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Jay Barrett/KMXT About a year ago the oversight for bars and liquor stores in Alaska was returned to the State Department of Commerce, where it had been until Governor Frank Murkowski moved the Alcohol Beverage Control Board to the Department of Law. As Dale Foxx, head of the state’s largest liquor lobby pointed out on a recent visit to Kodiak, …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT It was a full house during last night’s borough assembly meeting, one that erupted with applause when the assembly defeated a contentious secondhand smoking ordinance. The ordinance would have put the question of whether or not to allow smoking in indoor public places on the fall ballot. But the assembly’s 4-0 decision means Kodiak residents won’t get to …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT Earlier this week KMXT told you about a number of borough positions opening up for the fall election. Those include two borough assembly seats and the office of borough mayor. On the city side of things, Mayor Pat Branson’s term also expires this year, which adds another mayoral opening come October. Likewise, the seats of Councilmen John Whiddon …

Jay Barrett/KMXT The petition to allow Alaskan voters a voice in the debate on oil taxes was turned in last Saturday with far more signatures than required. If certified, it would ask Alaskans to vote in 2014 on repealing the billion-dollar-a-year tax break pushed by Governor Sean Parnell and passed by the legislature this year. It took several years to …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT The Kodiak Arts Council recently released its performing arts season line up. Arts Council Program Coordinator Kate Helligso said this is the first season the organization’s executive director, Katie Oliver, put together, and Helligso said it should be a good one. “We have a great line up this year that Katie’s worked really hard on since she became …

KODIAK, Alaska (AP) — Alaska State Troopers say a loaded semiautomatic gun was found in a carry-on backpack of the 26-year-old Kodiak man trying to board an Anchorage-bound plane. Troopers were contacted Wednesday evening by the Transportation Security Administration at the Kodiak Benny Benson State Airport. According to troopers, the man transported a .40-caliber semiautomatic gun into the TSA checkpoint …

Jay Barrett/KMXT The 16-year-old Kodiak boy shot who was shot by another teen on Sunday evening has died in Anchorage. Kodiak Police Department Lieutenant Ray Ellis said the boy succumbed to his injuries yesterday (Wednesday). Ellis declined to release the name of the victim, citing his age. He likewise couldn’t release the name of the 15-year-old boy who is accused …

The main hall of the new library will feature private study rooms, multiple lounge areas and a gas fireplace, as well as the main book collection. The wooden pillars are trees that were harvested from the new site. Construction on the library is set to wrap up October 15, and the facility should open its doors in early November. Brianna …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT Tonight the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly will hold a public hearing on a hot button item that has been stirring up quite a few community comments in the past few weeks – second hand smoke. But tonight the assembly will not be deciding whether or not smoking should be allowed in indoor public places, rather if Kodiak residents …

Officer Mike Barnett stands with Max the police dog and their K-9 Patrol Unit. The two have been working together for almost seven years. Brianna Gibbs/KMXT photo Brianna Gibbs/KMXT Seven years ago, Kodiak Police Officer Mike Barnett embarked on a life-changing endeavor when he applied for and was reassigned to be Kodiak’s lone K-9 officer. Since then, Barnett and his …