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Deering airport construction resumes after heavy rain halts work for five days
Rain stopped work on Deering's airport for five days. Crews are back, hauling fill from 6 pm to 8 am nightly, so residents can expect trucks after dark.

Nome council tables pull-tab tax change pending legal opinion on mayor's possible conflict
Nome's council put its pull-tab tax change on ice until a lawyer says whether the mayor, who leads the Chamber of Commerce, has a conflict of interest.

Judicial Council tries again to fill Kotzebue and Nome superior court seats
Kotzebue and Nome are each without their only superior court judge. The Judicial Council is trying again to fill both, Kotzebue's for the third time.

Kotzebue water system exceeds federal lead action level after two of 10 homes test high
Two of 10 Kotzebue homes tested above the federal lead action level. The city is testing more homes and says to run taps until cold before drinking.

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.

EPA proposes $21,618 penalty over Red Dog Mine spill into Red Dog Creek
EPA proposed a $21,618 penalty against Teck Alaska Inc. for a May 2025 leak of process water into Red Dog Creek near Kotzebue after a pump failure at the mine.

Nome utility board member says new housing project's septic units will need heavy upkeep
New Nome housing will run on above-ground septic units with grinders, pumps and UV lights. A utility board member says they will need a lot of babysitting.

Nome's utility is five years behind on audits and borrowing costs more
Nome's utility hasn't finished an audit since 2021, and its manager says the delay is probably raising the interest rate on its annual fuel loan.

AIDEA's board takes six major projects into executive session in Kotzebue
AIDEA's board meets in Kotzebue with Ambler, Red Dog, ANWR and West Susitna on the closed agenda — listed by name, with nothing said about what's up.

Federal environmental review begins for the Arctic copper mine near Kobuk
The Army Corps is starting its environmental review of the Arctic copper mine near Kobuk, with a final decision targeted for September 2028.

Last Unit 22 bull moose hunt closes early as quota fills
The Seward Peninsula's fall moose hunt is over, closed area by area as quotas filled. One section shut three days in. The winter hunt opens Jan. 1.

Kotzebue gets $1.5 million to keep growing food above the Arctic Circle
Kotzebue gets $1.5 million for Alaska Native food sovereignty work. The USDA calls it national security. The people doing it call it something else.

Nome weighs what to do with the boats that never leave its port yards
Boats and dredges that haven't floated in years are clogging the Port of Nome's yards, and the Port Commission is weighing higher fees or clearing them out.

Spur demolition begins for Nome's planned Arctic deep-draft port
Kiewit has begun removing Nome's port spur. Phase 1A extends the causeway, while separate dredging will create the 40-foot basin.

Kotzebue's chum run beat the forecast; the state will not say by how much
Kotzebue's chum harvest beat the forecast, and the state will not say by how much. Nobody counted the fish upriver for the second year running.

Nome cannot say whether a free shuttle van is a taxi
Nome's code does not say whether free shuttle vans count as taxis. The mayor says nobody has worked it out, and the sales tax turns on the answer.

The federal stake in Trilogy Metals closes, terms made public
The federal government now owns about a tenth of Trilogy Metals, developer of Alaska's Ambler district, and the terms of the $35.6 million deal are now public.

AIDEA will discuss the Ambler road in Kotzebue, with the public out
AIDEA's board will talk about the Ambler road in Kotzebue next week, behind closed doors. The public portion covers meeting dates and a conference.

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.

Repairs begin on the Nome-Council Highway, four years after Merbok
Permanent repairs have begun on the Nome-Council Highway, four years after Typhoon Merbok breached the road in 2022.

Nome may add flowcharts to help residents navigate permits
Nome may give residents visual flowcharts to walk them through variance and rezoning applications. The Planning Commission backed the idea Tuesday.

Troopers identify two Savoonga men dead after capsizing near St. Lawrence Island
Two Savoonga men died when their boat capsized off St. Lawrence Island. A 15-year-old survived by clinging to the overturned hull until a search crew found him.

Teller woman indicted in embezzling more than $88,000 from tribe
A former coordinator for a Teller-based tribe was indicted on allegations she took more than $88,000 from the tribe's accounts.

NWS forecasts water 5 feet above high tide at Golovin through Friday
Water is forecast 3 to 5 feet above the normal high tide line at Golovin through Friday, the third stretch of high water there in three weeks.

A remote Alaska village's firefighting enterprise lands more federal work
A firefighting company owned by the remote village of Nulato landed more federal fire work — part of a tribal enterprise that's grown to 200-plus local jobs.

Alaska Supreme Court hears appeal over Kotzebue officer's immunity in 2022 shooting
Supreme Court heards Kotzebue case

Coast Guard finds 15-year-old alive on capsized skiff off St. Lawrence Island; two dead
Coast Guard found a 15-year-old alive on a capsized skiff 4 miles east of St. Lawrence Island on Monday; two other boaters from the same vessel were recovered dead.

Red Dog's port has carried a top-tier air violation for years with no penalty
The port shipping Red Dog's ore has carried a top-tier EPA air-pollution violation for dust for nearly six years, with no formal state enforcement.

Minor flooding possible at Golovin, with water 4 to 6 feet above high tide
Water could flood Golovin's lowest buildings Wednesday and Thursday as the National Weather Service warns of coastal surge 4 to 6 feet above normal high tide.

Alaska Supreme Court bars Nome from taxing hospital staff housing
The Alaska Supreme Court says Nome cannot tax the building where its hospital houses doctors and nurses, a ruling that reaches every borough in the state.

Alaska got early frost and a heat advisory in the same week
Alaska's first week of September brought early frost to Anchorage and Yakutat and a heat advisory to Prince of Wales Island, where Friday hits 80 degrees.

Nome to host 2030 Inuit Circumpolar Council General Assembly
Nome will host the Inuit Circumpolar Council's 2030 General Assembly, drawing 400 delegates from Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia to vote on Arctic sovereignty and food security.

Graphite Creek permit decision pushed to September 2027
The Army Corps of Engineers delayed the Graphite Creek mine permit to September 2027 and upgraded the review to a full environmental impact statement.

Free school supplies and dinner at Nome's Back-to-School Bash
Nome families got free backpacks, school supplies and pizza at a community Back-to-School Bash — a welcome hand in a year of tight budgets and $10 milk.

Washington bought into Ambler. The payoff depends on the road being built
The federal government will own about 10 percent of Trilogy Metals, but cannot cash in most of its stake until the Ambler road is built.

The Nulato Hills Crew fights fire with hand tools, from five villages
BLM awarded Nulato Hills Enterprises a second $495,000 contract to run a seasonal wildland fire crew through March 2031, drawing firefighters from five Interior villages.

Red Dog is one approval away from a new corporate owner
Teck Resources, owner of the Red Dog zinc mine near Kivalina, awaits one final regulatory approval before its merger with Anglo American closes, likely between September 2026 and March 2027.

Unit 22C bull moose season closes 12 days early, after two days
Bull moose season in Unit 22C on the Seward Peninsula closes Sept. 2, twelve days early, after hunters are expected to fill the 30-bull quota in just two days.

A Nome jury convicted a 78-year-old man on 28 counts of sexual abuse of a minor
A Nome jury convicted Isaac Ozenna Sr., 78, on 28 counts of sexual abuse of a minor involving nine children abused in Nome between 1984 and 2014.

Five Alaska bridges are getting new lights, above and below
Five Alaska bridges are getting new lights, for the aircraft passing above them and the boats passing below. The whole project costs $170,000.
