Joey Klecka
Digital Reporter/Producer
:no_upscale()/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/gray/8bf1d27e-01f8-4096-ab28-c398bda3657f.png)
Joey is a longtime Alaskan with family roots in the midwest. Having been raised in the Last Frontier since childhood, he has a strong grasp of what makes Alaska unique.
Joey graduated from Eagle River High School, attained a bachelors 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: 6 hours ago
|By Tim Rockey and Joey Klecka
A small landslide has knocked out power to parts of Juneau and Douglas Island.
Updated: 24 hours ago
|By Joey Klecka
Jamal Hall is accused of killing Selena Annette Mullenax and Foriegnne Aubert-Morissette on Jan. 28, 2016.
Updated: 24 hours ago
|By Joey Klecka
Alaska State Troopers say 67-year-old Janell Rude of Anchorage was the sole occupant of the Cessna 180A went it went down Sunday in Whiskey Lake near Skwentna.
Governor stresses need to rebuild Western Alaska communities affected by storm before winter arrives
Updated: Sep. 23, 2022 at 8:33 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
The governor said that necessities are being taken care of, but stressed that what his administration is focusing on currently is rebuilding roads and bridges before the winter freeze sets in.
Updated: Sep. 22, 2022 at 2:30 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
A Utah man accused of kidnapping and killing a Homer woman in October 2019 was indicted Wednesday by a Grand Jury in Kenai.
Updated: Sep. 21, 2022 at 3:56 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
The alleged incident was reported to have occurred with an Anchorage high school student while Sniffen was “in a position of authority” in 1991, the year that Sniffen turned 28.
Updated: Sep. 21, 2022 at 3:29 PM AKDT
|By Tim Rockey, Carly Schreck and Joey Klecka
Alaska State Troopers reported that a brown bear was killed after it attacked two people at the end of Matanuska Townsite Road.
Updated: Sep. 20, 2022 at 9:35 AM AKDT
|By Shannon Cole and Joey Klecka
Anchorage Police say that the missing teen, who reportedly has a history of mental health conditions, was found Tuesday morning.
Updated: Sep. 19, 2022 at 1:51 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
The report of the shooting came in just before noon Sunday at a cabin near mile 42 of the Elliott Highway, where troopers found the body of a man.
Updated: Sep. 16, 2022 at 2:17 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Jose Angel Ibarra, 28, was driving south on the Old Seward Highway in excess of 85 mph when he collided with the Yellow Cab company taxi that 68-year-old Bruce Orton was driving.
Updated: Sep. 16, 2022 at 1:31 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Alaska's top epidemiologist said state officials can still look to hospitalization and death numbers to get a sense of where Alaska is amid the pandemic, since those numbers are reported by hospitals and the state medical examiner.
Updated: Sep. 16, 2022 at 7:26 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Tudor has since been opened to one lane of traffic moving eastbound at Cordova Street, after all traffic was initially diverted back into westbound lanes following the crash shorty before 7 a.m., which injured at least one person.
Updated: Sep. 14, 2022 at 6:01 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka and Lauren Maxwell
The plan to use the Spenard and Fairview recreation centers was initially brought up as a last resort in a four-pronged approach unveiled by the Bronson administration on Aug. 31.
Updated: Sep. 13, 2022 at 9:17 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Callers told police the man appeared to be holding a knife. Police say officers found him walking south in the northbound lanes, approaching the on-ramp from Dimond Boulevard.
Updated: Sep. 12, 2022 at 9:48 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka and Tim Rockey
During the special meeting, the assembly presented a statement that revealed the investigation into reported allegations of harassment by an unnamed employee of the borough against Pierce.
Updated: Sep. 9, 2022 at 8:17 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
No injuries were reported and residents of the apartment complex were evacuated as a safety precaution.
Updated: Sep. 8, 2022 at 3:40 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Evan Trupp is the team's second head coach in as many seasons.
Updated: Sep. 8, 2022 at 6:41 AM AKDT
|By Kristen Durand and Joey Klecka
The four-time Iditarod champion was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2001 but overcame the illness after undergoing both surgery and radiation therapy. He then announced his second bout with cancer in August 2021.
Updated: Sep. 7, 2022 at 5:49 PM AKDT
|By Jeremy Rolston and Joey Klecka
Kohring, a Republican out of Wasilla, served in the state House from 1995 to 2007.
Updated: Sep. 7, 2022 at 5:05 PM AKDT
|By Jeremy Rolston and Joey Klecka
Anchorage police say multiple reports came in of cars being shot by stray bullets near the Glenn Highway and Boniface Parkway.
Updated: Sep. 7, 2022 at 1:44 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
The EPA concluded prior to the public comment period opening that development of such a mine would have adverse effects on the environment and salmon watershed.
Updated: Sep. 6, 2022 at 2:24 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
The man was eventually found at the Alaska-Canada border near Haines, hundreds of miles away, after the car he was driving broke down.
Updated: Sep. 2, 2022 at 9:46 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Troopers say a Kake man attempted to put a vehicle into reverse, but instead put it into drive, accelerating the car into the lake, resulting in the man drowning.
Updated: Sep. 1, 2022 at 1:50 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
The Anchorage Police Department reported that Matthew Davis, 23, is charged with two counts of murder, two counts of manslaughter, driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident.
Updated: Sep. 1, 2022 at 5:54 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka and Lauren Maxwell
The Bronson administration unveiled a four-point plan for those in need of shelter with winter on the horizon.
Updated: Aug. 31, 2022 at 8:50 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Medics at the scene took the juvenile passenger to a hospital with critical injuries, while the driver of the car, an adult woman, was also taken with non-life threatening injuries.
Updated: Aug. 30, 2022 at 3:23 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
U.S. Attorney for Alaska, S. Lane Tucker, announced that Savanna’s Act guidelines have been completed, putting into place ways to strengthen communication and coordination between government agencies and tribal governments in response to violence and abuse on Alaska Native residents.
Updated: Aug. 30, 2022 at 1:31 PM AKDT
|By Paul Choate and Joey Klecka
The son of embattled former Alaska state legislator Dean Westlake was indicted on multiple charges in connection to his death.
Updated: Aug. 29, 2022 at 11:14 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
The 2022 edition of the Midnight Sun Great Pumpkin Weigh-Off gets underway Monday at 2 p.m. at the Craig Taylor Farm Exhibits building, centered off the yellow trail on the fairgrounds.
Updated: Aug. 29, 2022 at 8:22 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Anchorage police say the man, identified as 36-year-old Michael Valu, used a child as a human shield before an officer shot him.
Updated: Aug. 29, 2022 at 7:37 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka and Jeremy Rolston
State troopers originally said that the 46-year-old was piloting a kayak trying to “retrieve a boat that had drifted across the river,” when witnesses describe his kayak overturning.
Updated: Aug. 25, 2022 at 12:34 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
John Pearl Smith II, 36, could potentially get life in prison, with a minimum sentence of 34 years, on 10 counts that include murder, robbery and firearm charges.
Updated: Aug. 23, 2022 at 2:23 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
According to a press release issued by the department, 35-year-old Natashia Minock died at 2:35 a.m. at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center — just hours after she was imprisoned.
Updated: Aug. 23, 2022 at 12:52 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Video captured by a traveler on the flight showed metal cowling ripping off one of the jet engines on the Boeing 737, which airline officials said is currently out of service while a safety team investigates.
Updated: Aug. 22, 2022 at 2:00 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
The alleged kidnapping was originally reported July 21 and reported that a white male approached the minor in the area around Northwood Drive and Aspen Drive.
Anchorage schools superintendent forecasts rough days ahead, promises improvements to student busing
Updated: Aug. 22, 2022 at 8:12 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt told families in a letter Sunday that there are seven new bus drivers currently on the roads, with “more than 50 in the hiring/training process to do the same.”
Updated: Aug. 22, 2022 at 7:15 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Court documents show the victim of a homicide investigation in a Taku neighborhood as Dean Westlake, a former state legislator who resigned from office in 2017 amid sexual harassment allegations.
Updated: Aug. 22, 2022 at 6:08 AM AKDT
|By Arielle Ingram-David and Joey Klecka
Iditarod Elementary School canceled classes Friday after numerous leadership, support, and instructional staff had to call out due to illness.
Updated: Aug. 19, 2022 at 7:48 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District said the staffing shortage was not related to the current bus driver shortage the district is experiencing.
Updated: Aug. 18, 2022 at 12:29 PM AKDT
|By Paul Choate and Joey Klecka
Alaska State Troopers say man suspected to be with her is in custody following police chase near Soldotna.
Updated: Aug. 18, 2022 at 10:30 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Bradley Renfro joins fellow convicted murderers Austin Barrett, Dominic Johnson and Erick Almandinger as the four teens accused of assaulting David Grunwald in Nov. 2016.
Updated: Aug. 15, 2022 at 8:28 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Troopers said in a dispatch that 25-year-old Dennis Straughn III died after life-saving measures were attempted around mile 131 of the Glenn Highway just after midnight on Saturday morning.
Updated: Aug. 12, 2022 at 8:46 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
NORAD said in the release that on two separate occasions, the office “detected, tracked and identified two Russian surveillance aircraft entering and operating within the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone.”
Updated: Aug. 9, 2022 at 10:12 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Several units responded shortly after 10 p.m. to mile 67 of the Seward Highway, according to Girdwood Fire Department, for a crash involving a car and a motorhome.
Updated: Aug. 9, 2022 at 9:48 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Retired state Superior Court Judge Gregory Heath “found Almandinger’s crimes were truly horrific and committed for no apparent reason,” according to a release.
Updated: Aug. 4, 2022 at 2:36 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
Beginning Thursday, the medical center is changing their visiting hours to an eight-hour window and all adult patients will be allowed one visitor and one designated “Care Partner.”
Updated: Aug. 2, 2022 at 10:33 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
The zoo said Windy arrived in May 2006 with her siblings, which were all raised together at the facility on O’Malley Road.
Updated: Aug. 1, 2022 at 1:35 PM AKDT
|By Tracy Sinclare and Joey Klecka
Two people were found inside the car that was submerged in the Matanuska River.
Updated: Aug. 1, 2022 at 1:28 PM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
The Boeing 747 cargo plane was being moved by ground handlers from Pegasus Aviation Services just before 9:30 a.m. when it broke loose and began rolling away on its own, according to airport police.
Updated: Aug. 1, 2022 at 9:36 AM AKDT
|By Joey Klecka
There were no reported injuries of deaths in the blaze, which was brought under control at 7:24 a.m., according to an Anchorage Fire Department spokesperson.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/VMU2J2YLAFF4ZAVOJLX7X2LUT4.PNG)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/2YBVMNRUG5HABOMG3VBV6JHDWQ.png)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/DTYBDTKPGZHKDCTKNLPZTG2KC4.PNG)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/ZFCZP6OWTVG4DJGB66P4UJNFAU.png)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/JUYUUMBA5ZA4HE4D3WXGC55SMQ.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/I4NDNAKUO5E3LGF3ZLJJZJYILM.bmp)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/QIZFGRCQRBBP3IWB3VFBYCPIPQ.bmp)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/CZN2IDEHNBCJ3MDRFXMV6AXCHA.PNG)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/L2A6UE262ZNHBF22DQ6FGXY4HI.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/37BVAI45KBBKVEWDRR6UMT647U.jpg)