Unalaska, AK – The City of Unalaska's new finance director will go to work in Unalaska in mid-February.

Tonya Miller was hired in late December, after a year-long search by the city. The finance director position was the last of numerous director-level openings the city had been trying to fill.

Miller will be relocating from Georgia, where she worked for eight years as a county-level finance director.

Unalaska, AK – The National Marine Fisheries Service is taking public comment on its final environmental impact statement for groundfish harvests in Alaska. The 455-page document is the last stage before final approval of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's annual harvest level assessment for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands region and the Gulf of Alaska.

Up to this year, these assessments have been an annual part of the fisheries regulation process, mostly looking at the numbers decided upon by the council. Ben Muse, an economist for the NMFS Alaska Region, says that this year's EIS is a little different, in that it tries to look at the methods used by the council, and how the impact of the catch limits stretches across the entire ecosystem of the region.

Unalaska, AK – Unalaska's basketball teams kicked off the 2007 season on Friday and Saturday, with the boys playing Sand Point and King Cove at Sand Point and the girls taking on the same teams on the home court. The girls won three of their four games, beating Sand Point 44-28 on Friday and 37-20 on Saturday, and beating King Cove 47-24 on Friday before losing to them 32-31 on Saturday.

Coach Alan Haskins said the girls' team, which has four returning starters from last year, came out swinging.

Unalaska, AK – The Army Corps of Engineers and the Unalaska Historic Preservation Commission are hoping to have interpretive signs discussing Unalaska's World War II-era heritage up around town this spring.

The project was on hold pending city permission to put up a sign on city land marking the submarine dock in the small boat harbor. The City Council unanimously approved a resolution to that effect at its meeting last week. The other signs will be located on Ounalashka Corporation property.

Unalaska, AK – The Unalaska City Council is changing the way it holds meetings. Starting next week, the council is splitting apart its work sessions and regular business into two different meetings on alternating weeks. The work sessions will take place at the library conference room, and will be held roundtable-style. They'll still be open to the public, and will be held on an as-needed basis.

Unalaska, AK – Two people have been arrested after allegedly receiving materials used to make methamphetamine in the mail in Unalaska.

Christopher Rice and Brianna Southworth were charged with misconduct involving a controlled substance and related weapons possession charges, both felonies. Unalaska post office employees told the Public Safety Department on December 22 that a package addressed to Rice had arrived that might contain drug-manufacturing materials, according to the criminal complaint. The post office called public safety officers after Southworth picked the package up on Thursday. According to the complaint, the couple showed officers the package, which was mailed from Scotland and which contained red phosphorus and iodine crystals, both of which are used to make methamphetamine.

Unalaska, AK – A crew member from the Coast Guard cutter Alex Haley was arrested early Monday morning for allegedly raping a woman at the Grand Aleutian Hotel.

24-year-old Freddy L. Lugo of New York is in custody at the Department of Public Safety for alleged first and second degree sexual assault. Public safety officers responded to a call from the Grand Aleutian shortly after 4 a.m. on New Year's Day. According to the police report, the alleged victim said she had met Lugo at the bar Latitudes earlier on New Year's Eve and returned with him to his room at the hotel. The woman said she was intoxicated but remembered Lugo having sex with her while she told him to stop, and then telling her to get out when she started to leave the room. Lugo told police that he did have sex with the woman, then gave her money for a cab and told her to get out.

Unalaska, AK – The Unalaska City Council voted to fund the first step towards a new recycling program for the community at its meeting on Friday.

The council voted 5-1 in favor of a budget amendment that would pay for a grant writer/program developer for the program, which would be under the direction of the Qawalangin Tribe. That job, which will be funded to the tune of $60,000, would involve coming up with a more precise picture of what the recycling program would look like, and finding funding for the program.

Unalaska, AK – As of today, the City of Unalaska has finally filled all of its director positions.

A new finance director signed on to the job today, and the city announced on Thursday that Nancy Peterson has been hired as the new public works director, filling the position left open by Dave Kemp's departure more than a year ago. And starting January 1, powerhouse superintendent Dan Winters will be the city's utilities director.