Author: Ed Ronco

Sitka High School and Mt. Edgecumbe High School have a decades-old cross-town rivalry. And it was visible to some extent at this week's Region V high school basketball tournament. But students and staff say the rivalry -- which has had its share of tension -- is becoming more and more positive.

The Sitka School Board met at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall on Tuesday night – something it does once a year. This year, as in years past, much of the discussion centered on what more the district can do to offer Tlingit language and cultural education.

A legislative subcommittee has determined state Sen. Albert Kookesh, D-Angoon, violated state ethics law in connection to remarks he made to the Craig City Council. But a second complaint, that Kookesh made similar remarks to the Sitka Assembly two years ago, did not hold water with the subcommittee. Ed Ronco reports.

Twenty high school basketball teams from around Southeast are in Sitka this week for the Region V tournament. The toughest competition of the tournament will likely be in the 3A classification, where seven teams each of boys and girls will compete for the regional title, and the first and second place teams will take a state berth. At the BJ McGillis gym at Mt. Edgecumbe High School through Saturday.

The Island Institute’s humanist-in-residence, Gary Holthaus, has been in Sitka for the last two months conducting interviews with residents on the subject of sustainability. He wanted to know what the long-term prospects are for Sitka. Holthaus eventually will be drafting a report based on the more than 70 interviews he conducted. He spoke with Raven News about some of the things he learned in his conversations. Included in almost every interview was a simple question: How did you get to Sitka?

A spokesman for Sen. Lisa Murkowski says there’s not much chance the senator herself will make it to Southeast Alaska in the near future to hear public testimony on a controversial land selection bill. And the chance of an official field hearing in the next few weeks is equally as slim.

In 2005 the state legislature ended "defined benefit" pensions for public employees, and replaced them with "defined contribution" plans based in stocks. With the crash in the market, many public employees now have little in the way of retirement savings, and by state law, are also excluded from Social Security. Commentary writer Ginny Blackson would like legislators to bring this unfair "experiment" to an end.

Senate Bill 881 would transfer of about 80,000 acres of Tongass National Forest to Sealaska, the regional Native corporation in Southeast Alaska. The land comes from areas outside original boundaries established in 1971. The Assembly passed a resolution last night urging U.S. senators, including the two from Alaska, to come to Sitka and listen to opinions on the bill. As Ed Ronco reports, the Assembly’s request went through significant changes.

With no proposed timber selections around Sitka, more concern about Senate Bill 881 has been focused on the so-called “Native Futures” sites that have been appended to the Sealaska lands selection legislation. These smaller commercial, cultural, and sacred site selections have not received much attention so far in Senate hearings.

Senator Lisa Murkowski delivered a wide-ranging speech on the major issues facing the state, in her annual address to the legislature in Juneau last week. Although the bulk of her remarks covered Alaska’s role in the United States’ evolving energy strategy, she did touch on tourism, fishing, and the timber industry. KCAWs Robert woolsey sought out reaction from stakeholders: