The three-person public safety department on the Pribilof Island of St. Paul shut down this week, suddenly and without a great deal of explanation, leaving the Bering Sea island without an on-site law enforcement presence. For the past few months there has been tension between the community and the police department, and there is some indication that the closure is in response to that.

Alaska as a whole is a very military-oriented state, with one of the highest percentages of military membership in the nation, but that trend doesn’t extend out to the Aleutians. At least not yet. The commander in charge of Alaska’s Army National Guard is in Unalaska this week, scoping the possibility of forming a unit in the community. Brigadier General Mike Bridges says the trip started with an invitation from Unalaska Mayor Shirley Marquardt:

“The National Guard has never been in the Aleutians throughout the history of the territory and state of Alaska, and so putting all the pieces together logistically, and timing with the community leaders, and school in session and all that, we’re here to do an initial community visit, survey, assessment - all of the above - at the invitation of the mayor and the City Council.”

(Benjamin Stixrud/Coast Guard)

A light sheen has been spotted near two vessels that grounded near Cold Bay.

The tug Polar Wind and the barge it was towing ended up on the rocks on Wednesday, and responders observed the pollution on Friday. Boom was laid out around the Polar Wind to contain the spill. Combined, the two vessels were carrying more than 20,000 gallons of diesel fuel at the time of the grounding. The barge that grounded with it was also transporting an estimated 1.5 million pounds of frozen seafood. According to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, generators on the barge are still running and the containers remain refrigerated.

(Courtesy Magone Marine via the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation)

So far there have been no signs of a spill after a tug and barge went aground between Cold Bay and Sand Point. Five crewmembers from the tug "Polar Wind" were rescued.

The owner, Northland Services, has joined a Unified Command team to respond to the grounding. The tug and barge were carrying more than 23,000 gallons of diesel fuel. The barge was also carrying 90 refrigerated containers, and 30 of them were full of frozen fish.

At last report the vessels were still upright, and there wasn’t an oil sheen in the area. Steven Russell with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation says responders will continue to monitor the situation closely since the tug and barge are still in a vulnerable position.

Five crewmembers from the Polar Wind were rescued after the tug and the barge it was towing went aground.

The Northland Services tug was 20 miles from Cold Bay when it became separated from the barge it was dragging behind it. The two vessels went adrift while the crew was trying to reconnect the towline. According to Coast Guard Petty Officer David Mosley, weather was a factor.

The Coast Guard received a distress call at around 9pm on Tuesday, and sent out two helicopters to respond to the situation. Mosley says that the rescue was made five hours later, and had to be completed in two rounds.

Akutan Small Boat Harbor/Credit: Stephanie Joyce

While Akutan’s new airport has received considerable attention and scrutiny for being expensive and hard to access, another large infrastructure project on the island that suffers some of the same problems has mostly flown under the radar.

Over the last two years, Knik Construction has converted what was once a flat stretch of tundra at the end of Akutan Bay into a full-size boat harbor.

Elections are over, and candidates and political groups reported spending nearly $10 million on state races this year. But where did that money go? While a lot of it went to consultants and media buys, plenty was also spent at Alaska’s brick and mortar stores. Hundreds of cups of coffee were bought for voters and volunteers, thousands of dollars went to helium balloons, and a small fortune was spent on t-shirts and hats. But of all of the businesses that profited from this campaign season, Alaska’s print shops saw the biggest windfall.

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA -- The bipartisan coalition as it’s currently known is done, and as a result Unalaska may lose some pull when it comes to getting projects funded. 

Ten Republicans gathered at an Anchorage office building on Wednesday to announce that the bulk of the party had organized a majority. They also announced leadership roles. Charlie Huggins, of Wasilla, is the new Senate president, and John Coghill, of North Pole, is the majority leader. Both had been a part of the Senate’s tiny 4-person minority until this point.

(R) Mary Nelson, (C) City Manager Layton Lockett, (L) Mary Prince/Photo Courtesy of the City of Adak

At the same time as Mitt Romney took the stage to give his concession speech, the last voter in the nation was filling in the Romney/Ryan bubble on her ballot.

“I didn’t know the winner," Mary Nelson says.

Nelson lives in Adak. The town had its own polling station for the first time this year, but the island is so far west, it's in a different time zone from the rest of Alaska. That pretty much guaranteed that the results of the Presidential election would be a foregone conclusion by the time the polls closed. Nelson says she knew her vote wouldn't swing the national race, but she wanted to do her part anyways.