The Unified Command still isn’t releasing any details about future plans for Shell’s Kulluk drill rig, which ran aground near Kodiak on New Year’s Eve. Dive teams and ROVs completed an assessment of the rig’s hull over the weekend, but the results of that inspection are still under wraps. In statement Thursday, the Unified Command said multiple organizations, including Smit Salvage and Det Norske Veritas were participating in analysis of the data, and that they wouldn’t comment until the full report is received. The rig is reported to be in stable condition in the sheltered waters of Kiliuda Bay.

Voters in Adak approved the first raw fish tax in the city's history just before the end of last year. City manager Layton Lockett says the new, 2 percent tax will bring the city in line with the rest of the region.

“We want to create an environment where operating in Adak is the same as operating in Unalaska, and Sand Point, and Kodiak, and Southeast, where you have a raw seafood or a fish tax, and this is how it’s administered, this is how it’s collected, you have a rate for it, and boom, done.”

Previously, Adak taxed seafood at 4 percent -- the same rate as other goods bought and sold within the city.

Local author Cora Holmes is writing a new book titled “Alaska’s Wild West.” From Holmes' book description:

"In October 1923, two companies, Aleutian Livestock Company and Western Livestock Company, each unloaded 1000 sheep in Chernofski Harbor and started a range war that lasted decades and spread across two islands.  This conflict eventually ended in bankruptcy for both companies and three more reasonable stockmen established successful sheep ranches on the chain that flourished during their lifetimes and then disappeared into the Aleutian mist as the islands entered the twentieth century of synthetic fibers and ten thousand dollar a day crew shares."

In the aftermath of the New Year’s Eve grounding of Shell’s Kulluk drill rig, many people have questioned the company’s ability to operate safely in Alaskan waters. The incident followed on the heels of other blunders by the oil giant, including the near-grounding of the company’s other drill rig in Unalaska in July. Alaska Senator Mark Begich has been a strong proponent of Arctic offshore drilling -- some even credit him with winning White House support for the program. In this segment of The Exchange, he joins KUCB's Stephanie Joyce to discuss the Kulluk grounding and its implications for the future of offshore drilling in Alaska.

The Unalaska Bay tanner crab fishery opened Wednesday at noon for the first time in several years. Six boats are registered for the fishery. Fish and Game biologist Britta Baechler says that’s five more than last year, when the tanner crab fishery was in Makushin Bay, on the other side of the island.

“Typically when there’s a fishery in Unalaska Bay, the participation increases because you’re not required to have the recirculating seawater that keeps the crab alive when you’re further away from the plants that you’re going to deliver at.”

The City of Atka was the primary contractor for the 12.5-foot concrete dam and 952-foot penstock/Image credit: City of Atka

When Atka’s hydroelectric power plant came online at the end of last month, it was the culmination of decades of planning, according to city administrator Julie Dirks.

“We started off with some reconnaissance studies, which were done back in the mid-80s, but back at that time, fuel was very inexpensive. They found that the cost benefit ratio was 1:1, so at that time it just didn’t make any sense.”

That's not the case anymore. Dirks says today, electricity from the community’s diesel generators costs 76 cents a kilowatt hour, compared to 27 cents a kilowatt hour for hydroelectric power. For a facility like the school, which uses up to 4,000 kilowatt hours a month, that’s more than a thousand dollars a month in savings.

The Unalaska Raiders varsity basketball teams played four games against South Anchorage's JV teams this weekend in front of packed bleachers at the high school. The Raider boys won both of their games, while the Lady Raiders cleaned up on Friday night, but lost by a narrow margin on Saturday.

The final scores for the boys game were 57-39 on Friday, and 47-31 on Saturday, while the final scores for the girls were 46-33 on Friday and 32-34 on Saturday.

An Aleutian volcano that looked like it might blow earlier this year has stopped rumbling. An earthquake swarm in August at Little Sitkin volcano, near the end of the chain, had scientists on high alert for further activity. But after months of decreasing seismicity, on Wednesday, the Alaska Volcano Observatory downgraded Little Sitkin’s alert level to green or “normal.”

The hovercraft that connects Akutan and its new airport has been operating for three months now, and the craft has proved more reliable than many of its critics predicted – but it’s still only able to run about half the time. KUCB’s Stephanie Joyce rode the hovercraft and spoke to its operators about some of the challenges facing the vessel.