The Nome Nugget

UNALAKLEET— Unalakleet’s Post Office was missing part of the roof. It has been repaired as of Tuesday.

Ex-typhoon Halong spares Nome, Norton Sound and Bering Strait from worst

One woman was recovered dead, and two persons are still missing in Kwigillingok after ex-typhoon Halong ravaged villages along the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta last weekend.

The Graphite One exploration camp, on the northern slopes of the Kigluaik Mountains.

Public comment period opens for Graphite One permit application

By Diana Haecker |

LEARNING— Visitors explore the newly renovated Bering Land Bridge Preserve Visitor Center on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025.

New Bering Land Bridge Preserve Heritage Center opens doors after renovation

By Ariana Crockett O’Harra | The Bering Land Bridge National Preserve Heritage Center re-opened its doors on September 6 after spending nearly a year undergoing renovations.

SPEECH – Reverend Keith Bateman gives a speech during the Nome Nazarene 80th anniversary celebration on Friday, Sept. 12.

Nome Church of the Nazarene celebrates 80th anniversary

By Ariana Crockett O’ Harra

ALL SMILES—Tamara Klink on deck of the Sardinha 2, in Nome, on Sept. 11, 2025

Solo Northwest Passage sailor makes stop in Nome

By Ariana Crockett O’Harra

FEMALE – A female merlin is perched on a powerline scanning for prey. Females and immature merlins are browner overall in color. Females are also 10 percent larger and 30 percent heavier than males, which is a noticeable difference.

Merlin––a fast and feisty little falcon

The merlin is a spirited little falcon that blazes over the landscape in a blur of rapid wingbeats, often in pursuit of songbirds.

FOOD AID DISTRIBUTION – People enter the XYZ Senior Center to collect Food Aid boxes distributed by the Nome Food Bank and Kawerak on Monday, November 3.

Nome grapples with first week of SNAP payment delay

Kawerak and the Nome Community Center sprang into action earlier this week to cover the gap imposed by the delay in SNAP benefit payments this month. The monthslong government shutdown resulted in a lapse in funding from the federal government to...

Nome wrestlers competed in Anchorage last week.

Nanook wrestlers compete in Anchorage

By Corey Erikson, Wrestling Coach The Mountain City Christian Academy girls and boys wrestling tournament in Anchorage is the biggest 123A wrestling event of the year. Nome wrestlers competed there last weekend and did very well, showing that...

PROPERTY USE— The Nome Common Council granted an appeal by Kanosak LLC owner Joe Burnham who asked the panel to overturn a Planning Commission determination that the use of his lot is incompatible with the commercial zoned district it is located on. Pictured is the lot and the items stored on it, which were at issue during last Monday’s council meeting.

Council grants appeal to Kanosak LLC in property use dispute

The Nome Common Council granted an appeal by Joe Burnham, sole proprietor of Kanosak LLC, overturning a decision by the Nome Planning Commission that found Burnham’s use of a property not in line with the city’s code. At the heart of the matter was...

KICKING UP DUST— A dry fall with no snow or rainfall lately, and freezing temperatures create conditions in which dust is easily kicked up by traffic on Nome’s gravel roads.

Fall dust creates unhealthy levels of air quality in Nome

Achoo, grit itching the eyes and sand in one’s mouth just by walking down the street – those are signs of living in a veritable dust bowl in Nome these days. Dust is a troublesome reality in Nome but recently, dust levels have reached highs that...

INDUCTED— Ada Blackjack, pictured here on deck of the ship Donaldson in 1923, was inducted into the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame last week.

Ada Blackjack inducted into Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame

Ada Blackjack was inducted posthumously in the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame last week. Ada Blackjack was an Inupiaq woman who reluctantly rose to fame as the only survivor of a doomed expedition to Wrangel Island from 1921 to 1923. Ada Delutuk was...

Army Corps extends deadline to comment on Graphite One 404 permit

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has extended the public comment period for a major permit to allow the proposed Graphite One mine to go forward. The deadline was extended from October 31 to November 30, 2025. The Corps seeks public comment on a so-...

PROTEST – Charlene Apok and Claire Tatqiq Nay protest the Ambler Road project during Senator Dan Sullivan’s speech on the second day of the AFN convention on Friday, October 17 at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage, Alaska. Tatqiq Nay, left, is from Kotzebue. Dozens of protestors flooded the floor during Sullivan’s speech.

Alaska’s congressional delegation speaks at AFN

The three members of Alaska’s congressional delegation spoke at AFN last weekend with markedly different-sized crowds. During Senator Dan Sullivan’s speech on Friday, protestors turned their backs to him and attempted to march in front of the stage...

If government shutdown continues, SNAP benefits will be cut off Nov. 1

The state of Alaska announced on Monday that as a result of the ongoing federal government shutdown, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service has directed states to stop the issuance of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program...

FOCUSED DANCERS— Evelyn Koonooka and Janissa Noongwook dance with the Qughsatkut Dancers of Gambell, on October 16 at the AFN Convention in Anchorage’s Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center.

Subsistence rights and disaster relief take center stage at 2025 Alaska Federation of Natives convention

Alaska Natives from across the state grappled with two dramatic issues at the Alaska Federation of Natives annual convention last week: The immediate devastation of the impact of typhoon Halong and yet another legal challenge to subsistence....

IPNUK— U.S. Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrews conduct overflights of Kipnuk, after coastal flooding impacted several western Alaska communities, Oct. 12, 2025.

Ex-typhoon Halong shifted course, and turned deadly in the YK-Delta

A joint search and rescue mission was concluding, Monday, when state authorities announced at least one woman had died from a rare and devastating coastal storm that slammed into Alaska’s western coast over the weekend. Alaska State Troopers said ...

Ex-typhoon Halong spares Nome, Norton Sound and Bering Strait from worst

One woman was recovered dead, and two persons are still missing in Kwigillingok after ex-typhoon Halong ravaged villages along the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta last weekend. As of Tuesday, the state’s Emergency Operations Center reported that response to...

SWORN IN— Mayor-elect Ken Hughes, right, is sworn in to the office of mayor of Nome by John Handeland, left, and City Clerk Dan Grimmer, center, during the October 14 Nome Common Council meeting.

Nome Common Council canvasses election

The Nome Common Council canvassed last week’s municipal elections and made official the results. After voting down one questioned ballot — the voter, a Nomeite, was registered in Fairbanks— the council signed off on the election results. In all, 431...