News

FOOD AID DISTRIBUTION – People enter the XYZ Senior Center to collect Food Aid boxes distributed by the Nome Food Bank and Kawerak on Monday, November 3.

Nome grapples with first week of SNAP payment delay

Kawerak and the Nome Community Center sprang into action earlier this week to cover the gap imposed by the delay in SNAP benefit payments this month. The monthslong government shutdown resulted in a...

PROPERTY USE— The Nome Common Council granted an appeal by Kanosak LLC owner Joe Burnham who asked the panel to overturn a Planning Commission determination that the use of his lot is incompatible with the commercial zoned district it is located on. Pictured is the lot and the items stored on it, which were at issue during last Monday’s council meeting.

Council grants appeal to Kanosak LLC in property use dispute

The Nome Common Council granted an appeal by Joe Burnham, sole proprietor of Kanosak LLC, overturning a decision by the Nome Planning Commission that found Burnham’s use of a property not in line...

KICKING UP DUST— A dry fall with no snow or rainfall lately, and freezing temperatures create conditions in which dust is easily kicked up by traffic on Nome’s gravel roads.

Fall dust creates unhealthy levels of air quality in Nome

Achoo, grit itching the eyes and sand in one’s mouth just by walking down the street – those are signs of living in a veritable dust bowl in Nome these days. Dust is a troublesome reality in Nome...

INDUCTED— Ada Blackjack, pictured here on deck of the ship Donaldson in 1923, was inducted into the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame last week.

Ada Blackjack inducted into Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame

Ada Blackjack was inducted posthumously in the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame last week. Ada Blackjack was an Inupiaq woman who reluctantly rose to fame as the only survivor of a doomed expedition to...

The Graphite One exploration camp, on the northern slopes of the Kigluaik Mountains.

Army Corps extends deadline to comment on Graphite One 404 permit

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has extended the public comment period for a major permit to allow the proposed Graphite One mine to go forward. The deadline was extended from October 31 to November...

PROTEST – Charlene Apok and Claire Tatqiq Nay protest the Ambler Road project during Senator Dan Sullivan’s speech on the second day of the AFN convention on Friday, October 17 at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage, Alaska. Tatqiq Nay, left, is from Kotzebue. Dozens of protestors flooded the floor during Sullivan’s speech.

Alaska’s congressional delegation speaks at AFN

The three members of Alaska’s congressional delegation spoke at AFN last weekend with markedly different-sized crowds. During Senator Dan Sullivan’s speech on Friday, protestors turned their backs...

If government shutdown continues, SNAP benefits will be cut off Nov. 1

The state of Alaska announced on Monday that as a result of the ongoing federal government shutdown, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service has directed states to stop the...

FOCUSED DANCERS— Evelyn Koonooka and Janissa Noongwook dance with the Qughsatkut Dancers of Gambell, on October 16 at the AFN Convention in Anchorage’s Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center.

Subsistence rights and disaster relief take center stage at 2025 Alaska Federation of Natives convention

Alaska Natives from across the state grappled with two dramatic issues at the Alaska Federation of Natives annual convention last week: The immediate devastation of the impact of typhoon Halong and...

IPNUK— U.S. Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrews conduct overflights of Kipnuk, after coastal flooding impacted several western Alaska communities, Oct. 12, 2025.

Ex-typhoon Halong shifted course, and turned deadly in the YK-Delta

A joint search and rescue mission was concluding, Monday, when state authorities announced at least one woman had died from a rare and devastating coastal storm that slammed into Alaska’s western...

UNALAKLEET— Unalakleet’s Post Office was missing part of the roof. It has been repaired as of Tuesday.

Ex-typhoon Halong spares Nome, Norton Sound and Bering Strait from worst

One woman was recovered dead, and two persons are still missing in Kwigillingok after ex-typhoon Halong ravaged villages along the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta last weekend. As of Tuesday, the state’s...