Hannah Colton

A search-and-rescue effort launched from the Alaska Peninsula village of Port Heiden reached the swamped kayaker just in time -- and a seal was apparently watching over him.

A brown bear cub that collapsed in front of a popular web cam in Katmai National Park and Preserve and later died was killed by canine adenovirus, an infection also found in cats, dogs, and wolves, a national lab in Wisconsin found. Officials still don't know what killed another brown bear, this one an adult, who, days later, also died in front of the camera.

The unexplained death of a bear cub last month in Katmai National Park and Preserve might have gone unnoticed -- if it hadn't happened in front of the camera of a popular webcam. Then, hours after a park service staff retrieved the cub's body for a necropsy, a second bear -- an adult this time -- mysteriously died as viewers looked on.

Researchers last week ended a month-long cruise through the Bering Sea, investigating how the second year of a warming pattern is affecting the ecosystem, including the nation’s largest fishery.

A run-of-the-river hydroelectric system on Chignik Lagoon's Packer Creek that went online earlier this year is providing 94 percent of the Alaska Peninsula village's electricity -- and saving about $500 a day.

A bear attack in late July killed several of the reindeer the Alaska Peninsula had imported from St. Michael earlier this year in hopes of starting a herd. Despite the attack, the village still plans to continue with efforts to build a herd, and will take more intensive measures to guard against bears.

The $5 million Packer Creek hydroelectric project -- a relatively simple run-of-the-river system -- is now operational and providing power for the village of about 70 residents.

The cameras at Brooks Camp drew 16 million viewers last year from every country on the planet except Syria and Yemen, according to Google Analytics. This year, technicians will add a powerful directional microphone at Brooks Falls to pipe natural sounds into people's living rooms.

The Pebble Partnership is auctioning off surplus equipment ahead of another season of little to no work at its site north of Iliamna.

The Dillingham City Council has been dealing with “housekeeping” items relating to marijuana -- including problems of public use and underage use -- but it has yet to delve into issues of commercial sales. Later this month, it will hold a series of meetings on the topic.

The primary concern raised by attendees was the increasing cost of PenAir flights. A round-trip ticket from Dillingham to Anchorage ranges from $450 to $600, which some residents feel is prohibitively expensive.