KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska

Jay Barrett/KMXT An encounter last month between a fishing vessel and a whale in Uyak Bay ended badly for the whale. Apparently a 60-foot Fin whale feeding in the bay on the morning of April 17 wound up hooking its baleen on the anchor line of the 48-foot boat and couldn’t get loose. Marine Mammal specialist Kate Wynne with the …

Jennifer Canfield/KMXT The FBI is asking for help in locating the gun they believe was used to murder Petty Officer 1st Class James Hopkins and retired Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Richard Belisle last month at the Coast Guard Communications Station. Investigators want to speak with anyone who might have sold or traded a .44-caliber revolver in the last year, …

Jennifer Canfield/KMXT The Kodiak Island Borough Assembly will vote tomorrow on the minimum level of funding for education. After $854,000 in cuts, the Kodiak Island Borough School District is hoping that the borough will fund to the $10.3 million cap. The school district’s budget is about a half million more than last year’s though- as school officials say- it’s not …

Jennifer Canfield/KMXT This week’s guests are Kodiak Island Borough School District Superintendent Stewart McDonald and School Board President Melissa Borton. They will discuss this year’s education budget and potential cuts.

Jennifer Canfield/KMXT This week’s guests are Kodiak Island Borough School District Superintendent Stewart McDonald and School Board President Melissa Borton. They will discuss this year’s education budget and potential cuts.

Jennifer Canfield/KMXT Rural post offices across the country are off the chopping block as part of new plan proposed by the U.S. Postal Service last week. Instead of mass closures, the Postal Service has proposed to cut hours at over 13,000 locations. Over 90 locations in Alaska could see their hours cut; four of those are in the Kodiak area. …

Jay Barrett/KMXT A relatively rare virus in Alaska is being looked at as the cause to an unusually high number of premature births among Steller Sea Lions around Kodiak Island. Marine mammal specialist Kate Wynne, with the University of Alaska’s Marine Advisory Program, says she found four dead pups while on a routine trip to sea lion haulouts this spring.

Jay Barrett/KMXT Governor Sean Parnell signed both the state operating budget and the state capital projects budget yesterday afternoon, and like much of the state, Kodiak did not have projects vetoed. In fact, of the $66-million vetoed by the governor, $50-million of that was for the Judicial Retirement Trust Fund. The combined budgets total about $12-billion – $9-billion to run …