Unalaska, AK – Shirley Marquardt has officially been reelected mayor of Unalaska.

After local elections officials counted the 46 outstanding absentee and question ballots, Marquardt defeated Shannon Morrison by five votes, 283 to 278. Katherine McGlashan came in third with 138 votes. Of the newly counted ballots, 20 went to Morrison, 18 to Marquardt and eight to McGlashan.

Those numbers made the election incredibly close. If just three people who cast their ballots for Marquardt had voted differently, it would've been enough to either win the race for Morrison or send the election to a runoff between Marquardt and Morrison. A runoff is triggered when neither candidate gets more than 40 percent of the vote; as it stands now, Marquardt received 40.3 percent.

Unalaska, AK – A freight barge ran aground early this morning at Humpy Cove on Unalaska Island, northeast of the town of Unalaska/Dutch Harbor.

Tugboat crews were working this afternoon to pull the 271-foot vessel loose from the shore, where it drifted after breaking free of a nearby mooring buoy early in the morning. Coast Guard Public Affairs Officer Kurt Fredrickson said that while local Coast Guard personnel had yet to fully inspect the vessel, what damage they've found so far has been minimal.

Unalaska, AK – A new, larger crane slated for use by Horizon Lines at the city dock arrived in Dutch Harbor on a barge this morning.

The crane can handle 40 long tons, which is 10 more than the current Horizon crane, and its slightly longer boom will allow the crane to load an additional row of containers on the larger freighters that take on cargo in Dutch Harbor.

The crane was bought in Long Beach, California, and was supposed to make the journey to Dutch Harbor by September 27. But Horizon Dutch Harbor Terminal Manager Mike Lynch says the barge was delayed in the port of Oakland, where the crane had to be resecured.

Unalaska, AK – Results from Unalaska's three elections held Tuesday show a too-close-to-call mayor's election, a clear winner in one City Council election and a runoff for a deposed incumbent's seat in the other.

Preliminary tallies show incumbent Mayor Shirley Marquardt holding onto her office by a seven-vote margin, leading challenger Shannon Morrison 265 votes to 258 and considerably ahead of Katherine McGlashan, who finished third with 130 votes. With her current 40.4 percent of the vote, Marquardt would also avoid a runoff election against Morrison, which takes place when neither candidate gets more than 40 percent of the total vote.

Unalaska, AK – Voting is underway this evening in Unalaska, as voters choose between nine candidates for three city offices.

As of 5 p.m. this evening, 493 voters had cast their ballots at City Hall, and 42 more had voted by absentee ballot. So far that's about a hundred less than the record turnout for last year's city council race, in which 640 people cast their ballots. But City Clerk Debra Mack was optimistic that more votes would be coming in this evening.

Unalaska, AK – Results from Unalaska's three elections held today show a too-close-to-call mayor's race, a clear winner for one City Council race and a runoff for a deposed incumbent's seat in the other.

-In the mayor's race, incumbent Shirley Marquardt edged out challenger Shannon Morrison 265 to 258, with Katherine McGlashan trailing in third with 130 votes.

-Incumbent Roger Rowland defeated Valerie Lemus 335 to 232 to retain Seat C in the only decisive race of the day. Joanna Aldridge, who remained on the ballot although she dropped out of the race, received 68 votes.

Unalaska, AK – One of Unalaska's most notable writers is back in town this week sharing his new book.

Ray Hudson will be signing copies of Family After All: Alaska's Jesse Lee Home at two events in Unalaska this week. The book is an account of the Jesse Lee Home, a Methodist-run orphanage that operated in Unalaska from 1890 to 1925 before moving to Seward.

The book is published by Hardscratch Press, a California-based publishing house run by the Seward-born writer Jackie Pels. Hudson said the project came about after Pels contacted him for a book she was writing, about the Jesse Lee Home's Seward days.

Unalaska, AK – State regulators are planning for a booming winter season in the Bering Sea this year, with harvest levels for red king crab set higher than they've been since crab stocks crashed in the early 80s. The harvest levels, which were announced this morning, are also set higher for snow crab than they've been in nearly a decade. In Unalaska, KIAL's Charles Homans reports.

Unalaska, AK – Next Tuesday, voters in Unalaska will be going to the polls to pick the city's mayor and two of its city council members. Eight candidates are vying for these three seats, and all of them will be taking the stage tonight at 8 p.m. in the 2007 candidates forum, co-sponsored by us here at Unalaska Community Broadcasting and by the Ballyhoo Lions Club.

As always, UCB will be broadcasting the event live on Channel 8 TV, but for the first time we're also holding it in the Burma Road Chapel in front of a live audience, which everyone is encouraged to come be a part of. Audience members will have a chance to ask questions of the candidates during the forum.