Author: Robert Woolsey and Ed Ronco

Sen. Lisa Murkowski paid an official visit to Sitka today, meeting first with the school district, and touring some classes. At 2 PM this afternoon she hosted a meeting of Sitka agencies on the Sitka campus of UAS. KCAW’s Ed Ronco shadowed the senator today. He phoned in this update from UAS.

Mt. Edgecumbe High School has its first full-time music teacher in 25 years. Stephen Courtright has been at the state-run boarding school since the beginning of the year, and with Courtright’s hiring comes the rebirth of a music program that has come and gone in recent history. It’s a program the new teacher – and school administration – hopes will grow into the future.

Blues musician Guy Davis has the background and resume for a stellar career without traveling far from his home in the Bronx. But this itinerant storyteller prefers to take his music to the people, even in Alaska. Davis performs 7PM Friday 2-18-11 at the Sitka Performing Arts Center. He appeared on the Morning Interview with KCAW's Robert Woolsey.

A pair of Sitka attorneys is hoping people think twice before they go to court to settle a dispute. Corrie Bosman and Christine Pate told the Sitka Chamber of Commerce (Wednesday 2-16-11) that many business disputes, employee issues, and small claims disagreements could be settled by mediation.

About 75 high school students from around the state gathered at Mount Edgecumbe High School this week to attend the Color of Justice conference. The annual event is designed to increase the diversity of the legal profession by encouraging students to consider law as a career.

The chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court is concerned about the lack of Native Americans training to be lawyers. Justice Walter Carpeneti made his remarks (Tue 2-15-11) during the opening ceremonies of “The Color of Justice,” a two-day legal symposium at Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka.

Senator Lisa Murkowski today (Feb. 14) proposed additional changes to her Sealaska lands-selection bill.She plans to take the revised legislation to the public later this month with town hall meetings February 21st in Ketchikan and 22nd in Craig.

Willie Hensley has been a state legislator, a Native rights advocate, the founding member of a regional Native corporation, and the voice of the Alyeska Pipeline Company in Washington D.C. Now, the Inupiaq elder is a memoirist. He visited Sitka over the weekend to talk about his book, “Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and The Real People.” He spoke with KCAW's Ed Ronco.

Dan Langbauer is a former math teacher at Sitka High School. He and his family now live in Cairo, Egypt. He spoke with KCAW's Robert Woolsey on Thursday (2-10-11).