Alaska State News

A pending request from the White House to essentially eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is headed to the House floor and could spell disaster for some local media stations across the nation, including Unalaska’s KUCB.

The administration has made aggressive cuts to fisheries management since taking office this year.

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan’s efforts to strengthen Alaska’s military system and reopen the naval base on a remote Aleutian Island are gaining traction at the federal level. Sullivan joined President Donald Trump in the White House on May 20 when the administration announced its Golden Dome missile defense system, which is aimed at protecting Americans from intensifying Chinese and Russian threats and growing arsenals.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation unanimously passed a seafood bill on April 30 to fight illegal fishing. The legislation would rely on efforts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which Sen. Dan Sullivan said is already struggling to complete key fisheries surveys.Sullivan co-sponsored the Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvest, or FISH, Act with seven other senators, including Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Sullivan said he hopes it will help fight unfair trade practices and give a boost to Alaska’s fishing industry.

Unalaska’s Iliuliuk Family and Health Services provides a wide range of healthcare to the community, from obstetrics and routine primary care, to 24/7 emergency response. But representatives of the island’s primary clinic are worried some of those essential services could be jeopardized if they don’t receive enough funding through the city’s local grants program.

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.

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.

The fate of a young man behind the wheel in a fatal 2019 Unalaska car crash is now in the hands of an Anchorage jury. Dustin Ruckman, 24, faces two counts of criminally negligent homicide in the deaths of two Unalaska teen girls.

A 28-year-old fisherman was reported missing Friday in Unalaska. The City of Unalaska said in a press release that Jacob Riley Veeser was last seen at midnight on April 4 walking down the GI “dolphin” dock at the UniSea Inc. processing plant.

Attorneys are expected to give their closing arguments Monday for a case involving a fatal 2019 car crash on Unalaska’s Mount Ballyhoo. However, they will first have to hear whether or not the presiding judge believes there is enough evidence to support a conviction.