Economy

One of the most important tools for ensuring government representation and the distribution of federal funds relies on neighbors counting neighbors. The 2020 U.S. Census is more than a year away, and government officials are already planning the effort to count each person living in rural Alaska.

The village of Aniak’s runway construction could cause more headaches for the community during spring breakup. Aniak’s city manager Kevin Toothacker says that the state’s plans to modify a road that runs next to the runway could compromise it.

There are many things that keep people up at night, but for some Aniak residents, it's a brand new beacon the state installed without warning two months ago.  

If you need car parts, wood, or other odds and ends from the Bethel landfill, you can now only collect those items on Saturdays. Salvaging at the Bethel landfill has been restricted to one day a week.

The village of Tuluksak got good news this month: it gets a new generator and an emergency opening to hunt moose. The village had a couple of power outages this summer that nearly wiped out the food stores residents had socked away for winter. 

Non-profits aren’t usually considered big money makers, but they play a pivotal role in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta’s economy. In a series of meetings last week, Bethel non-profits explored how they could leverage that economic power to empower the communities they advocate for.