Long-reach backhoe on the right/Credit: Stephanie Joyce

Construction season is underway in Unalaska, and contractors are back at work on the $28 million project to extend the airport runway.

KUCB’s Stephanie Joyce toured the construction site, and has this report on the project’s progress.

The Iliuliuk Family and Health Services clinic will lose its medical director this summer. Rebecca Stroklund has resigned, and will formally leave her job at the end of July.

Stroklund couldn't be reached for comment. According to clinic director Eileen Scott, Stroklund is leaving to relocate closer to friends and family in the Lower 48. She’s the clinic’s only doctor and Scott says finding a replacement will likely be challenging.

Courtesy of Dept. of Public Safety

Walk down Unalaska’s beaches enough times, and you’re likely to find a scrap of World War II memorabilia.  Most of it is harmless -- spent shells, or rusty steel. But some of it is unexploded ordnance, which can grow unstable as the years go by.

This month, the Ounalashka Corporation ended up their own potentially dangerous piece of WWII history. The ordnance was actually a donation from a well-meaning UniSea employee. Corporation staff didn’t know what to do with it, so they handed it off to Dave Gregory. He’s the operations manager.

Courtesy of Teresa Laxfoss

A 25-foot boulder broke off the side of Ballyhoo late last week, damaging the Latitude 54 warehouse.

Norman Bautista, the terminal manager for North Pacific Fuel, says the rock fell from the cliffside around 7 am Thursday. No one was injured, but the boulder dented the back of the Latitude 54 building, where it’s still resting now.

Bautista says Northern Mechanical has been contracted to break up the boulder and carry it offsite. In the meantime, he says people should steer clear of the rock face behind the warehouse. North Pacific Fuel employees have cordoned off the area with caution tape to dissuade visitors.

When a local processing plant got wind of the need for new equipment down at the Iliuliuk Family and Health Services clinic, they turned to fishermen for help.

The ventilator is a critical part of the Iliuliuk Family and Health Services emergency room. It provides breathing support for patients while they wait for medevac flights. But after ten years, the clinic’s ventilator seemed to be breaking down. 

Clinic director Eileen Scott says one of her EMTs took notice. 

A Coast Guard helicopter flew into Unalaska last night to medevac an 18-month-old girl.

The girl had consumed an adult medication that can be toxic to kids. Medical staff at the Iliuliuk Family and Health Services clinic referred the child to Anchorage for additional care.  A Guardian Flight plane was not available locally to take the call, and Coast Guard Petty Officer David Mosley says local weather conditions would have prevented a dispatched flight from landing.

Image courtesy of Frank Kelty

Unalaska’s oldest resident passed away on Sunday. Josefa Gozun Velasquez, 91, had lived in the community for more than 25 years, first as a seafood processor, and then as a caregiver.

Her son-in-law, Frank Kelty, says she helped raise nearly four generations of children in Unalaska -- including her own grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The most debated issue at this week’s city council meeting wasn’t on the agenda. A 2012 ordinance that prohibits truckers from driving with their fifth wheel in a raised position resurfaced. Councilor Dennis Robinson asked the city manager to revisit the rule, saying it was taking too much time for truckers to constantly adjust the wheel.

"The guys that are driving the trucks are going to stop and they’re not going to go until that fifth wheel is down," Robinson said. "And with a 700-move ship, you do the math -- five minutes a piece."

Blizzard conditions have sent at least half a dozen vehicles off the road in the last day and half. The latest appears to a tractor-trailer on Captain’s Bay Road. The incident happened just before 5pm Thursday. The truck was tipped on its side in a ditch, but wasn’t impeding the flow of traffic. No one at Public Safety was immediately available to comment on the incident, or on how the truck would be removed. Road conditions are poor, with blowing snow impairing visibility. The city has issued a category II travel advisory, and is asking vehicles to stay off the road unless absolutely necessary.

The storm is expected to continue through tonight, with steady winds of 55 mph, and gusts up to 70 mph.