Leila Kheiry, KRBD - Ketchikan

A large timber sale in the Tongass National Forest called Big Thorne was announced Monday, combining old and second growth areas of Prince of Wales Island. Download Audio

Leonard Nimoy is taking a cruise through Alaska this week. KRBD’s Leila Kheiry caught up with the actor on the downtown dock in Ketchikan and has this report. Download Audio

A Metlakatla woman is gearing up for the upcoming Miss Indian World competition, next week during the annual Gathering of Nations in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Download Audio

The big question in Southeast Alaska this weekend was, “Did you feel the quake?” In some communities, it was, “Where’d you evacuate too?” or “Did anything break?” The 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck at 11:58 p.m. Friday, with more than a dozen weaker aftershocks following for hours. The temblor, which some called “The Midnight Quake,” hit about 60 miles west of Craig, on Prince of Wales Island. KRBD’s Leila Kheiry talked to people in Ketchikan and on Prince of Wales Island about the quake and its aftereffects.

Thick stands of young trees surround Election Creek, near Klawock on Southeast Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island. The forest was logged in 1989, and it’s been left to grow back on its own. Now, more than 20 years later, Sealaska Corporation is getting ready to thin the crowded stands of trees that have returned.

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell announced Tuesday in Ketchikan that the state will immediately begin negotiations with the Ketchikan shipyard to design the first of at least two smaller ferries for the Alaska Marine Highway System, rather than the 350-foot ferry that had been planned.

With the City of Ketchikan facing increased bond debt for its new library and fire station, managers have recommended increasing the city’s property tax by a full mill. One mill equals one dollar for every $1,000 of assessed value. If the Ketchikan City Council accepts the proposed property tax increase, a resident with a $200,000 home would pay $200 more annually.

Due to the state’s recent redistricting, which changed legislative boundaries throughout Alaska, two incumbent Southeast Alaska senators are vying for the same seat.

For the first time in about two decades, the annual Southeast “By The Numbers” report from Juneau-based research firm Sheinberg Associates gave a somewhat rosy picture of the region’s economy.

The Alaska Marine Highway System had a good year in 2011, with ridership up throughout the state’s ferry system. Deputy Commissioner Capt. Mike Neussl gave an update Wednesday, during the second day of Southeast Conference convention in Craig.

The annual Southeast Conference kicked off in Craig this week with a morning dedicated to mining. Representatives of area mining interests spoke back-to-back to about 200 conference participants. Two potential mines on Prince of Wales Island remain in development, but both are promising enough that owners intend to submit preliminary economic assessment plans within the next couple of months.

A group of students, from youths to elders, is learning the Tsimshian language at the new Ketchikan Indian Community technical training center.

Incumbent Wrangell Representative Peggy Wilson won the Republican party’s nomination Tuesday, with 986 votes, or about 46 percent. Ketchikan’s Agnes Moran was second in the GOP race, with 683 votes, and Patti Mackey finished the night in third with 476.