Two weeks ago, American and Russian researchers kicked off the largest seal survey ever conducted in the Bering Sea. The goal of the project is to get baseline data about the various seal species that depend on sea ice for their survival. KUCB’s Stephanie Joyce caught up with one of the researchers on St. Paul Island to find out how things have been going.

Twenty Greenpeace activists have occupied a Finnish icebreaker bound for Alaska to protest Shell’s exploratory drilling plans.

According to Bloomberg News, the group boarded the Nordica on Tuesday morning. The Nordica is currently moored in Helsinki’s harbor, and it was preparing to leave for Alaska to assist with Shell’s exploratory drilling program in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. The activists have hung anti-drilling banners from the Nordica, and they have also locked themselves to the ship to keep it from departing Finland.

A 39-year-old man was medevaced from a freezer longliner on Tuesday.

The Coast Guard received a call this morning that a crewmember aboard the F/V Bering Leader was experiencing stroke-like symptoms. The vessel was about 60 miles northwest of Cold Bay at the time, and the Coast Guard was able to send a Jayhawk helicopter crew from Kodiak to respond to the emergency. The man was then brought to Cold Bay, where he was put on a Guardian Lifelight to Anchorage.

Two men have pleaded guilty to criminal mischief charges related to a recent midnight escape from a floating processor.

Ismael Seery, 26, and Jason Miguel, 32, had initially been charged with vehicle theft in the first degree after taking a skiff from the Icicle Seafoods vessel Arctic Star on April 12. The Arctic Star was moored near Wide Bay at the time of the incident. According to court documents, Seery and Miguel decided to use the skiff to bring a disgruntled coworker to land while their supervisor slept. The pair had intended to drop off 25-year-old Adrian DeLeon, who was quitting his job without notification, and then return to the Arctic Star before morning, but their plans were foiled when the tide went out and the skiff became stuck on the beach in front of the Safeway grocery store.

Both of Unalaska’s schools will have new principals next year.

Jim Wilson, the current junior high department head, will be replacing Glenn Cole at Unalaska City School. Superintendent John Conwell says that Wilson was selected out of a pool made up of external and internal candidates, and that his familiarity with the school made him a natural pick.

“Knowing the district as well as he does, I think it’s going to be a fairly smooth transition,” Conwell says of Wilson.

Council addressed a full house on Tuesday night. At the high-turnout meeting, council discussed the Fiscal Year 2013 budget, revised the rental rates for city housing, appointed a new councilor, and remembered a long-time member of the community.

The meeting opened with a remembrance of Emil Berikoff, who passed away in December. An “in memoriam” citation had been presented on the floor of the state legislature earlier this spring.

City Council will be tackling the budget, city housing rates, and the appointment of a new member at tonight’s jam-packed meeting.

The first item on council’s agenda is filling an open seat. Katherine McGlashan, a former member of council, and Tom Enlow have both submitted applications to replace Dick Peck, who resigned earlier this month.

During the work session, council will hear a presentation of the school district budget, and they will discuss raising the rent at the city 8-plex. They will also review the city’s budget plan for next year.

(Courtesy Brenda Tellman)

A national historic landmark and two local businesses were vandalized in a graffiti spree.

Reports of the crime came in on Monday morning, according to the Unalaska Department of Public Safety. The Church of the Holy Ascension and the neighboring bishop’s palace were tagged with words like “Dutch” and “Dunka,” written in gray. The vandals also scrawled initials like “PNW” and nicknames like “T-Bag” on property owned by Samson and Highliner and construction material belonging to the City of Unalaska.

While education funding is expected to go up this year, city and school administrators are working to figure out just exactly how a change to the funding formula will affect them.

Before ending its regular session, the state legislature approved a $90 million increase to education funding next year. It passed a series of bills that would give more money for things like student transport and vocational instruction. The bills generally inspired little controversy, but a change to the “millage rate” – a figure tied to property values that sets the minimum and maximum amounts that municipalities can contribute to schools -- has left administrators across the state confused to how it will affect them.