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Most read stories

FBI Visits Sitka Home In Senate Race Probe

By ANNA LAFFREY
Sentinel Staff Writer

5 days ago

From Sitka to Juneau, JKT's Remarkable Rise

By ANNA LAFFREY
Sentinel Staff Writer

3 days ago

Missing Boater Found Dead

By Sentinel Staff
Thursday, October 29

Sitka's Own JKT Leads Governor Race

By ANNA LAFFREY
and SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writers

3 days ago

Boo and Books

2 days ago

JKT Team Predicts Outright Win in Election

By Sentinel Staff
Yesterday at 7:50 PM

Today's top stories

Sitka Planners Reject Courthouse Proposal

The planning commission meeting room at Harrigan Centennial Hall is packed with Sitkans as the commission considers a conditional use permit to allow a courthouse on the SJ campus, currently zoned R-2.
The Sitka Planning Commission turned down on a 3-0 vote a proposal for converting the Stratton Library on the SJ Campus into a new courthouse. The decision came following testimony by 16 Sitkans representing the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, and their...

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

Yesterday at 7:52 PM
Adrienne Wilber hangs tags next to her prints at the Island Artists Gallery Thursday evening. Wilber's art will be featured at the gallery during Saturday's Greater Sitka Arts Council Art Walk.

Streets to Open Saturday for Fall Art Walk

Born and raised Sitkan Adrienne Wilber was busy hanging up relief prints on the walls of the Island Artists Gallery on Thursday afternoon. And throughout the downtown Sitka area 18 other businesses and artists are making similar plans, to be...

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

Yesterday at 7:51 PM

JKT Team Predicts Outright Win in Election

Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins' campaign is showing confidence that JKT and running-mate Zac Johnson are on track to win the Alaska governor's race outright.
By Sentinel Staff
Yesterday at 7:50 PM
Rebecca Himschoot

Himschoot to Head Rules Committee in House

With the majority of general election ballots counted giving her a third term as District 2 representative, Rebecca Himschoot is looking forward to her new role in the Legislature: chairman of the House Rules Committee. Himschoot represents Sitka...

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

Yesterday at 7:49 PM
State education board member COL James Fowley awards Mike Vieira a Career and Technical Education Recognition Award from the state Department of Education and Early Development last month, on the state board's tour of local schools during its fall meeting here on Oct. 13.

School Board Honors Teacher and Students

Sitka student, teachers and coaches celebrated wins for the School District at the start of the Sitka School Board on Tuesday evening. Mike Vieira earned a Career and Technical Education Recognition Award from the state Department of Education...
By Sentinel Staff
Yesterday at 7:44 PM
Lauren Bell, Sitka Sound Science Center research director, hangs notes on a timeline of the Sitka Whale Fest this afternoon in Harrigan Centennial Hall. The timeline shows the speakers and events featured at the symposium over its 30-year history. A scrapbook of newspaper articles, posters, flyers and other items will also be on display at this year's WhaleFest, which runs through Sunday.

Sitka's WhaleFest Celebrates 30th Anniversary

Sitka WhaleFest began as a scientific festival three decades ago as a weeklong event with “more speakers than participants,” but today continues to be “a true celebration of marine life,” organizers said. Events kick off tonight with an art show...

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

2 days ago
Sports

Wolves Defeat Braves to Open Region V Volleyball Tourney

Teamwork has been a trademark of the Sitka High School and Mt. Edgecumbe High School volleyball teams all season and the first match of the 2026 Alaska Airlines Region V 3A/4A Volleyball Championships was no different as the Wolves held off the...

By KLAS STOLPE
Juneau Independent
Yesterday at 7:58 PM

SHS Wrestlers Reflect on Tourney Ahead of Weekend Dual Meet

Sitka High wrestlers racked up valuable competition experience at last weekend’s tournament in Anchorage, setting the stage for a good season ahead. The Wolves will go up against Ketchikan today and Saturday, and are looking forward to a dual...

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

Yesterday at 7:58 PM

City League Basketball Update: 11/6/26

Vangreens rolled to an 80-51 win over Ludvig’s Layups Thursday night in City League basketball at the Blatchley Middle School gymnasium. Marjo Vidad led all scorers with 35 points. City League games at Blatchley are free and open to the public....
Yesterday at 7:56 PM

Sports Calendar: 11/6/26

Tuesday, Nov. 3 6 p.m. Pick-up water polo with players of all levels begins at Mt. Edgecumbe High School Aquatic Center at 6 p.m. sharp, and runs one hour; standard pool entry is $10. 7:45 p.m. Sitka Sea Level Adventures vs. Yuyo’s Edge 8:45...
Yesterday at 7:55 PM

MEHS, SHS Volleyball Matchup Set for Tonight

Sitka High School is looking forward to two or three days of contests against Mt. Edgecumbe starting Thursday at the Region V championships in Juneau. Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe are the only two 3A schools in the region, with only the top team at...

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

2 days ago
Community News

Climate Connection: Carbon Capture and Storage

Yesterday at 7:53 PM

Climate modelers have assumed that capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from smoke stacks, fossil gas extraction, and the atmosphere and storing it underground will work at scale to turn around our now inevitable overshoot of keeping global average...

Emblem Club Meets Nov. 12
Yesterday at 7:51 PM
Police blotter

Police Blotter
November 6, 2026

Police Blotter Sitka Police Department logged the following calls Thursday. Thursday, November 5 A resident reported getting a scam call, but said no information was given to the caller. At 10:41 a.m. a caller said an elderly neighbor had...

Yesterday at 7:51 PM
Obituaries
Dave Turcott Dies at 81; Memorial to Be Nov. 8
Long-time Sitka resident Dave Turcott passed away peacefully at home in the early morning hours of August 29, 2026, at the age of 81. Although he had been diagnosed with cancer and was in treatment, he was responding well and had a good prognosis....
2 days ago
Dennis C. Bernhoft Dies; Service to be Wednesday
Dennis Charles Bernhoft, a longtime Sitka psychologist, passed away in Sitka on Oct. 20, 2026. A potluck service will be held Wednesday, Nov. 4, celebrating what would have been his 67th birthday. It will be noon to 2 p.m. at 700 Katlian St. Suite...
5 days ago
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...
Thursday, October 29
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
Alaska News

Peltola campaign sues Alaska, seeking to reveal the names of rejected absentee voters

The campaign of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola sued the Alaska Division of Elections on Friday in an attempt to make public the names of Alaskans whose absentee ballots have been rejected by the division. The suit was filed Friday in Anchorage Superior Court by Alaskans For Mary, and it named the Division, its […]
By James Brooks
Yesterday at 8:51 PM
President Donald Trump talks to reporters during a tour of White House Ballroom construction at the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Latest: Trump concedes Iran war impact on elections but insists he’d ‘do it again’

President Donald Trump must now decide what to do about his unpopular 8-month-old war against Iran. For weeks, Trump threatened a post-election full-scale bombardment if Tehran didn’t accept his …
By The Associated Press
Yesterday at 8:04 PM

New outbreak of mpox in Anchorage prompts advisory from state health officials

A rare viral disease has emerged in an outbreak in Alaska’s largest city that appears to be expanding, state health officials report. There are now four new cases in Anchorage of mpox, a viral disease formerly called monkeypox that is spread through close contact and can be fatal. None of the patients reported traveling outside […]
By Yereth Rosen
Yesterday at 8:00 PM
Find us on Facebook

Sitka Yesterday
November 6, 2026

20 YEARS AGO

November 2006 

Sitka Historical Society will host a wine-tasting party to kick off its 50th anniversary in 2007. Tickets are $30. Over-40 Knot Winds will play and a silent auction of framed photos from the Photo Shop Studio featuring Sitka in the 1950s is planned.

50 YEARS AGO

November 1976

Advertisement: The Veterans Day Banquet will be held Friday, Nov. 12, at the American Legion Hall. From 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. will be cocktails. Dinner will be at 7:30 p.m. All Veterans and Wives invited. Guest Speaker: Dept. Adj. Bill Kelm

Yesterday at 7:51 PM
From the Associated Press
National news
Options traders, including Ravi Bhandari, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

From high-flying AI stocks to tariff-hit alcohol companies, the midterms shook up Wall Street

The overwhelming victory by the Democrats in the midterm elections shook up Wall Street this week. The biggest tremors were felt in shares of companies tied to the boom in artificial intelligence on …
By DAMIAN TROISE
3 hours ago
Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Scott Colom, right, talks with owner Maati Jone Primm during a campaign stop at Marshall's Music and Book Store, which is recognized as the oldest Black-owned bookstore in the U.S., Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

Scott Colom and Black Mississippians stand on the cusp of Senate history as vote count stretches on

Democrat Scott Colom hasn't won Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race, but the local prosecutor was welcomed as a historic figure as he strolled through the Jackson business district where civil rights …
By BILL BARROW and SOPHIE BATES
4 hours ago

2 licensed skydivers die midair in California after their parachutes become entangled

Two skydivers have died after a midair collision during an event in California. Skydive Elsinore says the accident happened Friday and involved two licensed skydivers. The free fall and parachute …
4 hours ago
Displaced Palestinians walk through a rain-soaked tent camp following heavy rainfall in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Iran says it has lifted its self-imposed limit on missile ranges, and other Mideast news

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it has lifted the self-imposed limit on its ballistic missile range. This move suggests Iran may develop missiles capable of reaching more distant targets amid fears …
By The Associated Press
5 hours ago
International
Pope Leo XIV Friday opened a South American tour in Uruguay, a country with deep secular roots. The Vatican estimated 30,000 people turned out along his route and at the ceremony. Crowds welcomed the pontiff as he rode through Montevideo in his popemobile before joining President Yamandú Orsi for a formal reception. (AP Video by: Silvia Stellacci, Martín Silva Rey and Luciano Paglia; Production by Paolo Santalucia)

With an ode to mate, pope urges faithful in Uruguay to build bridges of fraternity and faith

Pope Leo XIV urged an estimated 40,000 people in Uruguay on Saturday to build bridges of fraternity and faith. He used his first Mass in South America to deliver an ode to the region’s beloved mate …
By ISABEL DE BRE and NICOLE WINFIELD
3 hours ago
FILE - People participate in a "No Kings" protest against U.S. President Donald Trump near the U.S. embassy in Ottawa on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP, file)

After the US midterm rout of Trumpism, the world struggles to trust America again

The U.S. midterm rout of President Donald Trump's stewardship doesn't mean the world trusts America again. Interviews by Associated Press journalists around the world revealed that the Trump …
By LAURIE KELLMAN
3 hours ago

An airstrike has killed 25 people near Yemen's capital, Houthi official says

Airstrikes in a village near Yemen's capital, Sanaa, have killed 25 people and wounded 30 others, mostly women and children, according to a spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi-run Health Ministry. He …
By AHMED HATEM and SALLY ABOU ALJOUD
3 hours ago
Rescue workers clear rubble to recover bodies from an underground school destroyed in a Russian airstrike in Komyshuvakha, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Missiles target Kyiv and injure 5 as Ukraine prepares for talks with Russia and the US

Missile explosions have struck Kyiv, injuring at least five people, as Ukraine prepares for new talks with Russia and the United States. Negotiators from the three countries are set to meet Tuesday …
4 hours ago