Jency Martinez (left) and her mother, Maria Portillo work in their family food truck in Kodiak on June 9, 2018. (Photo by Daysha Eaton/KMXT) Food trucks are common in Anchorage and in other, bigger communities across Alaska but, for the most part, they are still rare in smaller places. One food truck in Kodiak is creating quite a stir, serving …

Food from Filipino American Friendship Day. (Photo by Daysha Eaton/KMXT) Daysha Eaton/KMXT Kodiak residents celebrated Independence Day with their annual parade downtown Wednesday. Music blasted from a line of floats and people in the lineup threw candy to children, who scrambled in the streets to collect it. The parade included service members from Coast Guard Base Kodiak, local emergency services …

Whale carcass. (Photo Courtesy of Kathy Burek, Alaska Veterinary Pathology Services as authorized by NOAA’s Marine Mammal Stranding Program.) Daysha Eaton/KMXT Three dead gray whales washed up on two different Kodiak Island beaches recently. The strandings happened within the span of a week, said Mandy Migura, Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Coordinator with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. The …

Judge Steve Cole (Photo by Daysha Eaton/KMXT) Daysha Eaton/KMXT Kodiak’s only Superior Court Judge, Steve Cole, will retire at the end of January 2019 after a decade on the bench. The 65-year-old judge came to  Kodiak as a Vista volunteer in 1974. He worked as an unpaid paralegal and eventually earned a law degree from the University of Colorado at …

BearTown Market. (Photo by Daysha Eaton/KMXT) The BearTown Market featuring arts and crafts is open for business on the ground floor of the Kodiak Harbor Convention Center. “It’s just a conglomerate of Alaskan artists, so everything is made here on island or Alaskan-made,” said Maggie Delleman, an organizer for the market. She sells plant-based skincare products and Sitka spruce essential oil. She’s one …

(Photo Courtesy of Salvation Army of Kodiak) Lt. Jason Waggnor and Engineer Matt Corriere with Bayside Fire Department. Daysha Eaton/KMXT Alaskans are used to hearing the ringing of the Salvation Army bells at Christmastime. Now, they’ll be hearing them in July. “So, just like Christmas where we ring all month long in the month of December, this one, we’re just going to do …

Photo Courtesy of Great Land Trust. Daysha Eaton/KMXT More than 3,000 acres of ecologically rich land on Afognak Island is now protected through a wildlife and recreation corridor. “There has been some logging in the area, but it is fairly minimal,” said Ellen Kazary, Executive Director for  the conservation non-profit, Great Land Trust. “So, you are flying over these impressive …

Photo Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard. By Daysha Eaton/KMXT An illegal fishing vessel was intercepted off the coast of Japan with 80 tons of Chum salmon and one ton of squid onboard. “Legally, they can go up to about two-and-half kilometers. This vessel had almost five times the legal limit of nets,” said Captain Darran McLenon, chief of response for the …

Dennis Harris. (Photo Courtesy of Dennis Harris) By Daysha Eaton/KMXT Dennis Harris of Kodiak is running as a democrat to represent District 32, trying to unseat two-term incumbent Republican representative Louise Stutes. Harris says Alaska needs legislators who look at evidence and care about people. “A lot of people are doing things because they are partisan. They’re doing things because …

Alaska Aerospace Corporation launch facility on Narrow Cape. (Photo courtesy of Alaska Aerospace Corporation) An Anchorage Daily News story alleges that the state-owned rocket launch complex on Kodiak Island may have been involved in government waste and improprieties in awarding a contract. The aerospace corporation is owned by the state and runs the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska at Narrow Cape. It …