The Unalaska Native Youth Olympics team took third place at the state games in Anchorage this weekend, and one student athlete made NYO history with his gold medal.

Eighth-grader Natnicha “Michelle” Lord and sophomore Crina Bivol each created websites that earned first place in their age groups at the state contest, where judges selected 20 projects out of 60 to advance to nationals.

Regional lands are known for their tundra valleys filled with grasses, plants and bushes, not a 10-foot tree in sight. But that changed in Unalaska during the 1800s when Russian colonizers planted many Sitka spruce trees on Amaknak Island, becoming North America’s first afforestation project.

Unalaska city officials headed to the nation’s capital in late March as part of their annual Washington, D.C. lobbying trip. They advocated for the community, addressing Alaska’s congressional representatives, federal agencies, military leaders and more.

Alaska officials say the changes could make fishing less safe and undermine science critical to managing fisheries.

School had just ended for the week in Unalaska, but not all students were celebrating. More than 30 students proceeded to march to Unalaska City Hall to show support for House Bill 69. The state bill would increase the base student allocation (BSA), the basic per-student state funding that goes to schools each year.

The findings are part of a growing body of work showing that even in far-flung parts of the Arctic, plastic pollution is deeply embedded in the ecosystem.

The City of Unalaska has a new plan to develop public parks, recreation and cultural infrastructure and programs through at least 2035. The city council unanimously approved the 121-page master plan on March 11.

A group of Anchorage jurors was unable to come to a unanimous decision in a nearly six-year long homicide case. Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews declared a mistrial Friday morning for a young man involved in a 2019 Unalaska car crash case. Following more than three days of deliberation and over a week in trial, 24-year-old Dustin Ruckman was not convicted for his involvement in the deaths of two Unalaska teen girls, but he also hasn’t been acquitted.

Unalaska’s Museum of the Aleutians lost a major funding source last week due to budget cuts at the national level. Museum staff learned via a letter from the National Endowment for the Humanities that around $348,000 in grant money had been cancelled. They’ve already spent some of those funds and aren't sure if the money will be reimbursed.