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Most read stories

Taxi, Tour Drivers Share Views on Ordinance

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

Thursday, October 22

Fond Memories

Wednesday, October 21

Hyperphagia

3 days ago

Sitkans Share Ideas for 20-Year Recreation Plan

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

Friday, October 23

YAS Alerts Public on Youth Exploitation Danger

By ANNA LAFFREY
Sentinel Staff Writer

3 days ago

Today's top stories

Child Care Tax Vote Advances in Assembly

The Assembly on Tuesday passed on introduction an ordinance setting a special election on a half-percent sales tax increase to help “stabilize child care.” The vote was 6-1 on introduction; second and final reading is set for the November 10...

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

10 hours ago
U.S. Coast Guard Ensign Anjali Friedman gives a tour of the Kukui as it's being transformed into a haunted ship this afternoon. Friedman, who is organizing the work, will be in clown costume for Friday's big kid version of the 15-minute tour through the bowels of the ship. A tamer version, for smaller kids, will be held Thursday.

Coast Guard Preparing Kukui for Fright Nights

The Coast Guard Cutter Kukui will transform into a science fiction-themed “haunted ship” this week, offering two nights of scares while collecting food donations for Sitkans Against Family Violence. The haunted ship is open from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, with a milder experience for younger visitors, and from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, with more intense scares geared toward adults featuring two chainsaws, a spooky clown and jump-scares.
MAYA GRAHAM
Special to the Sentinel
10 hours ago

Application Deadline for Utility Assistance Nears

Sitkans wanting up to $100 per month help with their utility bills have until the end of the month to apply, city staff said. Applicants have been trickling in more slowly than usual. The deadline for applications to be received is 5 p.m....

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

10 hours ago
Taryn Kinney, 6, holds up Tlingit potatoes she harvested alongside fellow Xóots Elementary School first-graders in the Pacific High School garden Wednesday morning. The children planted the potatoes in April when they were kindergartners.

Little Potatoes

LITTLE POTATOES - Taryn Kinney, 6, holds up Tlingit potatoes she harvested alongside fellow Xóots Elementary School first-graders in the Pacific High School garden Wednesday morning. The children planted the potatoes in April when they were...
2 days ago
Ahl’lidaaw Gitnack’angeak stands inside a waiting tent at the Carlisle Barracks Post Cemetery on Sept. 25 as Army officials disinter the remains beneath the headstone belonging to Mabel Stack, of Loring, who died in 1904 as a young girl attending the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.

Search Continues for Ancestor at Carlisle

Healing, joy and new connections filled a Ketchikan family’s journey in September to the Carlisle Barracks Post Cemetery in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where the family’s ancestor, Mabel Stack, died in 1904 as a young girl attending the Carlisle...
ANNA LAFFREY for the Ketchikan Daily News
2 days ago

Assembly Decisions: Some Easy, Some Hard

The vast majority of city boards, commissions and committees have a quorum of members, the city clerk’s office reports, but most need one or more volunteers to fill all positions. At tonight’s meeting the Assembly will consider four applicants...

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

2 days ago
Sports

Wolves Basketball Fish & Chips Dinner Fundraiser Set for Sunday

The Sitka High basketball team hopes its fundraiser Sunday will assist in delivering a solid financial slam dunk just ahead of the official start of the season. The team’s fish and chips dinner and dessert auction fundraiser is 5 p.m. this Sunday...

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

10 hours ago
Tournament runner-up Logan Bradford takes aim at targets at the monthly tournament at Flipside Arcade Saturday. He was among 18 who faced off on dozens of tables in the monthly contest, scheduled in the leadup to the January state tournament, at Flipside.

Pinball Wizards

PINBALL WIZARDS - Tournament runner-up Logan Bradford takes aim at targets at the monthly tournament at Flipside Arcade Saturday. He was among 18 who faced off on dozens of tables in the monthly contest, scheduled in the leadup to the January...
11 hours ago

City League Basketball Update: 10/28/26

Blanco's Buckets forfeit a City League basketball game Yuyo's Edge on Tuesday. Regular season games continue through Dec. 17, and division tournaments run the whole month of January. City League games at Blatchley are free and open to the...
11 hours ago

Sports Calendar: 10/28/26

Today, Oct. 27 Sitka High and Mt. Edgecumbe High School musicians participate in Honor Music Festival @ Haines Friday, Oct. 30 5:15 p.m. SHS Swim & Dive competes in ASAA Region V Championship preliminaries @ Dimond Park Aquatic Center in...
11 hours ago
Sitka High volleyball player Jeeya Agullana, no. 6, sets to Bristol Clifton, no. 3, in motion striking the ball over the net against Ketchikan Kings, Saturday. Wolves players Agullana and Clifton were both celebrated during a  senior night event prior to the match with friends and family present.

Sitka Celebrates Volleyball Seniors with Win Over Kayhi

With a “Construction” theme on Friday night and a “Fishing” theme on Saturday, the Sitka High School student body, dressed in hard hats, colorful, reflective vests, and waders with a few fishing poles, loudly cheered the Sitka High School girls’...

By LYLE SPARROWGROVE
Special to the Sentinel

2 days ago
Community News
Police blotter

Police Blotter
October 28, 2026

Police Blotter Sitka Police Department logged the following calls Tuesday. Tuesday, October 29 Two callers on Etolin Street reported someone banging on a door. Officers determined that no crime had occurred, and the parties were separated. An...

10 hours ago
Obituaries
Aaron D. Wrenn Dies at 59; Was Former Sitka Resident
Aaron D. Wrenn, of Wasilla, Alaska, died on August 7, 2026 from a long battle with cancer, he was 59 years old. Aaron was born June 20, 1967 at Mt. Edgecumbe hospital, he was the 8th child of Wayne and Selina Wrenn. He attended Sitka High School...
2 days ago
Screenshot
Wayne C. Bowers Dies; Business Owner was 69
Wayne Cameron Bowers, a construction company owner, fisherman, and a 24-year Sitka resident, died August 11 of a heart condition in Burien, Washington. He was 69. No services are scheduled at this time. Wayne was born June 22, 1957, in Chapel...
Friday, October 23
Dr. Thomas Edwin Jacobsen, DDS
Dr. Tom Jacobsen Dies; Service to Be on Nov. 8
Dr. Thomas Edwin Jacobsen, DDS, age 79, of Sitka, died September 7, 2026. Tom was born December 27, 1946, in Sioux City, Iowa, the son of Donald and Marian Jacobsen. He earned an undergraduate degree in general science from the University of Iowa...
Friday, October 16
Former Sitkan Mackenzie Clarke Dies in Seattle
The family of Mackenzie Augustus Clarke, 37, with profound sadness writes that he died unexpectedly on September 16 in Seattle. The former Sitkan, a Sitka High graduate, was the beloved son of David and Raine Clarke, brother of Kelsie and Zachary...
Friday, October 9
Alaska News
President Donald Trump dances at a campaign rally at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, in Lubbock, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump, Vance and Obama are making closing stretch appeals to midterm voters in pivotal states

President Donald Trump’s campaign to keep Republicans in control of Congress in the Nov. 3 midterms is returning to Ohio for the third time in a month. Also on Wednesday, former President Barack …
By MIKE CATALINI
3 hours ago
Homeland Security Investigations task force officers escort a suspect accused of illegally registering to vote during a federal operation in Commerce, Calif., Monday, Oct. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Stolen election rhetoric from Trump isn't new. His ability to act on those claims is

President Donald Trump's involvement in this year's midterm elections has moved from rhetoric to reality. The president directed his administration to intervene on behalf of his preferred candidate …
By NICHOLAS RICCARDI and ALI SWENSON
5 hours ago
FILE - Dan Sullivan, a candidate in Alaska's U.S. Senate race who shares a name with the incumbent seeking reelection, talks in front of a welcome sign near downtown Petersburg, Alaska, July 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)

Report: Peltola's campaign involved in effort to recruit second Dan Sullivan for Alaska Senate race

The New York Times is reporting that Democrat Mary Peltola's campaign was involved in efforts to recruit a man with the same name as Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan to run for Alaska's U.S. Senate …
By BECKY BOHRER and NICHOLAS RICCARDI
7 hours ago
Find us on Facebook

Sitka Yesterday
October 28, 2026

20 YEARS AGO

October 2006 

Photo caption: Dan Kelliher makes his way up Harbor Mountain Sunday in the annual Mountain Madness bicycle hill climb. Kelliher was the first rider to reach the top of the mountain, doing so in a near-record 36 minutes and 36 seconds.

50 YEARS AGO

October 1976

From On the Go: Those fireworks were a big thrill for the kids – and the adults. Some kids had never seen fireworks before and couldn’t figure how they worked. As one mother said, “I’ve never said ‘I don’t know’ so man times in one evening in my life.”

10 hours ago
From the Associated Press
National news
The front of Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple is seen in Aurora, Ill., Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)

Chicago-area Hindu community shaken but resilient after alleged mass shooting plan was thwarted

A thwarted mass shooting at a Hindu temple near Chicago is stoking new fears for the area’s South Asian community, tainting a typically joyful season of faith and family gatherings. Members of the …
By CYBELE MAYES-OSTERMAN
2 hours ago
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Trevor Megill celebrates after winning baseball's World Series, against the Tampa Bay Rays, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla.(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Brewers beat the Rays 4-1 in Game 5 to win the first World Series title in franchise history

The small-ball Milwaukee Brewers playing in the smallest market in the majors are World Series champions for the first time. Hey, Milwaukee: grab a brat, raise a beer and prepare for that parade. …
By ROB MAADDI
3 hours ago
Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy watches batting practice before Game 1 of baseball's World Series, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, in Milwaukee, between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)

Charming, cantankerous Pat Murphy at age 67 leads Brewers to first World Series title

Pat Murphy, the Milwaukee Brewers manager, has led his team to a World Series victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. Six years ago, he left American Family Field in an ambulance after a heart attack. Now, …
By RONALD BLUM
3 hours ago
Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras celebrates after winning baseball's World Series, against the Tampa Bay Rays, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Milwaukee's William Contreras wins World Series MVP with .381 average, 10 ABS overturns

William Contreras became the eighth catcher voted the World Series MVP after lifting the Milwaukee Brewers to their first World Series championship. Contreras batted .381 while guiding Milwaukee’s …
By RONALD BLUM
4 hours ago
International
FILE -A person walks past fire-ravaged residential towers of the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex after the deadly fire in November, in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei, File)

Hong Kong's housing minister resigns after fire investigation finds inadequate oversight

Hong Kong leader John Lee apologized Thursday and said his housing secretary resigned after an investigation into the city’s deadliest fire in decades found inadequate regulatory oversight. The …
2 hours ago
People walk next to a Likud party campaign ad featuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump, with a Hebrew message reading "We have one opportunity to win," in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, a day after the elections in Israel. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israelis await final election results as difficult choices lie ahead

Israelis are waiting for final election results to confirm what is becoming clear: a lack of majority for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or his opponents. Difficult decisions lie ahead, including …
By CARA ANNA and KORAL SAEED
2 hours ago
Flávio Bolsonaro arrives at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in Opa-locka, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

What to know about Brazil's Bolsonaro's departure to the US after his electoral defeat

Flávio Bolsonaro, who was defeated by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Sunday’s Brazilian elections, fled with his family to Miami after a secretive operation through Argentina and …
By MAURICIO SAVARESE
2 hours ago
FILE - In this photo provided by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during a session of the Supreme People's Assembly at parliament in Pyongyang, North Korea, on March 23, 2026. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)

North Korea launches an unidentified projectile off its east coast, South Korea says

South Korea says North Korea has launched an unidentified projectile off the North’s east coast. South Korea’s military says the launch happened Thursday but gave no further details, including …
3 hours ago