🌱 Take-Home Rapid Tests At Airport + Soldier Found Dead In Car

Morning, Anchorage! It's Friday, so let's get you started with everything you need to know going on around town today.

First, today's weather:

Very cold with periods of sun. High: 4 Low: -3.

Here are the top stories today in Anchorage:

1. Take-home COVID-19 rapid tests will be available to incoming travelers at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport starting this week. Passengers can pick up free, over-the-counter, rapid antigen tests between deplaning and grabbing their luggage. Tests will be given away through a pilot program in Anchorage, with the expectation that it will expand to other airports around the state, according to state pharmacist Coleman Cutchins. (Yahoo News)
2. A U.S. Army Alaska soldier, 30-year-old Sgt. Miles Jordan Tarron, was found dead in his vehicle in Anchorage on Sunday, Nov. 28. Tarron was an Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) weapons and Weapons of Mass Destruction specialist with the 6th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. The cause of his death is under investigation by the Anchorage Police Department and the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID), however foul play is not suspected. (Alaska Native News)
3. Anchorage's busiest COVID-19 testing site, at Loussac Library, closed abruptly on Wednesday and was replaced at a new location operated by a different company on a nearby vacant lot by the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center. Longstanding testing contractor Visit Healthcare is being replaced by Capstone Family Medicine, a Wasilla-based company that operates medical clinics, but also scores of COVID-19 testing sites around the state, including at airports and in local communities. Testing remains free, including for those without insurance. (Yahoo News)

Today's Anchorage Daily is brought to you in part by our friends at Verizon. They're building the fastest 5G network in the country. To learn how 5G is going to change life for you and your community — and to get access to this amazing technology — click here. And thank you Verizon for sponsoring this community resource in Anchorage!

Today in Anchorage:

• Toddler Storytime @ Loussac - Anchorage Public Library (11:00 AM)
• VolunTEEN Fridays @ Loussac - Anchorage Public Library (3:30 PM)

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— Miranda Fraraccio

About me: Miranda Fraraccio is a born and raised Rhode Islander. She works as a freelance copywriter for content creation agency Lightning Media Partners and as an assistant producer for a live-lit storytelling show in Chicago. She holds a degree in Writing & Rhetoric and Communication Studies from The University of Rhode Island. In her free time, you can find her traveling, hiking, or photographing her neighborhood as a street photographer.