Wrangell Sentinel -

The Sitka assembly has approved a one-time payment of $300 to all residential utility customers, spending more than $1 million of the city’s higher-than-expected sales tax haul this past fiscal year. The ordinance passed on a 5-2 vote on Nov. 14....

More than 63% of Sitka voters cast ballots Oct. 3 to approve a 1% seasonal sales tax increase to provide more funding for school repairs and construction. The ballot measure will raise the sales tax from 5% to 6% from April 1 through Sept. 30,...

Sitka’s municipal clerk has notified resident Larry Edwards that his application to circulate a petition for a ballot initiative to limit cruise ship visitors to Sitka has been turned down. Clerk Sara Peterson notified Edwards that the proposal...

A ballot initiative in Sitka aimed at capping cruise visitators at an interim level of 240,000 starting in 2024 — less than half this summer’s count — may be headed for a special election this winter. “Win or lose, it’s going to get some go...

The Sitka city assembly has given the go-ahead to a plan for building a boat haul-out and shipyard at the Gary Paxton Industrial Park by late 2024. The option calls for a 150-ton boat lift, haul-out piers, washdown pad and an EPA-certified...

The Southeast Alaska summer commercial troll season for coho and chum salmon will open on July 1, but no chinook retention will be allowed, the state Department of Fish and Game announced May 30. The prohibition on troll-caught kings is due to the...

The Sitka-based Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association board voted March 1 to provide up to $75,000 toward legal expenses to help fight a lawsuit that threatens to shut down the Southeast commercial troll fisheries. The 22 members at...

Bills under consideration in the Legislature to cap state spending are not addressing the main challenges Alaska is facing, said Sitka Sen. Bert Stedman, co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee. “We don’t have a spending-side problem; we have a...

After more than 35 years as Sitka’s top spot for a fast-food fix, McDonald’s on Feb. 1 announced that its Sitka restaurant will close this summer. An announcement posted on the bulletin board at the Sitka McDonald’s said the restaurant would...

Sen. Bert Stedman, co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, says Gov. Dunleavy’s proposed $3,800 Permanent Fund dividend in 2023 would mean “starting the year underwater.” “It’s not a prudent way to administer the state’s financial...

Before departing Sitka on a recent cruise stop, The Serenade of the Seas took more than passengers aboard — it took 2,000 pounds of fresh Sitka seafood. It’s the latest development in a collaborative effort that started decades ago among seafood...

A proposal to build a boat haul-out facility in Sitka with the money the city received from selling its community hospital property will be on the Oct. 4 city election ballot. On a 6-0 vote July 26, the assembly gave final approval to an ordinance...

SEARHC is continuing to expand its behavioral health services in Sitka and also to serve residents of other Southeast communities, an official of the health care provider has told the Sitka borough assembly. “I wanted to bring your attention to som...

Repairs to damaged mooring dolphins at the Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal will take longer and cost more than originally expected, now estimated at over $2 million, dock officials said. Until repairs are made, only one ship, not two, can use the dock...

Silver Bay Seafoods, which started in Sitka 15 years ago, has connections that reach more than 5,000 miles across the world to Ukraine, prompting the company to reach out with sizable monetary and food donations to help those affected by Russia’s...

The cruise ship Radiance of the Seas struck a Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal mooring dolphin on May 9 as it was preparing to dock, limiting the facility to one berth instead of two until repairs are completed in a few weeks, terminal manager Chris...

Salvage teams, the U.S. Coast Guard and state Department of Environmental Conservation reported last Thursday that fuel leaks from the grounded tug in Neva Strait 17 miles northwest of Sitka have been stopped. The state agency updated its situation...

The Sitka Sound Science Center and several regional and national partners have received a five-year, $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop natural hazard monitoring and warning systems in tribal communities throughout...

A Sitka businessman indicted more than two years ago on charges that he stole electricity for his multiple properties has pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay restitution to the city utility of almost $150,000, plus interest. Richard A. Forst, 59,...

State Sen. Bert Stedman, who represents Sitka and central and southern Southeast, including Wrangell, is in his 20th year in the Senate, serving much of that time as co-chair of the budget-writing Finance Committee. As lawmakers prepare to resume...

Greater access to COVID-19 home testing kits, changes to the state statistics dashboard, and the arrival of the Omicron variant in Alaska were among the topics covered by Dr. Anne Zink in a report to the Sitka Assembly on Dec. 14. “I know the last...

Sitka-based Alaskan Dream Cruises has entered the rankings of the best small-ship cruise lines in the world, as voted by the readership of a popular travel magazine. Travel+Leisure, with about 4.8 million readers, announced Alaskan Dream Cruises as...

A Coast Guard Air Station Sitka helicopter crew rescued four fishermen from a life raft after their 53-foot boat sank late evening Nov. 10 about 55 miles south of Sitka, 90 miles west of Wrangell. The four were in stable condition after arriving in...