Lauren Rosenthal, APRN Contributor

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Unalaska Residents Find Good Black Friday Deals

More shoppers than ever before attended Black Friday sales this year – but not in Unalaska, where there are no big box stores or shopping malls. Still, residents managed to find great deals the morning after Thanksgiving.

OSHA Hands Out $55,000 In Fines For Ammonia Spill

It’s been four months since an ammonia spill on a processing vessel shut down parts of Unalaska. Now, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has wrapped up their investigation into the accident.

Unalaska Tests Emergency Towing System Ahead of Shipping Boom

The Aleutian Chain already gets a serious amount of vessel traffic, and the shipping route is set to get a lot busier as the Arctic warms up and as Canada prepares to increase oil exports to Asia.

False Pass Experimenting With Hydro Power

The tiny Aleutian village of False Pass is about to become a lab for cutting-edge renewable energy. If the experiment works, False Pass will be the first town in the country to be powered by ocean currents.

Sand Point Quarry Clean Up Project Winding Down

For the past five years, Sand Point has been quietly cleaning up a toxic spill at its old quarry. Now, that project is finally winding down.

Coast Guard Performs Medevac from Shell Drill Ship

The Coast Guard medevaced a crew member from Shell’s Noble Discoverer drill ship in the Norton Sound Wednesday morning. The Noble Discoverer was about 70 miles off the coast of Nome when they called the Coast Guard for help around 4 a.m.

Second Shell Drill Ship Leaves Unalaska for the Arctic

After weeks of delays and public mishaps, Shell is making some progress on its Arctic drilling expedition — and they’re asking the federal government to meet them halfway.

Man Dies on Coast Guard Medevac to Unalaska

A 39-year-old man died last Thursday of natural causes on a Coast Guard medevac bound for Unalaska. Riche J. Tonato, from the Philippines, was the head cook on the cargo ship Matsura. That vessel had recently left Canada, and was on its way to Nagasaki, Japan.

NIOSH Takes Alaska Lessons to East Coast Fishermen

When NIOSH started investigating injuries to Alaskan seiners a few years ago, they found a common theme. Researchers were able to trace countless instances of crushing, amputation, and drowning back to getting tangled up in the net.

Shell Drill Rig Departs For Arctic

As promised, one of Shell Oil’s drill rigs left Unalaska Monday and is now bound for the Arctic. The Kulluk drill ship departed early Monday afternoon, along with two of Shell’s tugboats, the Guardsman and the Warrior. Alaska marine pilot Richard Entenmann navigated the Kulluk, and he says the crew seemed happy to be heading north.

Izembek Road Proposal Garners 72,000 Comments

For years, King Cove residents have clashed with environmental activists over their plan to build a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. Locals say it could save lives by making medevacs easier, but activists argue that it would ruin ecosystems.

Coast Guard Monitors Possible Pirate Vessel

A year after the Coast Guard seized the stateless fishing vessel Bangun Perkasa and brought it back to Unalaska, the agency is in pursuit of another suspected pirate vessel.

Bigger Bills Loom in Medevac Dispute

A complex legal battle has been brewing between a popular medevac insurance provider and the state’s largest medevac company for the past year. While Guardian Flight won’t talk about the case, the insurer, Apollo MT, says it can’t afford to keep quiet.

Greenpeace Back in Unalaska

Greenpeace’s research vessel Esperanza pulled back into Unalaska this weekend. According to spokesman Joe Smyth, they’re here to resupply and switch out crew members.

State Starts 10-Year Review of Community Development Quota Groups

The community development quota groups, or CDQ groups, were created in 1992 to bring impoverished Western Alaska communities into the lucrative Bering Sea fisheries. Today, the six nonprofit corporations split roughly ten percent of various fish quotas and collectively own more than $700 million in assets.

Greenpeace Impersonates Shell To Protest Arctic Drilling

When Shell secured a court order to keep Greenpeace from protesting near its Arctic drilling expedition, the environmental group decided to strike back — by pretending to be Shell.

Coast Guard, Shell Inspect Rig for Signs of Grounding

Investigators are trying to determine whether Shell’s drill ship, the Noble Discoverer, ran aground in Unalaska on Saturday. Bystanders and photographs place the rig less than a hundred feet from shore. But Shell says a preliminary inspection of the hull found no damage.

Fishing Vessel Leaking Ammonia Moved to Wide Bay

After two days of unsuccessful efforts to stop an ammonia leak from the factory-processor Excellence, the ship was safely towed to Wide Bay Saturday night. The Excellence’s captain first reported the leak to local authorities on Friday afternoon. All 129 crewmembers were evacuated from the vessel, along with the crew of a neighboring boat.