Bethel Census Area
RSSNews from the Bethel Census Area, Alaska
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Ten rural Alaska communities can now vote in person on Election Day
Ten villages with no polling place can now vote in person on Election Day itself. In August, 75 ballots from the region arrived too late to count.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Kipnuk and Kwigillingok face coastal flooding as rain threatens Kwethluk and Kasigluk again
Kipnuk and Kwigillingok are under a coastal flood warning through Saturday, and rain could flood Kwethluk and Kasigluk again after last week's high water.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
The Lake Clark subsistence commission meets Oct. 3 to review federal wildlife rules
Sockeye is more than 60 percent of everything Port Alsworth and Nondalton take. The commission that advises on those rules meets on Oct. 3.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Murkowski's bill would extend a rural maternity program Alaska never used
Alaska has never won a grant from the rural maternity program Murkowski's new bill would keep funded. The same bill has died three times before.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Alaska Native tribes begin five-year youth suicide prevention programs
Ten Alaska Native tribes and health organizations begin five-year youth suicide prevention programs next week, sharing about $4.1 million in federal money.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Palmer pilot and Michigan passenger killed in eastern Alaska plane crash
Two people died when a Piper Super Cub went down in eastern Alaska on Sept. 17, two days after a separate crash near Aniak killed two men.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Bethel would lease city lots to a fiber contractor without taking bids
Bethel would lease six city lots to a fiber contractor for $201,600 without bids, and nothing in the packet shows how the price was set.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Bethel council to authorize $5,200 culvert easements the city signed months ago
Bethel City Council takes up an ordinance Tuesday authorizing $5,200 in perpetual culvert easements along Ptarmigan Road that the city manager already signed in May and June, with a public hearing Oct. 13.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Aniak basketball still plays as the Halfbreeds
Aniak basketball still uses a nickname students chose in the late 1970s to express the community's mixed Alaska Native and white ancestry.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4w ago1 min read
Search continues for missing Akiachak boater Jonathan Lomack
Jonathan Lomack, 59, of Akiachak, has been missing on the Kuskokwim River since Tuesday night, with his boat found empty and search crews from three communities now in their third day looking for him.
by Walter AlaskaNews4w ago2 min read
BIA sends nearly $800,000 to five Alaska tribal governments, most of it road money
The BIA sent about $794,000 to five Alaska tribes this month, mostly for roads in Y-K Delta villages that have no road system.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4w ago1 min read
Bethel's dock wall is failing and the Port Commission hasn't taken it up
The Corps warned Bethel that its City Dock wall is shifting out of alignment. The Port Commission hasn't managed to discuss it in seven months.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Kuskokwim closures lifted because the coho run ended, not because it recovered
Six weeks of Kuskokwim subsistence closures lifted Friday, not because the coho finally came back but because the run is over for the year.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Two dead in Piper Cub crash near Nabesna, troopers say
Two people died when a Piper Cub crashed shortly after takeoff from a dirt airstrip near Nabesna in Interior Alaska on Thursday evening, Sept. 17.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Petition would vacate Eek Street; comment by Oct. 20 or lose the right to object
A public street in Eek would become private property of the city and AVEC, no one has said why, and anyone who wants to object later has to speak up by Oct. 20.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Bethel council to vote Sept. 22 on paying utilities for Atsaq Place supportive housing
Bethel City Council votes Sept. 22 on paying water, sewer and waste utilities for Atsaq Place supportive housing, a 24-unit shelter for people experiencing homelessness.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Sullivan diesel-derate bill advances Senate committee 10-9
A Senate panel advanced Sullivan's diesel-derate bill 10-9. It mandates cold-weather relief while EPA separately considers broader changes.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Bethel flooding is forecast to return with Thursday morning's tide
The Kuskokwim River pushed water into low-lying Bethel this week and is expected to rise again Thursday, as onshore winds hold it back from draining.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Two missing after boat overturns near Bethel
Two people are missing after a boat overturned near Bethel on Tuesday afternoon. Search and rescue efforts are ongoing.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Two men die in a plane crash near Aniak, Troopers say
Two men were killed when a small plane crashed after taking off from a moose camp near Aniak, Alaska State Troopers said.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Dillingham forum puts two open Southwest Alaska legislative seats on one stage
Two senior rural lawmakers are leaving, eight candidates want their seats, and seven are listed for a Dillingham forum.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
A Bering Sea storm brings flooding and high winds to the Y-K Delta
A Bering Sea storm is bringing coastal flooding and damaging winds to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, including Kipnuk, still rebuilding from last year's typhoon.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Three Alaska disaster declarations have no Federal Register notice
Three Alaska disaster declarations have no federal notice, though rules require one. For the Mat-Su storm, the finished notice has sat unfiled since April.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Kipnuk households paid $18 million; no village infrastructure project
Kipnuk families got $18 million in disaster aid after losing 153 homes, but almost none of the money to rebuild roads, water and public buildings has come.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A Tanana company will dig diesel out from under old BIA school sites
The government left diesel in the ground under old BIA schools in Western Alaska. It is paying a Tanana company $247,786 to dig some of it out.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Museums have cleared 46 Alaska Native ancestors to come home
At least 46 Alaska Native ancestors and 14 belongings have been cleared to come home. Twelve of the dates they could have left have already passed.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
Flood watches cover McGrath and Fairbanks as one storm moves across Alaska
Flood watches take effect Monday for McGrath and Tuesday for Fairbanks as a multi-day storm brings heavy rain and wind across Alaska through Saturday.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
Bethel judge sentences Wassillie Brink to 30 years in Kasigluk assault
A man with a prior conviction for sexual abuse of a minor got 22 years to serve for a 2022 assault in Kasigluk. Western Alaska's rate is double the state's.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Alaska villages can rebuild after Halong. They can't use the money to move.
Western Alaska villages hit by Typhoon Halong can get federal money to rebuild, but not to relocate — the declaration left out hazard mitigation.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
Bethel's water plant has been sending filter backwash onto open ground
Water flushed from Bethel's treatment filters has been running onto the tundra instead of into the sewer lagoon. The city does not say for how long.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min read
Southwest Alaska carried most of the state's tuberculosis cases last year
Southwest Alaska, with about 5% of the state's population, had 46 of Alaska's 77 tuberculosis cases last year — roughly nineteen times Anchorage's rate.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Three Alaska National Guard wetland surveys go out to bid, with proposals due Sept. 21
Alaska Army National Guard is buying wetland surveys at three aviation facilities in Kotzebue, Bethel and Nome, budgeted at $45,000 to $50,000 each, with proposals due 2 p.m. Sept. 21.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
New independent expenditure group registers in Anchorage to back Nellie Jimmie's re-election
A new group will spend without limits to re-elect Rep. Nellie Jimmie. Its chair is general counsel of the Native corporation for her region.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Nine EPA climate grants for Alaska projects ended with 99 percent of $151 million unspent
$151 million in federal climate grants for Alaska tribes ended with less than 1% spent. One $20 million award was terminated the same day it was signed.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
Ninety-two Alaska water systems are listed as serious violators
Ninety-two Alaska water systems are federal serious violators, close to three times the national rate. The state has not brought a formal action since 2020.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
A $2 fix could cut $49,944 a year off Bethel's fitness center energy bill
Two dollars. That is what Bethel would have to spend to cut nearly $50,000 a year off the fitness center energy bill, according to an audit.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
The roof went on wrong at Bethel's gym expansion and has to come off
The roof and walls went on wrong at Bethel's gym expansion. They come back off at no cost to the city, and nobody has set a new completion date.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
10 Kuskokwim Delta villages named in flood outlooks for Friday
High water coming down the Kuskokwim meets storm surge pushing up it at Friday's high tide. Ten western Alaska villages could see flooding or erosion.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A Tyonek man died Saturday after neighbors heard gunshots
A Tyonek man died Saturday after neighbors heard gunshots and found him wounded. The state medical examiner has not determined a cause of death.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Bethel shut off the water at a house leaking sewage and it came back on
Bethel shut off the water at a house leaking sewage. The resident turned it back on the next day, and the repair deadline has now passed too.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
