Erin Islzer gets ready to break a bottle of champagne on the new barge. /Credit: Annie Ropeik
A new barge that’ll make a weekly freight run to Akutan was christened last month at the city dock. KUCB’s Annie Ropeik has the story.
Evon Bereskin:[singing] "O master, preserve this oh ship, and give it a guardian angel..."
Father Evon Bereskin of Unalaska’s Holy Ascension Cathedral is blessing the new barge. It’s named the Iliuliuk Bay for the harbor where it’ll be based. The 250-foot vessel arrived from Portland in November.
Recently, Alaska’s Board of Fisheries set up an experimental harvest in the Aleutian Islands that might have benefited small communities like Adak. But Adak had its eyes on a much bigger prize.
The Lower 48 has been on the offensive against the flu virus for weeks. But in Unalaska, most people didn’t have access to vaccines until late November.
As KUCB’s Annie Ropeik reports, an attempt to tailor flu prevention around Unalaska’s unique population didn’t sit well with some patients.
A Coast Guard flight crew spent Thanksgiving rescuing a crew member from a container ship traveling past Unalaska.
The Kerveros was traveling along the Great Circle shipping route from Canada to China, about 100 miles outside Unalaska, when they called the Coast Guard for help Thursday morning.
Chief Petty Officer Sara Mooers says a 43-year-old Filipino crewman had fallen ill.
Seward Ship's Drydock was only supposed to spend a few months fixing up the Tustumena ferry. Instead, it took them a year to finish extensive repairs on the 50-year-old vessel. Now, the shipyard is now seeking millions of dollars in extra payment from the state of Alaska.
In Unalaska, it’s not exactly common practice to lock your car doors. But that’s what the Department of Public Safety is recommending drivers do after a string of thefts last week.
Deputy chief Michael Holman says the first report came in around 9 p.m. last Tuesday. It was from a woman who said a pair of sneakers went missing from her daughter’s car while the girl was at volleyball practice.
City council pushed several items from their agenda Tuesday night to their next meeting after the Thanksgiving holiday. That meeting will be Dec. 17. It’ll include a public hearing on wage increases for Title 3 employees.
Council voted to revisit the proposed increases and the larger overhaul in the works for the city’s pay range matrix at that hearing. The Title 3-specific ordinance also includes a proposed $7,000 budget increase for the airport.
City council approved a new contract to finish redesigning C float at the Bobby Storrs Boat Harbor at their meeting Tuesday night.
The contract is with PND Engineers for $515,000. PND has been a part of the redesign process since January.
Port director Peggy McLaughlin told the council that their preferred design for C float is a straight, linear pontoon float with no fingers off the side.
City council will go over new designs for floats at the Bobby Storrs Boat Harbor at their meeting tonight.
The city got a state grant in 2012 to redesign the harbor, but the money won’t kick in until designs are complete. PND Engineering has been heading up the redesign process. The council will vote on a new $515,000 contract with PND to finalize the C float design and start working on designs for the A and B floats.
