Author: Dave Donaldson and Ed Ronco

Sitka Mayor Scott McAdams has filed paperwork to run for the seat held by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

Sitka High School graduated seventy-one seniors on Sunday evening. Earlier in the week, counseling office secretary Darryl Rehkopf played the following composition at an all-school assembly. We asked him to reprise it for radio. Here are your 2010 Sitka High graduates:

A state Democratic Party official says Sitka Mayor Scott McAdams will challenge Lisa Murkowski for her seat in the United States Senate. McAdams, meanwhile, has made no announcement, has not filed paperwork, and says he has no comment. The report surfaced Thursday in the online newspaper the Alaska Dispatch.

After over a month of spillage, BP’s Operation Top Kill has failed to end the millions of gallons of oil flowing in to the Gulf of Mexico. Now considered the worst spill in U.S. history, the leak has prompted many, including President Obama, to rethink his views on offshore drilling. On a busy cruise ship day in Sitka, KCAW’s Lily Mihalik set out to see how the gulf spill has changed the way people think about off shore drilling.

The Sitka School District wants to ask voters for help in funding repairs at Blatchley Middle School and Pacific High School. Money for the projects already was approved by voters in 2008, but bids came in above the district’s initial cost estimates.

Green’s Creek mine just wants to be a good neighbor. Ron Plantz, the community relations manager for Green’s Creek, told the Sitka Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday (5-26-10) that the twenty-year-old operation on northern Admiralty Island prefers to keep a low profile, and to stay out of the press. Plantz, nevertheless, is on the road in the wake of Anchorage businessman Bob Gillam, who has been an outspoken opponent of the proposed Pebble Mine near Bristol Bay.

It’s one of the most popular classes at Sitka High School, and it’s not biology, debate or drama. It’s Outdoor Rec. The program, which began this fall, is all things sports, including mountain biking, rock climbing, and cross country skiing, to name a few.

The City and Borough of Sitka plans to spend more than $24 million dollars in 2011, but most of the discussion at the Assembly’s first budget hearing last night focused on a request from the Sitka Historical Society for more funding. In the end, the Assembly didn’t make a single change to the budget. But it wasn’t for lack of trying.

Sitka’s new International Hostel opened March 1st. The hostel has 25 beds and a three day stay maximum. Perched on Jeff Davis road, the hostel was once the infirmary at Sitka’s historical Sheldon Jackson College, and later became Sitka Community Hospital. Now, surplus military bunk beds replace hospital cots.

After nearly 30 years on the job, the manager of the Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association is retiring. Pete Esquiro took over the non-profit hatchery program in Sitka when it was only a year old. NSRAA now is arguably one of the state’s most successful regional aquaculture associations. Robert Woolsey has this look back at Esquiro’s career: