Jared Griffin

The Borough Assembly has approved $10.5 million for the Kodiak Island Borough School District for the next school year. This is about half a million less than what the school district had requested, but nearly $1 million more than they received last year. Some Assembly members, such as Duane Dvorak supported funding to the school …

USCGC Polar Sea, a decommissioned heavy icebreaker. (US Coast Guard) When Alaska state representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins (KRISE-TOMkins) from Sitka read that the Coast Guard was going to send three new icebreakers to port in Seattle, instead of Alaska, he had one word: “Baloney.” In a meeting of the House’s Military and Veteran’s Affairs committee on …

As the Kodiak Island Borough begins to nail down next year’s budget, the debate between education funding and raising property taxes has taken center stage. This year, the Assembly is considering two proposed budgets. The budget prepared by the Borough manager’s office set a $21 million budget, including over $11 million for education support, but …

The Kodiak Island Borough is proposing to eliminate Service District 2 and is looking for public feedback. Map of Service Area 2 (Kodiak Island Borough) Service District 2, which includes residential and park areas along Monashka Bay Road, was formed in 1991 to allow those residents the power to organize water and sewer services. However, …

This week, the City of Kodiak and Kodiak Island Borough will be taking the final steps toward streamlining coordination and hopefully reducing costs for running the two largest municipal bodies on the island. It will be called the Cooperative Relations Committee, comprised of three members of the City Council and three members of the Borough …

City employees may not see a cost of living increase this coming year as the city considered that and other measures to create a balanced budget at last week’s City Council budget discussion work session. If the budget was maintained, the city of Kodiak would be looking at a budget deficit of $3 million. To …

In the wake of Alaska’s three-year recession from 2016 to 2018 and the COVID-19 pandemic, the retail sector in Alaska has been seriously hurt. According to Alaska Department of Labor numbers released this month, retail jobs in 2020 plummeted, losing over 2500 jobs last year alone. One of the exceptions to the retail dive, though, …

On the final day of the Coast Guard’s hearings on the Scandies Rose sinking, we hear testimony from an accident analyst and closing comments by the investigators. CDR. Smoak, Coast Guard accident analysis: LISTEN HERE Closing remarks and a memorial for the F/V Scandies Rose: LISTEN HERE

In the final full day of testimony on the Scandies Rose investigation, the Coast Guard will be hearing from marine safety experts in the morning, and in the afternoon, Bruce Culver, the author of the criticized Scandies Rose stability report, will speak, followed by more testimony from Dan Mattsen, Scandies owner. Dr. Jennifer Lincoln and …

The Coast Guard’s public hearing concerning the Scandies Rose sinking continues on its eighth day with testimony on maritime safety equipment, boat engineering, and mariner education and training. Mario Vittone, survival equipment expert: LISTEN HERE Capt. Kristen Martin, USCG National Maritime Center: (Note: Capt. Martin’s testimony was experiencing technical difficulties) Part 1a: LISTEN HERE Part …