Rachel Waldholz, Author at KCAW

With final mission, Kluting says goodbye to SAR

When search and rescue responded to a call on Harbor Mountain last Friday, the mission marked the end of an era: it was the final outing for Don Kluting, who served as Sitka’s search captain for two decades. Kluting resigned last week, after the city decided to move SAR back into the Fire Department.

Four-day troll closure starts this weekend

The Southeast troll fishery for all salmon will close starting at midnight on Saturday, August 9. It will reopen at 12:01 AM on Thursday, August 14.

Raising the bar

Alan Maloney competes in the men's open sheaf toss at the Sitka Seafood Festival's 2014 Highland Games. The bale, which weighs 16 pounds, easily cleared the 15-foot bar on this toss.

Kettleson bids $1M higher than expected

The bids are in for Sitka’s Kettleson Memorial Library expansion -- and contractors are estimating that the project, as currently envisioned, would cost about $1-million more than the city had expected. At a special assembly meeting Thursday, city staff proposed cuts to the project.

GCI completes purchase of 3 Southeast TV stations

GCI has completed its purchase of three television stations in Sitka, Juneau and Ketchikan. The deal means the telecom giant now owns almost every commercial TV station in Southeast Alaska.

Injury prevention month: saving your sight

Patrick Williams and Elizabeth Sutton of Sitka Community Hospital discuss best practices and prevention -- and what to do in case of an eye injury.

How many people can the planet hold?

What would the world look like if every human on the planet suddenly vanished? Alan Weisman set out to answer that question, traveling the globe to find out what would happen if nature were suddenly left to its own devices.

BLM denies SJ Redoubt claim

Sealaska has moved one step closer to owning the land surrounding Sitka’s Reboubt Falls. A ruling this month dismissed a claim to the same land filed by the Sheldon Jackson College trustees. If it stands, the ruling will remove a major obstacle from the decades-long effort to gain Native ownership of the site, home to the area’s largest subsistence sockeye fishery.

Assembly considers vehicle tax to fund roads

Sitka’s car owners may soon see a fee increase. The assembly voted 5 to 1 Tuesday night to raise vehicle registration fees. Money raised through the tax would go towards the city’s roads.

Work on HPR to stretch into September

Work on Sitka’s Halibut Point Road will extend into the fall, several weeks longer than originally planned, after contractors ran into some unexpected obstacles buried within the road bed.