Katherine Rose

In an attempt to curb the community’s largest COVID-19 outbreak of the pandemic, the Sitka Assembly voted 6-0 at an emergency meeting on July 29 to require masks in public spaces.

Alaska Airlines says it prevented a COVID-19 infected passenger from boarding a flight in Seattle on Tuesday after they’d arrived from Alaska on a multi-leg trip that included Sitka, Juneau and Ketchikan.

A near tragedy was averted in Sitka on Monday morning after a fishing boat skipper who had fallen overboard was rescued by his girlfriend on an inflatable mattress.

Last fall, Alaska Marine Lines announced it would start refusing shipments of solid waste in open containers on June 1. That poses a problem for Sitka because the city ships its solid waste in containers without lids.

The City and Borough of Sitka may receive a $1 million donation from an international cruise line, which the company says comes with “no strings attached.”

Subsistence harvester and former Tribal Council member Tom Gamble is determined to see this tradition continue — by working to protect herring stocks and teaching kids how to harvest eggs.

This season's forecast called for the highest return of herring since the 1970s, but some tribal activists have continued to fight the fishery, which they say threatens subsistence stocks.

A commercial herring fishery in Sitka will likely happen this year after a two-year hiatus, but the fishery continues to face opposition from local tribes.

The Southeast Alaska town now offers vaccine to teenagers 16 as young as 16 — making Sitka one of the first places in the nation where this has been possible.

School funding is the biggest single expense for the city of Sitka, falling somewhere in the $7 million range most years. Without major cruise ship visits, schools could loose out on a lot of money.