aleutians region

The MV Tustumena turned 60 years old this year. She’s the oldest ferry in the Alaska Marine Highway System and she just completed her final Aleutian Chain run of the year. In August, Unalaskans met her at the port to celebrate the "Trusty Tusty’s" birthday. KUCB’s Theo Greenly was there — he rode the ferry down the chain to Homer, and he sends this audio postcard from the trip.

The Aleutian Region School District approved its budget for the 2024-2025 school year on June 6. According to Superintendent Mike Hanley, it's the healthiest budget the district has seen since he’s been on the job for the last five years.

The Alaska Marine Highway System released its 2024 summer schedule, and the M/V Tustumena is scheduled to make one Aleutian chain run a month from May through September, totaling five port calls in Dutch Harbor.

The Alaska Marine Highway System released a draft of the 2024 summer ferry schedule on Tuesday, proposing the same number of Aleutian Chain runs as the last two years.

The Okeanos Explorer docked in Unalaska last month, after finishing its first of six expeditions, mapping out the deep seafloor around the Aleutian Islands and discovering three gas seeps. According to NOAA, the discovery is crucial because these gas seeps can create unique surrounding habitats and provide potential sources of alternative energy and biopharmaceuticals.

At a U.S. Senate committee hearing about the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down off South Carolina, Sen. Lisa Murkowski lashed out at the Biden administration. “As an Alaskan, I am so angry, I want to use other words, but I’m not going to,” said Murkowski, who asked representatives from the Defense Department why the administration waited so long to respond to the threat – and why it did not take action, when the surveillance balloon first entered U.S. waters north of the Aleutian Islands on Jan. 28.

The labor shortage hitting the nation is particularly pronounced in Alaska, where the rate of unfilled positions is about twice the national average, according to the state’s labor data. And in the Aleutian community of Unalaska, you can see it playing out with tugboat mariners.