Author: Andi McDaniel

Despite the closure of Sheldon Jackson College a year ago, the campus is no ghost town. That’s partly because of places like the Sitka Sound Science Center, which used to be part of the college. Now, it’s an institution in its own right. Andi McDaniel spent some time there recently and came back with this report.

For the last 33 years, young people from all over Alaska—and the rest of the country—have flocked to Sitka in the summertime to participate in the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, which teaches campers anything from documentary film to how to be a clown. The 169 students in the high school session are currently enjoying their last few days of camp. Andi McDaniel stopped in Wednesday to get a taste of what they’re up to and brought back this audio postcard.

Sitka voters will likely see an advisory question this fall on a Sawmill Cove deep-water dock. The Sitka assembly last night (7-8-08) approved on first reading ballot language asking whether the city should develop a plan for a municipally-owned multi-purpose dock at the cove. The dock would serve a variety of cargo vessels, and be capable of mooring a large cruise ship.

A pair of procedural ordinances at Tuesday night’s (7-8-08) assembly meeting touched off a lengthy policy debate about the role of public participation in Sitka. At issue were whether to allow the public to speak on any topic on or off the agenda during the first “persons to be heard” portion of an assembly meeting, and whether to require candidates for municipal commissions to submit written applications.

Democratic House candidate Ethan Berkowitz stopped by KCAW last Thursday (7-3-08) to talk with reporter Andi McDaniel about the issues weighing on Sitkans' minds these days.

Sitka was awash in stars and stripes this weekend for the yearly Fourth of July celebration. KCAW’s Andi McDaniel paraded around with her recording equipment and brought back this audio postcard.

Alaska-based Coast Guardsmen will continue to receive cold-weather survival training under a bill passed this spring by the US House of Representatives. Last year, funding for the program was quietly eliminated in Alaska’s district 17. But this year the training received some influential exposure when one of its graduates was awarded the Coast Guard’s highest honor for bravery, and credited the classes with his survival.

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.