Free Republic

Residents in America's northernmost town of Utqiagvik, Alaska, saw their last sunrise for two months on Monday. The sun set at 1:27 p.m. local time on Monday and won't rise again until 1:15 p.m. on January 22, the Washington Post reported, where it will shine for less than an hour before sinking once more. This months long period of darkness is known as the polar night. Daylight will then gradually increase each day until the sun remains in the sky for 24 hours a day for roughly two months, in what is known as the midnight sun, during the summer...

On Monday and Tuesday, NBC weatherman Al Roker reported live from Utqiagvik, Alaska, the northernmost town in the United States, labeling it “ground zero for climate change.” Throughout the segment, Roker implored the nation to “make a commitment” to abandon fossil fuels and assured viewers: “This is not a theory, this is reality here.” “We are back with our special series Al in the Arctic. Al’s there exploring an issue that a lot of folks all over the world are concerned about, and rightfully so, climate change,” co-host Craig Melvin announced during the Today show’s 8:00 a.m. ET hour on...

Residents in the nation’s northernmost community have voted to change the name of the Alaska town to its traditional Inupiat Eskimo name. A slight majority of voters in the largely Inupiat city of Barrow approved efforts to change the community’s name to Utqiagvik (oot-GHAR-vik) in their local election Oct. 4. The vote was tight, with 381 in favor of the name change and 375 against it. “Basically, it reinforces the cultural identity of the people,” said Mayor Bob Harcharek, who is not Native. He noted that early day missionaries set up schools in the area where students were forbidden to...