Maggie Nelson

The trial began Wednesday in Anchorage for a young man facing felony charges in a fatal Unalaska car crash case.Dustin Ruckman is charged with two counts of criminally negligent homicide for his involvement in the 2019 crash on Mount Ballyhoo. He was 18 at the time of the incident and was driving the truck that eventually plummeted about 900 feet down the side of the cliff. Ruckman sustained minor injuries, according to police, but two teenage girls were thrown from the truck and died in the fall: Kiara Rentaria Haist, 18, and Karly McDonald, 16.

After three long days of jury selection in Unalaska, court officials will return to Anchorage to restart their search and begin the trial for a young man involved in a fatal 2019 car crash. Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews told the court Friday afternoon that after questioning around 100 people this week, they could not find enough local impartial jurors.

Officials with the U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) told state and federal officials last month that they would be interested in expanding military access on Adak Island. The announcement was made during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Feb. 13, after Sen. Dan Sullivan pressed federal officials to strengthen military presence in Alaska.

The Unalaska City School District is looking for a new middle school and high school principal. Newcomer Principal Carly Morris notified the district in January that she would be resigning at the end of this school year, according to Unalaska Superintendent Kim Hanisch.

A fire at Sand Point's Trident facility broke out early Thursday morning, pausing the processor’s operations, including its fuel sales, which the small eastern Aleutian community relies on. The plant’s fuel sales were restored over the weekend. The community was informed Saturday morning via a VHF radio announcement that gasoline and heat oil sales were back on.

A cluster of earthquakes struck about 110 miles southeast of Unalaska throughout the day Tuesday. Scientists say the earthquakes are normal for the region, and no one has reported feeling them in the U.S. Geological Survey’s Felt Report database.

The U.S. Coast Guard removed a crewmember from a Norwegian cargo vessel roughly 240 nautical miles southwest of Unalaska Wednesday.A rescue coordination center in Norway contacted the Coast Guard around 7 p.m. Tuesday, requesting a medical evacuation of a sick crewmember on board the Fermita.

Unalaska first responders and clinic staff helped save a man’s foot that was mangled in a fishing-related accident late last month. On Jan. 23, an unidentified crewmember on a commercial fishing vessel was entangled in fishing material. M. Lynn Crane is the board chair of the local health clinic Iliuliuk Family and Health Services. She said local EMS responded to the incident and transported the man to the clinic. She applauded the care providers’ quick response at last week's Unalaska City Council meeting.

Earlier this month, commercial snow crabs started hitting Unalaska’s docks again, for the first time in nearly three years. The Bering Sea snow crab fishery reopened in mid-October, after billions of the crab disappeared and the fishery was shut down in October 2022. This season’s first catch was delivered on Jan. 15. Opilio, or snow crab, is generally fished in the new year and into the early spring. The season runs through the end of May.

Unalaska's U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit is investigating a fishing vessel that ran aground near Iliuliuk Bay. The F/V Northern Endurance was partially beached about three miles from downtown Unalaska, near Little Priest Rock on Thursday and was pulled free by the emergency response and salvage company Resolve Marine Friday morning around 9 a.m., according to Commanding Officer Lt. Lawrence Schalles.