Unalaska, AK – Iliuliuk Family & Health Services is in the process of conducting a staff overhaul of their behavioral health services.

Edwin Feraco, the director of behavioral health services, will be leaving the clinic on March 25, after offering his resignation last week. This leaves the clinic temporarily without behavioral health specialists, as IFHS looks for replacements for both the director and clinician positions.

Unalaska, AK – The Makushin and Skan Bay section will close today to commercial Bairdi Tanner crab fishing.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced that the guideline harvest level of 35,000 pounds had been reached in that section, and that bait must be removed from all pots by 6pm. Last year, Makushin Bay was closed to fishing.

Akutan Bay remains open to fishing, and one vessel is still participating there. The guideline harvest level in Akutan Bay has also been set at 35,000 pounds. The Eastern Aleutian District must wrap up by March 31, as per regulation.

Unalaska, AK – According to a projection by the United Nations released earlier this week, a radioactive plume bound from Japan was scheduled to touch the Aleutian Islands yesterday. But while state and federal officials have been closely monitoring the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, they say that the failure there has not had any impact on Alaska.

"All air monitoring stations are indication background levels," says Jon Edwards, a radiation expert with the Environmental Protection Agency.

Unalaska, AK – A two-car collision occurred Wednesday afternoon on Airport Beach Road, causing injuries and substantial vehicle damage.

The accident involved an SUV and a pickup truck, and it happened just after 5pm near the S-curves. According to eye witnesses, the SUV collided with the pickup truck, and the pickup truck sustained substantial damage to the driver side. Rotsen Pasion of Unalaska was the driver of the SUV. The 20-year-old has been found at fault for causing the accident, and he was arraigned today and charged with driving under the influence, minor in possession, and two charges of assault-3.

Unalaska, AK – The Environmental Protection Agency is installing extra radiation monitors in the state of Alaska, and one of them will be placed in Unalaska.

The monitors offer real-time readings of radiation levels, and they also contain filters that are changed regularly and analyzed by an EPA laboratory in Montgomery, Alabama. While the EPA already had radiation monitors in place in Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks, the agency is setting up new ones in Unalaska and Nome - along with an extra one in Juneau - to cover a greater geographic area across the state, according to an official with the agency.

Unalaska, AK – Iliuliuk Family and Health Services released a statement today announcing that Executive Director Sonia Handforth-Kome will be leaving the clinic in the fall. According to the release, she "will be spending more time with her family and will be remaining in the community." In an e-mail to KUCB, Handforth-Kome also says that she plans to continue her work with community health centers across the state after taking a sabbatical.

Unalaska, AK – Unalaska remains the twelfth largest town in the state.

According to U.S. Census data released today, the city grew only slightly - just 2.2%. Ninety-three people were added to the community between 2000 and 2010, upping the population from 4,283 to 4,376.

Unalaska also remains a minority-majority town. The white population makes up 39% of the town, while the Asian population is at 33%. Almost 7% of the population is black or African American, while 6% is Alaska Native or American Indian. Additionally, 15% of the population identifies as Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Unalaska, AK – The State of Alaska has canceled a tsunami drill scheduled for March 23 in the wake of the disaster in Japan. The exercise was being put together by the National Weather Service and the Division of Homeland Security, and communities across the state - including Unalaska - had planned to sound their sirens and simulate evacuations.

Public Safety Director Jamie Sunderland says that Unalaska will be keeping in line with the state and that the Department of Public Safety will not go ahead with a tsunami drill.

Unalaska, AK – While federal agencies have focused their efforts this week on tsunami and earthquake preparation and response, volcano monitoring is also being addressed on Capitol Hill.

Yesterday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski reintroduced a piece of legislation that would create a national volcano early warning and monitoring system. Right now, there are five volcano observatories in the United States, with locations in Alaska, Hawaii, and the West Coast. These observatories are run through state and federal partnerships, and their purpose is to watch for thermal anomalies and predict eruptions. The proposed national system would link these observatories up through a new national watch office and database, and it would also fund the program at $15 million annually. Right now, the volcano observatories lack a single, consistent funding source.