When Tom Enlow was appointed to city council in April, he was brought up from the audience and right into a very contentious meeting. Council was trying to figure out if it should charge more for city-owned housing because the new 8-plex was costing more than expected. Tenants were angry that their rents could go up so soon after moving in.
With council at an impasse, Enlow made his first move as an official: Why not raise the rates, but grandfather in the current tenants through the end of their leases? The motion passed 4-1.
Enlow thinks that ability to compromise is one of his major strengths as a councilor.
The Permanent Fund Dividend will be putting $878 in Alaskans' pockets this year. Some people splurge with the money, but many people use it to offset the state's high cost of living.
KUCB's Lauren Rosenthal and Alexandra Gutierrez found out how Unalaska residents are spending their PFD checks this year.
On Wednesday, an unusual thing happened at the Unalaska Office of Children’s Services: It was open.
And according OCS Director Christy Lawton, it’s going to stay that way. Only, not in the way that some Unalaska residents had hoped.
“At this point, the office is still here,” says Lawton. “The doors are still hypothetically open. We’re looking at a multitude of ways to which we can have a presence.”
Driving past the clinic in Unalaska, it’s tough to miss the 33-foot-long, petal-pink bus parked in the lot out front.
The bus, nicknamed “Nancy,” is the Breast Cancer Detection Center’s new mobile exam unit. The BCDC is sending Nancy through rural Alaska this year, to areas where breast cancer screening isn’t otherwise available. Unalaska is the latest stop on a list that includes Seldovia and Tok.
This Saturday was Unalaska’s annual women’s conference, sponsored by the Iliuliuk Family and Health Services clinic. About 115 women registered for the event -- about three times as many as last year, says clinic director Eileen Scott.
Scott says the organizers are already talking about programming for next year. This weekend, volunteers taught classes on meditation, aromatherapy, and family planning.
Magone Marine finally pulled its landing craft off the bottom on Sunday night. The vessel Joshua sank last week while it was moored to a Magone barge in Dutch Harbor.
Magone Marine manager Kenneth Willis says the Joshua’s through-hull pipe, which pumps shower and washbasin water out into the ocean, had ruptured. That caused the sinking. Willis says a diesel spill that started when the vessel sank has been completely contained.
For the past few months, the Grand Aleutian Hotel has been operating nearly at capacity.
Oilmen, researchers, and even a billionaire media mogul have booked rooms there this summer. And next week, a wave of political and Native leaders from across the region will be taking over the hotel as part of the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association’s Wellness and Governance Conference.
The Magone Marine landing craft that sunk in Unalaska yesterday is still on the bottom. The vessel Joshua was moored to a Magone barge in Dutch Harbor when it suddenly went down Thursday morning.
Magone personnel had planned to refloat the Joshua today. But manager Kenneth Willis says that can't happen until they stop a fuel leak in the bow of the ship. So far, about 250 gallons of diesel have spilled into a containment boom. Once they plug the leak, Willis says Magone personnel will use a crane to lift the sunken ship out of the water. That should happen over the weekend.
A Magone Marine boat sank in Unalaska Thursday morning, spilling a small amount of diesel fuel. Coast Guard Lt. Jim Fothergill says it’s not clear why the landing craft Joshua sank while tied up at the dock. The vessel leaked 10 gallons of diesel into the water before Magone personnel were able to stop the spill. There are still 750 gallons of fuel inside the landing craft.
Magone personnel will try to refloat the Joshua Friday afternoon. Fothergill says the Coast Guard will be on hand to supervise that operation. The agency is investigating the cause of the sinking.
