City council will decide how to move forward in addressing residents’ concerns about affordable housing in Unalaska at their meeting tonight.

At their special session on housing, several councilors expressed support for offering tax abatements for developers and finding ways to lower the cost of utility extensions for new subdivisions.

Tonight, they’ll choose from a list of directions to staff on how to do that -- like finding out the pros and cons of deferring or ending certain property taxes, or setting up a housing website or a forum with government lenders.

An undated photo of the Oryong 501. (via Korea Times)

Rescuers have recovered the bodies of 11 more crew members from a South Korean pollock boat that sank in the Bering Sea on Monday. 

The U.S. Coast Guard has been helping Russian officials and good Samaritan fishing vessels look for survivors from the Oryong 501. The trawler was hit by a wave, and sank in Russian waters northwest of St. Matthew Island.

A vacant lot in Unalaska's Valley neighborhood. (Annie Ngo/KUCB)

Unalaska’s developers were out in force at a special city council meeting on housing Tuesday night, asking for all the help they could get to build new properties.

The request from landowners and builders like Brian Whittern was clear: 

"Anything that the city can do to make development easier, and lower the cost and offer incentives," he said.

The attached building at left was meant to be a bedroom for the upstairs apartment at the old Elbow Room -- but city officials say that's not what they agreed to. (Annie Ropeik/KUCB)

Plans to turn an old bar into a way to raise money for emergency housing in Unalaska are slowing down.

That’s after the city discovered that the nonprofit Alexandria House had worked on the project all year without a building permit.

They told pastor John Honan to stop work and apply for one -- but the plans he submitted weren't what they expected. As KUCB's Annie Ropeik reports, that's put the project on partial hold. 

The Oryong 501. (via Korea Times)

The U.S. Coast Guard is helping Russian rescuers look for more than 50 fishermen who are missing after their vessel sank Monday in the far western Bering Sea.

Fifty-four crew members from the South Korean trawler Oryong 501 are still unaccounted for. Seven others were rescued from a life raft after the sinking, and one more person is confirmed dead.

Housing developments around Margaret Bay as seen from Haystack Hill. (Lauren Adams/KUCB)

For decades, new residents have flocked to Unalaska in search of steady pay and cheap housing.

But with limited space and high construction costs, building that housing has never been easy.

Tonight, city staff will start prioritizing ways to fix that problem.

They’re convening a special city council meeting to delve into the history of the housing shortage and to look at next steps.

The Oryong 501. (via Korea Times)

At least one person has died and dozens more are missing after a South Korean trawler sank in the western Bering Sea early Monday morning.

The Oryong 501 was fishing for pollock off Chukotka in the Russian Far East, with about 60 crew members aboard.

They were reportedly hit by a wave while hauling in fish in bad weather, and began taking on water. There was no report of a distress call before the vessel sank.

A man was found dead at the Grand Aleutian Hotel last week, possibly after drinking antifreeze.

Police found 49-year-old Paul Garcia in his room last Monday, more than a week after he’d been scheduled to check out.

Chief Jamie Sunderland says the room was bolted shut from the inside.

"There was obvious signs that he’d been deceased for some time," Sunderland says. 

A third former Westward Seafoods employee has received a suspended sentence for falsifying emissions data at the company’s Unalaska plant.

A U.S. District Court judge sentenced Bryan Beigh to three years probation and a $750 fine on Tuesday. Beigh was an operator at Westward’s powerhouse during the alleged cover-up from 2009 to 2011.