Next month, the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce and Sitka Early Childhood Coalition are hosting a childcare conference to help address the urgent need for affordable childcare in Sitka. The summit will bring stakeholders together to look at sustainable funding strategies to increase access to childcare and strengthen Sitka’s workforce and economy. Participants will learn about the current childcare landscape, discuss funding strategies, and help identify practical next steps for the community. The Sitka Childcare Funding Summit will take place on Aug. 6 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the UAS campus. Kari Sagel joined KCAW on the Morning Interview to discuss the upcoming event, which you can register for here. Listen to the conversation here:

Each year, the Sitka Rotary Club Rotary Club races rubber ducks to raise money for the organization. President Ed McFadden and Shannon Haugland joined KCAW for the Morning Interview on Monday to discuss the annual event, which will take place on Granite Creek on July 18. Listen to the conversation here:

Darren McAvoy, a forestry specialist and professor at Utah State University, joins KCAW to talk about his upcoming kiln biochar demonstration. This process turns wood waste into charcoal that can be used to boost soil quality and reduce how much carbon returns to the atmosphere. McAvoy will host the workshop July 16 on Mt. Edgecumbe High School’s ballfields at 10 a.m. Listen to the conversation here:

Sitka Counseling has an upcoming Narcan pop-up training at AC Lakeside on Saturday, July 11, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., where Sitkans can learn about the opioid overdose reversal medicine. Maddy Moore, prevention coordinator with Sitka Counseling, joined KCAW on the Morning Interview to talk about the organization’s services, the importance of harm reduction tools, and the effectiveness of Naloxone (Narcan). Listen to the conversation here:

High School students at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp will deliver their final performances 7 p.m. Friday, July 10, and Saturday, July 11, at the Sitka Performing Arts Center. Camp faculty member Medar de la Cruz and Executive Director Roger Schmidt joined KCAW for the Morning Interview to share highlights from this week’s programming. Listen here:

Andrew Thoms, executive director of the Sitka Conservation Society, and local artist Rebecca Danon joined KCAW on the Morning Interview to discuss the upcoming comment period on the roadless rule, management of the Tongass National Forest, and an upcoming pop-up show at Harbor Mountan Brewery showcasing Danon’s public lands advocacy artwork. Danon will be selling her art on Friday, July 10, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the brewery, with 20% of proceeds going to SCS. Listen to their conversation here:

Sitkans showed up for the semiquincentennial celebration on Saturday — the 250th birthday of the United States. The annual parade is hosted by the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce, and this year the event saw high turnout.

In recent years, parade participants in Sitka typically line up Lake Street, and march around the roundabout before turning onto Lincoln Street. But with construction underway near Swan Lake, parade goers lined up on the Sheldon Jackson campus and in front of the Sitka Sound Science Center, marching the full length of the downtown thoroughfare.

View a selection of KCAW’s parade photos here :

On July 1, Sitka launched its Tourism Best Management Practices (TBMP) program for the 2026 season. The TBMP is a set of guidelines designed to improve the tourism industry in Sitka, adapted from programs in other Southeast Alaska communities. Businesses can commit to the program’s shared guidelines, and the public can report violations through a hotline. Judson Rusk, the city’s tourism manager, and Victoria Wright, Visit Sitka’s interim contract manager, joined KCAW on the Morning Interview to discuss how the new program aims to establish clear expectations for responsible tourism practices and create a more consistent standard across the industry. Listen to their conversation here:

The Sitka School Board is putting a quarter-of-a-million dollars toward new laptops for Sitka High School students. When the board met on Tuesday (6-30-26), it approved the funding unanimously as a three person board, shortly before appointing its two newest members.

The money comes from an additional $1.4 million the district will receive in one-time state funding which was approved by the legislature and signed by the governor late last month.

The district may also receive a windfall of $631,000 in congressional funding earmarked for technology. It would cover a full tech refresh for Kindergarten through 12th grade. But if the federal funding is approved, Superintendent Deidre Jenson said they won’t be able to spend it until October. She said laptops, which would cost less than half of the total, are more urgently needed.

“Our computers for the high school, they are falling apart. The middle school, we can piece together enough from the leftovers from the high school,” Jenson said. “We have a lot of items to purchase for tech, so I would encourage considering purchasing at least $250,000 worth of materials, so we can get it up and rolling right away in the fall.”

The board discussed its options, and considered holding off until the tech funds are secured, so they can spend from that pot of money.

“I wish we could have a conversation about the priorities overall, and where this money fits in. But I realize that tech is important, and it’s not that much money,” board member Courtney Amundson said. “If it’s critical, I mean, I’m persuasive to it, but otherwise, I just think we’re done here, and we need to punt it to next month.”

Board President Phil Burdick said while he’d support the board if it wanted to spend some more time developing a plan for the funds, he worried that pushing it off could have cascading effects. 

“We pushed off the tech refresh two years ago, and we pushed off the tech refresh this year, this past year,” Burdick said. “We’re getting into this same pattern where we don’t have enough information, we don’t have enough money, we have to push this off, we have to push this off. It’s happened to curriculum in every area, it’s now happening to tech.”

Ultimately, the board agreed to approve $250,000 for high school laptops 3-0, with the money coming from the school district’s general fund.