Sage Smiley

1 month ago | alaskapublic.org | Sage Smiley

Two men are missing after a skiff they were traveling in sank off the coast of Mekoryuk on Monday in Southwest Alaska, according to troopers. As of Tuesday, troopers said that 72-year-old Samuel Shavings and 65-year-old Albert Williams remain missing. A search is ongoing. Three men were in the 10-foot Ocean Pro skiff when it sank in rough water conditions off the coast of Mekoryuk, according to a trooper dispatch. One man was able to swim to shore.

1 month ago | alaskapublic.org | Sage Smiley

Bethel-based National Guard aviators and local emergency medical personnel rescued four stranded boaters near the lower Yukon community of Kotlik on May 20. The boaters had been reported overdue in a remote area around 160 miles northwest of Bethel, in the lower Yukon Delta. Chief Warrant Officer 3 (CW3) Colten Bell is an Alaska Army National Guard pilot who flew on the mission. He said that it seemed like breakup conditions had stranded the boaters.

1 month ago | kyuk.org | Sage Smiley

Bethel-based National Guard aviators and local emergency medical personnel rescued four stranded boaters near the lower Yukon community of Kotlik on May 20. The boaters had been reported overdue in a remote area around 160 miles northwest of Bethel, in the lower Yukon Delta. Chief Warrant Officer 3 (CW3) Colten Bell is an Alaska Army National Guard pilot who flew on the mission. He said that it seemed like breakup conditions had stranded the boaters.

1 month ago | kyuk.org | Sage Smiley

Just off the mainstem Yukon River, the banks and river ice are uniform white with snow, other than peeks of brown where cut banks crumble into the water in warmer times. Research scientist John Magyar stands by a large metal bollard where barges tie up in the summer. “Over there where the satellite dish is is the old tribal hall,” Magyar said, pointing to the north. “And this riverbank is really rapidly eroding.

1 month ago | kyuk.org | Sage Smiley

High-speed fiber-optic internet is live in Bethel. It’s part of a years-long tribal broadband project – a partnership between telecommunications provider GCI and Bethel Native Corporation. The AIRRAQ project has promised to bring cheaper, faster internet to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta through hundreds of miles of underwater and overland fiber-optic internet cables.