The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, paid U.S. Coast Guard Base Kodiak a roughly four-hour visit today, but officials haven’t said why.

“After years of hearing from the Coast Guard that they’re experiencing, maybe degraded performance, we don’t want [mariners] to lose hope,” Bryan Hinderberger, chief technical officer at the Marine Exchange of Alaska, said.

USCG's commanding officer of the Frederick Mann, one of the new vessels, said the John Witherspoon will be the first cutter to arrive at Coast Guard Base Kodiak. He updated members of the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly and City Council during a Fisheries Work Group meeting on Jan. 22.

The U.S. Coast Guard’s District 17 staff said in a press release that it received a distress signal from the F/V Tanusha just before 10 a.m. Wednesday morning. A nearby good Samaritan vessel, the Victory and a helicopter from Air Station Kodiak responded to the call.

Coast Guard Base Kodiak’s child development center has faced major staffing issues this year that nearly led to the daycare temporarily closing. Officials have figured out a solution for now, but it’s just one hurdle to jump as more service members arriving in the next few years could put more pressure on the center.

One of three new U.S. Coast Guard cutters is on its way to Kodiak. The Fast Response Cutter John Witherspoon, named after the first African American to command a medium endurance cutter, was delivered to the Coast Guard in Key West, Florida on Nov. 7.

The theme this year was Enchanted Forest, as servicemembers and spouses bid on prizes like plane tickets and art. The money goes towards Santa in the Villages, a program that brings presents to kids in rural places around the archipelago.

The ship responded to Russian military ships in U.S. waters as part of spending over two months patrolling the Bering Sea from the edges of the Aleutian Chain to the edges of ice in the Arctic.

Alaska's suicide rate was nearly double the national average in 2017. For National Suicide Prevention Month, several organizations in Kodiak are pushing mental health resources and awareness events as part of it.

A Coast Guard rescue swimmer was reported dead in late June. The investigation is ongoing, but his death sparked a new wave of conversations about mental health on the base.