Unalaska, AK – The processing vessel Stellar Sea left Dutch Harbor today, three weeks after it caught on fire in the Bering Sea.

Inspectors signed off on the ship Monday after permanent and temporary repairs were made to its wiring and engine, according to Stellar Seafoods President Mark Weed. Now the ship is headed back to St. Paul Island with its crew and processors to work through the rest of the opilio crab harvest.

Unalaska, AK – The Missile Defense Agency announced today that its Sea-based X-band Radar has reached the Aleutian Island chain. The radar, known as the SBX, left Pearl Harbor a month ago. It is the largest radar of its kind, standing 280 feet high, and is part of a $43 billion surveillance program overseen by Missile Defense.

The SBX is slated to be home-ported near Adak Island starting this summer, once its moorings are completed. In Unalaska, KIAL's Charles Homans reports.

Unalaska, AK – The search for a man who disappeared from a seafood processing ship anchored near Unalaska Island late last week continued into its fifth day today. Divers returned to Udagak Bay this afternoon to resume the hunt for any sign of Joseph Arop, a 23-year-old seafood processor who was working aboard the Northern Victor when he disappeared Thursday. KIAL's Charles Homans reports from Unalaska.

Unalaska, AK – A man working on the processing vessel Northern Victor is missing and presumed overboard after disappearing from the ship Thursday morning.

A Coast Guard helicopter search for 23-year-old Joseph Arop was called off Thursday night. Arop failed to show up Thursday morning for drills on the Northern Victor, which is owned by Icicle Seafoods and anchored in Udagak Bay in Beaver Inlet, southeast of Unalaska.

Unalaska, AK – Dutch Harbor remains the leading fishing port in the United States by volume for the 17th year in a row, according to landing figures from 2005 released by the Department of Commerce on Friday.

887.6 million pounds of seafood were brought in to Dutch Harbor in 2005, a slight increase over the previous year. That's nearly twice the volume of the next-largest port, in Intracoastal City, Louisiana.

Unalaska, AK – The population of fur seals in the Pribilof Islands continues to decline. A new estimate by researchers at the National Marine Fisheries Service's Alaska Fisheries Science Center found that the number of seal pups born in the Pribilofs dropped by 9 percent between 2004 and 2006. KIAL's Charles Homans reports.

Unalaska, AK – The city of Unalaska hopes to have a clearer picture of what it wants from a proposed recycling program by its second meeting this month.

In December, the council approved a $60,000 budget amendment that would fund the hiring of a recycling project coordinator under the direction of the Qawalangin Tribe. Over the course of its work session and second regular meeting last month, the council clarified that that money is far from a blank check for the tribe, and directed City Manager Chris Hladick to bring back a scope of work for the project that would hammer out what exactly the city expects for its money.

Unalaska, AK – The Unalaska City Council voted unanimously to accept new guidelines for travel by the mayor and council at Tuesday's council meeting.

Until now, the city didn't have a policy regarding council and mayor travel, for which the city has budgeted $42,000 for the current fiscal year. Under the new guidelines, the city will only cover expenses for travel that's required to support efforts on a state or federal level on the city's behalf, or for training sessions or committee meetings that directly benefit the city. No more than three council members will be allowed to attend those meetings, and any travel has to be voted on by the council at one of its regular sessions.

Unalaska, AK – Charges have been dropped against a Coastguardsman accused of sex assault in Unalaska earlier this month.

24-year-old Freddy Lugo, a second-class petty officer on the Kodiak-based cutter Alex Haley, was arrested on New Year's Day for allegedly raping a woman at the Grand Aleutian Hotel. He was charged with first and second degree sexual assault.

Magistrate Vincent DiNapoli dismissed the charges against Lugo on a Rule 5 violation. The rule requires that the state bring a felony case before a grand jury within 10 days of charges being filed, which didn't happen in this case.