Aleutians West Census Area
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Eight Unalaska roofs have failed, including the high school and water plant
Eight Unalaska roofs have failed or are failing, including the high school and the water plant. Fixing all 27 city roofs starts at $22 million.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readFrom 
Unalaska wants the state to look at a ferry from Cold Bay during pollock season
Unalaska wants the state to look at running a ferry from Cold Bay during pollock season. The ferry system is short on boats and the dock has pile damage.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readFrom 
Unalaska council awards $21.9 million contract to replace Storrs Harbor floats
Unalaska is spending $22 million on new harbor floats. The acting city manager says the harbor may have to close before long if it does not.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readFrom 
Unalaska will spend $200,000 deciding what to do about its pool
Unalaska's 40-year-old pool has failing systems and a leaking roof. The city is paying $200,000 to find out whether to fix it, rebuild it or move it.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readFrom 
Resident accuses Kodiak Island Borough Assembly of illegal poll on remote-meeting rules
A Kodiak resident challenged the borough assembly's survey on remote-meeting rules as violating the Open Meetings Act, though the borough attorney cleared it as preparation for public discussion.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Unalaska wants $5 million to pave the road serving America's busiest fishing port
The country's largest fishing port by poundage is served by a gravel road. Paving it is now Unalaska's top request of Congress, at $5 million.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readFrom 
Unalaska makes its failing airport terminal a top funding priority
Unalaska made a failing airport terminal its top request for state money next year, moving it from last on the list to first.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readFrom 
Unalaska eases yearly audit requirement for its small nonprofit grantees
Unalaska's small nonprofits won't have to pay for a yearly audit to keep their city grants anymore — a cost that ate up about 13% of one group's award.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readFrom 
State proposes 55-year Adak Airport lease, competing bids due Oct. 8
Alaska wants to lease airport land at Adak, a remote island now drawing military and space interest, for 55 years — one of the longest terms it allows.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A tiny Bering Sea tribe runs its own healing court, from the island to Anchorage
A tiny tribe in the Bering Sea runs its own healing court for people facing addiction, and a federal grant will extend it to members who've moved to Anchorage.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
NOAA would let one boat take far more western halibut to get anyone fishing it
Alaska's halibut is not getting caught. NOAA wants to let a single boat take much more of the western quota to get somebody out there fishing it.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Magnitude 6.3 quake off Nikolski sets off dozens of Aleutian aftershocks
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck offshore in the central Aleutians early Thursday, setting off dozens of aftershocks — but no tsunami and no expected damage.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Dozens of earthquakes struck one patch of seafloor near Nikolski
Three dozen quakes struck one patch of seafloor southwest of Nikolski in about a day. No tsunami danger, and the Aleutians are not in Alaska's warning system.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Unalaska raises the audit threshold for its nonprofit grant recipients
Unalaska has raised the audit threshold for nonprofit grantees to $40,000, after one grantee said audit costs ate roughly 13 percent of its city award.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min read
Unalaska is paying $800,000 to keep its emergency room open around the clock
Unalaska City Council adopted new grant guidelines on Aug. 25, but the exact changes remain unclear because city records do not include the full resolution text.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min read
Four quakes off Nikolski, largest magnitude 5.3; no tsunami danger
Four earthquakes struck offshore southwest of Nikolski late Monday, with the largest at magnitude 5.3, but the National Tsunami Warning Center said there was no tsunami danger.
by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read
Unalaska keeps awarding more grant money than its formula produces
Unalaska's grant program keeps awarding more than its funding formula produces. The council eased the audit rules and left the formula alone.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 2mo ago2 min read
Unalaska approves airport gate power line, with the state covering the cost
Unalaska City Council approved a power line extension to supply new airport access gates, with work due by August 2027 at an estimated cost of $1 million to $2.5 million.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 2mo ago1 min read
A $2.5 million geothermal training grant for Unalaska sits 3 percent spent
Unalaska abandoned its Makushin geothermal project in May 2025, but a $2.5 million federal training grant tied to it remains open and largely unspent with only $75,000 spent so far.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min read
A health center's request to Unalaska grew nearly six-fold in a year
A health center's grant request to Unalaska grew from $180,000 to more than $1 million in a year, pushing the city's grant program past its own guideline.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readFrom 
Unalaska paid for library internet for three years before the council approved it
Unalaska ran a library internet contract for three years without the council vote its code required. The council approved it this month, going back to 2023.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read
A little Unalaska park keeps its tax break one last time before the lease runs out
A small community park in Unalaska keeps its property tax exemption one last time before the city's lease runs out, joining the tax rolls in 2027.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
New EU seafood paperwork lands Sept. 3, and it is not the only change
New EU seafood export certificates take effect Sept. 3. For Alaska's wild-caught fish and crab, the bigger change is a separate catch-documentation overhaul.
by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
A toxic bloom killed fur seals off St. George with the highest saxitoxin level ever recorded in the species
A toxic bloom killed fur seals off St. George with the highest saxitoxin level ever recorded in the species. Tribal monitors get another year to track it.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Three remote Aleutian villages are getting traveling dental and medical clinics this month
Sand Point, Akutan and Atka are getting short-term traveling dental and medical clinics this month, in Aleutian villages 570 miles from the nearest hospital.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read
Unalaska council ratifies a library internet contract three years late
Unalaska's library ran internet for three years on a contract the council never approved. The council ratified it Tuesday, 5-0, without discussion.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
NOAA is still testing groundwater in the Pribilofs, decades after it left
NOAA is paying $186,644 to keep sampling groundwater in the Pribilofs, cleanup left over from 116 years of federal control of the fur seal harvest.
by Alaska News2mo ago2 min read
A remote Alaska island is paying $7.55 a gallon to heat its homes
A remote Alaska island is paying $7.55 a gallon for heat, plus an undisclosed city surcharge. The city blames Middle East conflict for the delivered price.
by Alaska News2mo ago2 min read
EPA proposes $5,859 UniSea settlement over Dutch Harbor stormwater
EPA says UniSea's Dutch Harbor plant went years with a stale pollution plan and unpermitted flows toward Iliuliuk Harbor. The proposed penalty is $5,859
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Unalaska council retroactively approves a three-year-old library internet contract
Unalaska City Council approved a five-year internet contract for the public library at $108,876 yearly, with federal E-Rate funding covering about half the cost.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
Unalaska moves to rebuild its harbor, with sea otter safeguards for the pile driving
Unalaska is set to rebuild moorage at Robert Storrs Harbor, with standard safeguards for nearby sea otters. The projected effect is minor. Comment to Sept. 10.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Cruise ships come to St. Paul as the island rebuilds after the crab crash
Five cruise ships are headed to St. Paul Island as the Unangax̂ community seeks new footing after its snow crab economy collapsed, leaving a $2.7M hole.
by Alaska News3mo ago1 min read
Full-time St. Paul Island homeowners can get replacement fuel tanks
St. Paul Island homeowners can now get free replacement heating fuel tanks through a new community program, limiting eligibility to full-time residents.
by Alaska News3mo ago1 min read
Alaska has the most earthquakes. The program that watches them expired in 2023.
The federal earthquake program has been running on expired authorization since 2023 — awkward for the state that gets a magnitude 7 most years.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 3mo ago2 min read
EPA proposes a $5,859 penalty over Dutch Harbor discharges
EPA wants $5,859 from UniSea over discharges into a Dutch Harbor bay that Unalaska residents use for subsistence. Public comment closes August 19.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
APIA cuts heating assistance 20% for 10 Aleutian and Pribilof communities
APIA is cutting heating assistance 20 percent for Alaska Native households in ten Aleutian and Pribilof communities in 2027 to stretch limited funding.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Starlink claims 10 Gbps in Utqiagvik, but maybe... not so much
Starlink says it hit 10 Gbps in Utqiagvik — but that's the firehose into town, not what reaches your house. A rooftop dish still gets about 200 Mbps.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago1 min read
NMFS creates rodent detection dog exception to Pribilof dog ban
NMFS lifted a 50-year dog ban on the Pribilof Islands to allow certified rodent detection dogs to inspect vessels, protecting seal rookeries and subsistence harvests from invasive rodents.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
AML resolution calls for protecting bypass mail to remote Alaska communities
Alaska Municipal League urged federal officials to protect bypass mail, which lets remote communities buy cheaper goods through the postal system.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Sablefish fleet faces compliance gap as approved release rule sits in federal limbo until 2028
A federal rule allowing Alaska sablefish vessels to release undersized fish won't take effect until 2028, leaving crews facing fines for a nearly unavoidable practice.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago2 min read