Like clockwork, the ominous signs show up every May: “Danger Nesting Eagles.” They’re placed near Unalaska’s clinic and post offices, and they feature a silhouette of a bird extending its talons toward a terrified human being.
The city’s Department of Public Safety put them up last Wednesday, after getting the first report of a bald eagle attack this year. According to Deputy Chief Mike Holman, the incident took place outside the Iliuliuk Family and Health Services clinic. Holman says that while bald eagles have wounded people in the past, this attack wasn’t anything serious – just a swooping.
All infrastructure projects in the Aleutian region survived the governor’s veto pen.
Gov. Sean Parnell signed the $12 billion capital and operating budgets into law today, trimming them only slightly in the process. He reduced the budget by $66 million, with most of those cuts being made on the operating side.
The capital budget allocates $20 million to Unalaska projects. The state has set aside $9 million in federal appropriations for the runway safety project, and it has dedicated over $4 million in state funds for the building of a new wastewater treatment plant. Money for a chemical storage building and work on the Robert Storrs International Small Boat Harbor are also included in the budget.
If you use Facebook, you might have noticed your friends giving shout-outs to the teachers who have made a difference in their lives. That’s because it’s Teacher Appreciation Week.
KUCB’s Alexandra Gutierrez joined a sixth-grade class at the Unalaska City School to get the scoop on what makes a good educator, what challenges they face, and how to keep more teachers in the system.
While education funding is expected to go up this year, city and school administrators are working to figure out just exactly how a change to the funding formula will affect them.
Before ending its regular session, the state legislature approved a $90 million increase to education funding next year. It passed a series of bills that would give more money for things like student transport and vocational instruction. The bills generally inspired little controversy, but a change to the “millage rate” – a figure tied to property values that sets the minimum and maximum amounts that municipalities can contribute to schools -- has left administrators across the state confused to how it will affect them.
The City of Unalaska has received permission from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove two bald eagle nests.
According to the Department of Public Works, one of the nests is located near the Illiuliuk Family and Health Services clinic, and the other is built along the “s-curves” of Airport Beach Road. The city will either dismantle the old nests or place an object, like a buoy, near them to prevent eagles from returning to lay eggs. The nest removals are weather dependent -- if mating season begins before the snow melts away, the city will leave the nests until the fall.
As winter comes to a close, drivers in Unalaska have been struggling to avoid potholes. Now, in a slightly ironic twist, a city loader got stuck in the largest pothole of all on Wednesday while doing road maintenance.
A Department of Public Works employee was removing snow from the Unalaska City School parking lot around noon when the dirt beneath the loader caved in, leaving its tire stuck in a hole approximately five feet deep and four feet long. When the dirt collapsed, it revealed a man-made structure covered in broken pieces of rotten wood.
In Unalaska, crime is a laughing matter. It's not the crimes that have residents chuckling so much as how they're written about. The Unalaska crime report is full of eagle aggression and intimate encounters gone awry in the Aleutian Islands.
When Sgt. Jennifer Shockley heads out on patrol each day, she's got the police blotter on her mind. Her goal is to paint a detailed picture of the town's often ridiculous crimes.
If you’re hoping to buy plain plastic Easter eggs this weekend, good luck. The Unalaska Convention and Visitor’s Bureau may have bought them all out in anticipation of their busiest day in years.
The Crystal Serenity, a jumbo-sized luxury cruise ship, is expected to come in this weekend for a longer port call than usual, and the schedule change is forcing the CVB to get a little bit creative.
A 34-year-old man was found dead at the Unisea bunkhouse on Monday.
According to Public Safety Director Jamie Sunderland, Gregory Minerich of Seattle, Washington, passed away in his room on Monday. Police and emergency medical services were called to the scene at approximately 12:30pm, but Minerich appeared to have died hours before. No attempts to revive him were made.
Cause of death has not yet been determined, but police do not suspect foul play. The body has been sent to the state medical examiner in Anchorage for an autopsy.