By the end of the month, Eagle’s View Elementary School should find out whether it’s won a national Blue Ribbon award for outstanding performance.

Unalaska’s plastic recycling program is up and running again, but with a few changes. The plastic bin was shut down for a few weeks this summer due to excessive trash. Margo Peters runs the recycling program with the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. They’re the ones who were sorting through trash to pull out recyclables.  

"About a third of the plastic was garbage," said Peters. "People were just throwing their garbage into the plastic bin."

No. 1 Pohah ties into Unalaska's emergency mooring buoy. / Ben Matheson

Emergency crews successfully connected a ship to the city’s new emergency mooring buoy in a drill Tuesday morning. The exercise simulated a scenario in which the  377-foot  No. 1 Pohah lost power. The Gyrfalcon and James Dunlap tugs connected to both sides of the No 1 Pohah and towed her to Broad Bay, where she connected to the buoy. 

The drill was considered a success, but port officials are still working out the kinks of the new buoy. A 50-foot section of the heavy duty braided line appeared to be frayed.  It held for the test, but port crews disconnected the section after the drill and brought it in to be examined. There is still a 100-foot line in the water that allows the buoy to function.

A challenger has emerged in the race for city council seat C.

Katherine McGlashan Labert is running a write-in campaign against incumbent Roger Rowland. Labert filed financial disclosure paperwork with City Hall last week, and has been posting campaign ads around town. 

Labert, a hair stylist and the owner of Cape Sarichef Salon, has previously served three terms on council. She lost her re-election campaign in 2011 to Zoya Johnson. In 2007, Labert ran for mayor, but lost to incumbent Shirley Marquardt.

After 4 months alone at sea, a British rower is closing in on Adak.  28-year-old Sarah Outen left Japan this April in a one-person partially enclosed boat, in an attempt to become the first woman to row solo across the North Pacific Ocean.

Outen’s latest reported position is about 167 miles from Adak.

She’s faced rough seas this summer, and had to hunker down in occasional gale-force winds.  In a satellite phone dispatch late last week, Outen says she’s had to stay alert even when sleeping. She reports waking up to a giant roll: 

The Russian diesel tanker that was stuck in the ice in the Northern Sea Route is now being escorted out by nuclear icebreakers.

The tanker Nordvik was carrying nearly 5 thousand tons of diesel when it hit an ice floe last week.  A ballast tank was ruptured but crews were able to plug the leak.  The vessel was stuck for several days before other ships could arrive.   In the last couple days, the  Nordvik pumped 1800 tons of the fuel to another tanker, the  Boris Vilkitsky. The ship is now on its way to its home port of Khatanga.

For the last two months, salvage crews have been trying to get the salmon tender Lone Star out of the Igushik River near Dillingham. The recovery effort was put on hold while  Unalaska salvage expert Dan Magone revamped the plan, but operations should begin again late next  week.  

As KUCB’s Ben Matheson reports, the new plan incorporates lessons that crews learned the hard way.

A 25-year old-man is facing charges for allegedly assaulting an Unalaska police officer.  

According to court documents, an officer found an unconscious man in the parking lot of the Dutch Harbor Mall around 1 in the morning on August 25. The man, who was identified as Mark Evangelista, was unresponsive and smelled of alcohol.

The officer called an ambulance and brought Evangelista to the clinic. He regained consciousness and was medically cleared to go to jail. As two police officers prepared to help Evangelista up, the man kicked Sgt. Roger Bacon in the groin.  

City council whipped through a condensed agenda last night, at their first meeting in a month.

The council was supposed to take up a proposed 30-year tideland lease with Bering Shai Marine. But business owner Bill Shaishnikoff asked to have the item removed from the agenda before the meeting.

According to a draft lease, Bering Shai Marine would have developed the 2.7-acre tract in Captains Bay to create moorage space. Over the next 30 years, the company would have paid $140,000 in rent. Shaishnikoff already owns the tract of land just above the tidelands plot.