Author: Robert Woolsey

A deadly plane crash in downtown Sitka almost a year ago was the result of pilot error. The National Transportation Safety Board recently released the results of its investigation into the August 6th crash which took the lives of the plane’s occupants, destroyed a home, but spared everyone on the ground.

KCAW's Andi McDaniel speaks with former Dean of Students Chris Bryner about how the Sheldon Jackson community has fared since the school's sudden closure last summer.

US Senate candidate Mark Begich will be in Sitka this weekend (7-6-08) as part of his “energy tour” of Alaska’s coastal communities. KCAW’s Robert Woolsey caught up with the Anchorage mayor by cell phone to ask about the Sealaska lands selections bill, and the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council.

Anchorage mayor Mark Begich is making a bid for the US Senate seat currently held by Ted Stevens. Begich, a Democrat, is in his fifth year serving as the mayor of Alaska’s largest city. He hopes to reshape Alaska’s image as an energy-producing state, and take a lead in the development of renewable energy.

The 2008 Sitka Health Summit has placed food security and a local fish market at the top of the list of this year’s priorities. While an all-community greenhouse is the long-range goal, summit organizers could not let the summer growing season pass by without getting started. Last Saturday (6-28-08) volunteers tilled topsoil and sand into a sunny plot of ground behind the See House of St. Peters Episcopal Church.

Dog Point Fish Camp teaches traditional Tlingit food skills to Natives and non-Natives alike. To watch slideshow, click on this story's title, then on the words "watch slideshow."

Most of the shed roofs have been replaced with more “homey” gabled dormers, the stairways and entries are covered, and the Sitka assembly has run out of objections to a proposed affordable housing project at the old city shops. After four hours of public testimony and deliberation spanning two evenings this week (6-24 & 6-26-08), the assembly approved a 35-percent design concept for the Dana Bay Homes project on Halibut Point Road.

Pacific halibut stocks are low right now, the commercial quota and sport harvest guidelines have been cut, but the outlook for the species is promising. That’s according to Bruce Leaman, the director of the International Pacific Halibut Commission, the scientific and regulatory body which keeps watch over halibut numbers. Leaman was in Sitka this week (6-25-08) to work with his port sampler, and to meet with halibut fishermen as they landed their catch at local processors. He stopped by KCAW to talk with Robert Woolsey about the IPHC’s involvement in the charter bag-limit lawsuit, and other important halibut issuesh.

Silver Bay Seafoods is now a land owner in Sitka’s Sawmill Cove Industrial Park. On a split vote, the Sitka assembly last night (Tue 6-24-08) handed over five acres of industrial waterfront, a dock, warehouse, and bunkhouse to the two-year old start-up company.

Sitka’s own Russian folk music band, the SitNiks, performed a benefit concert under the Crescent Harbor Shelter during the lunch hour today/yesterday before a crowd of tourists and locals alike to raise money for the Alaska Day Exchange Concert. Raven Radio’s Ken Fate attended and produced this audio postcard. You can contact the Alaska Day Committee if you are interested in helping with the Alaska Day Exchange Concert.