Alaska State News

The Alaska Emergency Operations Center mistakenly sent an evacuation order to Unalaskans after a mid-July earthquake due to confusion over geography, a state emergency official said July 28.

A tsunami advisory was lifted for the Aleutians and the Pribilof Islands Wednesday morning, after one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded struck off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula at about 3:25 p.m. Alaska time.

Unalaska’s city manager fired the island’s director of ports and harbors Wednesday, despite threats of a forthcoming lawsuit.

Earlier this month, Unalaska City Manager Bil Homka presented the island’s ports director with a notice of termination, which was the topic of a special City Council meeting Friday afternoon.

Residents say the island’s only store is now stocked with milk, eggs and bread.

Meanwhile, Fish and Game is putting more restrictions on the fishery.

The name “Nazi Creek” will no longer be used for federal databases or maps. On Thursday, the Domestic Names Committee for the U.S. Board on Geographic Names voted unanimously to rename Alaska’s Nazi Creek to “Kaxchim Chiĝanaa.” In English, the name can be translated to “creek or river belonging to Kangchix̂ or gizzard island” or “gizzard creek,” and reflects the Unangax̂ name for the island of Little Kiska, which sits about 240 miles east of Attu, in the Western Aleutians.

The Bering Sea community has been without staples like milk and eggs for more than a month.

A proposed change in regulations around how local governments contribute to school districts would cost the Unalaska City School District about $2 million. The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development is proposing new rules that would limit local contributions for non-instructional services, or special funds. For Unalaska, that includes things like academic clubs and sports, preschool, community use of school buildings and food services.

The city received federal relief last week after the 2021-22 king and snow crab collapses — funding that’s only now reaching local coffers.