Unalaska, AK – A worsening fuel crisis in Nikolski has led the local tribal council to declare a disaster emergency for the village.

Nikolski is down to 400 gallons of oil for the village power plant, enough for just a few days. Council President Arnold Dushkin said that residents were gathering in the few houses that still had enough fuel for heat.

"There's some people here with fuel yet, so we're getting together to keep everybody warm," he said.

Unalaska, AK – The Coast Guard believes it may have found clues to the location of a hot air balloonist who disappeared south of the Aleutians two weeks ago, but bad weather kept searchers away from the area today.

Chief Petty Officer Barry Lane said that high winds and 25- to 30-foot seas in the North Pacific today grounded the Coast Guard's C-130 aircraft, which has been searching an area the size of Indiana for missing balloonist Michio Kanda over the past two weeks.

Unalaska, AK – The Unalaska City Council convenes for its regular meeting and work session this evening at City Hall, with several interesting items on the agenda.

The council will take its first look at an ethics policy drafted by City Attorney Brooks Chandler following a council work session on the issue in November. The proposed policy would make minor changes to several aspects of the rules currently governing what city officials can and can't do. It would also create a more complete policy for investigations into elections complaints, such as the one filed by Randall Baker following the October City Council election.

Juneau, AK – The Alaska Public Offices Commission has granted Unalaska Mayor Shirley Marquardt's request for more time to refute charges she misused public facilities during her reelection campaign last fall.

The Commission was scheduled to act today on APOC staff's recommendation that Marquardt be fined one thousand dollars. Instead the Commission will revisit the matter at its meeting in June.

New York, NY – Unalaska Mayor Shirley Marquardt is asking for more time to present evidence to state authorities that she did not break state law during her mayoral campaign.

A letter sent on Friday to Alaska Public Offices Commission Executive Director Brooke Miles from Marquardt's Anchorage-based lawyer, Thomas P. Amodio, requested that the commission wait to determine whether to levy the two $500 fines against Marquardt recommended by APOC Investigator Jeff Berliner in his January 28 report to the commissioners, a decision that is scheduled for APOC's Thursday meeting in Juneau.

New York, NY – A state investigator is arguing that Unalaska Mayor Shirley Marquardt violated state law by sending a controversial e-mail during October's mayoral race, and should be fined for it.

"A preponderance of the evidence supports [the] allegation that the mayor's use of her city office--her city e-mail address, signature and computer--represent the use of public municipal funds and authority to take sides and wield influence in a candidate election," Alaska Public Offices Commission Investigator Jeff Berliner wrote in a memorandum dated Wednesday and released to KIAL Friday.

Unalaska, AK – Join us back here then for more of your local headlines from KIAL AM 1450.

Unalaska, AK – February 5 is Super Tuesday, when primary elections for this year's presidential race are held in nearly half the states in the country, including Alaska. Depending on which party you belong to, you may or may not have a chance to weigh in here in Unalaska.

Unalaska Democrats will be caucusing at the Burma Road Chapel at 4:30 p.m. on February 5. Democratic voter registrar Tammy Fowler-Pound said she's expecting a better turnout than the last Unalaska caucus, in 2000.

Unalaska, AK – Customers stopping by the Eagle Quality Center yesterday afternoon had a chance to get a taste of the cooking of Chris Starkenburg, the captain of the tugboat Gyrfalcon and something of a local authority on the unique art of galley cooking. He was at the Eagle promoting a new cookbook called The Galley Chef by Dean and Dione K. Lee, in which he is credited for many of the recipes.