Author: Robert Woolsey, KCAW

Restoration work is proceeding on schedule in Sitka’s downtown Totem Square, but the state has not announced whether a historic-but-controversial totem pole will be reinstalled on the site. Jennifer Klein is the Facilities Section Chief for the Department of Health and Social Services. She was in Sitka on Thursday and Friday (Apr 14, 15, 2011) for meetings about the project.

Long-time finance director Dave Wolff resigned suddenly last Friday (4-15-11), leading to speculation that there may be serious disagreements in Sitka’s city hall. Wolff’s letter was effective the day it was submitted – April 15, 2011. The letter does not elaborate on Wolff’s reasons for leaving. KCAW news reached Wolff at home today (4-18-11), but he was unwilling to comment on the matter.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reports that herring spawn as of today (Friday 4-15-11) covered a total of 65 nautical miles of shoreline in Sitka Sound. On Thursday alone, aerial surveys located over 23 nautical miles of new spawn in the Crow Pass area as well as along the north side of Middle Island. That spawn was contracting by Friday, but new spawn was starting just west of Big Gavanski Island.

Mark Hamilton thinks lowering taxes on oil companies in Alaska is inevitable. The former University of Alaska president now represents the Make Alaska Competitive Coalition, an organization of businesses hoping to reverse the decline in Alaskan oil production. Hamilton was in Sitka today (Wednesday 4-13-11) to give presentations to the Sitka Chamber of Commerce and the Sitka Economic Development Association.

Technological advancements in health care are nothing new. But in small communities like Sitka, technology plays not only a medical role, but a business one, too. The head of Sitka Community Hospital says new technology is making a big difference at the city’s 12-bed facility.

The Sitka School District will get all of the $6.3 million it requested from city leaders, after a vote of the Sitka Assembly last night. The amount is about $300,000 more than the city was planning to give. And while last night’s meeting might have settled the short-term question of city funding, it also opened up new questions about how the city and the school district work together.

Sitka’s herring fishery has long been the focus of documentaries and nature TV specials. Now, the fishery is slated to be the subject of a TV reality show.

Sitka could get $28.5 million dollars to expand its Blue Lake hydroelectric project, under a budget plan laid out today by the Alaska Senate.

Over the course of a single year, from June of 2007 to June of 2008, Erin McKittrick and her husband hiked, paddled, and skied from Seattle to the Aleutians islands. It was a human-powered journey of over 4,000 miles. McKittrick’s new book “A Long Trek Home” is the story of that trip, and much more. Among other major milestones in their travels, the couple decided to make Alaska their permanent home, and to start a family. McKittrick is in Sitka this week for “Sitka Reads,” a community reading program organized by Kettleson Library. She and her family stopped by Raven Radio and talked about “A Long Trek Home” with KCAW’s Robert Woolsey.

The Southeast Herring Conservation Alliance, which runs the roe-on-hemlock program, says the Julia Kae is not distributing this year after the Sitka Tribe of Alaska wrote to state officials urging them to enforce state law, which says subsistence harvesters must be residents of Alaska.