Unalaska, AK – The last contract negotiations between the Public Safety Employees Association and the city took almost three years to complete. The new contract negotiation took almost two days and was officially approved by the city council Tuesday night. Council member Dick Peck said he was extraordinarily pleased with the process and the outcome. Public safety union president Jennifer Shockley agreed.

Unalaska, AK – The City Council narrowly voted down an increase to the Port of Dutch Harbor tariff and fee schedules at their Tuesday night meeting. The two proposed ordinances would increase the port tariffs and the port facility fee schedules by 4.8 percent per year for the next three years. City staff said the increase was necessary to offset some of the $130,000 net operating losses and the $1.5 million revenue loss from last year. The change was suggested in a port study done by Northern Economics. Both ordinances failed 3 to 2. No members of the public spoke in favor or against.

Unalaska, AK – Construction work on the high school building has partially halted because workers found a substance that usually contains asbestos. When removing carpet, construction workers came across black mastic near the library and the small gymnasium. All interior work was put on hold.

In a previous survey, the building was certified as asbestos free. However, in response to the discovery, the City of Unalaska hired White Environmental Consulting Firm to take over 200 samples through out the school to determine the presence of asbestos in the building.

Unalaska, AK – KUCB obtained an email from a city official saying that Harbor Crown Seafoods is in debt to the city for about $200,000 for their electric bills and had the power to the plant shut off. They have not paid their electric bills in full for the last six months. Harbor Crown's Unalaska office is closed for the summer and no one at their corporate office could be reached for comment.

Unalaska, AK – The 64-foot Ocean Watch sailboat is circumnavigating the Americas to teach communities on both continents about the vulnerable, changing oceans. The ship is in Unalaska this week to learn about the community and teach about their project. Captain Mark Schrader says the 13-month long, 25,000 mile journey links learning to an adventure.

"The idea started because a group of us were talking about what can be done to make people aware of some ocean health issues that are critical to everyone's survival," he said.

Unalaska, AK – Two men spent 52 hours drifting in the Bering Sea before being rescued by the Coast Guard on Sunday evening. Fifty-year-old Rod Whitehead of Adak and 35-year-old Bill Osterback of Sand Point hit a the motor of their 15-foot hard-bottomed zodiac on a rock when trying to pick up tools off of Amatignak Island, about 130 miles southwest of Adak. Their boat, the F/V Larissa M, was anchored in a cove. They were hired by a group of Bureau of Land Management surveyors who were working on remote islands and documenting old Aleut village sites. Whitehead said the boat lost power and the strong current pulled them away from the island at about 3 pm on Friday.

Unalaska, AK – The StoryCorps project aims to honor the lives of average Americans through the act of listening. In this segment, two old friends - Shirley Marquardt and Tammy Pound - talk about Unalaska in transition. What it was and what it became in the 25 years since they moved here.

Unalaska, AK – A new exhibit about the history of Unalaska's commercial fisheries opens this week at the Museum of the Aleutians. The colorful show features informational panels about the different commercial fisheries in the region, how they've changed, and how they are managed. People can also see examples of different gear types. Museum director Zoya Johnson said it seemed natural to her to hold an exhibit featuring the fisheries.

Unalaska, AK – The Navy-owned research vessel Knorr passed through Unalaska last week hosting a team of scientists from the BEST/BSIERP Bering Sea Ecosystem research project. For the third year in a row, scientists are gathering data on all aspects of the ecosystem, from water chemistry to phytoplankton to marine mammals. This is the third research cruise for the project this year. This time they will be sampling in shallow areas in the eastern Bering Sea to gather oceanographic information and take samples of phytoplankton, zooplankton, and larval fish.