Posts by JoJo Phillips

The 2020 Census is not the only counting effort in Western Alaska this year. Debuting in the beginning of February, a comprehensive language survey of Inupiat will project speaker counts and gauge attitudes of Alaska’s Inupiaq community. KNOM’s JoJo Phillips reports on the importance of the survey as well as the coalition behind it. In…

The holiday break has been extended for students in two Bering Strait School District (BSSD) schools at the start of the new year, because of frozen pipes. St. Michael cancelled school Monday and Shishmaref has told students to stay home until at least Wednesday of this week. According to a teacher in Shishmaref the classroom…

Scott Kingeekuk, the primary Water Plant Operator in the village of Savoonga, has been named Alaska Rural Water Association’s Wastewater Operator of the Year. KNOM’s JoJo Phillips reports on how Kingeekuk positively impacts his community: Two weeks ago, a representative from the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) traveled to Savoonga to personally hand deliver…

As the last boats prepare to haul out for the winter season, the Port of Nome is hoping to move forward with a number of maintenance and construction projects. Last month, Port Director Joy Baker announced that the city had been awarded a $1.6 million-dollar grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA). The EDA…

Last month at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Fairbanks, Senator Dan Sullivan met with veterans from around the state. The discussion centered around newly enacted legislation that will allow Alaska Native Vietnam War veterans to receive allotments of land.  In March of 2019, President Donald Trump signed the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management,…

For years, coastal cities across the lower 48 have been using high-frequency radar systems to monitor and track ocean currents. Now, the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) College of Fisheries and Sciences are bringing similar technology to the Bering Strait Region. KNOM’s JoJo Phillips spoke with a researcher from UAF about the potential benefits high-frequency radar could offer to Western Alaska.

Early last week, the Seward Peninsula Subsistence Regional Advisory Council (RAC) met in Nome and voted to recommend several changes to the Federal Subsistence Board regarding moose regulation in Unit 22D Remainder. On Tuesday the RAC meeting began with a series of local and regional subsistence reports. Council Member Elmer Seetot Jr. of Brevig Mission…

Last month, the NOAA Research Vessel Ocean Starr made a stop in Nome before the third and final leg of the Artic Integrated Ecosystem Survey, a multi-year study of fish species in the Chukchi sea.

Last week, the Alaska Nannut Co-Management Council (ANCC) officially opened its headquarters in Nome. The ANCC, which represents Alaska Native tribes and hunters that rely on polar bears for subsistence, was founded in 2017 by members of the public and supported by regional organizations, such as Kawerak and the North Slope Borough. The council’s board,…