2025- The Year In Review
No snow!
January started out with ice glazed roads, brown tundra and no snow to be seen. Winter trails were non-existent and thoughts of skiing, dog mushing and traveling by snow mobile remained wishful thinking.
This is particularly notable because it has not been a dry December. It has not even been in the top twenty driest Decembers in Nome, according to Rick Thoman, Alaska Climate Specialist with the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Nearly all the precipitation that fell in the second week of December was rain, leaving Nome in a snowless state.
Wyatt Ahmasuk wins State Wrestling championship
When Wyatt Ahmasuk was in elementary school, he watched his brother Oliver Hoogendorn wrestle for a championship win at States. His brother came second that year, but Ahmasuk was enthralled. He wanted to be as cool as his older brother. As a high school senior, Ahmasuk has realized that dream: He became Alaska’s state champion wrestler in the 189-pound weight class.
It’s a feat that’s all the more impressive because Ahmasuk injured his back just before the 2024 state championship and couldn’t compete. His hard work since then culminated when he beat Kaden Hermann of Mt. Edgecumbe in the finals of this year’s championship.
“From not being able to wrestle to being state champ is pretty cool,” said Ahmasuk.
Ahmasuk said his victory felt “surreal” and that it wasn’t until he was hanging his winning bracket on his wall that he felt like he had won.
Polar Enterprises changes ownership
January 5 marked the transfer of ownership to Mymy and Larry St. Clair from brothers Patrick “Pat” and William “Bill” Krier, whose family owned and operated the Polar Café and bar for 25 years.
Pat and Bill inherited the Polar from their parents Jeanette and Tony Krier, and have run the iconic Nome establishment for decades serving not only food, but a gathering space for locals to eat, gossip and get some of the best views of the Bering Sea.
Before the Kriers, Polar Enterprises was owned by Betty and Ernie Gustafson who bought the building from Mae and Keith Hedreen in 1968.
Quintillion fiber optic cable breaks again
On Saturday, January 18, the Quintillion subsea fiberoptic cable broke, leaving Nome and many other western and northwestern Alaska communities without internet. This is the second major network outage due to a subsea cable cut in two years. In June 2023 the cable was cut off Oliktok Point and repairs were not done until September.
This time around, Quintillion initially put out a Facebook post that said the break occurred near Oliktok Point, but later stated that they cannot tell the exact point of the cut. “Winter conditions —sea ice and darkness – have made it impossible to pinpoint an exact location of the cut and the extent of the cable damage,” Mac McHale, Quintillion president, said in a press release. “Unfortunately, the outage will be prolonged, and sea ice will prevent a repair crew and vessel from entering the area and completing a subsea repair until late summer.”
The fiber optic cable network runs from Prudhoe Bay to Nome. According to Public Affairs Consultant for Quintillion Grace Jang, approximately 20,000 Alaskans use an internet service provider that relies on Quintillion’s network. Those providers are Atlas, ASTAC, ACS, Fastwyre and GCI. In September, the cable was fixed and transmitting again.
Nome Kennel Club spearheads Centennial Serum Run celebrations in Nome
Eighteen events and eight talks are scheduled to take place during the next week’s 100th anniversary celebration to honor the mushers, dogs, medical personnel, and decision-makers involved in the heroic efforts to save lives in 1925, when a relay of dog teams brought diphtheria antitoxin from Nenana to Nome to stave off the developing diphtheria epidemic.
The Nome Kennel Club took the lead in organizing several organizations and Nome’s Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum to hold events during the week between January 25 and February 2 to commemorate the historic Race of Mercy. The organization was later recognized by the Alaska Historical Society, along with the City of Nenana, for their role in celebrating the occasion.
Region mourns 10 people lost in plane crash
Ten people died in a plane crash on Thursday, February 6, when a Bering Air Cessna Caravan flying between Unalakleet and Nome went down about 34 miles southwest of Nome. There were no survivors.
In shocking first, sea ice breaks off in mid-February
For over a quarter-century, the Nome National Forest sprouted every year as old Christmas trees and wooden cutouts were placed onto the sea ice in front of Nome for months of late winter and spring. But in mid-February, the cheerful snowmen and trees were lost, as the shore fast ice near Nome broke off unprecedently early.
Iron Dog
Team 20 Bradley George and Robby Schachle won the Iron Dog, on Feb. 22. They also were the first team to reach the halfway point in Nome after 1,467 miles on the trail. Nome’s Mike Morgan and partner Bradley Kishbaugh, team 6, finished in fourth position and Nome’s rookie team, Bubba McDaniel and Wilson Hoogendorn came in sixth and earned Rookies of the Year honors.
Cody Sherman wins Nome-Golovin
Cody Sherman won the Open-C Class competition and the overall race in the 2025 Nome-Golovin 200 snowmachine race, in a time of 2 hours and 14 minutes.
“Airplanes couldn’t keep up with you,” one of Sherman’s friends joked as a plane flew overhead a couple minutes after his finish.
Shayla Johnson was the first woman rider to cross the finish line, riding a Polaris in a shortened Nome-Topkok Women’s category in 1 hour and 39 minutes.
Evan Barber won the B class in a time of 2 hours and 18 minutes, on a Polaris.
Elden Cross, riding a Polaris was the first Fan Cooled racer to finish, while Calvin Schaeffer won the Master’s Class for racers ages 45 and up on a Ski-Doo, in a time of 2 hours and 53 seconds. Schaeffer holds the all-time record of 1 hour and 57 seconds, when he won the race in 2000.
Jessie Holmes wins Iditarod
Jessie Holmes’ dream of winning the Iditarod came true when he pulled under the burled arch in Nome with 10 dogs in harness, on March 14, Friday morning at 2:55 a.m.
Holmes finished the longest Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race of 1,128 miles in a time of 10 days, 14 hours, 55 minutes and 41 seconds.
Smiling from ear to ear, pumping his arms in the air, he celebrated his win as a crowd closed in on the chute to usher him to the finish line. After setting the hook, he went to his dogs, thanked each one of them and posed with is lead dogs Hercules and Polar before handing out steaks sent to Nome for a meat supplier in Anchorage.
Holmes, visibly emotional, told interviewers at the finish line: “This is unreal.”
The Iditarod race start was moved from Anchorage to Fairbanks due to the lack of snow and warm temperatures in Southcentral all winter and bare dirt north of the Alaska Range. 33 mushers hit the trail, officially beginning the 53rd Iditarod. The race started on the Chena River. Some of the trail followed the historic Serum Run trail from Nenana to Kaltag, but then veered south to the Yukon villages of Anvik and Shageluk before backtracking up to Kaltag again and then continuing on to Unalakleet and up the Norton Sound coast to Nome.
DNR denies IPOP permit to mine in Bonanza Channel
On March 11, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources rejected Nevada-based IPOP LLC’s application for permits to mine for gold in the Bonanza Channel.
The DNR’s decision document cited insufficient exploration data with limited exploration efforts, failure to follow the sequence that’s customary for mineral exploration and obstruction of through traffic in the Bonanza Channel as reasons for the denial.
“Having reviewed all materials, the Division is satisfied that the conclusions of the decision are based on fact, regulation and law,” the document states.
The application was initially submitted in November 2023 but remained incomplete until January 13, 2025.
IPOP proposed to use a special cutterhead suction to dredge for gold on 32 state mining claims within Bonanza Channel, located 28 miles east of Nome.
Two in a row – Nanooks win state basketball championship
Sirens blared and Nanook flags flew high as Nome welcomed the Nanooks home from the state basketball tournament. The Nanooks beat Sitka’s Wolves 62-43, bringing home the state championship for the second year in a row.
Coach Pat Callahan called the win a “relief,” explaining that “the pressure is really on the Number One team.”
“Last year we weren’t favored,” said Callahan. “There was an undefeated team out there in Mount Edgecumbe that everybody had pegged as going to win the tournament.” This year, they had to navigate being the favorite team.
Nome’s win in the 3A division marked their third championship title in just four years. Seniors Orson Hoogendorn and Finn Gregg have made it to the state championship game all four years of high school. Nome was not the only team bringing a championship title to the region. Shaktoolik and Unalakleet won two State Championship trophies from a successful weekend at the 1A and 2A Basketball States in Anchorage.
The Shaktoolik Wolverines beat out Cook Inlet Academy 75-55, earning their first ever 1A state championship.
City hires new city manager
On Friday evening, March 21, the Nome Common Council grilled the two candidates vying for the city manager’s job with more than 16 questions, spread out over two grueling hours. Then the candidates went through a nerve-wracking wait for another two hours as council members went into executive session to deliberate who to pick. The candidates, William “Lee” Smith of Port Wentworth, Georgia, and Robert Evans, of Lamar, Wyoming chatted with city staff and reporters upstairs until Mayor John Handeland summoned them back downstairs around 10 p.m. to council chambers to thank Evans for coming and to offer the job to Lee Smith.
Lee Smith, hailing from Georgia, has 35 years of experience in local government in Georgia and North Carolina.
Gambell celebrates Yupik Days
The John Apangalook School was filled with stories, laughter, and music last week, as Gambell celebrated its 46th annual Yupik Days. The event opened on Wednesday with a welcome lunch and Elders’ remarks and ended on Friday with a reindeer feast.
People of all generations attended—from infants to elders—and during Atuq, people of all generations danced. In addition to the feasts and dancing, there was a traditional clothing fashion show, an elder’s story time, a Yupik spelling bee, and a documentary featuring members of the village.
Students and adults from Golovin and Savoonga also attended. This year’s theme was “Yesterday, Today, Forever Our Culture Lives.”
Nome Kennel Club hosts first and last race of the season
The chorus of excited sled dogs at the Nome Kennel Club’s race start was the acoustic backdrop of the organization’s first, albeit late in the year, race of the season. On Saturday, April 5 at 10 a.m. five dog teams set out on a 40-mile race course. After a dismal winter season plagued by warm temperatures, several rain events in December resulting in very little snow and lots of ice, the NKC had to postponed its race season until conditions improved. The Kennel Club previously hosted a Fun Run event during the festivities at the 100-year anniversary of the Serum Run to Nome, marking the anniversary with a run to Safety and back.
Nomeites join nation in protests against Trump, Doge
In mid-April, people in more than 1,200 locations across the country rallied against President Donald Trump and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency and its leader Elon Musk, in what is so far the largest anti-Trump demonstration during his second term.
The ‘Hands Off’ protest brought dozens of Nomeites to Anvil City Square to hold signs and give brief speeches.
Roxanne Thurman organized the protest. “My friend and I just felt compelled to act because we just couldn’t bear telling our grandchildren that we sat silently while our nation was torn apart,” Thurman wrote in a letter to the Nugget. Protestors raised a variety of concerns, from the treatment of Greenland to the loss of veteran benefits. Signs referred to the recent stock market crashes, defunding of scientific research, and fears that Trump will cut SNAP, Medicare, and Medicaid, and ignore the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People crisis. Several signs were against Project 2025.
Nome students walk out to advocate for more school funding
Nome-Beltz students walked out of class at 1 p.m. on April 11 to advocate for more state funding for school districts.
Dozens of students stepped out into the bright cold afternoon wearing “Red for Ed” as they joined Barrow, Bethel, Kotzebue and Juneau school districts in the afternoon walk-out, with the goal of getting state legislators’ attention.
“We need more money for our teachers, for our students,” Senior Luke Hansen said at the protest. “We’re out here to show our support and put pressure on the legislature to increase the BSA.” They held high signs with red and black lettering spelled “Teachers cannot live off apples” and “Are we worth it?”
The group chanted “Red for Ed” in the parking lot of the Nome-Beltz campus. They said a $1,000 increase is necessary, and the one-time $680 increase that had been appropriated last year is not enough.
Graphite One releases feasibility study
On April 23, Graphite One Inc. released the feasibility study for the planned graphite mine on the Seward Peninsula. With the study complete, the Canadian mining company began the process of applying for the state and federal permits required to move forward with the project.
The 460-page feasibility study document outlines mining plans, which assumes a 20-year lifetime of the mine. The plans include an open pit mine at Graphite Creek on the north face of the Kigluaik Mountains, and a complex of mill facilities including a power generation plant, fuel storage, a mill to process the ore, a waste management facility and water treatment facility. It also details a proposed access road connecting the mine to the Kougarok Road. Graphite One plans to build a secondary treatment plant in Ohio where the ore will be shipped to be produced into lithium-ion battery anode active materials.
The feasibility study was completed with the help of a $37.5 million U.S. Department of Defense grant, which contributed to 75 percent of the study cost.
Council slashes education contribution, sets mill rate at 11.5
In work session after work session, the Nome Common Council was fine combing the city’s fiscal year 2026 budget, trying to balance the budget while keeping services to citizens intact and not laying off any employees.
When faced with the May 31 deadline to have the city’s contribution to Nome Public Schools nailed down, the council pivoted last minute from a $3.4 million to a reduced $2.7 million contribution to the school district.
The council set the mill rate at 11.5 and at a later meeting passed a budget of just over $17 million.
US Coast Guard conducts oil spill drill in Nome
The United States Coast Guard organized an oil spill response drill in the Nome Harbor, bringing 20 entities together in person and virtually to act out an exercise in detail over three days.
The Mini Convention Center was abuzz with activity, the site of the incident command on the second day of the drill.
Federal, state and local agencies collaborated on the exercise, defining and acting out the roles they’d take on during a real spill scenario.
“It's a risk that all of us in Alaska have with increased maritime traffic,” USCG Arctic Coordinator Shawn Hay said. “The more we understand the problem, the more we can prepare locally to support it holistically between local, state and U.S. Coast Guard.”
Brooke Anungazuk crowned Miss ANB 2025
Brooke Anungazuk never expected to cry during the Miss ANB pageant. But when her biography was read aloud on stage—her life story, her lineage, her losses—the words landed with unexpected weight. For the first time, someone else spoke of her late father, Kenneth Anungazuk, who passed away in September 2024. “It made me feel like he was there with me,” Brooke Anungazuk said, her voice catching. “It just made me feel stronger.”
This year saw two contestants, Anungazuk and runner-up AwaLuk “Wookie” Nichols.
July
Brown Bear Shot in Nome
A young brown bear that wandered into town was shot the morning of Tuesday, July 8, 2025 at the intersection of Spokane and West King Place.The Nome Police Department received calls about the bear roaming the streets of Nome and contacted the Alaska Department of Fish and Game who have the authority to humanely kill a bear if it's a threat to public safety, according to ADF&G Assistant Wildlife Biologist Alicia Carson.
The bear was shot at twice with a shotgun by ADF&G. According to Nome Police Chief Will Crockett it kept running, prompting a NPD officer to fire eight shots with his patrol rifle to kill the animal.
Panel recommends public reprimand for Nome judge
Nome's Superior Court Judge Romano DiBenedetto is facing a public reprimand after the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct found probable cause that his conduct violated canons dealing with proper judicial behavior.
While the commission investigated the complaints lodged against DiBenedetto, he has been on paid administrative leave since March 8, with other judges sharing the workload in his absence.
On July 3, the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct recommended to the Alaska Supreme Court a public reprimand, the least severe of consequences.
In November, the State of Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct charged DiBenedetto with a formal complaint. DiBenedetto is charged with canon violations relating to him canceling, delaying or postponing court procedures for personal reasons; and for discussion testimony that occurred in his courtroom by imitating ethnic voices, thereby undermining the confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary. The matter is still unresolved.
Whale poop links toxic algal blooms to climate change
After nearly 20 years of bowhead whale poop data collection, scientists were able to draw a direct line between warming oceans and an increase in harmful algal blooms resulting in toxins found in the whales' feces.
Using data collected by the North Slope Borough in collaboration with the Eskimo Whaling Commission, scientists tracked levels of toxins in subsistence harvested bowhead whales' fecal matter, linking the increase to harmful algal blooms made possible by warming sea surface temperatures and decreasing sea ice.
1990 Time Capsule Cracked Open
Thursday, July 24, 2025 at an event organized by the Kegoayah Kozga Library the time capsule created during the 1990 Summer Reading Program was opened. The contents were finally revealed before a captive audience of Nomeites of all ages. Back in 1990, the summer reading program was in full swing with over 60 students participating that year under the theme “Traveling through time.” The program was capped off with a big event for participants and their families who were instructed to bring in an item to be preserved.
“We put it all in this very authentic time capsule that I bought through a catalog,” said Dee McKenna who served as the library director from 1979 to 1997. She now lives in Des Plaines, Illinois.
Into the large metal cylinder went pencils, an edition of The Nome Nugget, a weather report by Rick Thoman, a book written and signed by Libby Riddles, the first woman to win the Iditarod, various magazines, dollar bills, a check, cassette tapes and buttons.
Graphite One enters Fast-41 Permitting Process
Graphite One's Graphite Creek Mining project has entered the FAST-41 permitting process, a federal initiative that helps projects speed up the permitting process and requires public posting of the timeline and updates throughout.
The company is required to post a timetable by Friday, August 1, outlining the completion dates for federal permits including the permit to discharge into wetlands, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.
Graphite Creek project is the first mine in Alaska to be part of the FAST-41 dashboard. It is eligible because it requires a total investment of over $200 million, it requires federal authorization and it is subject to the National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA, which determines if an Environmental Assessment (EA), or an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), is required for the project.
State reaffirms decision to deny mining permit to IPOP
After reviewing an appeal by IPOP LLC that sought to overturn a mining permit denial by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, the agency on Monday issued a document reaffirming their decision.
Citing particular attention to the exploratory data, the Division of Mining, Land and Water stands by their decision to deny IPOP a land use permit and reclamation plan for three specific claims and is 'inviting IPOP to conduct additional exploratory testing to establish a gold source," the decision document says.
IPOP LLC has since 2018 tried to mine for gold in the Bonanza Channel and Safety Sound. Given the area's extraordinary sensitive nature as a natural estuary and a cherished place for fish camps, a unified front of Nome's organizations, governments and tribes has opposed the project vigorously.
August
Nome bids farewell to longtime pillar of community
On Thursday, July 31 2025, Kirsten Bey's fabric and yarn shop Sew Far North was swamped with customers.
Sun blazing outside, she had the door to her store wide open; customers entered in a steady stream hoping to catch the end of her 25 percent off sale. Bey left Nome in November but Sew Far North continued under new ownership.
High ranking US Coast Guard officials and visiting congressmen listen in on plan to expand Nome's port
On the eve of commissioning the repurposed Storis, moored in Juneau — what is now the United States' first new polar icebreaker in a quarter century — senior U.S. Coast Guard officers gathered with local leaders in Nome Saturday, August 9, 2025 for a morning of listening and learning about the city's plans to build the nation's first deep draft Arctic port.
The loosely planned meeting at Pioneer Hall was folded into a multi-day trip to Alaska by acting Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Kevin E. Lunday. On this day, the four-star admiral was traveling with an entourage large enough to fill a school bus. This included two congressmen from two southern states which are the farthest away from Alaska—Mississippi and Florida.
Representatives Jimmy Patronis (R-FL) and Mike Ezell (R-MS) both sit on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, but it is their role on the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation that explained their presence in Nome. Ezell chairs that subcommittee and last month saw a bill he helped sponsor win approval by Congress.
The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025 now awaits President Trump's signature and already, it is seen as a game-changer.
“The Coast Guard is not the one that typically has had the billions of dollars to invest and create infrastructure," said USCG Arctic Coordinator Shawn Hay. Now, he says the problem for the USCG is figuring out how best to invest in the $24 billion allocated to the service by the recently passed Coast Guard Act.
Trump-Putin summit takes place in Anchorage
At the cease-fire summit with Donald Trump in Anchorage on August 15, 2025, Vladimir Putin invoked the geography that binds Russia and America reluctantly together: a pair of islands divided by a strip of water, miles wide, and with centuries of tangled history between them.
"We're separated by the Bering Strait, though there are just two islands between Russia and the United States," Putin said. " We are close neighbors—and that is a fact."
For decades, Little Diomede and Big Diomede have embodied the paradox of U.S.–Russian relations: close enough to see one another on a clear day, yet politically, worlds apart.
Putin’s mention of the “two islands” during his six-hour visit to Alaska—his first U.S. trip since 2015—reopened a chapter of Far North history, recalling World War II cooperation and Cold War chill that thawed briefly only to freeze again.
“We were kinda involved in those war days,” said 89-year-old Orville Ahkinga, Sr. who grew up on Little Diomede and now lives in Nome. As a boy, he remembers his parents blacking out any light that might escape from the family window.
“Just about every night,” he said. “No lights.”
The summit at Anchorage’s Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson marked the first time a Russian president visited Alaska—a territory the U.S. bought from Moscow for $7.2 million in 1867. That purchase set the boundary now running between the Diomede Islands, just 2.4 miles apart separated by the International Date Line—a 21-hour difference in time.
Army Corps of Engineers awards port expansion bid to Kiewit
As the local and national press was focused on the historic meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, August 15 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, the meeting drowned out a big announcement from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Alaska District – based at JBER — relating to the Port of Nome: A nearly $400 million contract was awarded to Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. of Vancouver to begin building phase 1A of the long-awaited port expansion. Phase 1A entails the removal of the causeway spur, a 1,200-foot causeway extension with 600 feet of dock face.
Troopers identify body found on East Beach
The human remains that washed up in Nome have been identified as 72-year-old Samuel Shavings of Mekoryuk, Alaska State Troopers say. Shavings went missing on May 26, 2025, when the boat he was traveling in sunk in rough water conditions.
Two men, including Shavings, were missing after the boat sank off the coast of Mekoryuk. Three men were aboard 22- to 24-foot Ocean Pro when it sank. One man swam to shore and was located. Samuel Shavings, 72, and Albert Williams, 65, remained missing. Two local boats searched for the men overnight with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard. On May 27, the Rescue Coordination Center planned to launch a C-130 aircraft and the U.S. Coast Guard routed a vessel to the area. A search and rescue team found the remains of Albert Williams, who was traveling in the boat with Shavings.
Teller man sentenced to 20 years in prison
The life of Gregory Saclamana changed forever on October 4, 2020, when he was stabbed more than 50 times by his partner Bradley Gene Okpealuk, in Teller. Okpealuk continued to cut into Saclamana, who laid in a pool of his own blood in the kitchen, afraid to make any noise, Saclamana remembers. This agony was what Charlene Saclamana, the victim's mother, tried to relay to Judge Eric Aarseth, who sentenced 35-year-old Okpealuk to a 20-year prison term in Nome's courthouse.
September
Quintillion cable repaired
Quintillion announced that its crew had successfully repaired the fiberoptic cable which had been cut in January off Oliktok Point in the Beaufort Sea and said that high speed internet service to Quintillion customers has been restored.
In a statement, Quintillion President Mac McHale said that its crew would now work on cable burial, which could take up to an additional two weeks.
Unalakleet gets a swimming pool
With earthwork underway and cement ready to be poured, the community of Unalakleet could soon see a public swimming pool become a reality. Just outside of Unalakleet proper, toward the hillside, workers are preparing to pour a cement foundation on the six-acre parcel of land for the future pool. The project is a collaboration between the Native Village of Unalakleet, financed by the Thomas and Cindy Massie Foundation and local champions to help on the ground.
BSNC proposes man camp for 6th Avenue
Finding regional employees to work in Nome is one thing. Housing them is a whole different story. In order to meet the challenge, local businesses and organizations – like Norton Sound Health Corporation currently building several housing complexes – are creating their own solutions.
In a meeting at Old St. Joe's, Bering Straits Native Corporation's Vice President of Nome Operations Larry Pederson presented a plan to use BSNC's Alaska Gold Co. property near Steadman and 6th Avenue for a temporary man camp to house workers.
Needing truck drivers, mechanics and other personnel to work at BSNC operations, the regional Native corporation is getting ready for years of delivering rock for the seawall project at Utqiagvik and all sorts of jobs connected to the upcoming Port of Nome expansion project. Pederson also addressed the elephant in the room. “I know people sometimes are concerned about facilities like this, and I know the city has had concerns about having a facility like this in the middle of town,” he said. The city council last year voted down a proposal to put the contractor work force hired to expand the Port of Nome in that very location.
Public comment period opens for Graphite One
On Tuesday, Sept. 30, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened a 30-day public comment period in response to a permit application received from Graphite One as the Canadian exploration company is seeking permits to mine a graphite deposit on the northern slopes of the Kigluaik Mountains, near Imuruk Basin.
The permit sought is a so-called Section 404 wetlands permit that would allow the company to permanently discharge fill material into waters including wetlands, according to the Corps' public notice document.
The total extent of wetlands impacted would be more than 414 acres, in addition to diverting a stream away from the mine site. The document states that "the total impact of jurisdictional waters impacted by the discharge of fill is unknown at this time."
The document says that a total of 381 acres of waters and wetlands would be permanently eliminated within the 1,176-acre footprint of the proposed mine.The mine also proposes to not only build an access road from mile 30 of the Kougarok Road through Mosquito Pass to the mine site but also to build an access ramp for construction staging along the edge of Imuruk Basin.
October
Kenny Hughes unseats John Handeland as mayor
Despite wind-driven rain during a proper Nome fall storm on Tuesday, October 7, election day, 424 Nome voters found their way to the polls and elected a new mayor for Nome. Ken Hughes won a decisive mandate with 265 votes over incumbent John K. Handeland, who received 137 votes. There were 24 write-ins. On the ballot was also the question if the city shall raise the sales tax by one point to 6 percent. The proposition was narrowly approved by 216 votes saying ‘Yes’ to 208 votes saying 'No.'
Ex-Typhoon Halong spares Norton Sound, hits Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta
One woman was recovered dead, and two persons are still missing in Kwigillingok after ex-typhoon Halong ravaged villages along the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. According to the state, more than 1,400 people were displaced and were placed in 12 shelters.
In the Norton Sound and Bering Strait region, no loss of life or serious damage was reported. The region had prepared for forecasted storm surges, and several Shaktoolik residents and elders were evacuating to nearby communities by boat and airplane.
Storm surges did not materialize in Nome. To everybody's surprise, the water level near Nome was low. While strong winds up to 58 mph recorded in Nome roiled the ocean, the waves did not get anywhere near the seawall or rose significantly at Belmont Point.
Army Corps extends Graphite One comment period
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has extended the public comment period for a major permit to allow the proposed Graphite One mine to go forward. The deadline was extended from October 31 to November 30, 2025.
The Corps seeks public comment on a so-called Section 404 permit that would allow Graphite One (Alaska) to place fill material, permanently impacting about 415 acres of water and wetlands, to develop a graphite mine north of the Kigluaik Mountains.
The reasons given for the extension are to allow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration time to provide comments, but both of the agencies are affected by the government shutdown and have been furloughed since Oct. 1.
Council grants appeal to Kanosak LLC in property use dispute
The Nome Common Council granted an appeal by Joe Burnham, sole proprietor of Kanosak LLC, overturning a decision by the Nome Planning Commission that found Burnham's use of a property not in line with the city's code.
At the heart of the matter was the question if the conexes, vehicles, machinery and parts in various states of repair that are stored on Burnham's lot south of Icy View and alongside Munz Field to the east and the Nome-Teller Highway to the west, are incidental to Burnham's business of selling and leasing equipment or if the lot is used exclusively as a storage facility, which would be inconsistent with what is allowed in this commercial-zoned area.
November
Nome grapples with first week of SNAP payment delay
Kawerak and the Nome Community Center sprang into action to cover the gap imposed by the delay in SNAP benefit payments this month. The monthslong government shutdown resulted in a lapse in funding from the federal government to issue SNAP benefits on November 1. In Nome, volunteers moved the evening of Monday, November 1 in a coordinated scramble around the XYZ Senior Center, filling and distributing boxes of goods.
Kawerak tapped into a rainy-day emergency fund to cover the gap left by the delay in SNAP benefits with a one time contribution. They used $311,340 to fund the food boxes handed out at the Nome Community Center and to issue funds to tribes on Tuesday that will cover one week of food.
Budget cuts will impact schools
Nome Public Schools Superintendent Jamie Burgess delivered the annual State of the Schools address to the Nome Common Council's work session on Monday, November 10.
In her report, Burgess emphasized how a reduction of funding from the city and the state will soon impact staffing, maintenance and special education support.
Earlier this year, the City of Nome voted on a $2.7 million contribution to the school district, down from $3.2 million from last fiscal year. The school district has a $18.5 million budget.
The reductions have made an impact on the schools. While schools did receive a one-time funding increase to the Base Student Allocation from the state legislature, the increase only covered roughly 30 percent of the need. Burgess said in her report that there are increased transportation, food service, special education and maintenance costs.
Burgess said that to balance their budget, NPS had to pull money out of their apartment fund. The apartment fund is meant to pay for a new teacher housing project and to upgrade the current apartments.
Brevig Mission residents gather comments ahead of Corps Deadline For Graphite One Permit
About 100 residents of Brevig Mission gathered last week in a public townhall meeting hosted by the tribe, the city and the Native corporation to address concerns about a proposed graphite mine as federal regulators are soliciting public comments on key permits needed for Graphite One Alaska Inc. to move forward building the mine. It seems that the villages most affected by the proposed mine have only recently learned about the time-sensitive process of submitting comments as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working on the so-called Section 404 wetlands permit, which would allow Graphite One to place fill and gravel in waters and wetlands to build the mine infrastructure and facilities.
Chinese aircraft makes unscheduled landing in Teller
Teller had unexpected guests arriving in the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 19 as two Chinese pilots landed a turboprop airplane with Chinese markings at the Teller airstrip. Due to bad weather in Nome, they were unable to land and their flight was diverted to Teller.
Reached by phone, Pilots Ping Wang and Shenghao Luo gave an account of their trip. Wang said that they were hired to transfer the plane from Harbin in northern China to Chile.
After four stops en route since leaving China, they left Anadyr/Chukotka on Wednesday and planned to refuel their plane in Nome. A moderate snowstorm with limited visibility allowed Bering Air planes to land but after one failed attempt, the Chinese pilots opted to not try again. Flight tracker radar showed that the Harbin Y-12E plane proceeded east towards White Mountain before heading north to Teller. By that time, they were running low on fuel and their plane was icing up, Wang said. The U.S. flight service diverted them to Teller.
Polar Cub Café to close after 50 years
The Polar Cub Café's 50-year run has come to an end. On Friday, November 28, the storied restaurant will close for meal service. On the morning of Sunday, November 23, the morning sun was just peeking through the windows of the café, customers waited in line at the register, buying coffee and baked goods. Despite the busy scene, the cafe will be ending the meal service this week.
The coffee shop inside the restaurant will still be open.
Opposition builds as public comments are drafted for first major Graphite One permit application
As the public comment period on a major permit application for the proposed graphite mine in the northern Kigluaik Mountains winds down, the nearest communities that would be affected by the mine are voicing their opposition.
On Monday, the lights of snowmachines and four-wheelers pierced the soft light of the Arctic dawn as the caravan was picking their way from Brevig Mission to Teller across the ice on Grantley Harbor.
Representatives from the City of Brevig Mission, Brevig Mission Traditional Council and Brevig Mission Native Corporation made the journey to meet with their counterparts of Teller and Mary's Igloo to discuss the ramifications of the proposed Graphite One mine on their subsistence way of life. The mine, the mill complex and the waste management facility would be built near the northern slopes of the Kigluaik Mountains, straddling Graphite Creek and Glacier Canyon Creek, which empty into the Imuruk Basin.
On Saturday, Nov. 21, all three Brevig Mission entities unanimously passed a resolution in opposition of the mine "due to threats to subsistence resources, cultural integrity, environmental health, community wellbeing and long-term sustainability of the region."
December
Arctic Report Card documents dramatic changes in the Arctic
Twenty years ago, the first Arctic Report Card was released by scientists who observed a rapidly changing Arctic and who keenly felt the need to provide updates of those changes to the public, said Climate Specialist Rick Thoman during a press conference rolling out the findings of the 20th Arctic Report Card in New Orleans, LA.
This year's Arctic Report Card is adding to the data set that chronicles among other things accelerating sea ice loss, warming ocean and air temperatures, and the consequences it has not only on the Arctic ecosystems or communities, but also for the rest of the globe.
The report card is released by the federal National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.
Over the years, Thoman, with the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has contributed to the annual reports. He stressed the value of the regular update. "Every year does not have a record but cumulatively, it provides an invaluable resource for where we've been and a guide to where we're going," he said.
And the future of the Arctic, according to the report, is one of profound and fast changes. The devastating aftermath of ex-typhoon Halong, slamming into Western Alaska, is a preview of what's in store as the air and sea continues to heat up.
Alaska Airlines embargoes Nome-bound freight 'til further notice
Empty shelves at Nome's grocery stores last week bore witness to a severe backlog of freight that didn't make it to Nome for the holidays.
Starting last week, Alaska Air Cargo has stopped accepting new freight in Anchorage until their cargo backlog is cleared. Last week, Alaska Airlines cancelled two passenger flights: one due to a mechanical issue and the other because of crew. Freighter cancellations during the same week were caused by unexpected mechanical problems, while the previous week's freighter cancellations were due to weather, Alaska Airlines spokesperson Tim Thompson told the Nugget. He said that two out of the five freighters are out of service due to mechanical issues.
Alaska Airlines implemented the embargo for priority and general cargo not only to Nome but also the other bush hubs of Dillingham, Kotzebue, Bethel and Utqiagvik, according to Thompson.
The embargo began December 17 and was to last through December 21, but was extended to an unspecified time. "We are currently taking it day by day and have no set date. We will open all freight options as soon as possible," Thompson said in an email to the Nugget.