Joey Klecka
Digital Reporter/Producer

Joey is a longtime Alaskan with childhood roots in Eagle River. Having grown up exploring the vast wilderness of Alaska, he has a strong grasp of what makes the state unique.
Joey graduated with a bachelor's degree in Journalism from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and spent eight years covering the sports scene on the Kenai Peninsula.
At Alaska's News Source, Joey worked as producer of the Morning Edition, before taking up a role as digital reporter.
Education
Awards
Updated: Dec. 8, 2023 at 4:44 PM AKST
|By Joey Klecka
Fred Hamilton Sr. died Monday at the age of 102, the oldest known living Haida member in Alaska.
Updated: Dec. 7, 2023 at 11:30 AM AKST
|By Joey Klecka
Three more names joined the iconic list of Alaskan athletes in the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame Wednesday, as did a special "moment" in Alaska history.
Updated: Dec. 7, 2023 at 10:01 AM AKST
|By Joey Klecka and Georgina Fernandez
A large fire put billowing black smoke into the sky over Anchorage Thursday morning as fire crews rushed to put out a camper trailer, according to officials.
Updated: Dec. 4, 2023 at 1:08 PM AKST
|By Joey Klecka
A large fire that flared up with “20-foot high flames,” according to one official, left a Spenard neighborhood park burned Sunday afternoon.
Updated: Dec. 4, 2023 at 10:54 AM AKST
|By Joey Klecka
The Hawaiian voyaging canoe that set sail this summer from Alaska on a years-long circumnavigational journey around the Pacific is cutting its trip short — for now.
Updated: Dec. 3, 2023 at 2:57 PM AKST
|By Joey Klecka
Former Iditarod musher Paul Gebhardt died Saturday morning after a lengthy illness, according to Iditarod officials. He was 67.
Updated: Dec. 3, 2023 at 12:17 PM AKST
|By Joey Klecka
Alaska Airlines announced Sunday that will be acquiring Hawaiian Airlines in a merger agreement, according to company officials.
Updated: Nov. 29, 2023 at 12:33 PM AKST
|By Joey Klecka and Steve Kirch
Mayor Dave Bronson laid down multiple vetoes on the municipal budget Tuesday, a week after the city’s general operating budget was approved by the Anchorage Assembly.
Updated: Nov. 28, 2023 at 11:29 AM AKST
|By Joe Cadotte and Joey Klecka
A man was found dead in a Spenard neighborhood home early Saturday morning, according to Anchorage police. JBER officials identified him as a private in the U.S. Army.
Updated: Nov. 24, 2023 at 11:12 AM AKST
|By Joey Klecka, Beth Verge and Nolin Ainsworth
The Alaska State Troopers announced on Thanksgiving morning active search and rescue operations have been suspended after a large landslide struck the tiny Alaska town of Wrangell.
Updated: Nov. 21, 2023 at 10:52 AM AKST
|By Nolin Ainsworth, Lex Yelverton and Joey Klecka
The Anchorage Police Department is investigating an apparent homicide-suicide shooting in the Walmart parking lot near Dimond Boulevard.
Updated: Nov. 10, 2023 at 3:03 PM AKST
|By Joey Klecka
Representatives of the Anchorage School District and the union representing teachers came to a tentative, one-year contract agreement, according to officials on Friday.
Updated: Nov. 10, 2023 at 12:40 PM AKST
|By Joey Klecka
The Veterans Day ceremony that was scheduled for Saturday on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson has been cancelled due to the aftermath of the winter storm, authorities said.
Updated: Nov. 9, 2023 at 11:22 AM AKST
|By Joey Klecka
A heat source inside a tent led to an outdoor fire in a Campbell Park neighborhood that killed one person, officials with the Anchorage Fire Department say.
Updated: Nov. 8, 2023 at 9:50 AM AKST
|By Nolin Ainsworth and Joey Klecka
Here are the preliminary results provided by the borough as of Wednesday morning.
Updated: Nov. 3, 2023 at 1:26 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
A man was taken into police custody and charged with terroristic threatening following online social media posts that threatened gun violence against a Downtown Anchorage social establishment.
Updated: Nov. 3, 2023 at 11:07 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Seven ports and harbors statewide will be receiving a combined $72 million in federal grant funding which will be used to repair and improve infrastructure associated with maritime activity in the state.
Updated: Oct. 25, 2023 at 12:56 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
A class action lawsuit centered around Alaskans who have been jailed longer than what is constitutionally legal was filed earlier this month against the Department of Corrections.
Updated: Oct. 24, 2023 at 3:38 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka and Lex Yelverton
A wide disconnect has been revealed between educators and those in charge of Mat-Su area schools, with a vote of “no confidence” taken by over a thousand staff members.
Updated: Oct. 20, 2023 at 1:11 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
The latest report to come from the state labor department largely shows jobs were added over a one-year span and unemployment dropped as well, continuing an upward trend from the COVID-19 pandemic employment crash.
Updated: Oct. 19, 2023 at 12:01 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Alaska’s top industrial agency filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Department of Interior for what they called “illegally” canceled oil and gas leases on protected land in the state’s northern reaches.
Updated: Oct. 18, 2023 at 9:04 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
A bridge carrying Glenn Highway traffic over a road at the South Peters Creek exit was hit Monday by an excavator being carried on a trailer, necessitating repairs.
Updated: Oct. 13, 2023 at 9:57 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Two men were found dead following a collision between a skiff and a barge that was being towed on the Kuskokwim River on Wednesday.
Updated: Oct. 12, 2023 at 11:46 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
A student was questioned by Anchorage police Thursday morning after discharging a toy gun in a classroom at West High School that was later revealed by authorities to be a paintball gun.
Updated: Oct. 11, 2023 at 10:00 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
No one was hurt after a commercial garage associated with a former Northeast Anchorage bakery burned Wednesday morning.
Updated: Oct. 6, 2023 at 1:22 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
A man was convicted last week by a jury in a murder trial reaching back to a 2019 shooting in Wasilla.
Updated: Oct. 6, 2023 at 6:23 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake shook Anchorage residents out of bed early Friday morning.
Updated: Oct. 5, 2023 at 10:41 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
A tentative agreement for the next three years was reached Friday between the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District and the union representing staff and other education employees.
Updated: Oct. 4, 2023 at 3:52 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Fat Bear Week returned Wednesday as a fun way for Alaskans and anyone else around the world to vote on which bear in Katmai National Park they think is the burliest.
Updated: Sep. 28, 2023 at 6:44 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka and Georgina Fernandez
A preliminary report on the plane crash that killed Eugene “Buzzy” Peltola Jr. — the husband of Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola — earlier this month did not offer a conclusion as to why the plane went down but revealed that the craft was carrying over 500 pounds of moose meat when it crashed.
Updated: Sep. 27, 2023 at 4:18 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka and Georgina Fernandez
A final report on the March 2021 heli-skiing crash that killed five people and severely injured another placed blame largely on the “inadequate” pilot training program by the heli-ski company, as well as insufficient oversight checks by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Updated: Sep. 26, 2023 at 1:43 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
An Alaskan man who allegedly sent threatening emails and posted messages online depicting harm against a Florida sheriff who denounced anti-Semitism and pro-Nazi messaging was indicted on federal cyberstalking charges.
Updated: Sep. 20, 2023 at 5:09 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
The municipal IT director resigned Tuesday from his role, according to the mayor’s office, amid allegations he was implicated in a plan to possibly overturn some results of the April city election.
Updated: Sep. 20, 2023 at 3:13 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
A bank robbery Tuesday at an Oceanview neighborhood bank has led the Federal Bureau of Investigation to initiate a search for the man responsible.
Updated: Sep. 20, 2023 at 11:35 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
An Alaska communications company that had its underwater fiber optic line severed by sea ice this summer has completed repair operations and restored service.
Updated: Sep. 19, 2023 at 2:23 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka and Georgina Fernandez
Multiple school districts across the state reported threats made to their schools Tuesday and have closed campuses, sending hundreds of students home.
Updated: Sep. 18, 2023 at 5:17 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
A 26-year-old Wasilla resident was killed early Saturday morning when the car he was riding in collided head-on with a truck.
Updated: Sep. 15, 2023 at 3:14 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
A backlog in processing applications for state benefits that stretches back almost a year has finally been cleared up through this summer, according to health department officials.
Updated: Sep. 15, 2023 at 9:57 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
The driver and passenger of a Toyota sedan were killed while slowing in a school zone Thursday afternoon near Kasilof.
Updated: Sep. 13, 2023 at 6:45 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka and Steve Kirch
The husband of Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola, Eugene Peltola Jr., was killed in a plane crash in Alaska, according to Peltola campaign officials.
Updated: Sep. 13, 2023 at 5:35 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
The Anchorage Assembly voted to authorize subpoena powers to produce evidence and testimony regarding an complaint of alleged impropriety filed by a former city official in the city election.
Updated: Sep. 8, 2023 at 3:14 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
A new complaint filed in U.S. District Court is challenging the federal government’s decision earlier this year to protect millions of acres of old-growth forest in Southeast Alaska from industrial activities.
Updated: Sep. 7, 2023 at 5:09 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
A teenager who went missing over the weekend was found dead in a small pond in Interior Alaska, leading Alaska authorities to investigate the circumstances.
Updated: Sep. 6, 2023 at 8:50 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
A soldier stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson died Saturday after falling on a hike south of Anchorage.
Updated: Sep. 2, 2023 at 12:21 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Eighteen passengers aboard a stranded tour boat in Southcentral Alaska were safely rescued and taken to Valdez after the vessel became grounded on bare ground.
Updated: Aug. 31, 2023 at 1:51 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
A man was arrested Wednesday in connection to two Anchorage bank robberies at the same location this summer, according to an official with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Updated: Aug. 31, 2023 at 1:27 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Anchorage police have charged a woman who took responsibility for dumping human feces at an entranceway at the Alaska’s News Source station building last week.
Updated: Aug. 31, 2023 at 10:11 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Police have arrested and charged a man with murder in connection to a deadly stabbing that occurred in a Russian Jack neighborhood residence in May.
Updated: Aug. 30, 2023 at 11:00 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
A student at Bettye Davis East Anchorage High School was detained and charged Tuesday for bringing a handgun to school.
Updated: Aug. 30, 2023 at 8:36 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
A 47-year-old Delta Junction man was found dead in the roadway late Tuesday night, leaving authorities in a search to find the motorist responsible.