The Coast Guard is reporting an ammonia leak on the fishing vessel Alaska Juris. Petty Officer Grant Devuyst says initial reports are that two to five crewmembers are suffering from ammonia exposure, although the extent of their injuries isn't clear at this time.

The Coast Guard has deployed two helicopters and a C-130 aircraft to the vessel, which is currently 80 miles north of Cold Bay. Devuyst says the first helicopter is expected to arrive around 5pm Thursday. He adds there’s still not a lot of information.

News of three fatal explosions involving refrigerated shipping containers briefly shut down the Horizon Lines cargo dock in Unalaska last year. Now, Russian authorities say they’ve seized a shipment of contaminated coolant they believe is responsible for the exploding “reefers.”

Refrigeration trade publication ACR says customs officers in St. Petersburg found more than a thousand cylinders of coolant marked as Freon that in fact contained the highly flammable and explosive gas methyl chloride.

The shipment originated in China and passed through Poland on its way to Russia. ACR reports that an investigation is ongoing.

Two men were beachcombing near Izembek Lagoon on the Alaska Peninsula Sunday night when their skiff drifted away, leaving them stranded.

A concerned family member called the Coast Guard when the men didn’t make it home by midnight. Coast Guard cutter Monro, which was patrolling nearby, launched a helicopter to search for the missing mariners. A rescue team located them on the beach, where they had built a fire, and hoisted the two men back to Cold Bay.

For the second month in a row, the Aleutians West Census Area has the lowest unemployment rate in the state.

According to the Alaska Department of Labor, only 4.9 percent of people living in Unalaska and its neighboring communities were out of a job and seeking one in March. The statewide unemployment rate was at 7.0 percent.

Unemployment in the Aleutians in traditionally down in the springtime because of the availability of seasonal work connected to the fishing industry.

The Arctic Policy Commission is now taking membership applications.

The body was created by the legislature this year, and it has been tasked with coming up with an official strategy for Alaska’s arctic operations. The 20 members will hash out how the state should handle offshore drilling efforts, manage increased marine traffic, and protect fisheries and wildlife in the region. While legislators will make up a third of the committee, the rest of the commission will be composed of stakeholders from Native groups, the oil and gas industry, coastal communities, and conservation groups, among others. Senate President Gary Stevens and Speaker of the House Mike Chenault will make these appointments.

The fate of the Alaska Coastal Management Program now lies in voters’ hands.

Legislators in Juneau introduced a bill this spring that would revive the program and circumvent the ballot initiative process, but it failed to get any traction. There are no plans to reconsider it during the current special session. Now, voters will decide during the August 28 primary election whether or not to reinstate the program.

Unemployment in the Aleutians West Census Area was down in February. The jobless rate dropped from 7.6 percent to 5 percent, the lowest in the state. Many of the jobs gained were temporary seafood-processing jobs, pegged to the busy pollock and crab seasons.

While Unalaska and the rest of the Aleutians West Census area traditionally has one of the lower unemployment rates in the state, the Southwest region has the worst jobs figures overall. Unemployment in the whole region is estimated at nearly 13 percent, brought up by the Wade-Hampton Census area, where one in five people is without a job.

Gov. Sean Parnell’s pick for the Alaska Public Offices Commission pulled his name from consideration on Thursday because of disparaging remarks he had previously made about Alaska Natives.

David Eichler, a dentist from North Pole and former head of the Alaska Dental Society, came under fire after comments he made during a legal dispute in 2006 were published online. He suggested that higher rates of tooth decay in rural Alaska were the result of cultural deficiencies and that tooth decay was a form of child abuse in Native communities. He wrote that any “culture that allows such disease will soon disappear and rightfully so.” Eichler also argued for the end of federal health subsidies in Bush communities, because it was preventing Alaska Natives from assimilating into American society.

The Coast Guard is still on track to bring security forces up to Unalaska this summer. Last week, an injunction was filed against Greenpeace protesters that would prevent them from getting in close range of Shell Oil vessels during their drilling season, but the Coast Guard says that they’re still in favor of creating “temporary safety zones” around the drill fleet.

"We just want to make sure if there are protesters that go to Dutch Harbor, they are protesting in as safe a manner as possible and in accordance with state and local law," says Chief Petty Officer Kip Wadlow.

Those safety zones would be in place from June 15 to July 1, and they would regulate any space within 25 yards of a Shell vessel.

The federal government is taking comment on the safety zone proposal through May 3.