Friday, June 26 2026

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Communities across the country are marking the 250th anniversary of the United States.

In Alaska, organizers say they are using the milestone to tell a broader story — one that includes Alaska’s history, its people, and Native contributions to America’s pastime.

The America250-Alaska Commission’s “Week of Dreams” begins Saturday and runs through July 4 with events in Anchorage and Fairbanks celebrating Alaska’s connection to baseball.

Opening ceremonies at Mulcahy Field will include Alaska Native Heritage Dancers, a parade of athletes, and recognition of the Knock Down and Skin ‘Em Club from St. Paul Island, believed to be Alaska’s oldest baseball team.

One of the organizers is Olga Zacharof of St. Paul Island.

For more than a decade, Zacharof has helped organize community softball games on the island. She and her husband, Dimitri, recently expanded those efforts to Anchorage, bringing together Unangax families through the sport.

Zacharof says the game has long brought families and community members together in St. Paul, and she hopes being a part of this week’s events will do the same.

“I hope to make our people proud. I hope to make the Aleut people from the Pribilofs proud. And how lucky I am to be able to represent us in that light.”

Former Major League Baseball pitcher DJ Carrasco will also be in Alaska for the celebration.

Carrasco now serves as director of Native Nations Baseball, an organization working to increase opportunities for Indigenous youth in baseball and softball.

Carrasco says Native Nations Baseball is about more than teaching the game.

“Native Nations is a resource not only in the sport but like holistic health and wellness belief and nutrition. We believe in the holistic development of an actual person. A good person, how to be a good teammate.”

The week’s events continue Monday at the Alaska Native Heritage Center, where Carrasco, Zacharof, and former Knock Down and Skin em’ team members will discuss Native representation in baseball and their work with Indigenous youth.

The program will also feature a demonstration of Miachee, a traditional Indigenous ball game from Southwest Alaska, led by Sugpiat artist Andrew Abyo.

According to the America250-Alaska Commission, Alaska chose baseball as the focus of its commemoration to highlight the state’s contributions to American history and culture while inspiring future generations to learn about Alaska’s past.

Events continue through July 4 in Anchorage and Fairbanks.

A bill that would change the dynamic between the feds and tribal nations on the cleanup of abandoned mines moved forward this week.

KNAU’s Chris Clements has more.

The Legacy Mine Cleanup Act got a House committee hearing Wednesday with bipartisan support in Congress and the backing of the Navajo Nation.

It would create a new office within the U.S> Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to better track mine sites that need cleanup. And it would prioritize cutting edge cleanup methods like one backed by the company DISA Tech, which involves harvesting uranium mine waste so it can be reused.

But that cleanup method has faced pushback from environmental advocates, who say it is still experimental, uses too much water, and does not fully clean up contamination.

National Parks Service (NPS) employee testing for elevated radiation levels at the Orphan Mine Site on and below the South Rim in Grand Canyon National Park. (Courtesy NPS)

Besides looking into new remediation methods, the bill would also give tribes more funding for cleaning up abandoned hard rock mines.

The federal government estimates there are about 140,000 such mines in the U.S.