The ferry Tustumena is delayed in shipyard yet again. The ship was scheduled to be back in the water on Monday, but a Coast Guard inspection revealed problems with some of the welding work on the ship’s hull.
Lieutenant Commander Dan Buchsbaum says Seward Ship’s Drydock will need to fix the deficiencies, and have the ferry inspected again. That involves bringing in a technician to x-ray the welds and make sure they’re solid.
Shipyard manager Pinkney Cunningham says the work and the inspection will probably keep the ferry in drydock for an additional two weeks.
City council breezed through an agenda Tuesday night that included rezoning two properties, adjusting the budget and appointing a new member to the planning commission.
They unanimously approved the rezoning proposals, with Councilor Dennis Robinson commenting that he’s happy to see the private sector building houses.
“Hopefully some more land gets out there for housing so the city doesn’t have to take Kelty Park, which is unused, and convert that to a housing project.”
Construction of the city’s new wastewater treatment plant begins today with installation of a bypass line for discharge. Alaska Mechanical is the contractor for the $19.3 million project.
Assistant city manager Patrick Jordan says work is already ahead of the EPA-mandated construction schedule, and could be complete by the end of 2014.
Two proposals to rezone commercial property for residential use are on the city council’s agenda for this evening. Tonight’s vote is the final step in the rezoning process for the properties, which are respectively owned by Coe and Phyllis Whittern and the Ounalashka Corporation. If the changes are approved, the properties could hold up to 60 new housing units, although only a fraction of that number are planned for the immediate future.
The Museum of the Aleutians will soon be closed for several months of renovations. Museum director Zoya Johnson says the plan is for a new, expanded permanent exhibit.
"This is a complete redesign of our museum. We are changing everything," says Johnson. "We are telling our story in a different way."
The title of the new exhibit is "The Aleutian Islands: Crossroads of the North Pacific." Johnson says that it's difficult to explain exactly what the installation will look like. There will be new artifacts on display from the museum’s permanent collection, but the main goal will be to provide visitors with a more complete understanding of Aleutian history.
A Coast Guard helicopter dropped an elite team of explosives experts near Chignik last week. Their mission: to detonate a suspicious bomb that washed up on a remote beach.
On paper, it was a standard assignment for the Army's explosive ordnance disposal team. But as KUCB's Lauren Rosenthal reports, the case still managed to turn up some surprises.
Captain Bill Choate sits with passengers in front of his commissioned tour boat, the Pukuk, on July 2, 2013. (Audrey Carlsen/KUCB)
A travel company specializing in military history has set its sights on the Aleutian Islands. A WWII-focused cruise from Attu to Unalaska marks the beginning of what may be a new wave of interest in "the Forgotten War."
Unalaska is the last stop on the twelve-day cruise, which started in Adak, went west along the Aleutian chain to Attu, and then back again, visiting important WWII sites along the way.
Although travel company Valor Tours offers over 20 military history expeditions every year, trip leader John Cloe says that this tour was the first of its kind.
Magone Marine pulled 70,000 pounds of driftnet off the Bangun Perkasa. Credit: Eva Lund
The “pirate ratship” is no more. The Coast Guard seized the F/V Bangun Perkasa almost two years ago while it was illegally driftnetting in the North Pacific, a practice that’s banned by United Nations moratorium because of its indiscriminate harvest. Now, the ship is on its way to the scrapyard.
There’s a full schedule of Independence Day activities planned for tomorrow in Unalaska.
The day will kick off with the annual 4th of July parade. Coordinator Albert Burnham says so far eleven floats have registered to participate.
“Which is a little down from last year, but we usually have five or six people show up day-of with floats too. There’s no charge to be in the parade, and if they show up, they just get to let line up at the back of the parade, and we let them go.”
