Sage Smiley

Editor

Sage Smiley is an editor for KYUK. She was KYUK's news director from 2023 - 2025. She’s worked with audio since she was a teenager at radio stations from Alaska to Amman and is passionate about sound-rich storytelling, rural radio and community-centered journalism.

Politics

Bethel’s Alaska Native corporation to send out distributions this month

Sage Smiley

BNC said its annual shareholder and elder distribution will be sent out on December 11.
Public Safety

Halong highlights questions around use of AI for translating Indigenous languages

Sage Smiley

KYUK’s Sage Smiley spoke with Annie Rosenthal, a fellow with media outlet High Country News, about her recent reporting about the use of artificial intelligence for translations needed in disaster response, including its implications for tribal data sovereignty.
Public Safety

What we know about recovery, a month after ex-Typhoon Halong

Sage Smiley, Evan Erickson, Samantha Watson

With resources spread out over thousands of miles and dozens of communities, KYUK has tried to summarize what we know and don’t know about the impact of the storm, one month since it hit.
Public Safety

As communities assess damage and rebuild, they need everything from cooks to relocation support

Sage Smiley, Evan Erickson

KYUK traveled with a delegation of federal, state and tribal officials to Kipnuk and Kwigillingok. Here’s what we heard from officials and people in those communities.
Arts, Culture & Community Features

After the storm, coastal communities weigh the loss of property, land and subsistence foods

Sage Smiley

A little over a week after a typhoon remnant slammed Western Alaska, residents and hundreds of evacuees are taking stock of the damage. Many from the villages are grappling with their generations-long connection to the land being floated out from under them.
Public Safety

A quarter of homes in Napakiak have been displaced by flooding

Sage Smiley

Napakiak’s relocation coordinator said that basically every house in Napakiak and most businesses had water come into them when the remnants of Typhoon Halong hit the region. The city office and local clinic weren’t inundated, but still sustained damage.
Public Safety

First evacuees from Kwig and Kipnuk arrive to Bethel Armory shelter

Sage Smiley, Samantha Watson

People from Kwigillingok and Kipnuk were evacuated to a 100-bed shelter set up at Bethel’s National Guard Armory. Local and regional organizations are collecting donations and fundraising to support families impacted by the remnants of Typhoon Halong.
Public Safety

Woman missing from Kwigillingok found dead, two still missing

Sage Smiley

The woman, whose name has not been released publicly, was found on Monday. Troopers are actively searching for two other people who are still missing from Kwigillingok.
Public Safety

First emergency aid shipments arrive in storm-impacted Y-K Delta communities

Samantha Watson, Sage Smiley

As floodwaters tore through coastal villages across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta on Sunday, Oct. 12, residents fled to higher ground while emergency responders launched evacuation and relief efforts. By Monday, Oct. 13, emergency aid shipments were arriving in storm-impacted communities, delivering essential supplies including food, water, and diapers.
Public Safety

51 people rescued and at least 3 still missing after massive storm hits Western Alaska

Sage Smiley, Eric Stone, Alaska Public Media - Juneau, Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media - Anchorage

The three people unaccounted for are from Kwigillingok, one of the communities devastated by the remnants of Typhoon Halong.