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Today's top stories

Beach Cleaners

Kristina Tirman, Alaska marine debris manager for the Ocean Conservancy, holding clipboard, talks to youngsters in the

Winter Ferry Schedule Comment Period Open

This coming winter, Sitkans can expect to see one ferry sailing weekly on the Alaska Marine Highway System, the state has announced in the proposed 2025-2026 winter schedule, which is currently open for public review. The ferries Columbia and...
Mikayla Smith, the new technical director for Sitka Rush Soccer Club, coaches young players during a scrimmage.

New Director Named for Youth Soccer Program

Longtime soccer player Mikayla Smith is taking over leadership of Sitka Rush Soccer Club and preparing to open registration for the fall youth soccer season as former director Brock Vowell departs …
The Sitka Fire Department's ladder truck temporarily blocks traffic on Halibut Point Road Saturday after responding to a fire in a workshop shed in Venettis Trailer Court.

Trailer Shed Destroyed But No Injuries In Fire

Fire consumed a steel-sided workshop structure in Venettis trailer court on Saturday evening. No one was injured, and no trailer homes were damaged in the fire, Sitka Fire Department Chief Craig Warren said today.  Emergency responders were...
Using a specially designed inflatable raft, former USFS geologist for the Tongass Jim Baichtal, center, and faculty and students from the University of Buffalo take a core sample from Swan Lake Saturday morning. The work is part of a years-long effort to understand how the area has changed through the millennia. One of the core samples will remain at the Sitka Sound Science Center, a partner in the project. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

Swan Lake Core Samples Used in Glacier Study

A team of researchers based in New York is working to unearth history and chart the geological timeline of the region, and this weekend was back in Sitka to collect a core sample from the bottom of Swan Lake as part of a yearslong effort to...

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Community news
Sitka Businesses Finalists In Prosperity Competition
The Path to Prosperity Business Competition has announced the names of businesses advancing to the second round of its competition. Sitka has two finalists: Sea Fur Sewing, Robert Miller, sells handcrafted fur garments and decor made with ethical...
Dragon Keepers Scavenger Hunt At the Library
Sitka Public Library invites youths of all ages to become dragon keepers and participate in a self-directed scavenger hunt.  The library dragon masters have decided to let all the library baby dragons loose and dragon keepers must find their...
Candidate Filing Set to Open for Local Offices
The candidate filing period for the Oct. 7 municipal election will open 8 a.m. Monday, July 21. Candidate packets can then be picked up at the Municipal Clerk’s Office, 100 Lincoln Street, 3rd floor. The City and Borough of Sitka will hold a...
Tweens, Teens Create Tiny Tins
Tweens and teens are invited to create their own tiny tin library with supplies provided at Sitka Public Library. Once built, they can be kept at home, or on display at the library until Aug. 9. Supplies can be picked up at the circulation desk....
City to Launch Payment System
The city will transition to a new payment system for utility bills paid online or at the utility counter on Aug. 1. The updates include: a new, secure online payment portal that is more user-friendly; and updated card terminals at the utility...
Fiber Friends Meet July 26
Fibers Friends will meet noon-2 p.m. Saturday, July 26, at Sitka Public Library’s Gus Adam’s room. All fiber enthusiasts are welcome including spinners, dyers, knitters and weavers, the group said.
‘Day of Action’ Event in Sitka
Sitkans for Peace and Democracy will join communities around the country noon-1 p.m. Thursday, July 17, at the roundabout for the “Good Trouble Lives On” national day of action to protest attacks on civil and human rights by the Trump...
Community Calendar
July 15-17, 2025
WEDNESDAY 6-8 a.m. MEHS Aquatic Center Pool Open  11-2 Salvation Army Little Store open Noon White Elephant Shop open Noon AA, St. Peter’s basement, call AA hotline 747-8866 for information  12:15 p.m. STA Enrollment Committee ...
Theater Draws Advocate
this is an excerpt By Kat Rhoads (Sitka, AK) On a rainy Saturday afternoon, Lily Perez, 23, sat in a room full of play posters and scattered papers, wearing blue jeans, black converse and a white Daily Sitka Sentinel Shirt. She uncrossed her...
The Big Band Bang
By Clayton Marks (Juneau, AK) Logan Bazzell, 18, currently plays the bass trombone for the Sitka Fine Arts Camp Jazz Band. He started playing the trombone 5 years ago. He then started practicing seriously. Eventually he started actually...

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Police blotter

Police Blotter
July 15, 2025

Police Blotter A man was found sleeping in a bank lobby at 8:09 a.m. He was sent on his way. At 8:11 a.m. a woman at Sea 'n Ski Trailer Court said a bear had broken into a freezer on her porch during the night and eaten some of the...

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Obituaries
 Service Set July 25 For Morris "Buzz" Brown Jr.
Morris Otto Brown, Jr. affectionately known as Buzz, passed away on May 12th, 2025, surrounded by love.  He was 77 years old. A lifelong Sitkan, Buzz was a man whose presence touched many.  Known for his steady kindness, his willingness...
Kay McCarthy Dies at 82; Services to Be On Monday
Kay Corliss McCarthy (Howe), a beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed away in Palm Springs, California, on July 1st at the age of 82. Born June 20, 1943, in Hettinger, North Dakota, to Otto and Leona Howe, Kay was the youngest...
Barbara Ann Rands Hames
Barbara Rands Hames Dies at 95
Barbara Ann Rands Hames, beloved Mother, Grandmother,...
Sheila Dianne Lawson Dies; 43-Year Resident Was 78
The following information was submitted to the obituary form on the website: deceased name: Sheila Dianne Lawson obituary: In Loving Memory of Sheila Dianne Lawson 1946 – 2025 Sheila Dianne Lawson, a beloved mother, grandmother, and friend,...

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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...

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Sitka Yesterday
July 15, 2025

20 YEARS AGO

July 2005

Mariska Rivera Cirera has graduated cum laude from Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore., with a bachelor of science degree in microbiology with a minor in chemistry. The 2001 Sitka High graduate is the daughter of Myrna and Felix Cirera of Sitka.

50 YEARS AGO

July 1975

An apparent low bid of $593,000 was offered for construction of Sitka Community College’s first building, which is to be a one-story, wood frame structure to be built on land purchased from Sheldon Jackson College. It will be next to the new Alaska State Public Safety Academy on Sawmill Creek Road. (Editor’s note: the Alaska Raptor Center is now on the site, and Sitka Community College is now UAS-Sitka Campus on Japonski Island.)

Read previous Sitka Yesterdays

Around Alaska

Dems are ‘salivating’ over a Peltola bid for Senate, but Alaska governor race could be ‘wide open’

Democrat Mary Peltola, who was Alaska’s sole member of the U.S. House, lost her reelection bid last year. But her margin of defeat of less than 3 percentage points, in a state that Donald Trump won by double-digits, showed that Peltola remains a formidable candidate. And that means “every national Democrat is salivating” at the […]

Why are we so obsessed with bringing back the woolly mammoth?

Rebecca Woods, University of Toronto In just the last several months, de-extinction — bringing back extinct species by recreating them or organisms that resemble them — has moved closer from science fiction to science fact. Colossal Biosciences — an American for-profit de-extinction startup headed by geneticists George Church and Beth Shapiro — announced two major […]

Elon Musk says he’ll launch the ‘America Party.’ Can he get candidates on the ballot?

Elon Musk’s announcement that he plans to form a new political party came easily, with the billionaire simply posting his intentions on his social media platform, X. Now comes the hard part. If the world’s richest man seriously pursues his goal of standing up what he calls the America Party, Musk will have to navigate […]

Toxin that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning blamed for Alaska seal deaths

For the first time, scientists have made a definite link between the toxin produced by algae that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning and marine mammal deaths. Fur seals found dead last August on Alaska’s St. Paul Island had significant levels of saxitoxin in their bodies, as did several of the dead fish around them. It was […]

In court filing, Trump administration hints at a lifeline for embattled Pebble project

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took a rare step under former President Joe Biden to block development of the Pebble mine — Alaska’s largest known copper and gold deposit, which for years has fueled controversy over its potential impacts on one of the world’s largest salmon runs. Now, under President Donald Trump, the agency is giving […]

As Coast Guard receives billions in new Arctic funding, Alaska region gets new commander and name

Last week, President Donald Trump signed a budget bill with almost $25 billion for new Coast Guard construction, including almost $9 billion for new icebreakers and $300 million for new Coast Guard facilities in Juneau. On Friday, Rear Adm. Bob Little, the new commander of the Coast Guard in Alaska, said it remains to be […]

Health care takes big toll on cost of living in Alaska’s cities, report shows

Alaska’s three biggest cities have the highest health care costs among the nation’s urban areas, with costs that are about 50% higher than the U.S. urban average, a state analysis shows. The findings, part of a broader analysis of Alaska’s cost of living that was released by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, […]

Floods are swallowing their village. But for them and others, the EPA has cut the lifeline.

This story was originally published by Floodlight. Acre by acre, the village of Kipnuk is falling into the river. The small Alaskan tribal village sits on permafrost, which is thawing fast as global temperatures rise. That’s left the banks of the Kugkaktlik River unstable — and more likely to collapse when floods hit, as they […]

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From the Associated Press
National news
FILE - California National Guard are positioned at the Federal Building, June 10, 2025, in downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)

Pentagon ends deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles

The Trump administration said Tuesday it is ending the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced the decision in a statement. Roughly …
FILE - White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz listens to a question from a reporter in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

The Latest: Mike Waltz faces questions at Senate hearing for new UN job

President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is facing questioning from lawmakers for the first time since he was ousted as national security adviser. Mike Waltz was …
Hossam Azzam holds the body of his child, Amir, who was killed in an Israeli military airstrike on Gaza, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 93 Palestinians, including several families, health officials say

Gaza health officials say Israeli strikes overnight and into Tuesday killed more than 90 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, including several families. One strike in the northern Shati refugee camp …
Democrat Peter Hubbard Sean Waites speaks at a candidate forum for the Georgia Public Service Commission runoff in Fayetteville, Ga., on Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)

Peter Hubbard leads Keisha Waites in Democratic runoff for Georgia Public Service Commission

Peter Hubbard leads Keisha Waites in early returns for the Democratic runoff for Georgia's Public Service Commission. The commission oversees utilities including Georgia Power. The runoff was …
International
Mott Sreymom, 34, a rat handler with the humanitarian demining organization APOPO, carries an African giant pouched rat back from a landmine field in Siem Reap, Cambodia, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Anton L. Delgado)

Photos of the giant rats leading land mine detection efforts in Cambodia

SIEM REAP, Cambodia (AP) — Rats may send some squealing, but in Cambodia, teams of the not-so-little critters have become indispensable in helping specialists detect land mines that have killed and …
A screengrab made from the livestream of Thailand's Central Investigation Bureau holding a press conference in Bangkok, on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, about the arrest of a woman involved in a sex scandal that caused several senior monks to leave monk-hood. (Central Investigation Bureau via AP)

Thai police arrest woman who allegedly seduced and blackmailed Buddhist monks

Police in Thailand have arrested a woman who allegedly enticed a string of Buddhist monks into sexual relationships and then pressured them into making large payments to cover up their intimacy. The …
FILE - Diana, Princess of Wales, left, uses a remote switch to trigger the detonation of some explosive ordinance dug up by mine sweepers in Huambo, central Angola, Jan. 15, 1997. (AP Photo/Giovanni Diffidenti, File)

Prince Harry is in Angola to raise awareness for land mine clearing, repeating Diana's 1997 trip

Prince Harry is visiting the African nation of Angola with a land mine clearing charity, repeating a famous trip his mother made in 1997. Harry, the Duke of Sussex, met with Angolan President João …
A woman searches through a dumpster looking for useful items, in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Luis Baños)

Cuban minister faces backlash for saying there are no beggars in Cuba

Cuba’s Labor Minister Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera faces backlash after controversial comments she made about poverty in the island nation. Speaking Monday, she claimed there are no beggars in Cuba, …
National Sports
Seattle Mariners' Cal Raleigh arrives on the red carpet for the MLB baseball All-Star game, Tuesday, July 15, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Cal Raleigh successful on first All-Star robot umpire challenge, a day after winning Home Run Derby

Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh successfully used the robot umpire to gain a strikeout for pitcher Tarik Skubal in the first inning of the All-Star Game. He changed an 0-2 pitch to a strike on San …

FILE - The national office of the NCAA in Indianapolis is shown on March 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

They pulled off huge March Madness upsets. Now they're opting out of revenue sharing

Saint Peter’s, Fairleigh Dickinson and Maryland-Baltimore County. You might remember those three schools from their March Madness upsets in recent years. Now they've declined to opt in to college …
Indiana Fever's Caitlin Clark (22) shoots over Atlanta Dream's Rhyne Howard (10) during the second half of a WNBA basketball game, Friday, July 11, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)

Caitlin Clark, Sabrina Ionescu and Allisha Gray headline WNBA All-Star 3-point contest

Caitlin Clark will be in a 3-point contest for the first time in her pro career as the Indiana Fever guard will compete Friday night in the WNBA All-Star competition. She’ll be joined by contest …
Entertainment
Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., talks after a policy luncheon on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Republicans are considering changes to Trump's request for $9.4 billion in spending cuts

Senate Republicans are exploring changes to President Donald Trump’s request to cancel $9.4 billion in previously approved spending targeted by DOGE. The negotiations signal potential difficulties …

The Emmy nominations are here. 'Severance,' 'The White Lotus' and 'Adolescence' could have a big day

The Emmy nominations are nearly here, and “Severance” seems to be the show to beat. The Apple TV+ split-personality series is very likely to get nominations for best drama with lead acting …
FILE - The stage at the "American Idol" farewell season finale at the Dolby Theatre on Thursday, April 7, 2016, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP, File)

'American Idol' music supervisor and husband both found dead at LA home

An “American Idol” music supervisor and her husband have been found dead in their Los Angeles home. Officers were conducting a welfare check Monday afternoon at a home in the Encino neighborhood …
Health
FILE - Medical bills are seen in Temple Hills, Md., on June 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Federal judge reverses rule that would have removed medical debt from credit reports

A federal judge in Texas removed a Biden-era finalized ruled by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that would have removed medical debt from credit reports.U.S. District Court Judge Sean Jordan …

A Massachusetts assisted-living center where nine residents died in a fire was cited for failing to immediately report more than two dozen health and safety incidents.

Massachusetts assisted-living blaze kills a musician, secretary, and veteran Army sharpshooter

A blaze at a Massachusetts assisted-living home Sunday killed a musician, a secretary, a veteran Army sharpshooter and six other people. Some in her family say Gabriel House wasn't luxurious. But …
Boards cover the windows of the Gabriel House assisted living facility, where a fire on Sunday killed several people, Tuesday, July 15, 2025 in Fall River, Mass. (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)

Assisted-living home cited for late reports of safety incidents years before fatal fire

A Massachusetts assisted-living center where nine residents died in a fire was cited for failing to immediately report more than two dozen health and safety incidents. That's according to …
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