Akutan, AK – Every year from January 7th through 9th many Russian Orthodox believers go staring for Russian Christmas. They follow a star from house to house just as the Three Wise Men followed the star to Bethlehem. But in some parts of rural Alaska, the tradition of bringing blessings to each house is followed for eight days by a much darker custom. KUCB's Anne Hillman went to the village of Akutan to find out more.
Unalaska, AK – The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is looking for public comments on plans to help increase the caribou population on Unimak Island through predation control. The Unimak caribou herd has fallen from 1,261 animals in 2002 to only 400 in 2009. Biologists attribute the drop to low calf recruitment - too few animals are making it to adulthood. The problem is twofold. The ratio of adult females to adult males is about 100 to 1. There are too few males to keep the population going. The other problem, according to that Alaska Department of Fish & Game, is calf predation by wolves.
Unalaska, AK – The search for John F. Courage continues into its third week. The 56-year-old fisherman went missing on December 29, and the Unalaska Department of Public Safety, the Coast Guard, and the Alaska State Troopers have been working to determine his whereabouts.
At the time of his disappearance, Courage had been working aboard the F/V Alaska Trojan. The vessel had been moored at the Crowley Dock in December, and Courage was tasked with conducting boat watch until the crew arrived in Unalaska. When the crew returned on December 30, they could not locate Courage, whose personal belongings - including his wallet and identification -- were found left in a stateroom. Courage was last seen at the Alaska Ship Supply liquor store.
Unalaska, AK – Majority of Tuesday night's four-hour-long city council meeting focused on the details of the City's new comprehensive plan. The comp plan is a document designed to guide the development of the community for the next 10 years and looks at issues such as land use, housing, transportation, and public facilities. Unalaska's comprehensive plan has not been updated since 1993. This new version is based on the Community Vision statement developed in conjunction with HyettPalma Consulting.
Unalaska, AK – The Coast Guard's new report on the 2008 sinking of the Alaska Ranger says that the ship went down because of flooding in the rudder room likely caused by the vessel's poor material condition. According to the Coast Guard, an analysis showed that problem likely stemmed from the Kort nozzle struts. The report says that the struts at the stern of the vessel created excessive local stresses where they were attached to a corroded area of the hull.
Unalaska, AK – The National Marine Fisheries Service has extended the comment period on the interim final rule on Steller sea lion protection by 45 days. Members of the public now have until February 28 to comment on the new regulation that severely curtails fishing for Atka mackerel and Pacific cod in Area 543. NMFS public information officer Julie Speegle said they extended the period because most of the original comment period fell during the holiday season, which limited the public's ability to respond. She says the comments will be used to develop a final rule, which may or may not differ from the current interim rule.
Unalaska, AK – The city of Adak is requesting the state to issue an emergency order that will allow boats to fish for Pacific cod in the far western Aleutians in spite of a new federal regulation put into place to protect the endangered western Steller sea lions.
State of Alaska waters were included in the National Marine Fisheries Service's Biological Opinion on the status of the marine mammal. That meant that the interim final action they issued in December, which closed Area 543 to fishing for cod and mackerel, also closed the state's parallel and guideline harvest level fisheries. Alaska Department of Fish & Game special assistant to the commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang says the state disagrees with the new regulation.
Unalaska, AK – The Unalaska Raiders boys' and girls' varsity basketball teams both started off the season with solid wins. The girls' team played two away games at Sand Point on Thursday and Friday. During their first game, they beat the home team 72 to 30. They scored 20 points more than their strongest game last year. Coming off their first win of the season, they kept playing strong on Friday and beat the Sand Point Eagles again, this time 73 to 22. It's an encouraging departure from last year's season, wherein the team lost all of their games.
Unalaska, AK – The local Russian Orthodox community celebrated Slavi, or Russian Christmas, this weekend and invited the community to a potluck and singing at the Senior Center.
A major component of Russian Christmas is starring - going house to house with a large, decorative star and singing traditional Orthodox Christmas songs in Russian, Aleut, and English. The songs talk of Jesus' birth and blessing the new year. At each house the star and the singers are met with food and good cheer. Oftentimes people call their relatives who are away from Unalaska to let them listen to the singing over the phone and share the spirit from afar. Starring starts on January 7, when Russian Christmas is celebrated, and lasts for three nights.
