Damaged Russian tanker violated permits: The diesel tanker Nordvik, a fully-loaded tanker that struck an ice floe and started taking on water last week while traveling the Northern Sea Route, violated an NSR administration permit when it entered waters with medium ice conditions without being escorted by an icebreaker, according to Russian Authorities. The 453-foot Russian-flagged tanker Nordvik is rated to travel in non-Arctic seas in thin ice, but collided with an ice floe in Matisen Straight, causing a hole that resulted in water ingress. About 475 gallons of diesel oil was transferred from the damaged tanker into another tanker, the Boris Vilkitsky, on Wednesday. Now, two nuclear-powered icebreakers are escorting both tankers out of the strait, the Barents Observer reported, and the wrecked Nordvik will return to its home port of Khatanga, one of the northernmost inhabited locales in Russia. The Russian Sea and River Transport Agency says there has been no leakage from the vessel.
Man arrested in death of child: Alaska State Troopers reported Saturday that they arrested a 24-year-old Tununak man in connection with the shooting death of his child the day before. Troopers reported in a dispatch that Edward Moses, a resident of the remote community of more than 320 on Nelson Island in the Bering Strait, had been arrested on charges of first-degree murder after his son, 2-year-old Kyle Moses, was reported dead of a gunshot wound early Friday morning.
Winter's coming: The National Weather Service reports that not only is the first official frost expected for the Fairbanks area this weekend, so is the first big snow in the Brooks Range. Precipitation moving south from Alaska's North Slope is expected to bring snow to the Brooks Range, with an accumulation of 2 inches expected Friday night and additional snowfall every day through the weekend. In Fairbanks, that same cold air mass could mean lows into the 30s that could may yield frost Sunday morning at Fairbanks International Airport. The average date of the first frost is Sept. 7, according to the weather service.
'Drifting' on Funny River Road: A man driving along Funny River Road, just outside Kenai, Alaska, was ejected from his truck and seriously injured this week in what Alaska State Troopers suspect to be a case of daredevilry gone awry. Clayton Justice, the Peninsula Clarion reports (via the Associated Press), was "drifting," a technique "in which a driver purposely over-steers and makes a controlled slide through a corner" and that's apparently become "a professional sport" in some circles. Read more.