Month: November 2010

Invited business and organization leaders, as well as members of Sitka’s Assembly, gathered over the weekend to discuss Sitka’s economy. The public meeting, called by Mayor Cheryl Westover, was designed to develop ways to improve the city’s economy.

Lissa Schneckenburger grew up in Maine, steeped in the traditional music of New England. While still rooted in the music, Schneckenburger has a contemporary and accessible sound. She'll play fiddle and sing, along with guitarist Bethany Waickman, at the Sitka Performing Arts center 7 PM Sat Nov 13. The pair appeared on Morning Edition with KCAW's Robert Woolsey.

Author John Straley refers to Ray Troll as "the artist laureate of hallucinatory fish imagery" in the introduction to Troll's new book "Something Fishy This Way Comes," a thirty-year retrospective. Troll is will talk about his work tonight (11-12-10) at 7 PM at Kettleson Library. He discussed his life, music, and ratfish with KCAW's Robert Woolsey.

Matthew Shepard will begin a solo 24-hour endurance run at the Sitka Firehall at 6 PM on Veterans Day. Shepard is a member of a group of veterans supporting the American Diabetes Association through Team RUNAmericani. He spoke with KCAW's Robert Woolsey.

These days, an average American twenty-one year old will have sent or received 250,000 emails or text messages. Over half of those same twenty-somethings will have created internet content. Seventy-percent American children will have used a computer by their fourth birthday. These facts, and many others, are featured in a series of internet videos called “Did You Know?” Sitka school superintendent Steve Bradshaw played one of the 8-minute films for the Chamber of Commerce Wednesday. It was an encore presentation of a program he gave to district staff on the first day of school.

The Sitka Assembly has made a decision about who will fill the vacancy left by Cheryl Westover when she was elected mayor. Pete Esquiro was sworn in to office last night after Assembly members held two votes and heard public testimony from 18 people on the matter.

Lawrence “Woody” Widmark has held onto the chairmanship of the Sitka Tribe of Alaska’s tribal council, by three votes. That’s according to unofficial returns from the Sitka Tribe’s annual election, held on Tuesday.

An invasive marine organism that has already blanketed hundreds of square miles of sea floor off the coast of New England has been found in Alaska – in Sitka’s Whiting Harbor. Fish & Game has organized a rapid response team to determine the extent of the infestation Didemnum vexillum in Sitka. Officials held a public meeting Monday night (11-8-10) to share what they’ve learned so far about the organism, and how they hope to contain it.

An established day-tour operator in Sitka is taking over a share of the small ship cruise market in Southeast Alaska. Allen Marine earlier this month announced plans to offer week-long cruises this season aboard two ships owned by Cruise West, which shut down abruptly in September.

The most serious acoustic threat to the ocean’s cetacean populations may be the noise from commercial shipping, rather than the more controversial use of powerful naval sonar. That’s the contention of Dr. Roger Gentry, a former researcher at the National Marine Fisheries Service. Gentry is now a private consultant, and one of eight scientists presenting their work at this year’s Whalefest.