MARK THIESSEN

All-formats reporter

Thiessen is an Associated Press all-formats reporter based in Anchorage, Alaska. He covers Alaska Native issues and other general assignments.

Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, is shown on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Three Idaho corrections officers were shot as a suspect staged a brazen attack to break Skylar Meade, a prison inmate out of the Boise hospital overnight. Two of the officers were shot by the suspect early Wednesday. The third was shot and wounded by a police officer when police mistook the correctional officer for the suspect. (Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman via AP)

Police track down escaped Idaho prison gang member and accomplice, say pair may have killed 2 on run

Police have arrested two white supremacist gang members following an attack on corrections officers at an Idaho hospital, and investigators are looking into whether they killed two people while on the run.

A police vehicle is parked outside Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Three Idaho corrections officers were shot as a suspect staged a brazen attack to break Skylar Meade, a prison inmate out of the Boise hospital overnight. Two of the officers were shot by the suspect early Wednesday. The third was shot and wounded by a police officer when police mistook the correctional officer for the suspect. (Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman via AP)

Idaho police search for escaped inmate and accomplice after ambush at Boise hospital

Police say a white supremacist Idaho prison gang member and an accomplice remain on the loose after a brazen overnight attack to free the inmate as he was being transported from a Boise hospital.

FILE - A musher leaves downtown during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race on Saturday, March 2, 2024, in Anchorage, Alaska. This year the deaths of three dogs during the race — and five more during training — have refocused attention on the sport’s darker side and raised questions about the ethics of asking animals to pull a heavy sled for hundreds of miles in subzero temperatures. (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP, File)

Dog deaths revive calls for end to Iditarod, the endurance race with deep roots in Alaska tradition

For the past five years, Alaska’s annual Iditarod sled dog race has gone off mostly free of controversy, as teams of dogs and their masters braved the elements in the 1,000-mile test of endurance across the frozen wilderness.

Dallas Seavey celebrates his win in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Tuesday, March 12, 2024, in Nome, Alaska. (Anne Raup/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

Seavey now has the most Iditarod wins, but Alaska’s historic race is marred by 3 sled dog deaths

Alaska’s annual Iditarod dog sled race has ended with a victory for the ages: One of the biggest names in the sport came from behind after a moose attack to win the grueling, dayslong contest for an unprecedented sixth time.

Dallas Seavey celebrates his win in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Tuesday, March 12, 2024, in Nome, Alaska. (Anne Raup/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

Dallas Seavey wins 6th Iditarod championship, most ever in the world’s most famous sled dog race

Dallas Seavey has made Iditarod history. Seavey won the world’s most famous sled dog race on Tuesday. That’s a record-breaking sixth championship for the Alaska musher.

FILE - Volunteers help raise the Iditarod finishers banner at the burled arch finish line in Nome, Alaska, March 16, 2015. Two dogs from separate teams have died while competing in the 2024 Iditarod, and the first deaths during the race across Alaska since 2019 has prompted the call to end the race from an animal rights group. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)

2 dogs die during 1,000-mile Iditarod, prompting call from PETA to end the race across Alaska

Two dogs have died during Alaska’s annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, marking the first time a dog has died during the race in five years and prompting renewed calls from an animal rights group to end the 1,000-mile race.

FILE - The sun sets outside of the northwest Alaska village of Point Hope on the Chukchi Sea, Feb. 21, 2024. An arraignment is scheduled Friday, March 8, 2024, for Guy Nashookpuk, a 16-year-old charged as an adult in the shooting deaths of two people in the remote Alaska whaling village of Point Hope. (Ka'ainoa Ravey via AP, File)

Alaska whaling village teen pleads not guilty to 16 felony counts in shooting that left 2 dead

A 16-year-old teen charged as an adult in the shooting deaths of two people in the northwest Alaska whaling village of Point Hope had not guilty pleas entered for him Friday by his public defender.

FILE - Dallas Seavey, Iditarod champion waves at the start of an Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Fairbanks, Alaska, March 6, 2017. Seavey's path to a possible record-breaking sixth title just got a little longer. Officials with the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, issued a two-hour time penalty to Seavey for not properly gutting a moose he killed in this year's race after the moose got tangled up with his dog team, One dog was injured. (AP Photo/Ellamarie Quimby, File)

Iditarod issues time penalty to Seavey for not properly gutting moose that he killed on the trail

Five-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey’s path to a possible record-breaking sixth title just got a little longer.

FILE - Dallas Seavey talks to officials after finishing the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, March 15, 2016, in Nome, Alaska. The veteran musher had to kill a moose after it injured his dog shortly after the start of the 2024 Iditarod, race officials said Monday, March 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)

5-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey kills and guts a moose that got entangled with his dog team

A veteran musher had to kill a moose after it injured his dog shortly after the start of this year’s Iditarod.

Ghost, left, and Sven, two leaders on the team of Ryan Redington, the 2023 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog champion, are shown ahead of a training run Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, in Knik, Alaska. Redington is one of three former champions in this year's race, which starts Saturday in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Alaska’s Iditarod dogs get neon visibility harnesses after 5 were fatally hit while training

The Iditarod, the annual sled dog race celebrating Alaska’s official state sport, got underway Saturday with a new emphasis on safety after five dogs died and eight were injured in collisions with snowmobiles while training.

The sun sets in the northwest Alaska village of Point Hope, on the Chukchi Sea on Feb. 21, 2024. A fatal shooting at a home in a remote Inupiat whaling village on Alaska's northwest coast on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024, shook the small community in Point Hope. (Ka'ainoa Ravey via AP)

A shooting stuns an indigenous whaling village on Alaska’s desolate North Slope

A shooting that left two dead and two others severely wounded has stunned a tiny Alaska Native whaling village above the Arctic Circle, where parents were told they could keep their children home from school Tuesday to hug them.

FILE - Iditarod winner Brent Sass poses for photos with lead dogs Morello, left, and Slater after winning the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Nome, Alaska, March 15, 2022. A second musher has been disqualified from the world’s most famous sled dog race. The governing body of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race said in a one-sentence statement late Thursday night, Feb. 22, 2024, that it has withdrawn 2022 champion Brent Sass just days before the start of this year’s race. (Anne Raup/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

Assault claims roil Iditarod sled dog race as 2 top mushers are disqualified, then 1 reinstated

Claims of violence against women are roiling the world’s most famous sled dog race — Alaska’s Iditarod.

FILE - Brian Steven Smith arrives in a courtroom after a break, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024, in Anchorage, Alaska. Smith, who recorded the violent death of an Alaska Native woman on his cellphone, was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, in her death and that of another Alaska Native woman. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)

Man found guilty of murder in Alaska Native woman’s killing that was captured on stolen memory card

A man who recorded the violent death of an Alaska Native woman on his cellphone was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in her death and that of another Alaska Native woman.

Eddie Burke Jr. is photographed at the 2023 Iditarod musher banquet in Anchorage, Alaska. After an emergency meeting Monday, Feb. 19, 2024, the Iditarod Trail Committee announced that Burke Jr. has been disqualified from this year’s race, just days before the March 2 ceremonial start in Anchorage. (Loren Holmes/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

Iditarod’s reigning rookie of the year disqualified from 2024 race for violating conduct standard

The governing body of the world’s most famous sled dog race has disqualified the 2023 Iditarod rookie of the year from this year’s contest by citing a rule but not the specific infraction.

Minnesota company and employee cited for reckless driving in Alaska crash that killed 3 sled dogs

Both a Minnesota man testing a snowmobile for his employer and the company have been cited for reckless driving after the machine slammed into a sled dog team and killed three dogs in December.

In this image provided by the Cooper Landing Emergency Services, a member of the Cooper Landing EMS rescuers looks at the mountain to see if troopers are bringing down avalanche survivors on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024, in Cooper Landing, Alaska. One backcountry skier died and two others were injured in an avalanche on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, as warm weather raises the risk for such events in the state. (Clay Adam/Cooper Landing Emergency Services via AP)

Skier killed, 2 others hurt after falling about 1,000 feet in Alaska avalanche

One backcountry skier died and two others were injured in an avalanche on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, as warm weather and high winds raise the risks for snowslides in the state.

FILE - The aftermath of a wildfire is visible in Lahaina, Hawaii, Aug. 17, 2023. The death toll from the Lahaina wildfire rose to 101 on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024, after Maui police confirmed the identity of one new victim, a 76-year-old man. Paul Kasprzycki of Lahaina died in the fire, Maui police said. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

Police confirm identity of 101st victim of huge Maui wildfire

The death toll from the wildfire that destroyed the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii, has climbed to 101 after Maui police confirmed the identity of one new victim, a 76-year-old man.

FILE - Dexter King, son of the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., listens to arguments in the State Court of Criminal Appeals in Jackson, Tenn., Friday, Aug. 29, 1997, to determine whether two Memphis judges have overstepped their authority surrounding the investigation of the King assassination. A memorial service was held Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, in Atlanta for Dexter Scott King, who died in January at the age of 62 after battling prostate cancer. (Helen Comer/The Jackson Sun via AP, Pool, File)

Dexter Scott King remembered during memorial as keeper of his father Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream

Dexter Scott King, the late son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, has been memorialized as the protector of his family’s legacy and the keeper of the dream during a service in Atlanta.

Brian Steven Smith arrives in a courtroom after a break on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024, in Anchorage, Alaska, The double murder trial of Smith, who is accused of killing two Alaska Native women, began Tuesday more than four years after a woman turned in a stolen digital memory card that authorities say contained gruesome recordings of one of the killings. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Prosecutor: Man accused of killing 2 Alaska Native women recorded images of both victims

A man accused of murdering two Alaska Native women recorded images of both of his victims, and the break in the case came when a third woman stole the man’s phone and provided police with photos and videos of one of the killings.

FILE - Brian Steven Smith sits in a courtroom in Anchorage, Alaska, Oct. 21, 2019. The double murder trial of Smith, a South Africa native accused of killing two Alaska Native women will begin this week, more than four years after a woman provided police with a digital memory card that authorities said contained images and video of one of the killings. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)

A woman stole a memory card from a truck. The gruesome footage is now key to an Alaska murder trial

The double murder trial of a man accused of killing two Alaska Native women is set to begin more than four years after a woman turned in a stolen digital memory card that authorities say contained gruesome recordings of one of the killings.

A moose crosses a residential street in the snow, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024, in Turnagain, Alaska. (Loren Holmes/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

It’s so cold and snowy in Alaska that fuel oil is thickening and roofs are collapsing

Much of Alaska has plunged into a deep freeze, with temperatures colder than minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit in recent days in some places.

FILE - Isil Mico takes a photo of her sister-in-law Oznur Mico in front of Snowzilla, a snowman measuring more than 20 feet tall, in Anchorage, Alaska on Jan. 10, 2024. A recent storm dropped nearly 16 inches of snow on Anchorage, bringing the seasonal total to over 103 inches. It’s the earliest Alaska’s largest city has reached the 100-inch mark. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)

‘Pandemic of snow’ in Anchorage sets a record for the earliest arrival of 100 inches of snow

Even by Alaska standards, there is a lot of snow this winter. A new storm has dropped nearly 17 more inches of snow on Anchorage, bringing the seasonal total past 100 inches.

FILE - Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows speaks at the inauguration of Gov. Janet Mills, Jan. 4, 2023, at the Civic Center in Augusta, Maine. A swatting call was made Friday, Dec. 29, 2023, to the home of Bellows. A man called emergency services saying he broke into a house in Manchester, Maine, which turned out to be Bellows' home. No one was home at the time, and responding officers found nothing suspicious. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

Maine state official who removed Trump from ballot was targeted in swatting call at her home

A fake swatting call was made to the home of Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. The Maine Department of Public Safety says a man called emergency services Friday night claiming he broke into a house in Manchester, which turned out to be Bellows’ home.

This image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows a reported fire aboard the 410-foot cargo vessel Genius Star XI, approximately 200 miles southwest of Dutch Harbor, Alaska on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2023. The large cargo ship with a fire in its hold is being kept 2 miles (3.22 kilometers) offshore of an Alaska port as a precaution while efforts are undertaken to extinguish the flames, the U.S. Coast Guard said Saturday. (Lt.Cmdr. Michael Salerno/U.S. Coast Guard via AP)

Cargo ship carrying burning lithium-ion batteries reaches Alaska, but kept offshore for safety

The U.S. Coast Guard said a large cargo ship with an active fire in its hold is being kept 2 miles offshore of an Alaska port as a precaution while efforts are undertaken to extinguish the flames.

Briena Mae Rabang, 10, holds the ashes of her great-grandmother Sharlene Rabang, who was named as the 100th victim of the Lahaina wildfire, while posing for a photo with her father Branden, left, and grandfather Brandon, right, Friday, Dec. 8, 2023, in Kahului, Hawaii. Sharlene's family fought to have her listed as a victim due to smoke inhalation after she died weeks after fleeing the fire. "Me and my mom was really close, we talked multiple times a day," Brandon said. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

She died weeks after fleeing the Maui wildfire. Her family fought to have her listed as a victim

A wildfire that tore through the heart of the Hawaii island of Maui this summer showed how older residents are at particular risk from disasters.

Pauline Golodoff, left, and George Kudrin hold an iPad featuring images of their deceased spouses, Gregory Golodoff and Elizabeth Golodoff Kurdrin, Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, in Anchorage, Alaska. Gregory and Elizabeth were the last two living residents of Attu, Alaska, whose entire population was captured by the Japanese during World War II and sent to Japan until being liberated after the war. The community of Attu was not rebuilt, and residents were resettled elsewhere, mostly in Atka, Alaska. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Death of last surviving Alaskan taken by Japan during WWII rekindles memories of forgotten battle

Gregory Golodoff, the last survivor among 41 residents imprisoned in Japan after Japanese troops captured the remote Alaska island of Attu during World War II, has died.

This photo provided by the Alaska Department of Public Safety shows boat operators patrolling the waters near a massive landslide that extends into the sea at mile 11 of the Zimovia Highway, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023, in Wrangell, Alaska. Search and rescue operations have been ongoing since the incident was reported Nov. 20, 2023. Three people have died and searchers looked Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023, for three others who remain missing after a landslide ripped through a remote Alaska fishing community on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023. (Alaska Department of Public Safety via AP)

Search continues for the missing after landslide leaves 3 dead in Alaska fishing community

Three people are dead and three others remain missing after a landslide ripped through a remote Alaska fishing community this week.

This photo provided by the Alaska Department of Public Safety shows the landslide that occurred the previous evening near Wrangell, Alaska, on Nov. 21, 2023. Authorities said at least one person died and others were believed missing after the large landslide roared down a mountaintop into the path of three homes. (Alaska Department of Public Safety via AP)

3 dead and 3 missing after landslide rips through remote Alaska fishing community

Three people have been killed and three more are missing after a landslide ripped through a remote Alaskan fishing community.

FILE - Navy Lt. Don Walsh is photographed on Jan. 23, 1960. Walsh, an explorer who in 1960 was part of a two-man crew that made the first voyage to the deepest part of the ocean — to the “snuff-colored ooze” at the bottom of the Mariana Trench — has died. He was 92. Walsh died Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023, at his home in Myrtle Point, Ore., his daughter, Elizabeth Walsh, said Monday, Nov. 20. (AP Photo, File)

Deep sea explorer Don Walsh, part of 2-man crew to first reach deepest point of ocean, dies at 92

Retired Navy Capt. Don Walsh, an explorer who in 1960 was part of a two-man crew that made the first voyage to the deepest part of the ocean in the Mariana Trench has died.

A pedestrian pushes a shopping cart on Cordova Street during a heavy snowfall, Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023 in Anchorage, Alaska. Four homeless people have died in Anchorage in the last week, underscoring the city’s ongoing struggle to house a large houseless population at the same time winter weather has returned, with more than 2 feet (0.61 meters) of snow falling within 48 hours. (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

Anchorage adds more shelter beds after unusually high amount of snow and record outdoor deaths

Anchorage scrambled Tuesday to come up with more temporary housing for the homeless after back-to-back snowstorms dumped more than 3 feet of snow on the city in just nine days, an amount that is high even by Alaska standards.