Local News

Unalaska police are investigating a fatal heroin overdose that killed a 26-year-old fisherman last month.

Interim Police Chief John Lucking said Per Nyhammer, of Bothell, Washington, was found unresponsive in a room at the Grand Aleutian Hotel on Oct. 16.

"We lost a young man who was a fisherman and a long-term person in the community who'd come in and out," said Lucking. "Facts and circumstances seem to indicate that this might have been an overdose from a self-induced drug consumption."

A U.S. Coast Guardsman accused of murdering his shipmate has been released from custody as he awaits his next hearing.

Seaman Ethan Tucker, 21, was released Monday from a military prison in San Diego, where he's been confined since late August. He's charged with seven violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for killing Seaman Ethan Kelch, 19, during a night of heavy drinking in Unalaska last winter.

The City of Unalaska has begun installing new utility readers at local homes.

The roughly $400,000 system upgrade will allow the Department of Public Utilities to monitor electricity consumption without visiting customers' houses.

The automatic meters will also improve the billing process, according to Public Utilities Director Dan Winters.

Updated 11/18/19 at 1 p.m.

After weeks of confusion over the validity of tickets, Alaska Airlines has canceled all existing flight reservations to and from Unalaska through May 31, 2020. 

In a statement released Friday afternoon, the airline said it's automatically rebooking current ticket-holders through RavnAir Group, but any new reservations will have to go directly through Ravn.