Sorted by date Results 26 - 36 of 36
The cruise ship Radiance of the Seas struck a Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal mooring dolphin on May 9 as it was preparing to dock, limiting the facility to one berth instead of two until repairs are completed in a few weeks, terminal manager Chris McGraw said. There was no apparent damage to the 961-foot ship and no reported injuries in the mishap. A dolphin is a collection of steel pilings driven into the ocean floor and used for mooring a ship at a dock. The Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment is investigating the accident, McGraw said. He has...
A developer has notified Sitka that high construction costs have caused the partnership to withdraw its proposal to build a new boatyard and haul-out. Sitka's last haul-out operator, Halibut Point Marine, in March pulled up its last boat after it had converted the area into a cruise ship terminal. The decision by Sitka Community Boatyard to abandon its plans leaves no prospect in sight for a replacement operation in Sitka. Wrangell's Port and Harbors Department has reported an increase in calls...
The Alaska Volcano Observatory said that as of last Thursday the number of earthquakes under Mount Edgecumbe was declining. The earthquake activity is beneath the 3,000-foot high dormant volcano 15 miles west of Sitka on Kruzof Island. The volcano observatory sent out an information statement a day earlier about the "swarm" of small earthquakes under Mt. Edgecumbe, with an accompanying message that there is no cause for alarm by the public. "We're getting information out and trying not to alarm...
Salvage teams, the U.S. Coast Guard and state Department of Environmental Conservation reported last Thursday that fuel leaks from the grounded tug in Neva Strait 17 miles northwest of Sitka have been stopped. The state agency updated its situation report Thursday afternoon, noting that the exact quantity of diesel spilled is unknown but progress is being made in the cleanup on the water around the 83-foot tugboat Western Mariner. “Additionally, fuel has been removed from the engine room,” the department said in its report. The Department of...
The Sitka Sound Science Center and several regional and national partners have received a five-year, $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop natural hazard monitoring and warning systems in tribal communities throughout Southeast. Project KUTÍ — the Tlingit word for weather — builds on the center’s community process used in Sitka to build a landslide warning system. Sitka will serve as a hub for the project, but the goal is to “develop a co-produced regional system for warning residents of events that might lead to...
A Sitka businessman indicted more than two years ago on charges that he stole electricity for his multiple properties has pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay restitution to the city utility of almost $150,000, plus interest. Richard A. Forst, 59, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of theft of property or services and a misdemeanor of criminal mischief. He pleaded guilty on Jan. 31. Superior Court Judge Jude Pate placed Forst on probation for two years. The judge also fined him $5,000 and ordered Forst to perform 80 hours of community work...
State Sen. Bert Stedman, who represents Sitka and central and southern Southeast, including Wrangell, is in his 20th year in the Senate, serving much of that time as co-chair of the budget-writing Finance Committee. As lawmakers prepare to resume work Jan. 18 in Juneau, Stedman said Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed budget appears to be balanced — and not balanced — at the same time. “It’s balanced, but not when you compare recurring revenues to recurring expenditures,” Stedman said. “We’ve got to unwind that. The structural deficit is goin...
Greater access to COVID-19 home testing kits, changes to the state statistics dashboard, and the arrival of the Omicron variant in Alaska were among the topics covered by Dr. Anne Zink in a report to the Sitka Assembly on Dec. 14. “I know the last thing we want is COVID,” said Zink, the state’s chief medical officer. “Man, we are all done with it. Unfortunately, it’s just not done with us.” She said the state’s role is “to provide tools for Alaskans to keep themselves, their families and their communities healthy.” Zink attended the meet...
Sitka-based Alaskan Dream Cruises has entered the rankings of the best small-ship cruise lines in the world, as voted by the readership of a popular travel magazine. Travel+Leisure, with about 4.8 million readers, announced Alaskan Dream Cruises as one of the Top 10 small-ship cruise lines, from a survey conducted between Jan. 11 and May 10. Alaskan Dream Cruises placed 10th, and posted the award on Facebook. Alaskan Dream Cruises’ six vessels each carry between 10 and 76 passengers and make frequent summer stops in Wrangell. It’s the fir...
A Coast Guard Air Station Sitka helicopter crew rescued four fishermen from a life raft after their 53-foot boat sank late evening Nov. 10 about 55 miles south of Sitka, 90 miles west of Wrangell. The four were in stable condition after arriving in Sitka less than three hours after the sinking, the Coast Guard said. Coast Guard watchstanders in Juneau said the crew of the longliner Julia Breeze radioed for help at 10:40 p.m. Nov. 10, reporting the boat was taking on water and they were abandoning ship near Cape Ommaney. The Coast Guard...
Alaska Airlines said it was not aware that a passenger who boarded Flight 73 in Sitka the morning of July 20 had tested positive for COVID-19 a day earlier “We would never allow someone to travel that is COVID-positive, knowing they were COVID-positive,” Alaska Airlines spokesman Tim Thompson said July 21. “Our priorities are for the safety of staff and employees.” State public health Denise Ewing said a visitor from outside Alaska who was in Sitka on vacation tested positive for COVID-19 on July 19 and was provided test results, includi...