Unalaska, AK – It probably didn't wake anybody up in Unalaska, but a 5.5 magnitude earthquake hit in the Fox Islands region at 3:30 this morning. No injuries or damages have been reported, says Ian Dickson at the Alaska Earthquake Information Center. He also says that there haven't even been any felt reports filed.
The earthquake hit just over 140 miles Southwest of Unalaska, and the epicenter was about 7 miles below the sea bed. The quake was actually an aftershock caused by the 6.6 magnitude earthquake that hit the area on July 18. There has been a substantial increase in seismic activity since that quake, including an unusually large number of aftershocks with magnitudes of 4 or higher.
Unalaska, AK – The bumblebee-like icebreaker Tor Viking left Dutch Harbor this weekend, and it's now en route to Canada to fetch Shell Oil's Kulluk mobile drilling rig.
The yellow and black vessel had been docked in Dutch Harbor for two weeks, and it belongs to the Norwegian company Trans Viking. Shell has chartered it from May to October; the company previously used it in 2007.
Curtis Smith, a Shell spokesperson, says that the vessel wasn't necessarily going to be used for exploration and drilling this year - and now, given the federal moratorium on Arctic drilling it definitely won't.
Unalaska, AK – Tonight, city council is convening to bond-issues as well as a lobbying trip to Washington.
The first item on the agenda concerns the designation of the Aleutians West area as a recovery zone. This would enable the issuance of recovery zone economic development bonds and recovery zone facility bonds.
The council will then discuss issuing and selling a series of electric utility revenue bonds that would help finance improvements to the city's electrical infrastructure.
Unalaska, AK – It's summertime, so Unalaska's vampires are likely off vacationing in the southern hemisphere. But what's become of those who were accused of acting like the undead last winter?
Well, one successfully proved his humanity just last week. Andrew Philemonof Jr. was found not guilty of assault and vampirism by an Unalaska jury on Thursday.
In November, Philemonof was accused biting John Foster on the arm during a fight at the Chili Pepper House and then claiming that he was a vampire. According to Brendan Kelley, who works in the State of Alaska's office of public advocacy and defended Philemonof in court, what happened was more mundane than macabre.
Unalaska, AK – Fredericka Marten spent a year in St. Paul right before the 1942 evacuation of the Pribilof Islands. Her husband was a doctor, and she followed him there partially to escape the East Coast heat. In 1946, she wrote a manuscript about her experiences there, but it hasn't published until now. Ray Hudson has restored and edited the book, and it's being published under the title Before the Storm by the University of Alaska Press.
Unalaska, AK and Sitka, AK – In rapidly expanding nations like India, Pakistan and China, disputes are heating up over a scarce and precious resource: water. The presence of freshwater shapes a region's health and agriculture, and control of this resource can determine who has electrical, and political, power.
Alaska, with its many rivers and glaciers, is positioned to become a major freshwater distributor, and two towns across the state are working to monetize their water supplies.
Unalaska, AK – In a month, students and teachers across Alaska will be going through the first day experience, jitters and all. Darrell Sanborn, former Unalaska superintendent, will be one of these new faces in the Yupiit school district in the Yukon-Kuskokwim region. That district has some of the state's lowest test scores, and only one in ten of its students are reading at grade level.
The state's Department of Education is sending Sanborn there as the district's trustee. He'll be overseeing changes to the district's curriculum and working to boost test scores at a rate of two percent each year. If scores don't improve, Sanborn will be given control of the budget.
Unalaska, AK – We're three weeks away from the opening of the Aleutian Islands' commercial golden king crab fishery - the open date is August 15th, and the fishery will close nine months later on May 15. Preseason inspections will be available in Dutch Harbor starting August 10 and vessel registration will being August 12th.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced that total allowable catch will remain just shy of 6 million pounds, the same as last year's limit. They limit has been stable for a decade now, and has never gone above 6 million pounds or below 5.7 million pounds.
Unalaska, AK – Story Miller, an Unalaska middle school science teacher, departed today on the NOAA ship Oscar Dyson as part of the Teacher at Sea program. She will be spending the next 19 days assisting with NOAA's annual pollock survey. Miller was one of 35 teachers out of 250 applicants to be selected for a NOAA cruise.
Unlike some of the participants in Teachers at Sea, Miller isn't new to this sort of voyage. Before becoming a teacher, she served in the Coast Guard and she says she's been trying to find a way to get back out on the ocean since. This also isn't her first time out on the Oscar Dyson. In May, she brought her student aboard and they simulated the sort of pollock research that Miller will now be doing for real.
