Kusko Cab will provide free rides to and from the polls in Bethel on Election Day. There will be only one voting location in Bethel on that day, at the Cultural Center, where doors will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 3. There are several ways to vote before Election Day.

Bethel’s hauled water deliveries scheduled for Oct. 28 may be delayed, according to Acting City Manager Pete Williams. Williams said that many of the city’s utility truck drivers have been working since the evening of Oct. 27, when the sewer lift station in Bethel Heights Subdivision stopped working. 

On Thursday, Oct. 29, there will be a power outage between 9 a.m. and noon across all of Bethel, Napakiak, and Oscarville. On Saturday, Oct. 31, all of Napakiak and large portions of Bethel will be without power between noon and 5 p.m. All of Napakiak, and some areas of Bethel, may regain power by 3 p.m. that day.

Due to the huge surge in COVID-19 cases in Bethel and the region around it, the Bethel City Council passed a resolution asking people to hunker down on Oct. 27. 

Bethel has a new mayor, and her name is Michelle DeWitt. DeWitt was recently re-elected to a two-year term after serving on Bethel City Council for the past year. Haley Hanson remains Bethel's vice mayor. The city council chose the two women to lead it in a unanimous vote on Oct. 19.

It’s is the biggest distribution to shareholders since the regional Native corporation Calista created a settlement trust. 

On Oct. 26, the City of Bethel and the Lower Kuskokwim School District began their operation to deliver a pumpkin to every kid in Bethel from Pre-K to 6th grade. The City of Bethel is hoping kids stay home this year to carve a pumpkin instead of going out to trick or treat.