Newsflash

Julia Fine. Photo by Kayla Desroches / KMXT Kayla Desroches/KMXT A linguist will dedicate the second installment in the Alutiiq Museum’s fall lecture series to one Alutiiq word. Julia Fine, a graduate student at the University of California Santa Barbara, has been coming to Kodiak for the last few years to help out on the Alutiiq language scene. She’s interned …

Old Harbor playground. Photo by Matt Gandel Kayla Desroches/KMXT The Kodiak Island Borough wrapped up construction on the new village playgrounds just in time for the beginning of the school year. They started work in May and completed construction this month for a total project budget of around $870,000. Borough project manager Matt Gandel says the original wooden playgrounds dated …

Kathryn Adkins/City of Port Lions Mitch Borden/KMXT It’s taken almost two decades, but soon the city of Port Lions will finally have another barrier to protect its boats from waves and currents. Since the 1980s, boats at the Port Lions’ harbor have had one wall between them and the open ocean, but it hasn’t been enough to keep rough seas …

Mitch Borden/KMXT Mitch Borden/KMXT At a recent community forum in Kodiak, members of the Alaska House of Representatives addressed the state’s budget deficit and one viable, yet unpopular solution: an income tax. It was an open forum, so most of the time was spent on audience questions. Jessica Penaloza was in the audience and stood up to share with the …

FBI and local authorities on scene at arrest. Eric Keto / Alaska Energy Desk Kayla Desroches/KMXT The City of Kodiak has struggled with robberies, theft, and other drug-related crime over the last few years. Local and federal authorities signed an agreement in 2014 to try to clamp down on it. The partnership, called the Safe Streets Task Force, focuses on …

Jim Harmon, executive director of SeaShare, delivering fish in 2016. Kayla Desroches/KMXT Kayla Desroches / KMXT This morning, almost 15,000 pounds of frozen halibut took off from U.S. Coast Guard Base Kodiak on a C-130 aircraft. It’s heading to Nome and Kotzebue as part of a donation through SeaShare. The Seattle-based nonprofit has been organizing the operation locally for five …

On today’s Talk of the Rock, Representative Louise Stutes talks about her bill, HB 199, also known as the Wild Salmon Legacy Act. It strives to strengthen the protection for salmon habitats in Alaska through a reformation of the permitting process and clearer permitting guidelines. Also joining are fisherman Brent Watkins and Trout Unlimited representative Sam Snyder. Later, host Kayla …

Lisa Hupp/USFWS Mitch Borden/KMXT Deer Hunters on Kodiak Island need to be careful of bears this season. That’s because this year there’s a shortage of berries Kodiak brown bears depend on for food. This includes salmon berries and elderberries. Bill Pyle, supervisory wildlife biologist for the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, says this lack of food will affect how bears act. …

Director of Special Services Geoff Smith (far right) speaks to board of education. Kayla Desroches / KMXT Kayla Desroches/KMXT Like many school districts across the state, the Kodiak Island Borough School District is seeing a shortage of teachers this year. The beginning of the school year is only a week away, but there are still a number of vacant positions …

Christina Thompson. Kayla Desroches / KMXT Kayla Desroches/KMXT The Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository’s new events specialist is in charge of putting the museum on the social media radar. Kodiak-born Christina Thompson says the organization already has a presence on Facebook, and she’s focused on image-based sites like Instagram. “Everybody’s on social media. Twelve-year-olds have cell phones right now, so …