Polaris Lecture Featuring Kyle Hopkins

Polaris Event with Kyle Hopkins: Why People Get Away with Murder in Alaska
Wednesday, September 24, 2025 from 5:30-7 PM
Location: LIB 307

What we've learned over the past five years reporting on the Alaska justice system, including potential solutions for solving cold cases and preventing new homicide cases from going cold. We'll draw from interviews with defense attorneys, prosecutors, MMIP advocates, victims' families and convicted killers about the systemic failure points in Anchorage and smaller communities across the state.

Kyle Hopkins is an investigative reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica whose work examines failures in the Alaska justice system. He was the lead reporter on the “Lawless” series that received the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service and the 2021 Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma for its follow-up, “Unheard.” The series also earned the SPJ Ethics Award and the Ancil Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism. A graduate of UAF and the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from UAA, Hopkins has spent the past five years investigating why people get away with murder in Alaska.

Honors College students have the opportunity to attend a workshop on crime reporting before the event, from 4-5 PM! RSVP for the workshop here.

Also check out other Workshops in Anchorage.