The Alaska Department of Education finished its headcount for school districts across the state last month. The village of Old Harbor listed ten more students this year than last year according to the Kodiak Island Borough School District.  Dr. Cyndy Mika in her office, June 1, 2023. (Brian Venua/KMXT) “Last year we had about 29 students out there and this …

Kodiak had a few events to celebrate Halloween but the centerpiece event was the downtown trick or treating held by the Chamber of Commerce. Hundreds of costumed children wandered downtown in the rain and wind to fill their buckets and bags for the holiday.  Some of the kids wore rain and winter coats for the cold. (Brian Venua/KMXT) Beth Koehler …

The Islander Bookshop is one of a handful of local businesses that announced it’s moving into the mall. It’s relocating from a small storefront about a mile north of downtown.  “It just blows my mind that in 2023, an indie bookstore, not in the lower 48 but on this island, pretty far out there, can expand – triple our size,” …

A legal back and forth between the Kodiak Island Borough and the Kodiak Area Native Association over property taxes is headed to the Alaska Supreme Court.  KANA has been paying property taxes despite claiming that the organization should be under a Bureau of Indian Affairs exemption for serving Native people.  The Native association sued the Kodiak Island Borough three years …

On Today’s Midday Report with Host Mike Wall: the school in Karluk will close just one month after opening, a Bristol Bay woman is missing, the Kenai Peninsula School District will not open a charter school, and the state government is pursing a logging project despite Whales Pass them to pursue carbon credits.   The Church of St. Nicholas, a …

The decision to close the Karluk school was unanimous at an emergency school board meeting on Oct. 24.  “It’s a sad day when you have to close a school,” said Cyndy Mika, the Kodiak Island Borough School District superintendent. “And it’s not anything that I ever wanted to do in my tenure – it’s nothing that I want to ever …

Chadwick Watters works for Leader Creek Fisheries in Naknek – near Bristol Bay – and is at the end of an in-person ammonia refrigeration training.  “This class was advertised to us through our facility manager and he kind of told us that this would be a good opportunity to learn more, get more hands on experience and really go into …

An atkuk is a type of traditional Alutiiq clothing.  “The snow falling parka is what these are sometimes known as and when someone is dancing, wearing it, you see the ermine tails just sort of sway and it really does look like snow falling,” said Amanda Landcaster, the curator of collections at the Alutiiq Museum.  The new Atkuk was made …

Kodiak’s wholesale store, Cost Savers, was sold last week to the Native Village of Afognak and the Sun’aq Tribe. The joint venture was announced in a press release on Oct. 12. It’s the latest move in improving food security on the island.  The deal was in the works for about two months before it was announced. The Native Village of …

The Tustumena, a ferry that shuttles passengers between communities like Homer, Kodiak, and Unalaska, is laid up in a shipyard in Seward for repairs.  “(It’s) not something that we can fix while it’s in the water,” said Sam Dapcevich, a public information officer for the Alaska Marine Highway System. “So they’re going to haul it out in Seward and evaluate …