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The Unalaska City Council still hasn't decided whether to increase utility rates. That's despite several meetings and many hours of discussion and presentations on the challenges of rising costs and the question over who should pay.

State health officials have asked Alaska vaccine providers to follow federal recommendations to pause use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines due to a clotting risk. More than 7 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been administered across the U.S., but a handful of women have gotten a blood clot afterward, prompting the pause.

A fuel ration on the Pribilof Island of St. Paul ended Tuesday after more than a month and a half of limiting fuel for both residents and fishermen.

The Bering Sea community announced the ration in late February after bad weather repeatedly canceled the arrival of a fuel barge. 

The North Pacific Fuel barge finally arrived at the dock on Tuesday, according to City Manager Phil Zavadil. The city had been waiting on its arrival since November of last year. 

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 clinic on Thursday. 

Eastern Aleutian Tribes (EAT) partnered with the local Iliuliuk Family and Health Services (IFHS) clinic to provide vaccines for anyone on the island, 16 and older.

The COVID-19 pandemic has already disrupted Alaska's winter Bering Sea fishing seasons, closing plants and adding quarantine-related complications for crews.

Now, some boats are contending with a shortage of fuel at a key island port, leaving them with less time to catch their quota.