Unalaska, AK – Bad weather delayed the start of the Region 1 girls' volleyball championships, which are being held in Unalaska for the first time this week, but it wasn't enough to stop it.

The opening buzzer came at 2 p.m. today instead of 10:30 a.m. as originally scheduled, but teams were able to get in two of the scheduled sets of games this afternoon.

In the first set, Unalaska went 3-0 against Aniak, beating the visitors 25-12 in the first game and 25-7 in each of the following games. Koliganek also shut out Hooper Bay in three games, 25-5, 25-8 and 25-16.

Unalaska, AK – Although Unalaska got a reprieve from yesterday's high winds today, continuing heavy rains have caused problems for at least one local business.

Rain and snowmelt eroded the banks of a creek flowing out of the Pyramid Valley and flooded the crab pot yard maintained by Offshore Systems, Inc. at the end of Captains Bay Road this morning. OSI's operating facilities manager, Craig Rice, said the moved earth divided the stream into three channels, which quickly swelled and flooded the pot yard and part of the road.

Unalaska, AK – The first game of the girls' regional volleyball championships is expected to kick off at around 2:00 p.m. this afternoon.

According to school staff, five of the nine visiting teams have arrived for the tournament, which was originally scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. this morning. As of 11 a.m., the Bristol Bay and Dillingham teams were at the airport in Cold Bay, waiting for the weather to clear, and the Bethel and Kotzebue teams were in King Salmon doing the same.

Unalaska, AK – Unalaska is getting a break from the high winds that kicked up yesterday, but it might not last long.

The wind has died down to about 25 mph as of this morning, but the National Weather Service is warning that a low pressure system in the North Pacific could result in gusts as high as 90 mph by sometime tomorrow.

Winds reached a peak of 80 mph yesterday afternoon, which was enough to pick up a 40-foot container van and pitch it down General's Hill, damaging one home. That container can still be seen on the hillside, and doesn't appear to be moving from where it landed yesterday.

Unalaska, AK – This week Unalaska is hosting the regional 1A, 2A and 3A girls' volleyball championships for the first time, but it's going to happen a little later than scheduled.

Today's high winds have kept most of the teams' flights from arriving here, and Unalaska City School principal Glenn Cole said the first game will be pushed back from its original start time of 10:30 a.m. tomorrow.

Unalaska, AK – High winds this afternoon sent a 40-foot container van rolling down General's Hill, hitting at least one home in the area.

Public Safety Department Lt. Jamie Sunderland says that for now, the van doesn't appear to be in danger of moving any further.

"Right now it's kind of burrowed into the ground, holding in place," he said at about 5 p.m. "The owners have been notified, but I'm thinking for now they're going to have to just wait a while, since the winds are gusting pretty bad."

Unalaska, AK – After the executive session of last night's meeting, the City Council voted unanimously to give the city's non-union employees their normal raises, in spite of continued disagreements over contracts with unionized staff.

The vote, which approved a normal 3 percent raise for the employees retroactive to July 1, was a break with recent city policy. The city's managerial employees, known as Title 3 employees, aren't unionized, but until now their benefits have been tied to those of the union employees. That meant that when union contract negotiations reached an impasse, Title 3 personnel had their annual raises postponed along with the union members. Mayor Shirley Marquardt said that wasn't fair.

Unalaska, AK – After failing to come to an agreement at last night's meeting, the Unalaska City Council will push back its decision on an interim appointment for the council's open seat to next week.

That compromise was reached after council member Dick Peck blocked a motion put forward by member Juanita Lewis to appoint D.H. "Kris" Flanagan to the seat recently vacated by Rocky Caldero.

Unalaska, AK – Six people have put in their names for an open seat on Unalaska's City Council, which council members will be filling by appointment at tomorrow's meeting.

The seat has been vacated by Rocky Caldero, and hopefuls had to submit their names by Wednesday to be considered as his replacement.

Two former council members have put in their names. One is D.H. "Kris" Flanagan, who lost his seat to David Gregory in last month's election. The other is Joanna Aldridge, who stepped down from her own seat on the council earlier this year for family reasons, and briefly sought reelection this fall before reconsidering.