Greg Kim

The idea is that the Nelson Island trail system would span over 50 miles, linking all four villages on the island: Tununak, Toksook Bay, Nightmute, and the newly-constructed Mertarvik. It would also connects those communities to Umkumiute, a traditional fishing location.

There are cars and small trucks traveling on the frozen Kuskokwim River around Bethel, but don’t call it an ice road yet.

A Yute Commuter Service airplane caught fire over the weekend at the Bethel airport. The pilot and passengers are uninjured, according to the airline, but the plane and the luggage on board went up in flames.

It is still a mystery to state biologists why king and chum salmon numbers are decreasing in Western Alaska. But ask any local fishermen on the Kuskokwim, and they’ll likely tell you commercial fishing trawlers in the Bering Sea are the problem.

A suspect in a shooting in Russian Mission had been on the loose for months when state troopers say he went on another rampage last week, allegedly assaulting, threatening and attempting to rob members of the community. Alaska State Troopers finally arrested him five days later.

It’s the first community in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta to bring broadband to all its residents.

A company is once again leaving its barges in the frozen Kuskokwim River over the winter. Two years ago, Alaska Logistics abandoned a gravel barge near Aniak during freeze up and retrieved it after breakup in the spring. The company is preparing to do the same with two more barges this year.

Many people moved their lives online because of the pandemic, but that wasn’t always possible in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

Rural Alaska communities have largely been left behind in the digital revolution -- until now. Akiak will be the first community in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta to bring high-speed broadband internet to all its residents later this month on November 15.

“At least one of the sergeants told us that some types of crime were just not being investigated due to lack of staffing. So, for example, alcohol- and drug-related crimes, and some property crimes," said one of the study's authors. "They also talked about delayed response times, or sometimes no response at all to requests for service."