Author: Joe Viechnicki, KFSK

Strong returns of hatchery chum salmon are expected in Southeast Alaska next summer and fall. Those include the first returns of adult fish expected at a new remote release site near Petersburg, a healthy run at a site near Kake and a second strong year expected at a site south of Sitka.

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in a decade-old lawsuit against four timber sales planned on the Tongass National Forest. The federal appeals court sided with environmentalists who claimed the logging plans over estimated deer habitat in Southeast.

Managers of halibut in the Pacific Ocean are reporting another year of declining stocks in most areas of the coast. The International Pacific Halibut Commission oversees management of the fish along the coast from Alaska to California. The commission held its interim meeting Tuesday and Wednesday, November 27-28 in Seattle and heard about the latest stock assessment of the valuable flatfish.

The jury trial in a wrongful death lawsuit against the Petersburg borough for a July fourth 2016 fatal van wreck has been scheduled for early 2020. The borough, state of Alaska and driver of the van Chris Allen are being sued by the estate of Molly Parks, one of the two young women killed in that crash.

The state’s Division of Elections Monday certified results from the November 6th general election. In the race for the House seat representing Petersburg, Sitka and other Southeast Alaska island communities incumbent Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins wound up winning with nearly 57 percent of the votes.