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Most read stories

Parade and Traditions Mark 2026 Alaska Day

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

Friday, October 16

Data Center Control New Issue for Sitka

By ANNA LAFFREY
Sentinel Staff Writer

2 days ago

JKT Brings Campaign, With Music, to Town

By MAYA GRAHAM
Special to the Sentinel
Friday, October 16

Police Chief Hall Warns of Fentanyl Danger

By ANNA LAFFREY
Sentinel Staff Writer

Wednesday, October 14

Ketchikan Landslide Limits Electric Service

By Sentinel Staff
2 days ago

Today's top stories

Fond Memories

FOND MEMORIES - Scott Saline hands out bags of freshly cooked rockfish at his Sea Daddy restaurant on Katlian Street Friday. Saline was offering free lunch to everyone to honor his good friend and long-time Sitka fisherman Jeff Stewart, who died after falling in the harbor in December 2023. Saline recalled an Alaska Day celebration in the 1980s when a fisherman marched in the parade wearing a huge hollowed out ling cod head dragging fishing gear, to the delight of many.
FOND MEMORIES - Scott Saline hands out bags of freshly cooked rockfish at his Sea Daddy restaurant on Katlian Street Friday. Saline was offering free lunch to everyone to honor his good friend and long-time Sitka fisherman Jeff Stewart, who died...
Yesterday at 7:40 PM

Public Help Sought On Parks-Rec Plan

The Sitka Parks and Recreation Division and the Sitka Recreation Foundation will host an open house Thursday to gather input from Sitkans to help build a long range Parks and Recreation Master Plan for Sitka. The open house is 4 to 7 p.m. at...
By Noemi Nejedla, special to the Sentinel, and Sentinel Staff
Yesterday at 7:40 PM
A photo taken on Friday shows the damage to the Ketchikan Public Utilities Ward Cove Substation caused by a landslide on Thursday.

Ketchikan Landslide Limits Electric Service

A landslide north of Ketchikan on Thursday ‘catastrophically’ disabled the Ketchikan Public Utilities electrical substation at Ward Cove, prompting local utility crews to reroute power to customers on Ketchikan's north end via two other...
By Sentinel Staff
2 days ago

Data Center Control New Issue for Sitka

City leaders are recommending changes to city zoning code concerning data center development in Sitka, as data center development proposals are popping up in Southeast and across Alaska. At a regular meeting 7 p.m. Wednesday at Centennial Hall,...

By ANNA LAFFREY
Sentinel Staff Writer

2 days ago
Attendees at the 2025 Alaska Day Ball twirl to the music of the Seattle Firefighters Pipes & Drums band Friday night at Harrigan Centennial Hall.

Parade and Traditions Mark 2026 Alaska Day

A full slate of Alaska Day Festival and other activities will lead up to Alaska Day itself on Sunday, October 18. The packed schedule will include the Alaska Day Ball, parade, and a re-enactment of the October 18, 1867, transfer ceremony atop...

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

Friday, October 16
Sports

Wolves Top Braves in Fourth Head-to-Head

The Sitka Wolves bounced back from last week’s loss to Mt. Edgecumbe with a strong performance in their home gym Tuesday, defeating the Braves in their fourth meeting of the volleyball season ahead of the teams' final faceoff at the Region V...

By ANNA LAFFREY
Sentinel Staff Writer

Yesterday at 7:21 PM
Sitka High School students Caellum Wentzel and Lazaria Kubacki give a command performance of "The Man Who Can't Dance" Saturday at the Performing Arts Center.

Sitka High and MEHS Host, Compete at Local DDF Tourney

Dozens of kids from around Southeast performed their best dramatic pieces and made their most compelling arguments at the drama, debate and forensics tournament Friday and Saturday at Sitka High. Schools competing in the regular season DDF...

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

Yesterday at 7:21 PM

City League Basketball Update: 10/21/26

The 2026 City League basketball season continued Tuesday night at the Blatchley Middle School gymnasium, with Blanco’s Buckets defeating Yuyo’s Edge 83-71. Connor Dunlap led all scorers with 34 points. Hard Rock Construction also beat Sitka Sea...
Yesterday at 7:19 PM

Sports Calendar: 10/21/26

Friday, Oct. 23 3 p.m. Sitka volleyball C team plays Ketchikan @ Home 5 p.m. Sitka JV volleyball team plays Ketchikan @ Home 7 p.m. Sitka varsity volleyball team plays Ketchikan @ Home Southeast wrestling teams, including Sitka and Mt....
Yesterday at 7:18 PM
Sitka High School seniors line up with family members for Senior Night after their meet Saturday at the Mt. Edgecumbe Aquatic Center. Swimmers pictured (in swim gear), from left, are Zach Martens, Taryn Fleming, Corin Colliver, James Nellis and Elliott Galanin. (Photo provided to the Sentinel)

SHS Swimmers Post Top Times; Seniors Honored

Sitka High swimmers posted some of their best times at the Sitka Invitational Friday and Saturday at the Mt. Edgecumbe Aquatic Center. After the second meet Saturday, coaches, friends and families honored the five seniors on the Wolves...

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

2 days ago
Community News

Safeguarding Youths is Topic Of YAS Event

Yesterday at 7:42 PM

The third annual Community Education Series Safeguarding Youth of Alaska will be held Oct. 27-28, hosted virtually and in person at Harrigan Centennial Hall. The event starts at noon on Tuesday, Oct. 27, with a lunch-and-learn, ‘‘FBI: Online...

Running of Boots On Halloween
Yesterday at 7:42 PM
Hames to Offer BB Open Gym
Yesterday at 7:42 PM
PUMPKIN PATCH
Friday, October 16
Police blotter

Police Blotter
October 21, 2026

Police Blotter Sitka Police Department logged the following calls Tuesday. Tuesday, October 20 At 7:32 a.m. a caller reported traffic cones had blown into the roadway at the O'Connell Bridge. The cones were moved out of the way. Police helped...

Yesterday at 7:42 PM
Obituaries
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
Wrangell Teacher, Coach Phil Wayne Dies in Sitka
Phillip I. Wayne passed away peacefully at his home in Sitka on Monday, September 27, at the age of 89. Phil’s arrival on February 7, 1937, in Corbin, Kentucky, was prominently featured in the Corbin Times as the first Caesarean birth in Laurel...
Friday, October 9
SE Alaskan Harlan Adams Dies at 86
Harlan J. Adams passed away on May 26, 2026, at Swedish Hospital, Cherry Hill Campus, Seattle, Washington. Harlan was born on February 9, 1940, in Yakutat, Alaska. He and his family moved to Kake, Alaska in 1953. Harlan married Lavina on May 13,...
Monday, October 5
Alaska News

Commentary: Cook Inlet’s gas shortage has become Fairbanks’ diesel bill

On October 12, Golden Valley Electric Association asked its cooperative members to conserve electricity and prepare for possible controlled power outages. Scheduled maintenance, compounded by an unexpected shutdown of a unit at its North Pole Power Plant, had left the utility running all remaining available generation with very little reserve. Coming just before winter, after […]
By Gwen Holdmann
Yesterday at 7:35 PM

After successive damaging ex-typhoons, Western Alaska considers future storms

A year after a Pacific storm largely destroyed villages in Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and prompted the biggest air evacuation in state history, people in the region are bracing for repeat occurrences. Among them is Johnny Andrew Jr. of Kwigillingok, a Yup’ik village of about 400 people, most of whom were evacuated when the storm hit. […]
By Yereth Rosen
Yesterday at 5:41 PM

Revealed: The money behind the last-minute fringe candidate ad blitz in Alaska’s U.S. Senate primary

A left-leaning dark money organization and a GOP fund were among the groups behind the last-minute blitz of cash into Alaska’s U.S. Senate primary in August, when super PACs flooded the state with ads for fringe candidates on both the left and right, according to new filings with federal campaign finance regulators. The ads were […]
By Nathaniel Herz, Anchorage Press
Yesterday at 4:00 PM
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Sitka Yesterday
October 21, 2026

20 YEARS AGO

October 2006 

Photo caption: Alaska State Trooper Larry Nicholson swears in members of the Keystone Kops near the Prospector statue. The troupe includes Diane Falk, Kim Smith, Lori Pettigrew, Cyndy Gephart, Jenny Houx, Jodie Bellows, Bernie Salt, Rachel Fate and Joan Berge.

50 YEARS AGO

October 1976

Alaska’s 1867 transfer from Russia to America will be celebrated with three days of events. Military personnel, Mrs. Jay Hammond and U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel will be among guests. Fireworks, Coast Guard aerial displays, dedication of a totem pole, and traditional events including the re-enactment of the transfer ceremony, Alaska Day Ball, Governor’s Tea, concerts, a parade, beard judging, parties and fund-raising by the Keystone Cops.

Yesterday at 7:08 PM
From the Associated Press
National news
In this photo taken with a smartphone, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, standing with Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, join a church luncheon after Sunday services at the Worship Center of Toledo on Oct. 18, 2026, in Toledo, Ohio. (AP Photo/Lisa Mascaro)

Jeffries says Democrats 'on the verge' of winning the House. It puts speaker's gavel in reach

Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is on track to become House speaker if his party sweeps to power in midterm elections and elects him to the job. Jeffries has been campaigning across the country in …
By LISA MASCARO
2 hours ago
Raffi poses for a portrait on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Toronto. (Photo by Arthur Mola/Invision/AP)

Children's singer Raffi on his 50-year career, screen time and Ms. Rachel

The beloved children's musician Raffi continues to charm audiences with his timeless songs. Fifty years after his debut children's album, his music remains a staple for young children. Raffi's latest …
By R.J. RICO
2 hours ago
FILE - Clouds form over pumpjacks and power transmission towers on Lake Maracaibo in Cabimas, Venezuela, Sept. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

Venezuela claims to have 300 billion barrels of oil in the ground. But experts say that's a stretch

One figure sets Venezuela apart from the rest of the world: 303 billion barrels of so-called proven oil reserves. But experts say the country’s estimate is inherently problematic and far from …
By REGINA GARCIA CANO and COLLIN BINKLEY
2 hours ago
FILE - Department of Elections workers sort mail-in ballots for the California primary election at City Hall on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

Voting-related measures on November ballots include a voter ID push targeting mail-in ballots

Advocates for stricter voter ID laws are pushing new measures in some states to require driver's license or partial Social Security numbers on mail-in ballots. In California, Colorado and Nevada, …
By DAVID A. LIEB
2 hours ago
International

Australian coroner moved to tears by the death of a child denied insulin on religious grounds

An Australian coroner was moved to tears after hearing from the sister of an 8-year-old girl who died when her insulin was withheld by her parents on religious grounds. Elizabeth Struhs died of …
2 hours ago
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire after a Russian missile attack in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Russia pounds Ukraine's capital Kyiv with missiles and drones, hours after agreeing to peace talks

Ukrainian authorities say that Russian attacks on Kyiv with ballistic missiles and drones have killed one person and injured 22. The strikes overnight into Thursday came hours after the Kremlin …
2 hours ago
FILE - A general view of the exterior of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana, File)

European Union awards top rights prize to International Criminal Court days after Trump sanctions

The International Criminal Court and its officials have won the European Union’s top human rights honor. It's called the Sakharov Prize. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced the …
2 hours ago
Trucks are parked along the street during a truckers' protest in Naples, Italy, over high fuel prices, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (Alessandro Garofalo/LaPresse via AP)

A truckers’ protest halts the production of Italy's famed buffalo mozzarella

A truckers' protest in southern Italy has halted the making of buffalo mozzarella, blocking an estimated 3 million euros in production in just 24 hours. The milk can't reach dairies in the Naples …
By GIADA ZAMPANO
2 hours ago