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Sitkan Takes Up Challenge of Native Food Only

Kaa,laa Mary Goddard harvests blue huckleberries near her house in the 4600 block of Halibut Point Road today. Goddard is 26 days into an effort to spend 90 days eating only customary and traditional Native foods, most of which she has harvested, processed and prepared.

The abundance of wild food in Southeast Alaska has long inspired Kaa,laa Mary Goddard, who is now spending 90 days filling up only on customary and traditional Native foods, most of which she has harvested, processed and prepared. Today...

Troller Signup Opens For No-Compete Fishery

Commercial salmon trollers must register by noon on Aug. 1 to participate in a non-competitive chinook fishery that will open for ten days in early August in place of a competitive August opening, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game...

Officers Put Sights On Bears In Town

A Sitka Police Department officer shot a bear cub near the city shops on Jarvis Street at about 2 a.m. today, as authorities are working to dispatch a group of bears that has been frequenting neighborhoods near Indian River. "We’ve determined...

Katherine Rose, public radio station KCAW-FM news director, left, talks shop with Mariana Robertson, KCAW general manager, in the radio station newsroom at 2 Lincoln Street today. The decision by Congress to cut $9 billion from funding for public broadcasting and foreign aid will mean a loss of $178,000 in previously approved federal support for Sitka’s community radio station.

Public Radio Group Responding to Crisis

The decision by Congress to cut $9 billion from funding for public broadcasting and foreign aid will mean a loss of $178,595 for each of the next two years in previously approved federal support for Sitka’s community radio station, KCAW-FM (Raven...

Assembly Looks at Capital Priorities

The Assembly in a work session Thursday evening discussed city capital projects and whether there are ways to move the upgrade of Lincoln Street to a higher priority. Five of the seven Assembly members attended, and since it was a work session,...

Most read stories

Thomas Williamson Dies; Sitka Resident Since 1976

Officers Put Sights On Bears In Town

Kent Winship Dies at 64; Alaskan for Many Years

Memorial to be Held Thursday For Richard D. Temple, Age 74

Repeat Offender Says He’s Mending His Ways

Services to be July 19 For Katherine Anderson, 88

Public Radio Group Responding to Crisis

Author to Read from Book On Ricketts, Sitka Voyage

California essayist and poet Jerry Martien will visit in Sitka in late July to read from his new book, "Waveshock: Ed Ricketts, the Voyage of the Grampus, and Our Biopoetic Future" (Empty Bowl Press, 2025). The free reading will be held at Yaw...

Inupiaq Crossbow, Spears On Display at SJ Museum

An Inupiaq miniature crossbow, with two miniature spears, is the July Artifact of the month at Sheldon Jackson Museum. Exhibit SJ-II-E-76 was collected by Sheldon Jackson from King Island – ‘‘Ugiuvak’’ in the Iñupiaq language – in 1893 and was...

Unitarians Present Stories about Ravens

David Kanosh will present stories about ravens at Sunday’s Sitka Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship program. Coffee begins at 10:30 a.m., with service starting at 10:45 a.m. Bread and soup will follow at noon. All are invited to...

Lutherans Welcome Texas Volunteers

LaVerne Reid and Loretta Hawley are volunteering this month at Sitka Lutheran Church. Reid, a retired veteran FAA executive, has served Sitka Lutheran many times. ‘‘She brings the joy of a deep faith in the Gospel and a special gift for...

Armchair Travels Series to Begin

The public is invited to hear Mike Morris and Gary Bagley talk about 40 years of paddling trips on the Yukon River 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 21, at Sitka Public Library in the multipurpose room. The event is part of the library’s Armchair Travel...

Services Set for Buzz Brown

Services for Morris Otto ‘‘Buzz’’ Brown Jr. will be held 11 a.m. Friday, July 25, at the Sitka National Cemetery. A reception will follow at the Sitka Fire Department. Buzz passed away on May 12, 2025, surrounded by love. He was 77...

Life Celebration For Katherine Anderson

A celebration of the life of Ouulukluk, Katherine Walunga Anderson, 88, will be 2 p.m. Saturday, July 19, at the Sitka United Methodist Church, 303 Kimsham Street. She passed away in Sitka on July 6. In lieu of flowers, Katherine would be...

Community Calendar
July 18-21, 2025

FRIDAY 5:30 p.m. STA Zumba, Blatchley school 5:30 p.m. NA Meeting, St. Peter’s Church basement 6 p.m. Beekeepers beehive products workshop, Blatchley Middle School, 907-738-9047 6 p.m. Trail Running Filmfest, cruise terminal theater,...

Climate Connection: Climate Challenges of Agriculture

The federal administration is trying to kill the cheapest green energy solutions necessary to slow global warming from greenhouse gas emissions. But agricultural solutions for reducing emissions have hardly begun, so can’t be destroyed....

Shirley (Kiparalria) Hootch. (Photo provided)

Yup’ik Jeweler To Display Artistry at SJ Museum

The second artist in the summer’s Alaska Native Artist Residency Program, Shirley (Kiparalria) Hootch, will be at the Sheldon Jackson Museum through Aug. 3. She is a Yup’ik jeweler from Emmonak, a village in Western Alaska. While in...

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Police blotter

Police Blotter
July 18, 2025

Sitka Police Department logged the following calls Thursday. July 17 At 2:08 a.m. an argument was reported in a parking lot of an HPR trailer court. Police found no one in the area. A problem with a disgruntled employee was reported at a...

Read previous police reports

Obituaries

Military Service Were Held For Jimmy Don Nicodemus

Jimmy Don Nicodemus, age 75, passed away in Denton, Texas, October 19, 2024, after a courageous battle with esophageal cancer. Jim was born at Perrin AFB, Texas, to Donald Lee and Billie Jean Nicodemus on March 6, 1949. His birthday was his...

Kent Winship Dies at 64; Alaskan for Many Years

Kent Steven "Dogger" Winship passed away on June 27, 2025, in Independence, Missouri. He was 64. Born May 30, 1961, to Myron W. and Sharon F. Winship in La Chapelle Saint Mesmin, Loiret, France, Kent sought adventure in every aspect of life. He...

Thomas Williamson Dies; Sitka Resident Since 1976

Thomas Williamson, a resident of both Sitka and Sequim, Washington, died June 30 in Washington. Tom was born in 1954 in Ketchikan, the son of Tom and Paula Williamson. He grew up living and working at his parents' logging camp, and loved the...

Services to be July 19 For Katherine Anderson, 88

Katherine Walunga Anderson Ouulukluk, Katherine Walunga Anderson, beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed away in Sitka on July 6th. Katherine was born on November 10, 1936, in Gambell, Alaska, on St. Lawrence Island, to John...

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Sports

Mullin Earns National Sports Accolade

Sitka seniors Clare Mullin, right, and Marina Dill lead the pack in the girls 1600 meters during the 2025 ASAA/First Bank Alaska State Track & Field Championships in May in Anchorage. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)

For the second consecutive year, Sitka High running ace Clare Mullin has been named Gatorade Player of the Year in recognition of her athletic, academic and community achievements. Mullin has won numerous long distance track races at state...

More than 100 runners start the Medvejie Solstice Run Saturday at Herring Cove.

Medvejie Race Draws Out-of-Town Runners

More than a hundred runners made their way across Green Lake Road on Saturday’s 18th annual Medvejie Solstice Run, a fundraiser for Sitka High School’s track and cross country programs. KK Prussian, a co-organizer of the run, said she met at...

Sitka Yesterday
July 17, 2025

20 YEARS AGO

July 2005

The Sawmill Cove Industrial Park Board has recommended to the Assembly that the city sell 13.74 acres of land at the park to a Florida entrepreneur if he meets a set of conditions. Wendell B. Adams of Sarasota, Fla., wants to buy the water bottling business that True Alaska Bottling Co. operates at the park.

50 YEARS AGO

July 1975

In Court: William Stelzenmuller for leaving keys in unattended vehicle forfeited $20. Greg Gouker, failure to have registered plates, forfeited $20. Phillip Speigle, Dennis Hicks and Bruce Dennis forfeited $10 each for no city sticker.

Read previous Sitka Yesterdays

Governor vetoes bill intended to provide emergency health care to Alaska police dogs

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has vetoed a bill that would allow paramedics and other licensed emergency responders to provide treatment to injured police and rescue dogs. Current state law permits non-licensed people to treat injured “operational canines,” but licensed providers are forbidden from helping because doing so would be considered veterinary medicine and a violation of […]

Alaska Rep. Nick Begich again votes to strip funding from public broadcasters

The U.S. House of Representatives voted overnight Thursday to strip more than $1.1 billion in previously budgeted money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, putting the future of many of Alaska’s small public radio stations in doubt. Among the congressional Republicans voting for the cut was Alaska Rep. Nick Begich III. The 216-213 vote means […]

New Alaska law establishes quick deadlines for insurers’ decisions on medical care

Health insurers must provide speedier responses to prior authorization requests for certain medical treatments and services, under a bill that went into law on Monday without Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s signature. The measure, Senate Bill 133, requires insurers to notify patients within 72 hours whether the requested services are authorized in cases when requests are sent […]

This photo provided by Kanesia McGlashan-Price shows Lauren Adams, general manager of public radio station KUCB in Unalaska, Alaska, in the broadcast studio Thursday, July 17, 2025. (Kanesia McGlashan-Price via AP)

Searching for pennies: With the cut in federal funding public broadcasters are looking to cope

In Alaska, a public radio station general manager took a moment from a busy day warning her community about a possible tsunami for a special task — sending a text message to Sen. Lisa Murkowski …

Alaska US senators split votes on cuts to public broadcasting, foreign aid

Alaska’s two U.S. senators voted differently on a bill requested by President Donald Trump to block federal funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting. The cuts include $1.1 billion for public broadcasting over two years, with more than $20 million in funding for Alaska’s 27 public radio and television stations. The measure is known as […]

Tracking Medicaid patients’ work status may prove difficult for states

States must begin verifying millions of Medicaid enrollees’ monthly work status by the end of next year — a task some critics say states will have a hard time carrying out. A provision in the tax and spending bill President Donald Trump signed into law July 4 will require the 40 states plus Washington, D.C., […]

Sitkan Takes Up Challenge of Native Food Only

Troller Signup Opens For No-Compete Fishery

Officers Put Sights On Bears In Town

Public Radio Group Responding to Crisis

Assembly Looks at Capital Priorities

Police Blotter
July 18, 2025

Mullin Earns National Sports Accolade

Medvejie Race Draws Out-of-Town Runners

Sitka Yesterday
July 17, 2025

Governor vetoes bill intended to provide emergency health care to Alaska police dogs

Alaska Rep. Nick Begich again votes to strip funding from public broadcasters

New Alaska law establishes quick deadlines for insurers’ decisions on medical care

Searching for pennies: With the cut in federal funding public broadcasters are looking to cope

Alaska US senators split votes on cuts to public broadcasting, foreign aid

Tracking Medicaid patients’ work status may prove difficult for states

Alaska is the most earthquake-prone state. Here is why Wednesday's earthquake was notable

Alaska K-3 students improve in reading, state assessment shows

Catholic and Greek Orthodox leaders enter Gaza in rare solidarity visit after Israel's church strike

Man dies after large chain necklace pulls him into MRI machine

Russia pounds Ukraine with over 300 drones, killing 1 in Odesa

Florida Rep. Joe Casello dies while in office

Tourist boat capsizes during a thunderstorm in Vietnam, leaving 34 dead. 8 people remain missing

Syria's interim president urges Bedouin tribes to commit to ceasefire ending clashes with the Druze

Over 30 Palestinians killed trying to reach US group's food distribution sites, Gaza authorities say

Venezuela releases 10 jailed Americans in deal that frees migrants deported to El Salvador by US

The Chicago Sky's new social media protection: How it works and how it came to be

UK government backs London bid to host the 2029 athletics world championships

De Bruyne will rely on Belgium teammate Lukaku for more than just goals at Napoli

What does one do on their last day as a ballerina? Gillian Murphy will jump off a cliff (gracefully)

Lawyer argues Call of Duty maker can't be held responsible for actions of Uvalde, Texas, shooter

Trump files lawsuit against Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch over reporting on Epstein ties

Olympic tennis champ Zheng says elbow surgery 'successful'

Gene therapy maker Sarepta tells FDA it won't halt shipments despite patient deaths

3 Democrat-led states have rolled back Medicaid access for people lacking permanent legal status