Posts by Emily Hofstaedter

State Medical Examiners and the Alaska State Troopers are investigating the case of two human skulls collected from the mouth of the Sinuk River last month.

The community of Holy Cross is looking for tribal solutions to their public safety issues. While the community is still trying to fill a tribal police officer position that has been vacant for the past year, they are also operating a tribal court through a civil diversion agreement with the State of Alaska. KNOM’s Emily…

New funding from the U.S. Department of Justice is allowing some rural communities to hire, train, and provide law enforcement where they previously had nothing. Holy Cross is one of those communities, but despite funding, they’re still struggling to find consistent law enforcement. In July, Holy Cross received $185,000 to hire and train a tribal…

Volunteer searchers continue to look between Elim and Golovin for a missing Elim elder who was last seen on September 23rd. According to Alaska State Troopers, he wasn’t reported missing until October 3rd. Troopers believe 70-year-old Tommy Saccheus, Sr. tried to walk from Golovin to Elim by himself, a distance of approximately 28 miles. Trooper…

The community of Hooper Bay has never had a domestic violence shelter before but that is expected to change in January, 2020. At that time, shelter staff say they hope to be operating a 24/7 shelter to serve women and their children. Emma Smith, the Victims’ Services Coordinator for the Hooper Bay Victims Services Project…

*Update: These elections results have been canvassed by the Nome City Council, as of November 7th, and are now considered official. Nome voted Larry Pederson to Utility Board Seat D after a run-off municipal election Tuesday. Out of 152 votes cast, Pederson took 98. His opponent, Gerald Hughes, had 54 votes. When the regular Municipal…

The Nome Emergency Shelter Team, known as NEST to most Nome residents, opens its doors tonight [11/01] to provide a warm place to sleep for any who may find themselves out in the cold. Michael Addison came on as the new NEST Director on October 11th. Before moving to Nome, he managed homes for adults…

After months of listening to comments from the public and councilmembers, the Nome City Council is moving forward on getting a youth representative. In their re-scheduled regular meeting Wednesday night [10/30], the Council went over a first reading of an ordinance that would designate a non-voting Nome student as a youth Council member. That student…

As winter closes in, and $5,000,000 for weatherization services has been cut from the state capital budget, there’s growing uncertainty about what access low-income Alaskans might have for making their homes safer and more energy efficient, especially in Western Alaska. KNOM’s Emily Hofstaedter reports: It’s late September and Leemon Carl is making marks on a…

Law enforcement seized over $10,000 worth of heroin that was bound for Nome Tuesday afternoon. According to the Alaska State Troopers, investigators stopped 28-year-old Quincy Iyatunguk of Nome at the Anchorage airport around 3:30pm and seized about 8.8 grams of heroin. Troopers say that amounts to approximately 88 individual doses. Iyatunguk had concealed the narcotics…