KMXT News

On today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:Alaska scientists shared concerns about federal funding cuts hurting Arctic research at a major conference in New Orleans this month. A winter storm dumped more than two feet of snow and freezing rain on the capital city this holiday weekend. And Matanuska-Susitna Borough residents were blasted by hurricane-force winds over the weekend.Photo: Skiers head down a snowy Basin Road in downtown Juneau on Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. Skiers head down a snowy Basin Road in downtown Juneau on Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (Photo by Clarise Larson/KTOO)

On today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:The federal military spending law signed passed last week includes special benefits those serving in Alaska, hundreds of millions in new construction in the state, and a push to reactivate the US Navy base at Adak. Skeptics continue to question the economics of the proposed gas pipeline. And the United States may soon have an Arctic ambassador again.Photo: Naval Security Group Adak, 1960

On today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:The Matanuska-Susitna Borough must repay nearly $6 million to the federal government for the defunct Knik Arm ferry project. Advocates say an Anchorage-based permanent supportive housing program has proven its effectiveness after five years in operation. And celebrations around the state!Photo: The M/V Susitna docked in Ketchikan. Photo courtesy of Patty Sullivan/Matanuska-Susitna Borough

On today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:The next legislative session is less than a month away, and lawmakers are preparing to return to Juneau. An Utqiaġvik woman has been charged with six felony charges for allegedly murdering her father. And tourism is expected to tick upward this winter.

On today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:A federal grand jury has indicted two Alaska State Troopers shown on body-camera video beating, tasing and pepper-spraying a Kenai man in a case of mistaken identity. Representatives of the proposed Donlin Gold mine recently offered a status update on the project to the Bethel City Council. And Kodiak couple faces possible deportation due to error by the state.Photo: The company behind the Donlin prospect in Western Alaska says it contains gold worth more than $100 billion. (Novagold Resources photo)

On today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:The window for Alaska Native veterans to apply for their Native allotments will stay open for another five years. Gov. Mike Dunleavy is eyeing a property tax break for the long-planned Alaska LNG project. And dancing and drumming, essential to Siberian Yupik culture, continue to be passed down by ancestors.Photo: Yup'ik dancer from Inu-Yupiaq dance group performing in a kuspuk. (Wikipedia)

On today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:Fairbanks police are looking for a suspect who allegedly shot and wounded a person Monday night at a Fairbanks Safeway store. Local showings for a documentary about Petersburg doubled as a fundraising opportunity for the community's struggling nonprofit movie theater. And Tribes in Southeast have banded together.Photo: Community members watch a showing of “Tide and Table” during its premiere in Petersburg on Dec. 5-6. (Screenshot from Two Doors Down Productions Instagram)

On today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:Troopers are still looking for a Toksook Bay man who allegedly kidnapped and fired multiple shots at a tribal police officer in the Nelson Island community. The latest federal report on the Arctic shows the region is still rapidly warming. And the state of Alaska is considering a new ferry terminal that would connect Alaska's ferries to the Lower 48 without going through Canada.Photo: The orange tributary of the Kugororuk River in Alaska is an example of a "rusting river." These rivers are increasingly common in the Brooks Range of northern Alaska, the result of thawing permafrost. The orange color is caused by naturally occurring iron, but it can also indicate elevated levels of heavy metals. (Josh Koch/U.S. Geological Survey)

On today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:Gov. Mike Dunleavy is dropping a longtime priority ahead of next year's legislative session. Sen. Sullivan voted with Democrats on a failed bill to extend health care subsidies. And FEMA will reimburse the state for costs of housing the victims of typhoon Halong.Photo: Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks direct-to-camera in a video published Dec. 11, 2025 discussing his budget proposal.

On today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:Federal funding for libraries and museums has been reinstated nine months after the Trump administration sought to eliminate the agency that provides the money. The Western Arctic Caribou Herd is now at its lowest numbers in five decades. And the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has landed on a solution to put an end to glacial outburst floods in Juneau's Mendenhall Valley.Photo: A caribou from the western Arctic Herd. (Photo by Jim Dau)

This week we hear about tips for feeling better during winter blues from Alaska Public Media, Kodiak gets hit with about a foot of snow, 2020 Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod fishery disaster funds are being distributed to those who were impacted including the city of Kodiak, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council sets the Bering Sea pollock quota and Gulf of Alaska ground fish quotas for next year, and the KIBSD board of education has begun the budgeting process for next school year.

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:State and federal law enforcement officers on Wednesday captured a North Pole man wanted for the fatal shooting of a teenager near Fairbanks. A magnitude 7 earthquake shook Juneau and other towns in Alaska's northern and central panhandle late Saturday morning. And the state launched a new telehealth service for Alaskans with intellectual and developmental disabilities last month.

In this week's recap with Host Brian Venua, the City of Kodiak has a new manager, an entangled humpback died near the island, Port Lions got a special delivery of salmon fillets, Kodiak residents are trying to grow fruit trees, a Kodiak farm is providing some of its milk to local families, and the Chamber of Commerce is bringing a home show back to the island after an over 30 year hiatus. KMXT Weekly Wrap

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she was deeply troubled by a report that the military launched a second strike to kill survivors of a suspected drug boat. A federal lab devoted to renewable energy development for a half century has had the word “renewable” stripped from its name. And a federal heating assistance program used by thousands of Alaskans will continue uninterrupted, according to state officials.Photo: Pete Hegseth (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:Governor Mike Dunleavy announced Friday that John Crowther is his nominee to be Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. Republicans in the Alaska House have a new leader. And a program celebrating Alaska's storytelling tradition will debut this afternoon on social media, YouTube and the PBS website.

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:The use of artificial intelligence for translation, and its implications for tribal data sovereignty. As ConocoPhillips reduces its global workforce, its North Slope employees are considering unionizing. And Aleutian Airways will provide federally subsidized air service to three Western Alaska communities. Photo: ConocoPhillips' Alpine facility on the North Slope. (Elizabeth Harball/Alaska's Energy Desk)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:Environmental advocates say Gov. Mike Dunleavy's administration has walked away from an agreement with British Columbia that sought to give Alaskans a say in the development of mines upstream of Southeast. Alaska State Troopers are investigating whether a missing Valdez woman might have been staying at the Caribou Hotel in Glennallen when it burned down on Nov. 12th. And the State of Alaska wants to know what you think about designating a state forest on the Kenai Peninsula.Photo: Beetle-kill managed forest on the campground side of the highway, contrasted with beetle-kill spruces on the far side. (Riley Board/KDLL)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:No major damage was reported after a magnitude-6 earthquake rattled Alaskans across Southcentral on Thursday morning. Food Bank of Alaska officials say this holiday season is proving especially tough for people struggling to afford groceries. And for the first time, Juneau's famous Mendenhall Glacier is not touching Mendenhall Lake.Photo: The center of Mendenhall Glacier's terminus on November 23, 2025. Scientists confirm the glacier is no longer interfacing with Mendenhall Lake. (Photo by Alix Soliman/KTOO)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:A dispute involving the City of Fairbanks, its firefighters union and the local technical college is complicating a program for training paramedics. Writer and playwright Vera Starbard recently clinched her fourth Emmy nomination for the PBS show, Molly of Denali. And Alaska's Office of Children's Services pushed back Tuesday on the findings of an audit required by a law meant to reform the state's foster care system.(Photo by Jamie Diep/KTOO)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:The Alaska Bureau of Investigation is looking into two incidents shots fired at two ore-hauling trucks late last week near Fairbanks. Alaska's state government is increasingly failing to keep up with requirements in state and federal law according to the state's nonpartisan auditor. And it's the time of year when winter weather traps pollution in many Interior Alaska communities. Photo: 95-foot-long Black Gold Transport trucks haul ore excavated from the Monh Choh gold mine near Tetlin. (Kinross Alaska)

This week, with host Davis Hovey, we hear about the most recent shellfish toxin results in Kodiak, the interim chancellor of the University of Alaska visits the local college, Nick Mangini was appointed to the city council, the borough lands committee pushes more land to the borough assembly for sale and the North Star Elementary school building will be used at least in part for daycare.

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:The idea of building a road to connect the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers is getting a fresh look. The Trump administration has a new offshore drilling proposal to offer nearly all of the oceans off Alaska to potential leasing. And the Anchorage Museum has brought together artists, writers and photographers to start a conversation on how to navigate climate change.Photo: Amy Meissner, Mother Thought of Everything, 2020. Background photograph by Brian Adams. (Anchorage Museum)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:A lawsuit from Alaska's only Native reservation will proceed over the objections of other Southeast tribes. Alaska State Troopers have redoubled their efforts to locate a North Pole man charged with murder. And drone technology helped speed the process for approving the state's federal disaster declaration after ex-Typhoon Halong.Photo by Mike DeLue

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:Southeast Alaska tribes and environmental groups delivered nearly 30,000 messages to British Columbia lawmakers about transboundary mining. The U.S Department of Education is cutting a grant that funds about half of the faculty and staff at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Bristol Bay Campus.

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines: The longest government shutdown in U.S. history came to an end last week. Researchers and community members gathered in Yakutat to discuss local geohazards, like landslide-induced tsunamis. And Alaska legislators with the state Joint Armed Services Committee are raising concerns that a federal directive to prepare the Alaska National Guard to deploy domestically for civil unrest could divert service members from disaster relief efforts.

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:Hundreds of evacuees from Western Alaska are staying in Anchorage hotels after last month's storms destroyed their homes. A controversial mineral exploration project near Haines is changing hands again – just one year after the last shakeup. And totem poles at the Ketchikan Totem Heritage Center are getting a facelift.Photo: Evacuees Ally Shangin, her partner Garrett Kashatok and their four daughters – Katelynn, 9, Allyssa, 3, Lola, 2, and Shameka, 11 months – in their room at the Wingate hotel on Nov. 14, 2025. ( Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media)

In this week's recap with Host Brian Venua, Old Harbor has water again, Kodiak's Chamber of Commerce held its annual awards dinner, the State of Alaska is looking into an agriculture cooperative and recently published its preliminary salmon numbers statewide, and the Alaska Groundfish Data Bank was raided by state troopers.

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:Recovery in the isolated Western Alaska communities slammed by typhoon Halong will be a long process. University of Alaska President Pat Pitney will retire this spring. And three tribal governments and several environmental groups have sued the Trump administration to try to block a deal to build a road from King Cove to Cold Bay.Photo: University of Alaska President Pat Pitney announced her retirement for May 2026, on Nov. 13, 2025. (Screenshot of UA video announcement)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:Glennallen's only hotel burned to the ground Wednesday. Biologists are interested in sounds whales make above water. And Anchorage residents have reported seeing – and hearing – wolves on area trails.Photo: Fire destroyed the Caribou Hotel in downtown Glennallen Wednesday. (Cross Road Medical Center)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:State Senator Matt Claman has entered the race for Governor. A group of state lawmakers has been tasked with studying how Alaska pays for public education. And the state of Alaska is limiting payments to SNAP recipients this week in response to federal guidance.Photo: Matt Claman. (Wikipedia)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:Fairbanksans are stepping up to make sure their neighbors don't go hungry. Elders and youth from around Alaska learned how to process a seal. And the University of Alaska Board of Regents approved increasing tuition across the board by 4% next year.The Fairbanks Food Bank. (The Fairbanks Food Bank)

This week with host Davis Hovey, we hear about the City of Kodiak again seeking an interim manager, the state has launched a project to replace Sargent Creek and Russian River bridges, Dr. Nick Loomis has been appointed as the interim administrator at PKIMC, the U.S. Arctic Research Commission held its 121st meeting in Kodiak this week, flights at Anchorage International Airport are being cut, KMXT has put together a list of local holiday bazaars and art markets, and hundreds of people on Kodiak Island need assistance paying for food.

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:Skagway's summer drag season finished with its last event in September. Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is among 40 airports across the country forced to slash air traffic by 10% starting today. And World Central Kitchen is bringing familiar foods to victims of typhoon Halong. Mustached participants at Skagway's September drag bingo. Photo: (Munson/KHNS)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:The Rasmuson Foundation has named Kodiak-born carver Jerry Laktonen as its 2025 Distinguished Artist. Alaska might soon regulate its own hazardous waste. And Alaska Public Media's Liz Ruskin checked in with a few furloughed workers in Anchorage.Photo: Jerry Laktonen and a bird mask he made. (Rasmuson Foundation)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:A controversial higher education compact from the Trump administration has sparked a petition from several University of Alaska unions. Months before a storm devastated parts of Western Alaska, a federal agency canceled a grant that would have helped protect one of the communities from flooding. And some residents of Juneau's Telephone Hill refuse to leave despite being evicted by the city.Photo: The village of Kipnuk, largely submerged by the remnants of Typhoon Halong, is seen from the air on Oct. 12, 2025. (Courtesy Alaska National Guard)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:People who rely on food assistance from SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, could have their electronic benefits cards refilled as soon as this week, thanks to the state. The Environmental Protection Agency said last week that Alaska's revised plan to improve air quality in the Fairbanks and North Pole is good to go. And communities across Alaska are doing what they can to support the more than one thousand people displaced by Typhoon Halong.Photo: Smokestack emissions rise into the air on Feb. 7, 2025, above Golden Heart Plaza in downtown Fairbanks. Snow dusts the statute of the “Unknown First Family” that is the plaza's centerpiece. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:State officials say there are no longer evacuees from Western Alaska staying at mass shelters in Anchorage. The nearly 70,000 Alaskans who depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP or food stamps, are still waiting for their November benefits to hit their accounts. And Mary Peltola, is about even in a head-to-head match with Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, a new poll shows.Photo: Mary Peltola, in her official Congressional photo. (Leah Herman)

In this week's episode with Host Brian Venua, near record winds in Kodiak, Caroline Roberts will remain on the borough assembly, Kodiak schools have fewer students, there will be no Tanner crab fishery for Kodiak, Highmark Marine Fabrication is taking more control over the City of Kodiak's shipyard, United Fishermen of Alaska held a meeting on the island — a first in over 20 years, and the Alaska Desk's Shelby Herbert talks about support for the military amid a government shutdown.

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:The Western Alaska disaster relief effort has moved to its next phase. The government shutdown is delaying funding for a federal heating assistance program, according to the Alaska Department of Health. And land acknowledgment signs and statements honoring Dena'ina and Ahtna people will no longer be used in Mat-Su district schools.Photo: A student reads a land acknowledgment sign in Wasilla High School on Oct. 16, 2025. District officials removed the sign on Oct. 17, 2025, school officials said. (Amy Bushatz/Mat-Su Sentinel)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:The government shutdown is creating a lot of uncertainty and disruption for Alaska Native communities, and for tribal organizations that administer federal programs. Federal subsidies for rural air travel will continue through at least mid-November despite the government shutdown. And a bill passing through Congress hopes to solidify protections for Alaska Native ivory artists.Photo: An Island Air Cessna Caravan flies toward Old Harbor, a village of about 200 people in the Kodiak Archipelago, July 2, 2024. ( Brian Venua/KMXT)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:The State of Alaska cut its payments to districts and municipalities for school construction and renovation projects by roughly 25 to 30 percent this year. Alaska State Troopers are looking for a North Pole man connected to a fatal shooting during a party early Saturday morning in Fairbanks. And Juneau plans to expand its temporary levee along the Mendenhall River, in part by using money originally intended for a new arts and culture center.Photo: HESCO flood barriers line the Mendenhall River. (Photo by Clarise Larson, Mikko Wilson/KTOO)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:The proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline project picked up another nonbinding agreement last week. Sen. Lisa Murkowski took to the Senate floor yesterday to call on her fellow senators to put away the partisan rhetoric and end the government shutdown.And the City and Borough of Wrangell is pausing work at a housing project after archaeologists confirmed artifacts at the site.Photo: Sen. Lisa Murkowski at the U.S. Capitol in 2023. (Liz Ruskin/Alaska Public Media)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:For some Ketchikan residents, Diaz Cafe is more than just a Filipino restaurant – it's a gathering place that blends culture and community. A fix for a rockslide that has been threatening Skagway's busiest cruise ship dock won't be cheap. And the Trump administration is again advancing the Ambler Road project in Northwest Alaska.Photo: Diaz Cafe

In this week's episode we hear about new Kodiak Island Borough Assembly members swearing in, YMCA Alaska has a new program at East Elementary, Kodiak College held a college and career fair, Fish and Game upped its commercial harvest limits for Bering Sea snow crab, and several groups are coordinating relief efforts for Western Alaska after damage from remnants of Typhoon Halong.

This week with host Davis Hovey, we hear about Malia Villegas winning an AFN award, Kodiak KINDNESS has hired two new peer counselors in the Northwest Arctic Borough, Kodiak's legislators give an update on the state's finances, the head of Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center leaves the hospital, KIBSD's superintendent has announced this school year will be her last in Kodiak, and the new city manager is leaving the City of Kodiak at the end of the month.

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:Evacuees of Western Alaska are taking comfort in donated traditional subsistence foods. Farmers in the Interior have to diversify to make ends meet. And a long growing season doesn't always mean higher production for Alaska farmers.Photo: Tom Zimmer picks cherry tomatoes at the Calypso Farm and Ecology Center greenhouse on Oct. 9, 2025. (Shelby Herbert/KUAC)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:Power has been restored to all Adak residents following a 17-day outage. President Trump has signed a disaster declaration for Western Alaska. And Alaskans will not receive SNAP, or food stamp, benefits for November unless the federal government shutdown ends before then. Photo: SNAP

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:In Kipnuk, Halong's high winds and storm surge left a catastrophe. Quyana Alaska followed the first and second days of the Alaska Federation of Natives convention. And out in the Bering Sea, when planes can't land, grocery shelves go bare.Photo: St. Paul's 300 residents went without many major staples in June when travel disruptions led to a food shortage on the island, photographed here in September 2025. ( Theo Greenly/KUHB)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:More than 400 Sitkans turned out Saturday to speak out against what they call an escalating abuse of power by President Donald Trump. Gubernatorial hopeful Tom Begich kicked off a statewide listening tour on the Kenai Peninsula last weekend. And Alaska Congressman Nick Begich on Saturday delivered his first address to the Alaska Federation of Natives.Photo: No Kings protesters in Sitka. (Hope McKenney KCAW)

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:Anchorage city leaders voted Friday to extend an emergency declaration as the city welcomes hundreds of people displaced by heavy flooding in Western Alaska. Gov. Mike Dunleavy visited two Western Alaska villages to assess the damage left by high winds and flooding. Dozens of attendees at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention stood in protest during U.S. Sen.Dan Sullivan's speech.

In today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:The theme of unity has been prominent at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention. A massive airlift is underway in Western Alaska, bringing evacuees of last week's storm to Anchorage. And Adak is without power.Photo: Adak Alaska. Aleut Adventures.