News

Shaylon Cochran/KDLL and Jay Barrett/KMXT The Funny River Fire that has been burning on the Kenai Peninsula since Monday grew to nearly 63,000 acres overnight, and smoke continues to fill the sky from Kasilof to Kodiak. Dan Nelson, the Health and Safety Officer for Central Emergency Services in Soldotna, says the fire is only about five percent contained, but is …

Marina Cummiskey/KMXT Kodiak’s annual Crab Festival kicked off today, bringing with it all the long-time traditions that will occur throughout this weekend. However, as KMXT’s student news intern Marina Cummiskey discovered, a new event is coming to Kodiak this year.

Jay Barrett/KMXT The democratic challenger to Alaska’s longest-serving delegate to Washington D.C. will be in Kodiak for Crab Fest. Twenty-nine-year-old Forest Dunbar is Representative Don Young’s main competitor this year, though perennial candidate Frank Vondezaar of Homer has also filed as a Democrat. Dunbar said his reason for seeking Alaska’s lone U.S. House seat is simple: he believes Congressman Young …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT This month is shaping out to be one of the driest Mays on record. “To date we have had 0.31 inches of precipitation this month.” That’s Craig Eckert, the station manager for the National Weather Service office in Kodiak. Eckert said if the recent dry spell continues through the end of the month it will break the record. …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT Kodiak Area Native Association is set to receive grant funds from the federal government. A press release from U.S. Senator Mark Begich’s office announced that $384,000 will go to KANA, specifically to be used for treatment of depression. KANA was awarded the money as a sub-grantee of the John A. Hartford foundation and the release said it will …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT The Kodiak City Council will gather for a regular meeting tonight and hear the first reading of its FY 2015 budget ordinance. If approved, the budget will then move on to a public hearing and second vote during the council’s next regular meeting. Also on tonight’s agenda is the second reading and public hearing on a n ordinance …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT Kodiak’s annual Crab Festival starts tomorrow and it will be a different one than most folks are used to. Last year Golden Wheel, the long-time vendor for rides, said they would not be returning for this year’s festival. That left folks like Summer Wood, the community relations director for the Chamber of Commerce and Crab Fest Manager, scratching …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT People will have a chance to provide input on a replacement vessel for the ferry Tustumena. Tuesday night the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities will hold an open meeting at the Kodiak Public Library to give folks an opportunity to add their voice to the department’s replacement process and hear what plans are already in the …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT A former crab researcher and Kodiak resident just spent the past three-and-a-half years editing a reference book devoted to the biology and fisheries of king crab. Brad Stevens was in Kodiak visiting a few weeks ago and said the book is the first textbook to focus entirely on king crab. Stevens lived in Kodiak from the 1980s until …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT Last week the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly approved a pay increase for certain borough employees, in addition to retroactively paying them salary differences. The vote on the matter was a long time coming and the result of a employee classification and compensation study done by Fox Lawson and Associates last May. The assembly accepted the study at that …