KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska

Jay Barrett/KMXT Kodiak’s pink salmon have started exerting their numerical dominance in fisheries around the islands. With a catch Monday of 311,627, the season haul exceeded the sockeye harvest. About 1.85-million red salmon have been taken by Kodiak’s fleet, with the humpy harvest at 2.1-million. The reds are still running pretty strong, with a catch of almost 20,000 yesterday. Just …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT Brigid and Harry Dodge, and their dog Loyal, stand at the head of Uyak Bay on the west side of Kodiak Island. The two have been operating Kodiak Treks, a bear viewing guide service, for about 17 years. It’s no secret that Kodiak is known for its bears. Each year thousands of tourists flock to the island with …

Jay Barrett/KMXT An early-morning electrical outage left canneries along the Kodiak waterfront without power, according to Kodiak Electric Association President Darron Scott. An electrical fault caused a circuit breaker to trip at the Hartman Substation. While crews were troubleshooting that outage, an additional component failed, resulting in an outage on Center and Mission streets. The 8:55 a.m. power surge caused …

The Flying Karamazov Brothers highlight the Kodiak Arts Council Performing Arts Season. Brianna Gibbs/KMXT The Kodiak Arts Council recently released its performing arts season line up. Arts Council Program Coordinator Kate Helligso said this is the first season the organization’s executive director, Katie Oliver, put together, and Helligso said it should be a good one. “We have a great line …

Jay Barrett/KMXT About a year ago the oversight for bars and liquor stores in Alaska was returned to the State Department of Commerce, where it had been until Governor Frank Murkowski moved the Alcohol Beverage Control Board to the Department of Law. As Dale Foxx, head of the state’s largest liquor lobby pointed out on a recent visit to Kodiak, …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT It was a full house during last night’s borough assembly meeting, one that erupted with applause when the assembly defeated a contentious secondhand smoking ordinance. The ordinance would have put the question of whether or not to allow smoking in indoor public places on the fall ballot. But the assembly’s 4-0 decision means Kodiak residents won’t get to …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT Earlier this week KMXT told you about a number of borough positions opening up for the fall election. Those include two borough assembly seats and the office of borough mayor. On the city side of things, Mayor Pat Branson’s term also expires this year, which adds another mayoral opening come October. Likewise, the seats of Councilmen John Whiddon …

Jay Barrett/KMXT The petition to allow Alaskan voters a voice in the debate on oil taxes was turned in last Saturday with far more signatures than required. If certified, it would ask Alaskans to vote in 2014 on repealing the billion-dollar-a-year tax break pushed by Governor Sean Parnell and passed by the legislature this year. It took several years to …