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“Dear Friend,” (February 2021)

Western Alaskans are not easily impressed by money, fame, or shine: things people elsewhere spend lifetimes chasing. They are hardy, practical people who, first and foremost, care for one another. The same is true for KNOM. The mission innovates for long-term benefit, with an eye toward sustainability and service to listeners. The mission is evaluated […]

High School Radio Intern Air-Born

This spring, high school student Sara Bioff is learning broadcasting on-the-job as a KNOM intern. Bioff is the first of several high school interns who will be shadowing KNOMers, in a new partnership with Nome-Beltz High School. Here’s Bioff, in her own words: “My name is Sara Bioff, a junior at Nome-Beltz High School, and […]

First Baby of 2021

RosaLynn Roxie Reamer, the first baby born in 2021 in the Norton Sound region, was born shortly after 11 p.m. on January 6th. According to the baby girl’s parents, Sarah Iyapana and Wayne Reamer of Nome, RosaLynn was actually not due until the end of the month. RosaLynn weighed a healthy six pounds, three ounces, […]

Schools Are Back In Session

Schools returned to in-person learning across the Bering Strait Region in mid-January. With a number of teachers and families traveling during the holiday break, Nome Superintendent Jamie Burgess told listeners “we want to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to observe quarantine and that we actually have enough staff to hold school.” Both teachers […]

Nome Port Plans Approved As Navy Announces Arctic Focus

Nome Deep Draft Port rendering

“This project has been on the planning table and been advanced by the city for a decade, I would say, and getting over this hump is monumental for our area.” That’s Nome Mayor John Handeland speaking. Congress authorized the plans for a deep draft port in Nome last month, and the President approved the project. […]

More Drugs Seized Headed for Western Alaska Last Year

Black and white photo of prescription drugs falling out of bottle

Over the course of two weeks last fall, the Western Alaska Alcohol and Narcotics (WAANT) task force successfully seized two shipments of heroin and methamphetamine (estimated street value of $61,000) before it could be sold in Norton Sound communities. Captain Andrew Gorn, the commander of the Alaska Bureau of Investigation of Statewide Drug Enforcement for […]

Vaccine Moves Through Region At Record Pace

A healthcare worker administering the Covid vaccine to a patient..

By mid-January, more than a third of people in the Bering Strait region – including most of the KNOM staff in Nome – had received the first round of the coronavirus vaccine. In rural Alaska, healthcare workers with vaccines traveled by small planes, snowmachines, boats, and sleds to reach villagers. The hospital’s vaccine dashboard showed […]