Friday, November 28, 2025

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Photo: A board with resources for evacuees at the Wingate hotel on November 14, 2025. (Matt Faubion / Alaska Public Media)

Hundreds of evacuees from Western Alaska are staying in Anchorage hotels after last month’s storms destroyed their homes.

The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA spoke to a few families who are adjusting to their new daily lives, so far away from everything they know.

Ally Shangin’s room at the Wingate hotel is crowded. On one bed, she sits with her two year old daughter. Her partner sits on another while their children play nearby.

Shangin and her family are among around 650 evacuees from Western Alaska who are staying in Anchorage after being displaced by a devastating storm last month.

State and federal agencies are working to rebuild the affected villages. But for many, returning before winter is not an option.

“Moving here with our family – it was okay, but it’s not okay. I want to go home.”

For Shangin’s nine-year-old daughter Katelynn, that means homeschooling so she can help her parents take care of her siblings.

Shangin says the family gets breakfast every day, but the hotel room has no kitchen, so they order fast food for the remaining meals.

“They are used to homecooked meals all the time. They’re used to the Native food and stuff that we eat.”

Julia Tuutaq Stone is Kipnuk’s police officer and another evacuee. She is staying at the Aspen Hotel in Anchorage, along with her two adult sons and young grandsons – each family in their own room.

“It was gonna be heartbreaking if they didn’t come with me.”

Stone says the hotel provides them with free meals and snacks. She takes buses to go to the store and to play bingo. And her grandsons attend the Yup’ik immersion program at College Gate Elementary School.

Her son, Alexie Aqumkallak Stone, says his kids are having more fun than him.

“They’re enjoying their stay here. …It’s not fun for me, that’s for sure, because it’s not my kind of life. My life was subsistence.”

Back at the Wingate, Shangin says her family has been looking at apartments already. They even filled out paperwork to receive assistance for rent.

“But some of us are tired of waiting.”

The family especially liked a two-bedroom apartment they looked at. Shangin says it was big enough for the older children to share their own room.

“My family will be happy. I’ll be happy because I’ll be able to cook my family food.”

Shangin already knows what their first meal will be: a rice dish baked in the oven with meat and seasonings.

She says that will be enough for the whole family.

A new report is highlighting the high levels of childhood trauma among juveniles who are tried as adults.

Juvenile justice advocates are seeking reforms that consider these experiences before, during, and after interactions with the court system.

Judith Ruiz-Branch reports.

The research from Human Rights for Kids show that of the more than 2,200 incarcerated people surveyed, greater than 80% experienced four or more Adverse Childhood Experiences – a rate far higher than the general population.

In a recent webinar, report co-author Aiden Lesley explained many respondents endured severe abuse beginning around age six, had been trafficked or exploited, or had committed offenses linked directly to their abuse.

He says almost none had their trauma taken into account by judges during their sentencing.

“Once children end up in the adult justice system, they face a level of repression and victimization that only serves to compound the trauma they’ve already experienced, while failing to actually address that trauma. The justice system itself also tends to serve as an extremely intimidating and traumatic experience.”

Lesley says some of the profound developmental impacts of trauma include higher rates of mental health conditions among youth in the system, with especially severe experiences for girls and Native American children.