Alaska's governor-elect to be sworn in above Arctic Circle

Alaska's newly elected governor will be sworn in above the Arctic Circle, marking a first for the state.

Republican Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy will become Alaska's top elected official Dec. 3, when he takes the oath of office in Noorvik, a tiny Inupiat Eskimo village more than a thousand miles (1,600 kilometers) from the state capital of Juneau.

Noorvik is where Dunleavy's Alaska Native wife, Rose, grew up, and where some residents still travel by dogsled and hunt and fish for much of their food.

FILE - In this Jan. 24, 2010 file photo, the moon hangs low in the sky over the remote Inupiat Eskimo village Noorvik, Alaska. For the first time ever, a U.S. governor will be sworn into office above the Arctic Circle. Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy will become Alaska's top elected official Dec. 3, when he takes the oath of office in Noorvik, a tiny Inupiat Eskimo village above the Arctic Circle and more than a thousand miles from the state capital of Juneau. Noorvik is where Dunleavy's Alaska Native wife , Rose, grew up, and where residents still travel by dogsled and hunt and fish for much of their food. (AP PhotoCarolyn Kaster, File)

No roads link the village of 670 to the outside world. Instead, Noorvik is accessible mostly by plane and boat, on the Kobuk River, with snowmobiles and ATVs a common mode of transportation for locals.

Dunleavy said in a statement that he and his wife chose Noorvik out of respect for her family and because of fond memories of the years they spent in rural Alaska. The couple, who have three daughters, lived in the regional hub town of Kotzebue for 13 years before the family eventually settled on 45 acres near Wasilla, north of Anchorage.

"For us, it is the right thing to do — to call attention to the beauty, warmth and spirit of a part of our state many Alaskans have not experienced," wrote Dunleavy, a former educator and state senator.

FILE - In this Jan. 22, 2010 file photo, a cow moose walks through the brush in Noorvik, Alaska. For the first time ever, a U.S. governor will be sworn into office above the Arctic Circle. Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy will become Alaska's top elected official Dec. 3, when he takes the oath of office in Noorvik, a tiny Inupiat Eskimo village above the Arctic Circle and more than a thousand miles from the state capital of Juneau. Noorvik is where Dunleavy's Alaska Native wife , Rose, grew up, and where residents still travel by dogsled and hunt and fish for much of their food. (AP PhotoCarolyn Kaster, File)

Alaska is the only U.S. state with areas above the Arctic Circle, and historians and others knew of no other governors sworn in to office in the region known for its icy waters and extreme conditions. U.S. Rep. Don Young has a home in Fort Yukon, above the Arctic Circle.

Most of Alaska's previous governors took their oaths in Juneau, though former Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee, and her successor Sean Parnell, had their ceremonies in the interior town of Fairbanks.

This isn't the first time Noorvik has been in the limelight. It was the first community counted in the 2010 census.

In this photo taken Sept. 16, 2018, Alaska Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy and his wife Rose pose by a bridge in Anchorage, Alaska. For the first time ever, a U.S. governor will be sworn into office above the Arctic Circle. Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy will become Alaska's top elected official Dec. 3, when he takes the oath of office in Noorvik, a tiny Inupiat Eskimo village above the Arctic Circle and more than a thousand miles from the state capital of Juneau. Noorvik is where Dunleavy's Alaska Native wife , Rose, grew up, and where residents still travel by dogsled and hunt and fish for much of their food. (Aaron Weaver via AP)

Noorvik voted overwhelmingly for Dunleavy in his race against Democrat Mark Begich.

Word of Dunleavy's swearing-in is spreading quickly, and people from surrounding villages are planning to attend, according to Noorvik Mayor Vern Cleveland.

"Oh, man. People are excited about it," he said. "The whole region."

FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2010 file photo, a snow machine zips past the community center in the remote Inupiat Eskimo village Noorvik, Alaska. For the first time ever, a U.S. governor will be sworn into office above the Arctic Circle. Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy will become Alaska's top elected official Dec. 3, when he takes the oath of office in Noorvik, a tiny Inupiat Eskimo village above the Arctic Circle and more than a thousand miles from the state capital of Juneau. Noorvik is where Dunleavy's Alaska Native wife , Rose, grew up, and where residents still travel by dogsled and hunt and fish for much of their food. (AP PhotoCarolyn Kaster, File)

Dunleavy grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and has lived in his adopted state for nearly 35 years.

Noorvik is still home to extended family, he said in his statement.

Gordon Newlin, Rose Dunleavy's older brother, is among family living in the region. Newlin said his sister called him to tell him about the upcoming ceremony. The event will be held in the gym of the village school, named after their late father, Robert Newlin Sr., an Inupiat leader and one of the founders of the NANA Corp., the regional Native corporation.

FILE - In this Jan. 22, 2010 file photo, is the remote Inupiat Eskimo village of Noorvik, Alaska. For the first time ever, a U.S. governor will be sworn into office above the Arctic Circle. Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy will become Alaska's top elected official Dec. 3, when he takes the oath of office in Noorvik, a tiny Inupiat Eskimo village above the Arctic Circle and more than a thousand miles from the state capital of Juneau. Noorvik is where Dunleavy's Alaska Native wife , Rose, grew up, and where residents still travel by dogsled and hunt and fish for much of their food. (AP PhotoCarolyn Kaster, File)

Gordon Newlin is a maintenance worker at the school, where he says people are excited because of his brother-in-law's years with the Northwest Arctic Borough School District. He also hasn't seen his sister for at least a year, so her visit will be a bit of a reunion.

"It felt great when they selected Noorvik as the place to be," he said.

Dunleavy representatives and Cleveland, the mayor, said the ceremony is still in the planning stages.

But one idea Cleveland likes is the possibility of locals using sled dog teams to pick up visitors from the Noorvik airport, as they did in 2010 when census officials and others began counting the nation's residents there. At the time, residents also hosted a day of festivities with traditional dances, an Inupiat fashion show and a feast of caribou soup, baked bearded seal and other subsistence foods.

Multiple entities will take part in the upcoming celebration, including NANA, city, tribal and borough representatives, according to Cleveland. "The whole shebang. Everybody's involved," he said.

Outgoing Gov. Bill Walker, who dropped his re-election bid last month, said he also plans to attend.

"It's very respectful to the incoming first lady, Rose," he said of the location choice.

Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer in Juneau and researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

Follow Rachel D'Oro at https://twitter.com/rdoro

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).

Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.

That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.

In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.

Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.

In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.

“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.

Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.

It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.

“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.

It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.

While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.

“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.

Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.

Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)