Police Chief Mike Hall stepped into Sitka Police Department’s top job earlier this month. He joined KCAW for the Morning Interview to on March 19, along with Municipal Administrator John Leach, discuss his background and goals for the future of SPD. Listen to the conversation here:

Sitkans felt the earth move on Saturday when an earthquake hit west of the community shortly before 1 p.m. The Alaska Earthquake Center reported that the Magnitude 4 quake hit at 12:45 p.m. 36 miles west of Sitka, at a depth of just over 1 mile.

There is no tsunami danger associated with the quake.

“It wasn’t big enough for us to send out our ‘no threat’ message,” said Kim Hutchinson with the U.S Tsunami Warning Center. “When we talk about Alaska, we’ll send out messages from 4.0 Magnitude and higher, but don’t start worrying about any tsunami danger until we start getting into 6.9-7.1 range.”

Find more information on the quake here.

Editor’s note: This is a developing story and may be updated.

Sitka Tribe of Alaska is raising money to purchase food and grocery gift cards for furloughed federal employees and those who rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. To donate or learn more visit: http://bit.ly/4oEYiD2

Sitka Tribe of Alaska on Saturday, November 1, will host a “Fill the Buses Food Drive” from 10am-5pm. Buses will be parked in front of every grocery store in Sitka to accept food donations.

Sitka Food Co-op would like to extend a discount on Tuesday’s (10-28-25) delivery and retail shopping for government employees that have been personally affected by the government shutdown.  If you are interested in receiving this discount, please respond to our email at sitkafoodcoop@gmail.com so that we can make changes accordingly.

Sitkans are collecting and updating information about resources for furloughed workers on the Sitka Supports our Federal Workers facebook group.

See a resource missing from this list? Email news@kcaw.org and we’ll add it!

Because I believe accurate information is necessary for good decision making, I must push back on a statement made by Chris McGraw on KCAW’s call in-forum for Ballot Initiative 2. From the transcript:

Chris McGraw: “The concept of having what I would call a fiscal note on a citizens initiative … isn’t something that is new. Numerous states require this on state initiatives, and it’s for the purpose of voters understanding what the impact is that they’re voting on.”

Katherine Rose: “So there’s precedent for this in other places?”

Chris McGraw: “There is precedent for this in other places.”

Mr. McGraw is correct that there are 18 states that require a fiscal impact statement, but for statewide initiatives only, – NOT at the municipal level.

But more importantly, completely left out of the narrative, is that in all 18 states the impact statement is prepared by an entity of the government AFTER receiving the initiative petition. The analysis that is provided BY THE GOVERNMENT is then included as part of the initiative petition. NOWHERE is a petitioner required to hire a professional financial analyst and pay for a very extensive impact study at any point in the process! (Google it – Sitka is the only example that comes up). For further information see: https://ballotpedia.org/Fiscal_impact_statement

So, the accurate answer to Ms. Rose’s question on precedent is: “NO. There is no precedent for Proposition 2.” My question for study would be: What is the impact on Democracy when onerous financial costs are levied in order for citizens to be engaged in the shaping of their government? Please vote NO on Prop 2.

Donna Donohoe

I’m writing this from the kitchen table at the Cable House, with rare and treasured autumn sunlight pouring across the room. I can hear News Resident Ryan Cotter on the phone, wrapping up an interview that you’re sure to hear on Raven news tonight at 5:18pm. Alaska Public Media’s Line One Health Connection is on the radio, and Judy just arrived and is getting ready to bring you the best in folk music on Fiddlesticks.

It all feels and sounds very much like business as usual. But today, October 1, 2025, marks the first official day without federal funding for public media – including KCAW. When Congress rescinded federal funding, Raven Radio lost $178,595 this year and next. But you stepped up. Even before the rescission passed, donations began to pour in. New members joined, sustainers upped their gifts, and listeners rejoined or made extra emergency gifts – and the momentum is not stopping.

Every day, your contributions, your calls, and your support in so many ways tells us you want us not to just hold on, but to thrive. You want the excellence, joy, and connection that you count on from Raven Radio to continue.

Your pledge is a promise to us that you will keep standing with Raven Radio. Our promise in return is that when you turn on Raven Radio, you’ll get our best. No matter the time of day or night, we will be here – a voice in the dark, a guide in the storm, a friend when you need one.

We are here for you. And when I say “we,” I really do mean all of us. Not just our dedicated, talented staff – though they are incredible.

Raven Radio is a project of our entire community. It takes volunteers – those whose voices, stories, and songs you hear on air and those working behind the scenes to keep our community calendar, retail store, generators, water heater and so much more running.

It takes a Board of Directors who give generously of their time and wisdom to keep us focused on our mission. It takes local businesses, who support our programming because they value the ways it connects us all.

And it takes you.

As Rich McClear told me when I started: your program starts when the listener tunes in, and stops when they tune out. Every time you turn on Raven Radio, you are a part of it.

The radio you need is not guaranteed. But with you standing alongside us, we’ll be here.

Warmly,

Mariana Robertson

KCAW General Manager

Comedian Alex Zerbe will perform a family-friendly comedy show in Sitka 7 p.m. Friday at the Sitka Performing Arts Center. Zerbe and Sitka Fine Arts Camp Executive Director Roger Schmidt joined KCAW to discuss the program. Listen here:

After spending a year as a Jesuit Volunteer at KYUK Public Media in Bethel, Ryan Cotter’s love for Alaska and its unique stories was cemented. She is now the second ever person to serve in KCAW’s Sarah Evangeline Hughes News Residency, a 10-month mentorship program developing the skills, experience, and connections to pursue a career in audio journalism. She joined KCAW for the Morning Interview to discuss her multimedia journey and what led her to Sitka. Listen here:

KCAW’s News Residency was created in memory of Sarah Evangeline Hughes, who served as Raven Radio’s news director from 1999 to 2001. You can learn more about her legacy here.

This Sitka resident’s latest utility bill topped $800. That unseasonable spring weather is to blame is cold comfort: Utility rates in Sitka will increase 2-percent beginning this July. (KCAW file photo)

John Leach is Sitka’s municipal administrator. He’s fielded a few calls from residents concerned about unusually high utility bills.

“We haven’t had the warmest spring this year, and May was an unusually cold month,” said Leach. “And we have a rate structure set up where it’s it’s seasonal: We have a lower rate in the wintertime and a higher rate in the summertime, and that’s meant to kind of equalize out that that utility bill throughout the year. And in May, the new seasonal rates kicked in and unfortunately, it was still pretty cold, and people had to run their heaters a lot, so most are experiencing some higher-than-normal utility bills right now.”

Sitka’s electric rate for residential customers jumps from around $.13 to $.22 cents per kilowatt hour every April through September. (And these rates will increase by 2-percent beginning July 1.) The average high temperature for April in Sitka is 50-degrees; the average high for May is 54. This year in April, Sitka hit 50 only nine times. Likewise, in May the daily high temperatures reached 54 only nine times.

Overnight lows dipped into the 30s as late as May 12.

Rate payers noticed the unusually high bills, and a few inquired at City Hall to ask – with thousands of cruise tourists roaming the streets paying sales taxes – why they weren’t seeing a bit of a break. Leach says that’s because the Electric Department, like water and sewer, and garbage are “enterprise funds,” and aren’t financially connected.

“They operate like little mini businesses, and those businesses stand on the fees that people pay for the services,” he said. “ We don’t look to make a profit in any of those businesses. It’s just what do we need to keep that service up and running? Now the difference between our general fund – that’s where sales tax dollars go, that’s where property tax dollars go – those are for general governmental services like your roads, public safety or Police Department, your Fire Department. So you can kind of see how we wouldn’t want to collect fees for electricity and apply that to harbor rates, since there’s unique users in each area, or we don’t want to take electric department rates and give it to the Police Department, right? So we want to make sure that the fund stays healthy.”

Leach says that occasionally the assembly will decide to transfer a surplus in the general fund, to give rate payers a break. Last year, for example, residents all received a $300 credit on their utility bills.

Some Sitkans remain divided on the value of the major expansion of the city’s Blue Lake Hydroelectric project in 2015. At $140 million, some think it was too expensive, others wonder why it hasn’t brought down rates. 

Leach says Blue Lake is holding down rates. Most residents don’t realize what they’d be paying if the project had not been built.

“The dam was necessary to increase capacity,” he said. “As more and more users came onto the system, we just couldn’t keep up anymore. And if this project hadn’t happened, then we would be running diesels and the cost of running those diesels is about $60,000 a day.”

Although warmer weather will probably spare residents from further sticker shock this summer, there is immediate relief for many people already in place. Leach says residents who qualify for any number of services, including free school lunches, food stamps, or Medicaid can apply for Sitka’s utility cost subsidization program, and receive $100 per month off their utility bills.

Summer in Sitka for many may sound like a string quartet,  the rumble of buses, or the sizzle of black cod collars on a grill. But nature is really never far away. Darby Osborne, with the Sitka Sound Science Center, recently visited Whale Park, to remind herself just how vibrant summer can sound. She sent this audio postcard.

John Leach is Sitka’s municipal administrator. Leach explains that Sitka’s utility rates shift seasonally: They’re lower in the winter, and higher in the summer. He says this year’s extended cold weather overlapped with the seasonal rate increase, resulting in higher-than-usual bills for many Sitkans. Unfortunately, offsetting those unwelcome surprises with increases in summer sales tax revenues is not as easy as residents would like. Utility cost subsidization is available for eligible Sitkans.