EASTERN ALEUTIANS

Mount Shishaldin in the eastern Aleutians is erupting, marking the latest event in a summer of increased activity at the volcano.

King Cove often makes headlines for its long-fought battle over a proposed road that would connect it to the all-weather airport in Cold Bay. The remote Aleutian community says the road is key to saving lives because medevacs have a hard time landing on the small, gravel airstrip. With such limited healthcare, it’s a big deal when the community gets new medical equipment. And when they get something big, like the new ambulance that arrived in August, that can be cause for celebration.

Two ash eruptions from Shishaldin Volcano disrupted air travel to the Aleutians Tuesday.

Shishaldin volcano, which has been erupting for days, sent an ash cloud 40,000 feet into the air above Unimak Island early Friday morning.

A volcano on Unimak Island in the Eastern Aleutians is on watch for an eruption — Shishaldin is spewing lava at its summit, but the real threat is if it starts to emit ash.

Millions of homeowners skipped mortgage payments during the pandemic, as people lost jobs and reevaluated their finances. In response, the U.S. Department of Treasury issued millions of dollars to states, tribes and U.S. territories to help prevent payment defaults and utility shutoffs. Now, the Aleutian Housing Authority is giving more than $2 million to homeowners in the Aleutian and Pribilof region through the Department of Treasury’s Homeowner Assistance Fund.

Four people were on board F/V Pacific Sounder when she got stuck on the western shore of Unimak Island — between Unalaska and the Alaska Peninsula — on the morning of June 17. The Pacific Sounder hailed a MAYDAY call at 10:43 Friday morning but the crew waited three hours before they were rescued. Eventually, the Good Samaritan boat, the Polar Sea, arrived and found the crew unharmed.

Sand Point upgraded its travel lift at the Robert E. Galovin Small Boat Harbor. Also known as a boat gantry crane, the travel lift hoists boats out of the water for repairs or storage. Jordan Keeler is the city administrator for the Eastern Aleutians community. He said the former travel lift was about 40 years old and needed to be replaced.

The M/V Kennicott will replace the Tustumena on some of its summer sailings, but the Aleutians are going to take a big hit. Passengers on the May ferry can still ride, but the replacement ship is too large to dock at Akutan and False Pass. That means there will be no ferry service to those communities until the Tustumena is repaired in July, and the June sailing has been cancelled altogether.

There are more Indigenous people living in Alaska than anywhere else in the United States. But Alaska Native students are vastly underrepresented on college campuses. And when it comes to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math — fields that are especially dominated by white men — Alaska Native students face even greater barriers to entry. Dr. Michele Yatchmeneff wants to change that.