After a month-long outage, the village of Newtok has power again . During that month, families lost entire summer subsistence harvests stored in their freezers. Here’s why it took so long to turn the lights back on. At the end of August, Newtok’s backup generator gave out, three years after its main generator died. The installation of a replacement generator has taken longer than anyone expected. Tribal administrator Andrew John said that the delay was partly due to the challenges of hooking up

Ambler Metals is a company dedicated to the development of the copper-rich Ambler Mining District in Northwest Alaska. But it can’t move forward without the blessing of NANA Regional Native Corporation and permits from local governments . Ambler Metals is a joint effort formed by two multinational corporations: Trilogy Metals and South32. President and CEO Ramzi Fawaz started at the beginning of September, relocating to Anchorage from Colorado. During a Northwest Arctic Borough Assembly meeting,

Researchers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks began looking at big changes to one of the state’s biggest glaciers. It’s melting so rapidly that it could create a new bay north of Yakutat . What’s happening at the Malaspina Glacier may be the largest landscape transformation underway in the United States. “You’re looking at something becoming a big ocean bay, essentially, that’s the size of a small state,” said Martin Truffer, a glaciologist with the Geophysical Institute and a physics

An environmental group released secretly recorded video clips on Sept. 21, of Pebble Mine executives saying that Donlin Gold can’t afford to build its gold mine in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. The executives said that there might be a way for Donlin to reduce its costs if the companies work together to connect the two Southwest Alaska mining projects by building a road through the tundra. The United States-based non-profit Environmental Investigation Agency released several video clips that show

Florence Okpealuk, a 33-year-old Nome woman, went missing at the end of August . Since then, the community, police and the FBI have been looking for clues about her disappearance. Her name is Florence, but friends call her “Flo.” It’s hard for Lucille Weyapuk to pick just three words to describe her friend Flo. “Humorous, you know… sophisticated, encouraging, loving, friendly, gosh! You name it!" Lucille Weyapuk said. Weyapuk and Okpealuk grew up in Wales as close friends and they are distant

The state of Alaska has told hatchery operators in Southeast Alaska it is ending a program that provides funding for king and coho salmon production . That announcement leaves the future of the Crystal Lake Hatchery on southern Mitkof Island near Petersburg up in the air. Crystal Lake is owned by the state, which contracts out its operations to the Ketchikan-based Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association for just over 517-thousand dollars a year. King salmon produced there are

On Aug. 31, the Bethel City Council passed a mandate requiring people arriving at the Alaska Airlines terminal to be tested for COVID-19. The mandate also states that taxi drivers picking up passengers at the airport must check that the passengers have been tested. That has been a bit awkward for drivers who are being asked to enforce the city’s law . Kusko Cab is Bethel’s largest cab company. Co-owner Naim Shabani said that the day after the city council passed the new mandates, he printed out

Cyril George was a leader in the Beaver Clan of Angoon and was known for his contributions to local and regional politics. He was also known by those he was closest to as a photographer. When he died six years ago at the age of 92, he left behind a vast photo collection that is thought to be the largest ever made by someone who was Tlingit . George’s family recently donated those photos with the goal of making them available to the public. Cyril George didn’t go many places without his camera.

At the southeastern tip of Alaska’s panhandle lies the curious town of Hyder. It’s grown naturally alongside its Canadian neighbor of Stewart, B.C. It has a 250 area code, electricity from B.C. Hydro and its only road access is through Canada’s highway system. It’s separated by 7,000-foot snow-capped peaks from the rest of the state. So its connection with the rest of Alaska is limited. “There’s about 65 of us. The only way we get supplies is through a mail plane that comes in from Ketchikan

The village of Mertarvik is one step closer to having a commercial runway . The Newtok Native Corporation finalized a land sale with the Alaska Department of Transportation that will allow the DOT to build a new airstrip. The negotiation for that deal took over seven months. Mertarvik, the replacement village for Newtok residents, is currently without a commercial runway. Without regular flights to the community, that has meant limited groceries and no mail delivery. Worse, it has prevented