KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT The Kodiak Island Borough will welcome a new face in the coming months. The borough plans to hire Erick Strahl as borough manager. Former Manager Rick Gifford left sometime in June and Bud Cassidy has been filling the position since then. Mayor Jerome Selby said the hiring process took multiple months because the borough was trying to be …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT A few weeks ago a dead humpback whale washed up on a beach in Chiniak after what was most likely a killer whale attack. Marine mammal specialist Bree Witteveen told KMXT that the plan was to leave the whale on the beach and let it decompose naturally, but she reminded Kodiak residents that it is illegal to take …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT Despite having to cancel its work session on Tuesday, the Kodiak City Council is scheduled to meet for a regular meeting tonight in the borough assembly chambers. Heavy fog prevented a number of members from returning to Kodiak and the work session on Tuesday was cancelled because due to lack of a quorum. Items that were on that …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT Some Kodiak residents got company this week when some four-legged mammals paid a visit in their neighborhoods. Kodiak Police Lieutenant Kyle Valerio said now is the time of year that community members can expect more bears to be out and about in residential areas. “In the town primary, Kodiak, we’ve had the last few days reports of two …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT Two years ago, KMXT spoke with our friend Wes Hanna. At the time, he was visiting from Portland, but had high hopes of returning some day to Kodiak, the community he had come to call his own – which he has. But a life-long health condition had postponed that dream. Hanna had kidney disease, and was about to …

Jay Barrett/KMXT Senator Mark Begich was on APRN’s Talk of Alaska with Lori Townsend Tuesday, taking phone calls from across the state and discussing a wide variety of topics. Alaska’s junior senator addressed the chinook salmon disaster declared in Western Alaska and Cook Inlet, saying a state declaration helps get the ball rolling in Washington D.C.

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and a recent study has shed some light on alarmingly high victim numbers in Kodiak. Rebecca Shields is the executive director of the Kodiak Women’s Resource and Crisis Center and said a survey was conducted within the Kodiak Island Borough to help provide a baseline of information.

Jay Barrett/KMXT In this day and age of constantly rising costs – especially energy costs – the smaller electric bills Kodiak residents have been receiving this month are doubly amazing. Kodiak Electric Association CEO Darron Scott wrote in the KEA newsletter the renewable energy resources used by the co-op have contributed to a reduction in the “COPA," the Cost of …