EASTERN ALEUTIANS

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.

Alaska’s coastal communities face pronounced threats as climate change creates new hurdles around the globe.The Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska hosted an event in early November, designed to help local, regional, statewide and national partners share knowledge about how to face those challenges.The event was mainly virtual, but there were also group gatherings in Unalaska, Akutan and Sand Point. Around a dozen people attended the in-person event at the Grand Aleutian Hotel in Unalaska.

Hurricane-level winds slammed the Aleutian Islands Thursday night, ripping off roofs and tearing boats from their docks.In Unalaska, the region’s largest city, the National Weather Service recorded wind gusts of up to 132 mph.

Three volcanoes are currently erupting across the Aleutian Range — Great Sitkin and Semisopochnoi in the Aleutian Islands, and Pavlof Volcano on the…

Eastern Aleutian Tribes reported seven new COVID-19 infections in Sand Point on Thursday. That brings the total to 17 new cases reported in the Eastern…

Despite difficulties with getting access to COVID-19 vaccines earlier in the year, roughly 1,800 people in Unalaska were vaccinated at a mass vaccination…