Unalaska, AK – A new program run by the Aleutian Housing Authority is providing free weatherization upgrades for all qualifying low income homes. Income limits vary from $62,600 for single person homes to $118,000 for 8 person homes. If you qualify, the organization will assess your home to determine what improvements you need and then carry out the upgrades for free.

"All the upgrades are based on the assessment," said weatherization program coordinator Teresa Olekszyk. For example, "if some one is missing insulation in their floors or their walls or it's damaged in their attics, those types of items get replaced or worked on."

Unalaska, AK – With 20 percent of the opilio crab total allowable catch still in the water, crab fisheries observers are being pulled from the field early. Observers are placed on at least 30 percent of the fishing boats to monitor the catch and collect data on crab size, sex, disease and other information as well as bycatch data. All of the information is used by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game to monitor the health of the fishery.

Unalaska, AK – An Unangan woman is carrying out new research on mental health care in the Aleutians and how to tailor it to the needs of Alaska Native people. KUCB's Anne Hillman has more..

If you'd like to participate in the survey, contact the Oonalaska Wellness Center at 581-2742.

Unalaska, AK – The Aleutian Islands Risk Assessment management team is looking for advisory panel members to help identify maritime hazards in the region. The panel will work independently from the management team, which consists of representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation.

"We're looking for that local knowledge and ideas on how to mitigate hazards, how to mitigate the risks from maritime transportation," said Leslie Pearson, who is helping co-facilitate the panel for Nuka Research and Planning Group.

Unalaska, AK – When looking at a World War II era map of Fort Glenn on Umnak Island in the Aleutian Islands, archaeology student Chris Roe noticed an oddly marked, separated area labeled with an N'. A little research revealed that the label wasn't arbitrary. KUCB's Anne Hillman spoke with Roe about some little known history of World War II in the Aleutians.

Unalaska, AK – The North Pacific Fishery Management Council will take final action on a Chinook bycatch policy for the pollock fishery next month. Among the potential action plans is a hard cap limit. That means that if the pollock fishery catches a certain number of Chinook, or king salmon, then the fishery would close even if the fleet had not yet met the quota. The policy is meant to protect Chinook salmon stocks that pass through the Bering Sea on their way to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Bristol Bay, and beyond. But some, like Mayor Shirley Marquardt and the city of Unalaska, argue that it will hurt regions dependent on pollock without helping the king salmon returns.

Unalaska, AK – The clean up of the grounded fishing vessel, the Mar-Gun, started smoothly. At the end of the day Monday, the Coast Guard strike crew had removed 5,782 gallons of diesel fuel from the grounded fishing vessel. About 9,000 gallons remained. The only sign of pollution was a light sheen of oil in the water near an empty tank that was slightly damaged. The sheen has dissipated. No oiled beaches or animals were sighted though curious sea lions kept looking on to the scene. The Coast Guard strike crew is using lines and small boats to move the 200 yards between the vessel and the shore of Staraya Beach on the north side of St. George Island. Coast Guard Petty Officer Sara Francis says the environment is challenging, since they have to pump the oil up hill, but the weather has been relatively mild. Magone Marine is developing a salvage plan to remove the 112-foot pollock fishing vessel. It went aground last Thursday. All five crew members were safely rescued.

Unalaska, AK – Alaska Ship Supply will soon be remodeling and moving into the old AC building next to the Grand Aleutian. The company is still in the planning phase, but they hope to open their doors on May 1, 2009. Alaska Ship Supply general manager Bob Owens said the new store will offer all of the same departments as the old store, such as clothing, food, marine hardware, appliances, and money gram services, but will add some new ones, too, including a home hardware department with a paint counter and a lumber yard.

Unalaska, AK – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recently released an updated atlas of the world's endangered languages. It allows you to search a map of the world that pinpoints which languages are spoken where. It also tells you if the languages are endangered. According to the atlas, of the 26 native languages spoken in Alaska since the 1950s, one - Eyak is extinct and 15 are critically endangered. That means that the youngest speakers of those languages tend to be grandparents and older, and they only speak the language partially and infrequently.