The state’s prosecutor in Sitka has been charged with assault, and will face trial in September. 38-year old Amy M. Williams was arrested in Sitka on Friday, May 15, after police responded to a domestic altercation at her home on Halibut Point Road.
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A plan to reposition three of Sitka’s school principals has been scaled back after intense public pressure. Sitka High School’s principal, however, will be returning to her former job as assistant principal at the middle school. And in the district office, the co-assistant superintendents are leaving their jobs.
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The National Marine Fisheries Service says shutting down Southeast Alaska’s king salmon season would contribute little to saving an endangered population of killer whales in Puget Sound. On May 11, NOAA Fisheries filed a formal reply to the Wild Fish Conservancy's lawsuit, in a 34-page brief with over 2,000 pages of supporting documents.
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The ten members of the Legislative Budget and Audit committee took the rare -- and legally risky -- step of appropriating the CARES Act funding on their own, without the full consent of the legislature. Sitka Republican Sen. Bert Stedman, normally a stickler for procedure, urged fellow committee members to take quick "action and try and assist our citizens all over the state."
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Sitka Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins says about $1.25 billion in covid relief is stalled in the state capitol, because few legislators are around to appropriate it. And so far, there's been little effort to change the uniform rules to allow the legislature to meet remotely.
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The Sitka School District has officially adopted a science curriculum next year that includes the teaching of climate change science. The move comes as part of an overall update of the science curriculum across the state -- the first in 14 years.
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House Bill 96 is some relief for residents of Alaska’s Pioneer Homes, but it’s not rolling back the clock. The increases under the bill are still substantial, compared to rates residents were paying only a year ago. Nevertheless, for one Sitka family who saw their monthly fee double overnight -- to over $13,000 -- the bill is welcome relief.
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Unemployment insurance claims in Alaska rose dramatically in March, along with the rest of the country -- at least 70 residents of Sitka were receiving benefits by the end of the month. The state Department of Labor and Workforce Development released its monthly edition of 'Trends' on Monday afternoon (5-4-20).
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Sitka will not suffer a major loss from Carnival's decision to pull its 2,100-passenger Carnival Spirit from Alaska this summer. Other Southeast communities, however, like Ketchikan, were expecting 22 visits from the ship.
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Sitka’s first reported coronavirus remains a confirmed positive case, despite the fact that the patient has since tested negative. Health officials say subsequent negative tests -- even lab tests -- don't invalidate the results of the original.
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