Kodiak Island

The drilling rig Kulluk reached an anchorage off Kodiak Island Monday morning, nearly a week after it ran aground 30 miles away during a winter storm and was taken under tow Sunday, as Shell Oil President Marvin Odum apologized for the incident. In a statement released Monday afternoon confirming the Kulluk's arrival at Kiliuda Bay, Odum expressed both regret for the Shell-contracted conical drilling unit's grounding and relief at the outcome of a towing operation which began late Sunday.

The Coast Guard says two of the three tugboats expected to tow the damaged Shell drilling rig Kulluk to Dutch Harbor after its New Year's Eve grounding collided last week. According to Coast Guard spokesperson Petty Officer 1st Class David Mosley, the Foss Maritime tug Corbin Foss and the Crowley Maritime Corp. tug Ocean Wave were “maneuvering in close proximity” in Kiliuda Bay off Kodiak Island Friday, when the Corbin Foss struck the Ocean Wave at about 5:30 p.m. Nobody was injured in the collision, and the Ocean Wave suffered only minor damage.

Could it be one of our latest snows ever? The answer is a simple yes. The latest measurable snow for Anchorage occurred on May 22, 1964. If we get some accumulation into  this  weekend, it would be the second latest snow on record. Upper wind flow from the Arctic Region and colder air aloft can easily make snow. A surface front will arrive from the northwest to provide more lift and another system will pass Kodiak Island and head through Cook Inlet to act as the main moisture source.

The Coast Guard rescued a man on a fishing vessel Saturday morning who apparently had shellfish poisoning. An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Kodiak medevaced Jonathon Botz, 28, from the vessel Miss Michelle about 15 miles northwest of Kodiak. Botz was airlifted at about 6:45 a.m. after a crewmember of the vessel contacted the Coast Guard about the shellfish poisoning. The helicopter crew landed in Port Lions, then transported Botz to Kodiak. He was then taken to Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center for treatment.

A 29-year-old Kodiak woman has been charged with stabbing her husband in the abdomen. The Kodiak Daily Mirror ( http://bit.ly/XoHOlw ) reports Ariana Miller is charged with felony assault. Alaska State Troopers say Miller suspected her husband was having an affair and last week found photos of a nude woman on his cellphone. Miller told troopers her husband came home from work to discuss the situation and she accused him of adultery. She told investigators she tried to leave but her husband grabbed her. Troopers say Miller picked up a 6-inch serrated kitchen knife from the counter and stabbed the man. He was treated at Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center Miller on Tuesday had been released on bail.

by The Associated Press Monday, June 14, 2010 KODIAK, Alaska -- The Kodiak Island Borough Assembly may ask shoppers and boat owners to help pay for increases in the cost of municipal government. A discussion last week on alternative ways to pay for Kodiak High School expansion led to assembly members asking staff to investigate a sales tax of 1 to 2 percent. Members also requested information on smaller tax increase -- another $1 added to the existing $1-per-foot tax on boats.

by Holly Ramer The Associated Press Monday, July 19, 2010 CONCORD, N.H. -- Sarah Palin has endorsed New Hampshire Republican Kelly Ayotte's Senate campaign in a Facebook post in which she incorrectly calls Alaska's Kodiak Island America's largest island. The island of Hawaii is about 440 square miles larger than Kodiak, where Palin and her family were headed Monday. Palin also strayed a bit from the facts in praising Ayotte for having "won" a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

by The Associated Press Friday, April 23, 2010 KODIAK, Alaska -- A street in Kodiak is getting a name change that will take note of the island city's Native Alaska heritage. The Kodiak Island Borough Planning and Zoning Commission decided Wednesday night that Dog Bay Road will become Alimaq Drive. Alimaq is the Alutiiq language word for dog salmon. Koniag Regional Corp. requested the name change to recognize Kodiak's Alutiiq heritage. Koniag vice president Charlie Powers tells the Kodiak Daily Mirror that as far as he knows, it's the only street name that is an Alutiiq word in the city.

A Texas man died Wednesday evening after being found floating unconscious while fishing near Kodiak, according to Alaska State Troopers. Troopers, as well as members of the Bayside Volunteer and Kodiak Fire Departments, responded to a 911 call about the incident at about 4 p.m. Wednesday. Fishing buddies had found 73-year-old Emilian Foltyn of Jarrell, Texas unconscious and unresponsive in the waters of Monashka Bay near its northern shore, about 400 yards from the parking lot for White Sands Beach.

Investigators recently searched a Kodiak Island home belonging to a man who worked alongside the two people killed in last Thursday's double homicide at a Coast Guard communications station. The FBI won't confirm that its agents were there, but neighbors say law enforcement agencies blocked access to the property over the weekend and could be seen going in and out of the home in the Bells Flats area. Property records show the house, which is on Pavloff Circle, six miles south of the Coast Guard station, belongs to James Wells, a civilian rigger who works for the Coast Guard at the communications station.