With the Napakiak post office shut down, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation is delivering prescription medications to the village through commercial air traffic.

With a speaker now selected, the Alaska State House has assigned committee seats to its members five weeks into the session.

The post has been updated with a comment from the U.S. Postal Service.

People in Napakiak are getting desperate for mail, and the lack of postal service is becoming an issue. The village’s post office has been closed for the past two weeks, with no relief in sight. That means they can’t get medications that are flown out from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation, or pay bills through the mail, or get checks to pay for basic needs like fuel and food, according to Napakiak City Administrator Leo Kusayak. 

Gov. Mike Dunleavy's proposed budget for this year took deep whacks at multiple state programs vital to rural Alaska. 

As Gov. Mike Dunleavy unveils his budget, which includes deep cuts to a host of state programs, three lawmakers are cautioning him against rejecting federal funds used for Medicaid expansion in Alaska. A memo lays out how the governor is legally bound to accept these funds. 

The memo, which is from the Division of Legal and Research Services, says that the governor is “legally obligated” to accept federal funds. Legislators would need to pass a bill to eliminate or restrict the program in Alaska.

The only ordinance that passed at Tuesday’s Bethel City Council meeting seemed more routine than consequential. The council unanimously voted to reacquire land that had been leased to the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative to test if the area could support a wind turbine. As it turned out, the 2.55 acres near the city lagoon was not a good location for that purpose, and the city is taking the land back.