to board up buildings in the tiny Bering Sea coastal community. -
The Newtok Village Council has decommissioned the village, deeming it too unsafe to live in. Nearly 90 people will move to higher ground this month, and they’re scrambling to take what they can with them. -
By the end of November 2024, the Newtok Village Council hopes no one will be living in Newtok. The local tribal government has deemed the village too unsafe for anyone to remain there through the winter. Eighty-eight residents still in the Bering Sea coastal village are moving into temporary housing 9 miles away at a new townsite: Mertarvik. -
All six members of the caucus took to the stage during this year’s Alaska Federation of Natives annual convention in Anchorage.
