Unalaska, AK – Lt. Jamie Sunderland has been named the new director of Unalaska's Department of Public Safety, the city announced today.

Sunderland has been the acting director since Bob Beasley left in July. He said he doesn't see things being all that different now that he's in the position permanently.

"Hopefully we make good progress," he said. "I don't foresee any big changes coming down the pike in the near future, since I've been a member of the department, and acting [director] for a few months--I shouldn't be a surprise to anyone."

Unalaska, AK – Unalaska's wrestling team had its best regionals finish in a decade this weekend at the Great Alaska Conference Regional Wrestling Tournament in Bethel.

Unalaska sophomore Cameron Lynch walked away the champion in his weight class, qualifying for state. Senior co-captain Brian Magpantay also qualified for state, finishing third in his class, and senior co-captain Donald Peterson placed fourth.

Unalaska, AK – An attempt by Adak fish processors to snag a piece of the Bering Sea pollock fishery fizzled on Tuesday, the last day of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's meeting in Anchorage. Representatives of Adak Fisheries, a local processing company on the island, say that federal fisheries regulations have routinely hamstrung Adak's attempts to develop its only available industry, and now the town has few options. KIAL's Charles Homans reports.

Anchorage, AK – The North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted on Monday to nearly double the size of the Bering Sea yellowfin sole fishery, setting the catch limit for the species at 225,000 tons for 2008.

The move was intended to offset the shrinking quota for the Bering Sea pollock fishery, for which a total allowable catch (TAC) of 1 million tons was approved by the council on Monday. But the decision was opposed by an unusual alliance of environmental groups and the so-called "head and gut" fleet, the bottom-trawling boats that fish for sole and other flatfish. The two groups don't have much common ground, but both argue that the council is risking long-term consequences in order to bail out the pollock fleet in the short term.

Anchorage, AK – In recent months, salmon fishermen in western Alaska have complained that the astronomical levels of chinook salmon caught by Bering Sea pollock fishermen have hurt their ability to make a living and keep their freezers full of fish. But what was an Alaskan dispute is becoming an international one. KIAL's Charles Homans reports.

Anchorage, AK – Federal regulators are poised to approve a large drop in the catch limit for Bering Sea pollock, Alaska's largest fishery. That was the recommendation made Wednesday by the scientists advising the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, the panel that regulates the fishing industry in Alaska, which is holding its annual meeting in Anchorage this week and next. KIAL's Charles Homans reports from Anchorage.

Unalaska, AK – Dead whales don't fall on most airports' lists of air traffic hazards, but one that washed up near Dutch Harbor on Monday was an exception.

This afternoon, local harbor officers pulled a dead whale loose from the shore at the north end of the Unalaska Airport's runway. The rotting marine mammal had been attracting upwards of a hundred seabirds to the end of the runway, which was making it difficult for planes to take off.

Unalaska, AK – A Mississippi man was arrested after allegedly attacking a co-worker with a knife outside of the UniSea Sports Bar on Thursday night.

A Public Safety Department officer arrested 37-year-old Rickey Barrett and charged him with third degree assault with a weapon after he saw Barrett drawing back a knife, apparently about to stab Shawn Mueller, a co-worker of Barrett's according to the report. Barrett was handcuffed after a brief struggle.

Unalaska, AK – The Unalaska City Council voted unanimously at last night's special meeting to appoint Zoya Johnson to the council's open seat.

The move was an abrupt reversal of last week's proceedings, in which three of the four present council members voted to appoint recently unseated council member Kris Flanagan to the seat that Rocky Caldero vacated in October.

Johnson is the director of the Museum of the Aleutians and co-owns the Prime Alaska Seafoods processing plant. She said this morning that one of her main goals on the council is to bring more economic stability to Unalaska, looking at ways the city can be more fiscally responsible and diversify its revenue streams so it wouldn't be crippled by a downturn in the fishing industry.