The City of Unalaska’s fiscal year 2013 operating and capital budgets were approved at Tuesday night’s Council meeting. Councilors only made one minor amendment during the meeting, adding $4,000 to a capital request from the senior center. The final operating budget is $24 million and the capital budget is $29 million.
The focus at the meeting wasn’t just on next year though. Finance Director Tonya Miller gave a presentation about how the city can fund some of the more than $50 million in capital projects that are coming up in the next three years. She detailed where existing money for the water, wastewaster and landfill projects has come from and presented future financing options to Council.
An attempt to minimize damage to Unalaska’s paved roadways might mean some changes for truck drivers. At Tuesday's meeting, City Council will consider a proposal that would limit the use of tire chains on semis and modify regulations covering the truck’s attachment point or 'fifth wheel.'
If the ordinance passes, truckers would only be able to use chains on days when the Director of Public Safety or the Roads Chief deem them necessary. They would also be required to keep the truck’s fifth wheel in the 'down' position, to make sure the trailer’s load is evenly distributed across the axles.
Despite some warmer weather and significant ice retreat, the Bering Sea snow crab fleet is still struggling. Last week, crabbers made no deliveries, a first in what’s already been an unusually slow season.
The Unalaska Fish and Game office says boats were on the grounds, but they weren’t catching much. Fishermen pulled up an average of only 100 crab per pot last week, about half the season norm.
Whale-watching is usually a late summer pastime in Unalaska, but this year’s icy weather has turned it into a spring activity, too.
Humpbacks have definitely been spotted in Unalaska Bay, and other species could be stopping in soon. Right now, gray whales are making their way back to Alaska after mating in California. Their usual route takes them through Unimak Pass, across the Bering Sea, and up into their Arctic feeding grounds.
A man accused of vandalizing the Russian Orthodox cathedral tried to escape from the Unalaska jail early Monday morning.
Christopher Hadsell, 23, allegedly drew a corrections officer into his cell by faking a seizure. According to the Department of Public Safety, Hadsell attacked Officer Victor Sabater and tried locking him in the cell before fleeing. Sabater sustained minor injuries in the process.
Hadsell didn’t make it very far, though. Sabater and another officer managed to apprehend him in the cellblock hallway.
According to Sgt. Bill Simms, there are security measures in place that would have prevented Hadsell from exiting the building.
“Even though he did make it out of the cell room, he wouldn’t have been able to make it out of the cellblock, because that has a secondary device that locks him into that area,” says Simms.
Simms adds that it’s the first time he’s seen an escape attempted in his 12 years with the police force.
As the Pribilof Island of St. Paul slowly emerges from a brutal winter, it’s becoming clear how much damage the weather did to the island’s reindeer herd. KUCB’s Stephanie Joyce reports that there might be some tough times ahead for locals who rely on the animals for meat.
Every May, dozens of yellow garbage bags line Unalaska’s roads. The collection is part of the city’s annual clean-up effort, where residents chip in and pick up litter that’s accumulated over the past year. On this episode of The Exchange, PCR director Jeff Hawley talks with KUCB’s Alexandra Gutierrez about the anti-litter campaign and explains how the weather has turned it into a month long project.
On the off chance that there are clear skies in Unalaska on Sunday, residents may a get a choice view of the millennium’s first annular eclipse.
According to NASA, the eclipse should begin at 2:50pm, reach its peak at 4:24pm, and then wrap up at 5:54pm. Because Unalaska lies less than 200 miles from the path of the eclipse’s shadow, nearly 90 percent of the sun will be covered up. The sun will appear as a crescent tucked behind the moon. Residents of Adak and Atka could be able to see an almost perfect ring of fire around the moon, since those islands are closer to the shadow.
The Aleutian Islands may be the birthplace of kayaking, but they’re not a hot destination for modern-day paddlers. Giant waves, unpredictable weather, and an abundance of treacherous passes make navigation difficult for boats of any size. But the adventure - and danger - are motivators for two kayakers trying to paddle the length of the Aleutian Chain.
It’s snowing in Unalaska’s small boat harbor as Keirron Tastagh and George Shaw stuff the last few dry bags into their sleek blue and yellow sea kayaks. They’ve been waiting for this moment for years.
