KCAW Staff, Author at KCAW - Page 439 of 584

Thu Jan 12, 2012

https://www.kcaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/news_011312.mp3 Click here for iFriendly audio. Sitka Chamber hears pitch for oil tax reform. Sitka Sen. Bert Stedman responds that Alaskan oil will remain valuable, and the TAPS...

In the catbird seat

A pair of Northwestern Crows enjoys a break in the winter weather Friday afternoon (1-13-12) in Sitka. Rain, wind, and now snow, have been the norm since New Year's.

Fortitudinous!

Sitka 7th grader Joanna Davis celebrates her second straight championship in the Blatchley Middle School Spelling Bee. Davis, and thirteen other intrepid spellers, braved words like "intrique" and "competently" over nine rounds of competition at Kettleson Library Wednesday night (1-11-12). 6th grader Zofia Danielson was the runner-up. The championship word: "manifestation."

Butcher: Oil tax reform aims for “sweet spot”

State Commissioner of Revenue Bryan Butcher made a pitch on behalf of oil tax reform in Sitka on Wednesday. He told the Sitka Chamber of Commerce that House Bill 110 was not perfect, but it was an attempt to find a "sweet spot" that would provide tax revenues, but not discourage oil developement. He argued that lawmakers in 2007 could not have anticipated that prices would double in so short a time. The state has been salting away surpluses of roughly $2-billion a year since ACES became law, but Butcher said that the high taxes were stifling development on the North Slope, and that oil companies were investing more elsewhere.

Wed Jan 11, 2012

https://www.kcaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/news_011112.mp3 Tensions high as assembly rejects preliminary roof design for Pacific High School. Assembly work session explores options for increasing tax revenues, cutting costs....

Sheldon Jackson: Abrupt closure sets stage for dramatic renewal

When the end finally came for Sheldon Jackson College four years ago, it was fast. In June of 2007, the Sitka assembly met on a Tuesday and voted down a request from the college for a $1-million emergency loan. On Friday, the school shut its doors. In the concluding installment in her five-part series on Sitka's distinctiveness, reporter Diana Saverin examines how SJC's sudden closure brought the school’s problems into sharp focus, and set the stage for its dramatic renewal.