Greg Kim

By turning to wind energy, Kwethluk will burn 50% less diesel and reduce residents’ electric bills by up to half.

Step into any home in rural Alaska and there’s a good chance that a Toyostove is what’s keeping it warm. Toyostoves are heaters that run efficiently on stove oil. But the supply of Toyostoves in Alaska is running low, and it’s yet another symptom of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I had to make a quick decision to go get them before the storm hit,” said Kongiganak Search and Rescue member Roderick Phillip. “I don't know if they would have survived a second storm.”

The mine project is called “Flat Gold.” It consists of 92,000 acres of land located in Flat, between Holy Cross and McGrath, 25 miles north of the Donlin Gold project.

This year was the first time the Lower Kuskokwim School District recruited and hired teachers from outside of the United States. It had dozens of open jobs in the months leading up to the school year, and the pandemic made a tough hiring market even more difficult.

A University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist said that the reason why Western Alaska is getting windier is that it will soon inherit the Aleutian Islands’ storms. In today’s climate, the Aleutian islands are the windiest area in Alaska.

The school district is requiring that everyone attending indoor sports events be vaccinated and masked at all times. Attendees will be required to show proof of vaccination at the door.

With Newtok continuing to erode at alarming rates, the urgency to move grows by the day. But construction in Mertarvik, the new village that will replace the eroding one, has been slow the past two summers, and COVID-19 is a big reason why.

Criminal jury trials in Bethel are suspended for two weeks in response to the rise in COVID-19 cases across the region.

State troopers are looking for an aircraft that emitted a distress signal near St. Mary’s over the weekend. On Sunday night, troopers received a signal from an emergency locator transmitter activated about 40 miles northwest of St. Mary’s.