
Andy Lusk
ReporterBorn and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina, Andy Lusk is a writer, travel enthusiast and seafood aficionado who won the jackpot by landing in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor. When he's not hiking or working on his latest story, you can find him curled up with his cats and a good book. Andy is a Report for America corps member and an alumnus of New York University.
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Small, versatile vehicles like four-wheelers and side-by-sides are legal again on Unalaska’s public roads, after the Unalaska City Council overturned a mayoral veto keeping the all-purpose vehicles, or APVs, off the streets.
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Unalaska’s Church of the Holy Ascension hasn’t had a resident priest for a few months, but that didn’t stop parishioners from organizing their annual Christmas celebration.
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A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck about 58 miles southwest of Unalaska Sunday afternoon. While many locals felt the event, including in Nikolski and Akutan, there is no current threat of a tsunami or cause for concern.
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Some Unalaskans were preparing to hit the streets in their four-wheelers and side-by-sides after city council members voted Tuesday to remove a local ban on all-purpose vehicles. But on Thursday evening, Mayor Vince Tutiakoff Sr. vetoed the change to city code, citing safety and enforcement concerns.
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Trident Seafoods’ St. Paul processing plant won’t open to take snow crab deliveries this season. But the Pribilof Island community will still see some economic benefits from the harvest, thanks to a new agreement between the cities of St. Paul and Unalaska. The Unalaska City Council unanimously approved a resolution at a special meeting on Jan. 3 that will allow snow crab, or opilio, that’s normally processed by Trident in St. Paul to come to Unalaska instead. St. Paul will receive the seafood taxes and fisheries business taxes associated with that portion of the harvest, like they normally would.
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International shipping and logistics giant Maersk has confirmed it will cease transpacific operations in Alaska by February. Terminals in Dutch Harbor and Kodiak are on the chopping block.
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The Federal Subsistence Board manages how wild foods are harvested on federal lands and waters in Alaska, and is looking to better reflect the needs of rural subsistence users by incorporating more Indigenous input into its membership.
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The real estate wing of the Aleut Corp. recently launched a brokerage firm aimed at building economic opportunity and support for Alaska Native communities. Tayal Brokerage, which comes from the Unangam Tunuu word meaning “to buy,” went live in mid-October.
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Marii Swetzof, daughter of the Aleut Corp.’s first president Mike Swetzof, has been elected to fill a vacancy on the corporation’s board.
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Unalaska City School District high schoolers got to see the democratic process firsthand during a field trip on Election Day, Nov. 5. About a dozen students got a tour of the island’s only polling place at City Hall from Estkarlen Magdaong, the city clerk.