Alex Bengel
Multimedia Journalist
Fairbanks, Alaska
Alex was born and raised in Oregon's Willamette Valley. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and History from the University of Oregon in Eugene in 2013, and moved to Fairbanks, Alaska in 2015. Since then, he spent a year working in Washington, D.C. before moving back to Fairbanks. He served with the AmeriCorps VISTA program for 3 years.
The historic riverboat SS Nenana may see $500,000 in federal maintenance funding come through after the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly voted 5-3 to request borough Mayor Grier Hopkins to allow the group Friends of S.S. Nenana to accept the money.
Post-COVID summers saw an increase in tourism in Fairbanks, with visitor numbers flattening out in the last couple of years.
Starting Wednesday, motorists in Fairbanks looking to access Fairbanks Memorial Hospital will need to use an alternate route due to a lengthy summer construction project on Cowles Street.
Spinach Creek Farm near Fairbanks doesn't have to artificially cool its root cellar during the summer, saving money on utilities.
Numbers for the month of March are down in all areas Explore Fairbanks tracks.
To recognize Police Memorial Day, North Pole residents gathered for a ceremony at Trooper Gabe Rich and Trooper Scott Johnson Memorial Park on Thursday, during which they paid tribute to the 72 law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty in Alaska.
Mandatory administrative leave for officers who discharged their weapons during Monday’s fatal officer-involved shooting of Thomas Bean is not impacting interior public safety, spokespersons for the Fairbanks Police Dept. (FPD) and Alaska State Troopers said Wednesday.
Two people are dead following two separate shootings — including one involving police — Monday night in west Fairbanks.
The Fairbanks North Star Borough School District could see smaller class sizes and reinstate some of its recently-cut jobs after the city assembly voted to add about $2.7 million in local contributions to the district’s budget.
The Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly passed a budget for the next fiscal year, restoring Mary Siah Recreation Center and putting an additional $2.7 million into local education.
The food bank's new Biodigester heats food waste to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, turning it into usable compost overnight.
If the permanent increase to the BSA becomes law, the district’s obligation regarding charter school funding increases as well, to the tune of around $500,000.
The 237-foot long S.S. Nenana operated along the Tanana and Yukon Rivers from 1933 until 1954.
In its list of legislative priorities this year, the district asked for a $270 per student funding increase for transportation.
In their recommended budget submitted to the borough on April 1, the district assumed a $680 increase to the BSA.
The Alaska Songbird Institute in Fairbanks is putting on a 'scavenger hunt' of sorts to invite the community to learn more about a variety of birds in the interior.
Since measurements began, green-up days have ranged from the last week of April through May 28th.
Garden Island Deli, a convenience store, liquor store, and sandwich shop on Illinois Street in Fairbanks, plans to close this week after nearly 60 years in business.
Devin Standifer, who was last seen in Fairbanks on Dec. 7, 2024, has been found dead, according to his family.
The Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly voted 5-4 in favor of an ordinance requiring a hand-counted audit of election results in the borough.
Under the current plan, Midnight Sun Elementary School will house a satellite office for BEST Homeschool, along with other programs.
Steven Downs, 50, is currently serving a 75-year prison sentence for Sophie Sergie’s murder and sexual assault.
At the meeting, the assembly voted 6-3 to close Mary Siah, amending the borough’s FY 26 budget.
So far North American pintail, trumpeter swans and Canada geese have been seen, as well as mallard and white-fronted geese.
A series of displays showing the effects of climate change is currently showing at the Noel Wien Public Library in Fairbanks.
Education staff, school board members, and parents of students from Fairbanks to Anchorage are reacting to the governor's veto announced Thursday morning to an education bill that would provide a sizeable boost to the state's per-student funding formula.
The Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly voted 7-2 to provide at minimum $60 million to the local school district.
The competition involves using Science, Technology, Engineering and Math to come up with a solution to a real-world problem people face.
An active duty soldier in Fairbanks was arrested and charged with murder on Sunday, according to the Fairbanks Police Department.
Students statewide took part in walkouts on Friday in support of increasing education funding.
If the legislation passes in its current form, it would mark a $2 million increase from this fiscal year’s $58 million amount.
Between Fort Wainwright and Eielson Air Force Base, more than 23,000 people live on base in the Fairbanks North Star Borough.
The first two rockets launched on March 25, while the third took off on March 29.
In order to encourage residents to grow food locally and increase donations, the Fairbanks Community Food Bank is beginning operation of a Biodigester in its warehouse.
The program is designed to respond to situations in the city involving those experiencing homelessness, inebriation, or mental health issues.
DOT crews expect to begin work on Interior potholes in the coming weekend.
The method being used affects nearly a thousand students across the district.
Citing uncertainty with Juneau funding, Fairbanks North Star Borough School District leaders have submitted their final proposed 2025-2026 school year budget, which still includes increasing all grade level class sizes and leaves open the possibility of teacher layoffs.
The structure, opened in 1952, was once the tallest in Fairbanks.
No one was hurt in a fire Friday morning that burned a popular Fairbanks eatery.
At its annual meeting on Wednesday, members of the Tanana Valley State Fair Association elected five new people to serve on the association’s board.
Voting is open to all members of the association who have been enrolled for 30 days at the time of the meeting.
She started placing dinosaurs for people to find around Fairbanks in 2021 as a way to cope with her 32-year-old daughter’s illness and eventual passing, and it’s impact is reaching across seas.
The games are meant to celebrate Alaska Native culture through activities, some just for fun, others involving skills that help with survival in the Alaskan bush.
The Fairbanks Memory Museum project is being put on to honor the semiquincentennial, or the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The four-person group aims to use unmanned aircraft to go inside the crater of the volcano for samples of gas. If successful, this would mark the first time ACUASI flies a drone into an active volcano.
The Dena Games are open to anyone in the community who wishes to compete.
After the Tanana Valley State Fair Association board decided to cancel a planned Fairbanks summer drag show over what the fair’s executive director has characterized as threats to staff, Alaska News Source spent weeks examining last month’s decision.
Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks are using a new icing tower to simulate conditions seen in Alaska, to test the ability of drones to fly in icy conditions.
The “tripod,” which is actually a “quadrupod,” is placed on the ice on the Tanana River, tethered to two onshore clocks.
