Alaska State News

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.

Facing potential endangered species status for Gulf of Alaska king salmon, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is rolling out fishing restrictions across western Alaska.

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 road would give King Cove residents access to potentially life-saving medical care, but it could threaten key subsistence species and create a dangerous precedent.