Economy

Bethel Native Corporation CEO Ana Hoffman has again been elected co-chair of the Alaska Federation of Natives during the final day of its annual convention on Oct. 19. Hoffman has served as co-chair since 2013, but the board of the Calista Corporation, the regional native corporation for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, cast their vote for another candidate. 

After three decades of prohibiting alcohol, the dry Lower Yukon community of Marshall wants to open a city-run alcohol store and has begun moving in that direction.

A village corporation in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta wants Calista Corporation shareholders to vote on whether Calista should support the proposed Donlin Gold mine. Calista owns the mineral rights to the mine. Azachorok’s president, Loren Peterson, says that the resolution isn’t a stance on the mine, but it would give shareholders a chance to decide if they want it. 

Novagold, one of two companies developing the proposed Donlin Gold mine in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, is looking at building the mine in stages to reduce construction costs. That’s according to its latest quarterly earnings call. 

Bethel shoppers might have seen a Facebook post this past weekend that brought some sad news: Meyers Farm has shut down its market on Ptarmigan Street. Tim Meyers says that the priorities have changed at Meyers Farm.

When the liquor stores close under the state local option law, a large portion of the city’s alcohol revenue will disappear. The city estimated that it would earn $500,000 from alcohol taxes this fiscal year. 

Red Devil Part III 

Rebecca Wilmarth can see the empty school building across her lawn in Red Devil, Alaska. It shut down in 2009 and for a while, willows and alders shrouded it from view. Wildland firefighters recently cut them back to reveal a brown building with blue trim. For a place that’s been abandoned for 10 years, it appears in remarkably good shape.