Northwest

A recent report compiled by the Army Corps of Engineers and researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks documents erosion and other environmental threats facing communities in rural Alaska.

While the storms are nothing new for this time of year, they are likely to disrupt sea ice in the region, which is forming at a much slower rate due to an abnormally warm year.

While this particular virus isn’t doing widespread damage, its emergence opens the door for other viruses to pop up between oceans.

The ACLU says the victim is willing to settle her claims against the city for half a million dollars in order to avoid ongoing litigation.

Gail Alstrom of the St. Mary’s Sub-Regional Clinic says rural Alaska health care clinics like hers rely on broadband internet service. An outage sends them back in time.

As of Aug. 31, Arctic sea ice coverage dropped to the third-lowest extent on satellite record for that day, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

A Russian barge mounted with nuclear reactors is expected to traverse the Arctic this month. Across the Bering Strait, Alaskans are worried — though one Arctic security expert also sees room for optimism.

According to NOAA, over 180 gray whales have washed up dead along the West Coast so far this year. But each new specimen adds a little more clarity for scientists.

Residents from two Northwest Alaska villages say they found large numbers of dead mussels and krill washed up along shores in June, contributing to fears that record warm waters may be causing a wide range of ecosystem changes.

Harold Okitkun counted 18 dead seals north of Kotlik — a number he says he’s never seen or heard of other people in the village seeing.