Maggie Nelson
Senior ReporterHailing from Southwest Washington, Maggie moved to Unalaska in 2019. She's dabbled in independent print journalism in Oregon and completed her Master of Arts in English Studies at Western Washington University — where she also taught Rhetoric and Composition courses. In 2017 Maggie spent time working on a commercial tender boat out of Wrangell and is excited to finally return to Alaska to produce content for the Unalaska community.
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Monte LaVelle Chitty, age 62, was arrested on April 5 in a small town in Texas by state police and U.S. Marshals, after attempting to flee child-abuse related charges in the Florida Keys. He was arrested in March and charged with two felonies involving a 15-year-old girl from the Baptist church he was leading in Marathon, Florida. Those include sexual battery and lewd and lascivious molestation, and a misdemeanor of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.Chitty was also a former Alaska Village Public Safety Officer in the Aleutian region for several years and a pastor in Cold Bay for a short period. He moved to Alaska and began leading the Cold Bay Chapel in 2010.
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The planning area spans from Cape Cheerful, across Unalaska Bay and out east to Erskine Point. That includes several smaller bays within Unalaska Bay as well as Kalekta Bay. The Alaska Department of Natural Resource (DNR) proposes classifying the land under three categories: as wildlife habitat, public recreation land and waterfront development land. The waterfront development section would include an area from Mount Ballyhoo, near the airport, south into Captain’s Bay, into Iliuliuk Creek and around Unalaska Lake, according to DNR’s Unalaska Bay Site Specific Plan Public Review Draft.
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The Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network is working with local responders to gather images and information to coordinate helping an entangled humpback in Unalaska’s Iliuliuk Bay.
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Michael Livingston is proposing Nazi Creek on Little Kiska Island be renamed to reflect the island’s Unangax̂ name — “Kangchix̂,” which translates to gizzard. The map enthusiast said he’s not certain where the island’s traditional name comes from, but he has some theories.
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Dustin Ruckman, 23, will face an Unalaska jury in late August for counts of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and reckless driving.
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A years-long Alaska seafood battle over a complicated shipping exemption has been settled. Two Bering Sea seafood shipping companies, Alaska Reefer Management LLC and Kloosterboer International Forwarding LLC, settled a lawsuit in January challenging penalties that had been levied by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Alaska Reefer Management is a subsidiary of American Seafoods, one of Alaska’s biggest fishing companies. Together, the companies will pay the federal government $9.5 million after violating federal shipping laws.
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The Unalaska City School District will send fifth graders down to the elementary building starting next school year. Administrators recently announced they will put the fifth grade class in the Eagle’s View Elementary Achigaalux̂ building for the first time since it was constructed.
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Regional council says it won’t tighten fishing regulations in Bristol Bay red king crab savings areaThe North Pacific Fishery Management Council will not move forward with a request to close the Bristol Bay red king crab savings area to all commercial fishing. At its February meeting, the regulatory council looked at the effectiveness of closing the 4,000-square-nautical-mile section of the eastern Bering Sea to commercial trawl, pot and longline fishing, but decided not to tighten regulations in the area.
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A new judge overseeing a criminal case involving a fatal 2019 car crash in Unalaska has granted the defense extra time to solidify a new trial date. In a status hearing on Feb. 8, Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews allowed Julia Moudy, the lead counsel for the defense, another month to go through discovery materials, gather experts and find a trial date that will fit her schedule. That comes after several delays and complications in the case – the latest being a change in lead counsel for the defense, which led to the appointment of a new trial judge.
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A fire broke out at Sand Point’s Peter Pan Seafood Co. facility Wednesday morning. Edith Mejia, the office manager and a dispatcher for the small Aleutian town’s police department, said the fire likely started between 7 and 8 a.m.