The City of Kodiak is back pedaling on its plans to create two new parks on city property in separate locations – one downtown at St. Paul Plaza and the other at Gibson Cove. That’s after city officials say there isn’t enough money in the fiscal year 2027 budget to pursue potential designs for the two parks.

The fourth graders at Kodiak’s Main Elementary School released the salmon fry they’ve been raising since October into Island Lake on May 21. The release is part of a year-round “Salmon in the Classroom” program hosted by the Kodiak Regional Aquaculture Association, where fourth graders across the archipelago learn about the salmon life cycle in a hands-on way.Students got to name their fry, release them into the lake using a paper cup, and wish them well on their journey to the ocean.

About $13.8 million in taxpayer money is going to the Kodiak Island Borough School District after the Borough Assembly on May 21 set the final contribution for the upcoming fiscal year, FY'2027. That’s about half the increase school officials were hoping for, which means more school personnel cuts are coming.

The cancelations come at a challenging time for rescheduling. The Tustumena is slated for a chain run starting Wednesday, June 3, meaning that she will be headed to the Aleutian Islands and won’t return to Kodiak until the night of June 8.

Although cases are rare in the state, researchers are worried the disease could become more prevalent as a result of warming temperatures.

An education professor in Kodiak who has spent years developing homegrown teachers across Alaska and building the pipeline to drive more into the high-demand profession is retiring.

On May 15 the Assistant Administrator of NOAA Fisheries Eugenio Piñeiro Soler, the Alaska Regional Adminstrator Jon Kurland, and the Alaska Fisheries Science Center Director Bob Foy met with local residents in Kodiak for a community reception.

The Kodiak Island Borough School District is offering a new incentive to retain its temporary international teachers. This is after the Trump administration priced the district out of international recruiting last year through a massive visa fee hike. Now the district wants to sponsor these teachers to get green cards – permanent legal residency – for about $10,000 each.

Closures on the west side of the island aim to protect the Karluk and Ayakulik Chinook runs, which have hit record lows over the past few years.

Scientists worry the two phenomena will result in unusually warm conditions that could damage marine ecosystems.