New, bear-proof roll carts are replacing an older generation of trash bins in some neighborhoods in Kodiak this week. Alaska Waste is supplying the new carts free of charge, as a part of their renewed waste hauling contract, which begins July 1. The bear-resistant bins have a special latch in the lid to prevent easy opening, whereas the older bin …

Last week, Koniag announced a $50,000 donation to support COVID-19 response efforts for Alaska Native tribes and other beneficiaries on the Kodiak archipelago. President of Koniag, Shauna Hegna, says the corporation has met with tribal leaders and village corporation leaders four times since the beginning of the pandemic, and narrowed down their top concern to food security. Part of the …

K-12 classes have moved online, and with them, extracurriculars are going virtual too. For more than a month, Next Step Dance in Kodiak has hosted a “digital dance studio” through Zoom, to keep almost 300 young students practicing choreography from home. Mary Beth Loewen teaches a ballet class via video conference. (Photo courtesy Mary Beth Loewen) Mary Beth Loewen has …

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a range of new challenges for small businesses in Kodiak. For many, with most of the community hunkered down at home, sales have been hit hard. “Initially, basically 50 percent of our sales disappeared overnight,” Dan Rohrer, owner of the two Subway restaurants in town, said. “Now, I think last week, [the] downtown store was …

The Alaska Municipal League is predicting the COVID-19 pandemic will incur between 200 and 250 million dollars in expenditures by local governments. AML calculated another 200 to 250 million dollar impact to municipal revenues, with the loss of tourism and other impacted industries. Federal money from the two trillion dollar CARES Act, passed last month, is expected to offset some …

This week brought some confusion to the process of reopening businesses in Alaska. On Wednesday, a new state health mandate preempted local authority over how the reopening process would happen, but less than 24 hours later, the state returned control to local decision-makers. As of Friday, the state authorized restaurants, retail stores and other service businesses to reopen with some …

Health Mandate 17 is a set of requirements for independent commercial fishing vessels across the state of Alaska. It requires traveling fishermen to wear face masks, sets self-quarantine measures for fishermen arriving from out of state, or from a different community within Alaska, outlines COVID-19 screening questions and more. The full set of requirements is linked here. The full mandate, …

Health Mandate 16 outlines the process by which some businesses, including restaurants and some service businesses may begin to open, while following certain guidelines and limitations. The mandate went into effect Friday at 8 a.m. It is posted below with minor editing. COVID-19 HEALTH MANDATE Issued: April 22, 2020 By: Governor Mike Dunleavy, Commissioner Adam Crum, Alaska Department of Health …

Friday marks one month since Kodiak issued a “hunker down” notice for residents. With all school activities continuing from home and many businesses partially or completely closed down, mental health professionals are recognizing a significant amount of anxiety in the community. “I know last week when the first COVID case was diagnosed here in Kodiak, that spiked quite a bit …