If Sitka voters had their way, Bethel Democrat Mary Peltola would be their representative in the US House -- by a longshot. Voters in the district also gave big margins to Lisa Murkowski and Bill Walker.
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A federal judge in Seattle has ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service violated a key provision of the Endangered Species Act in 2019, when NMFS published research on the harvest of king salmon in Southeast Alaska – and failed to address its impact on a small population of killer whales in Puget Sound.
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Former Gov. Bill Walker says he vetoed half the Permanent Fund Dividend in 2016 because the legislature lacked the courage to do so. "We need generational thinking," Walker says. "We need to think beyond the next election."
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Sitka's Blatchley Middle School was without its primary heat source for most of last winter, after five Mitsubishi heat pumps failed. Now, the Sitka Assembly has appropriated up to $600K on first reading for emergency replacements.
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Sen. Lisa Murkowski was out with COVID, and did not join the Republican defection to block the PACT Act on July 27. She subsequently issued a strong statement supporting veterans.
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People who move to Alaska are not staying as long as they used to. The latest report from the Alaska Department of Labor shows a striking downward trend in outmigration -- but it's not from a lack of job opportunities.
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Unlike past oil windfalls, much of Alaska's $2 billion surplus will be deposited in savings, and used "to fix the fiscal position of the state." says Sitka Sen. Bert Stedman, co-chair of the Alaska Senate Finance Committee.
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Tristan Guevin has filed for a full term on the Sitka School Board. The former assembly member was appointed to a vacancy in June of this year. He's committed to public service, and he believes in the power of education to address problems of social justice.
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Sitka Sen. Bert Stedman says the legislature has appropriated enough money to complete the Katlian Bay Road – and several others across the state – but the project may serve as a cautionary tale about the reality of construction along Southeast Alaska’s rugged coastline.
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Sitka Sen. Bert Stedman is cool to the idea of withdrawing $8 million from Sitka's permanent fund to pay for a new marine haulout. He thinks using state funding to build a yard similar to Wrangell's is "more workable and deliverable."
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