Somewhere Right Now: 07:00 in Sitka AK 🇺🇸 — KCAW FM 104.7 Raven Radio

0:10 Spreker 1 Those are the two cuts.

0:11 Spreker 2 After the mission is over, the crew gathers in Petersburg's harbor. They stand around the gillnet that trapped the whale, which is laid out on the dock. Lyman debriefs with the crew, pointing out where Whitaker made the cuts. That's a cut. Lyman says that it was great working with the Petersburg team.

0:26 Spreker 4 So they have a long history here of working with the community, working with the fishermen,

0:30 Spreker 5 and boy, that's really refreshing. You need those key people, and Petersburg had a lot of those key people.

0:37 Spreker 2 And for Whitaker, this was a big deal.

0:39 Spreker 5 This was actually the first one that I got to cut, so I was pretty excited about that.

0:44 Spreker 3 It felt pretty good.

0:47 Spreker 2 Then, as the sun begins to set behind the mountains surrounding the harbor, the crew loads up the gear into their cars and heads home. In Petersburg, I'm Baise Hoen.

0:57 Spreker 3 This has been Raven News. This is Morning Edition on Raven Radio, KCAW Sitka.

1:06 Spreker 1 It's one minute after 7 o'clock.

1:08 Spreker 3 We're heading into NPR headlines and Alaska Morning News next.

1:15 Spreker 1 Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston.

1:19 Spreker 3 Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy says he'll back President Trump's pick for Attorney General. Cassidy, considered a pivotal vote, announced his decision to support the nomination of Todd Blanch on the Senate floor just a short time ago.

1:34 Spreker 5 This is not a referendum on President Trump. It is a decision regarding Mr. Blanch in very specific circumstances. All considered, I will vote for Mr. Blanch. I'll be criticized for this vote. What's new? But the people of Louisiana can be assured that I worked hard to understand the issue and to make the right decision.

1:56 Spreker 3 decision. Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have said they plan to vote no.

2:03 Spreker 1 Senator Mitch McConnell is absent, leaving Republicans with no other votes to spare.

2:09 Spreker 3 Blanche has faced questions about the Justice Department's independence and a now-canceled fund for January 6 rioters. Blanche is serving as Acting Attorney General and previously worked

2:21 Spreker 1 as President Trump's personal lawyer.

2:24 Spreker 3 The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan

2:27 Spreker 1 have signed a joint defense agreement today.

2:29 Spreker 3 That's according to a statement published by the Turkish President's Office.

2:34 Spreker 1 NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi reports the President of Turkey,

2:38 Spreker 3 the Saudi Crown Prince, and the Prime Minister of Pakistan

2:41 Spreker 1 signed the deal in the city of Mecca.

2:43 Spreker 3 Details of the agreement were not immediately released, but the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said that it was intended to to quote, strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression. This deal comes as tensions in the Middle East rise with fears of a widening war between the United States and Iran. The agreement would combine the strengths of Saudi Arabia as an oil-rich country, Pakistan a nuclear power, and Turkey, which has NATO's second largest military and a growing defense industry. Hadil Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Istanbul. Patients and medical researchers are calling on prediction

3:16 Spreker 1 prediction market sites to ban betting on clinical trials. NPR's Bobby Allen reports

3:22 Spreker 3 calci and polymarkets say the markets offer valuable information. Prediction market sites calci and polymarket are facing a backlash for allowing bettors to

3:30 Spreker 1 wager money on the outcome of clinical trials. The companies say the betting can keep patients

3:35 Spreker 3 ahead of the latest medical breakthroughs, but Joshua Pedersen sees it differently. His 12-year-old son is a cancer patient in a clinical trial, and he says betting against Hence, the trial's success is effectively trying to make money on his sick child.

3:47 Spreker 4 One of the things that has struck me about these platforms is that they're flashy and they're gamified in such a way that you're often kind of distanced from the real cost.

3:59 Spreker 3 Drug researchers have started an online petition asking that the platforms ban such markets, but the companies claim they could make the opaque drug discovery process

4:07 Spreker 6 more transparent.

4:08 Spreker 1 Bobby Allen, NPR News.

4:10 Spreker 3 This is NPR News in Washington.

4:18 Spreker 5 you're listening to statewide news from alaska public media i'm ava white the alaska division of elections is sending follow-up letters to most of the 3 000 voters it struck from the active voter list this summer the division's director said the change in voter status was based at least partly on old driver's license data that suggested the people were not citizens even though the division of elections record showed they were citizens often that's because an immigrant got a driver's license as a non-citizen and later naturalized a bipartisan

4:52 Spreker 3 group of legislators said the state's action threatened to deprive lawful citizens of their

4:57 Spreker 5 right to vote they asked the division to restore each voter status unless it could establish they were ineligible the division of elections is not doing that the new letter to deactivated voters like the one the division sent last month asks that they affirm they are u.s citizens citizens this letter though also informs them that they can vote a question ballot elections director Carol Beecher wrote legislators Thursday to update them on the status of the suspected non-citizens she said of the 3058 people who got the original letter about 685 affirmed their citizenship and have been moved back to the active voter list more than 100 people reported they are not citizens and asked the division to cancel their voter registration about 350 letters came back as undeliverable. About 1,900 people have not responded to the original letter and remain in a status feature called inactive non-citizen. She said that's an administrative flag that doesn't prevent any eligible citizen from voting. The Metlakatla Indian community received over $16 million from the federal government to increase salmon hatchery production. The money will be used for infrastructure improvements to the Tamgis Creek Hatchery, which the tribe owns and operates. Metlakatla Mayor Albert Smith says the tribe had to apply for the money, and that whole process took a lot of time and effort.

6:21 Spreker 1 A lot of work went into it, and it was the course of years. It was paused for a little while with the new administration, but we'd worked through all that.

6:33 Spreker 2 We're very excited to be getting the funding.

6:36 Spreker 5 The money comes from the Inflation Reduction Act, Act, a climate mitigation law that passed in 2022. Funds were distributed to federally recognized tribal hatcheries across the Pacific Northwest. The money will be used to build new water lines coming from the lake and throughout the hatchery. The tribe also plans on modernizing the fish ladder and egg-taking equipment. Smith says the project is shovel-ready and the design work is done. He hopes to begin construction next year. This is Alaska Public Media.

7:07 Spreker 3 The Alaska Morning News is brought to you in part by your local public radio station.

7:14 Spreker 5 Public media runs on membership.

7:16 Spreker 3 Thank you for supporting this station with a donation today. Planned Gifts is a bequest to your local station builds a legacy that is long-lasting.

7:25 Spreker 4 Thanks for considering this option. Support for NPR comes from NPR stations.

7:30 Spreker 3 Other contributors include EBSCO, committed to providing perpetual access to print and digital books for libraries and the communities they serve.

7:39 Spreker 4 Learn more at EBSCO.com and the listeners who support this NPR.

7:44 Spreker 1 It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Laila Faudel in Washington, D.C. And I'm Ian Martinez in Culver City, California. Now, we know more today about an agreement between Iran and Oman to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. In a few minutes, we'll get analysis of the current agreement from a former U.S. diplomat to Oman. But first, some more context on the evolving conversations about the critical shipping route, out, which goes through the territorial waters of Iran and Oman. Ships have not been able to pass freely since the war began in February, blockaded by Iran and then the U.S. To discuss what this agreement might entail, we're joined now by reporter Samir Hashmi in Dubai. So what new details do we have based on discussions in Iran's parliament?

8:29 Spreker 4 Well, the Iran state media shared details of the agreement with Oman on Thursday.

8:33 Spreker 5 day. According to Iran, the deal bans any American or Israeli vessels passing through the Strait of

8:40 Spreker 4 Hormuz. It will also fine violators with up to 20% of cargo value. And countries and individuals deemed to have caused damage to Iran would be denied passage through the Strait and the Persian Gulf until Iran is compensated for war damages. Iran says it will also be responsible for navigation guidance, monitoring vessel traffic, maritime security, and environmental protection.

9:06 Spreker 5 Iran has also denied reports of a disagreement with Oman on toll charges. The fee, according to the draft shared by Iranian media, would be a combination of many variables. And as Iran said earlier this week, this all remains conditional on Washington ending its blockade of Iranian ports.

9:24 Spreker 1 As of now, Oman has still not commented on any of this.

9:27 Spreker 5 Okay. What about the reaction of other Gulf countries? There hasn't been any official response on the draft from other Gulf countries yet, but all of them have been pushing for a de-escalation. Even during the course of the war, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar were attacked by Iran, and none of the oil

9:44 Spreker 4 producers, the Gulf oil producers, have been able to export oil through the Strait of Hormuz,

9:49 Spreker 5 which is also having a severe impact on their economies. So they are keen to have an agreement

9:55 Spreker 4 in place at the earliest that would allow the Strait of Hormuz to be unblocked.

9:58 Spreker 5 And in the past, the Gulf countries have officially rejected Iran's proposal to manage and control the Strait of Hormuz. They've called it a gross violation of international law and undermining the international maritime organization. Now, in the meantime, though,

10:14 Spreker 3 the Houthi rebels carried out attacks against Saudi Arabia yesterday. Can you share any details on

10:19 Spreker 5 Yes, the attack was carried out inside Saudi Arabia's territory in the southern Najran province on Thursday. It injured 11 civilians, according to the Saudi military.

10:32 Spreker 4 There was no immediate comments from the Houthis, but the Iranian-backed militia has increased

10:37 Spreker 5 attacks against Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, including attacks on Saudi oil vessels in the

10:43 Spreker 4 the Red Sea that has disrupted oil supplies from the country. Now, the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, the two were locked in a war for many years that ended in a truce in 2022. But the latest escalation

10:56 Spreker 3 risks unraveling that ceasefire. The Houthis also said that they attacked military camps in central

11:02 Spreker 4 Yemen yesterday, killing dozens of Yemeni government troops, which are backed by Saudi

11:08 Spreker 5 Arabia. All right, that's Samir Hashmi in Dubai. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

11:12 Spreker 1 For more on negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz, we turn to Mark Seavers. He served as a U.S. diplomat for more than 30 years, including as U.S. ambassador to Oman from 2016 to 2019. Ambassador, good morning and welcome to the program.

11:27 Spreker 4 Good morning. Great to be on PR.

11:29 Spreker 1 It's so nice to have you. So Oman is not commenting on these talks with Iran. So the only details we know are coming from Iran. Given your expertise, give us your insights into how these talks might be playing out.

11:42 Spreker 4 It's very interesting because the dialogue between Iran and Oman has been going on since the early days of the war, I think going back to March. The first Omani delegation went to Iran to talk about the Strait of Hormuz. It's interesting as well that the Omanis have not commented on the version of the agreement that's being put out in the Iranian media. media. But what I can say at this point is from everything that I can see, this will not be acceptable to the United States. I don't see how it can be. Now, what seems interesting is the U.S.

12:22 Spreker 1 seems almost on the sidelines to these negotiations. Would Oman enter negotiations that actually cut the U.S. out entirely? Well, I'm sure there's a channel for keeping the U.S.

12:34 Spreker 4 informed of uh of the negotiations so but the the actual parties to the talks as far as i can tell have been uh iran and oman directly um so uh i there's president trump has mentioned several times ongoing negotiations with iran i i don't know how those are taking place you know there's There's a lot of ambiguity about all this. But again, coming back to the substance of it, the United States can't accept at least the version that's been put out in the Iranian media. At least that's my expectation.

13:12 Spreker 1 Would Oman actually agree to these terms given that their U.S. ally wouldn't? And that includes the banning of U.S. and Israeli ships passing through the strait until Iran is compensated for war damages and tolls. Iran says that they would charge on other ships allowed through.

13:30 Spreker 4 Again, we need to hear from the Omanis. I think it would be surprising for them to play this according to the Iranian script entirely. There have been other versions put out by Oman previously, including one calling for using a narrow passage that would be neither in Omani nor Iranian territorial waters. But Iran did not accept that. And, of course, periodically Iran has also attacked Oman, not as intensively as some of the other Gulf states, but they've been struck several times, including in the Musandam Peninsula, which borders the Strait of Hormuz. So it's an interesting process.

14:19 Spreker 1 I mean, the U.S. seems very eager to get out of this war and also seems unable to get out of this war. I mean, who has the leverage here when it comes to negotiations that would benefit each party? Will Iran come out of this with partial control of the Strait of Hormuz?

14:38 Spreker 4 I don't know. I think you're correct that the U.S. is looking for a way out. But it seems to me a way out that leaves Iran in control of the Strait of Hormuz, or at least a mechanism that acknowledges Iran's ability to impose its views on who passes and who doesn't, is a tremendous setback for the United States. So I just can't see how President Trump could accept that. but who knows? We're all watching this, wondering what's coming next.

15:16 Spreker 1 Oman played the role of mediator before this war began and came on US television saying a deal is in place, there's a diplomatic deal, and then the US and Israel attacked and this war began. Why are they putting themselves in this position again of mediator when so often these agreements

15:35 Spreker 4 agreements seem to just fall apart. I do think you're right. The Omanis were in a mediating role earlier on. I think the view in Washington, at least among the administration, is that they effectively disqualified themselves by appearing to side with the Iranians at the very beginning. They've been brought in, again, I think probably because of the practical aspects of the you know, the maritime passage being between them and the Iranians. And perhaps the Iranians have more confidence in Oman than they do in the Qataris and the Pakistanis. I don't really know.

16:17 Spreker 1 Former U.S. Ambassador to Oman, Mark Seavers, thank you for your time and your insights.

16:22 Spreker 4 My pleasure. Thank you.

16:23 Spreker 1 Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell says he's been discharged from his rehabilitation facility

16:28 Spreker 3 and will continue to recover from home. Here's Kentucky Public Radio's Sylvia Goodman. In a series of emails, Senator McConnell has provided statements with updates about his health

16:39 Spreker 1 and photos, but these have actually stirred up more speculation and even conspiracy theories

16:45 Spreker 3 about the aging senator's health. In a previous statement, McConnell said that he fell and briefly

16:50 Spreker 1 lost consciousness, landing him in the hospital on June 14th. Then he says he picked up pneumonia during his hospitalization. Now that he's discharged, McConnell said in the most recent statement he will continue an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home. Objections have

17:05 Spreker 3 been severe from McConnell's critics, who say he hasn't been transparent enough with his

17:09 Spreker 1 constituents. Kentucky's Democratic Governor Andy Beshear sent a letter late last month

17:14 Spreker 3 telling him to be straight with Kentuckians or resign. He even criticized McConnell's junior colleague, Senator Rand Paul, for voting to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress for not

17:25 Spreker 5 answering questions during a hearing on COVID-19. So 85-year-old Anthony Fauci should be held in contempt in jail for not answering questions to Americans, but 84-year-old Mitch McConnell gets a complete and total pass after not showing up to work for seven weeks. It's a huge double standard. It's entirely partisan. That was before McConnell's statement, but Beshear has been adamant that

17:45 Spreker 3 McConnell should address his constituents via video or media interview instead of in writing. Adam Hope is the communications director for the Republican Party of Kentucky. He says the 84-year-old senator has been working actively with his staff and will be able to do that even better now that he's recovering from home.

18:02 Spreker 4 I feel like the senator has been very forthright with the people of Kentucky.

18:05 Spreker 1 You know, he's released multiple statements, photographs,

18:08 Spreker 3 things of that nature that prove that he's still able to maintain his duties.

18:13 Spreker 1 At the annual Fancy Farm political picnic this past weekend in western Kentucky, an event he usually makes a point of attending, McConnell was noticeably absent.

18:22 Spreker 3 Republican attendees had mixed feelings about McConnell, who doesn't always vote the way President Trump wants him to. Many said they want to make sure Kentuckians are fully represented in the Senate. Some hoped he'd get better in time to pass the torch. McConnell's term ends in early January after a four-decade-long career, and the race to replace him is well underway.

18:41 Spreker 5 From PR News, I'm Sylvia Goodman in Louisville, Kentucky.

19:12 Spreker 4 This is NPR News.

19:14 Spreker 3 Are you a teen interested in developing your leadership skills and promoting respect, equity, and healthy relationships in our schools and community?

19:22 Spreker 5 If so, join the Sika Youth Leadership Committee or Peer Education. We are youth-led groups that make weekly to organize and participate in projects, panel discussions, workshops, presentations,

19:32 Spreker 3 and statewide conferences.

19:33 Spreker 5 These groups are a great place to create new friendships

19:36 Spreker 4 and help the community.

19:37 Spreker 3 If you'd like to apply, visit sikayouthleadership.com.

19:42 Spreker 5 Brought to you by SAFE.

19:53 Spreker 3 Good morning, it's 19 minutes after 7 o'clock. You're listening to Raven Radio, KCAW in Sitka. Today is Friday, August 7th, 2026. Taking a look at the cruise ship schedule for today, Sitka will be docking the Seven Seas Explorer from 9am to 5pm, with 750 passengers on board. board. Sitka will also be docking the Queen Elizabeth from 8 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. with over 2,000 passengers. And now taking a quick look at the community calendar, Sitka Public Library hosts the Big Ideas Book Club August 18th through September 24th. Tanuki Springs' first First Friday Barbecue is 12.30 p.m. Friday, August 7th at the Ferry Dock. Amanda Reyes and Tobias Hunt lead salsa and bachata dance class for all levels, 6 p.m. tonight at the Mean Queen Dungeon. I'll be back at the bottom of the hour with a quick look at the weather for our listening area.

21:15 Spreker 1 Support for NPR comes from this station, and from Schwab, where investors have a range of choices to pursue investing goals, from self-directed investing to full-service wealth management, all in one place. More at schwab.com.

21:30 Spreker 3 From the estate of Joan B. Kroc, whose bequest serves as an enduring investment in the future of public radio, and seeks to help NPR produce programming that meets the highest standards

21:41 Spreker 1 of public service in journalism and cultural expression.

21:45 Spreker 3 From Odoo, an all-in-one business management software platform for small or large businesses with the goal of being flexible and scalable. Learn more at odoo.com slash NPR.

22:00 Spreker 6 And from the Public Welfare Foundation.

22:05 Spreker 1 This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm A. Martinez. And I'm Leila Faldil. When I sat down with the actor Hannah Waddingham, she was loving life. Her shows Ted Lasso and Ride or Die are dominating on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.

22:21 Spreker 6 Number one, my friend, number one. It's a moment. On both platforms. Let's just call it as it is.

22:27 Spreker 1 It's awesome. Congratulations.

22:28 Spreker 6 I'd like to think it's all me. It's absolutely not. But I'm going to dine out on it, even if it lasts for one day.

22:34 Spreker 1 In Ride or Die, she's a bombshell secret assassin who has to go on the run with her bestie. In Ted Lasso, she's Rebecca Welton, an imposing English soccer club owner, figuring out who she is post-divorce. She hires an American football coach who knows nothing about soccer, also football in the UK, hoping he will be a disaster for the AFC Richmond team, which was her ex-husband's prized possession. But she ends up loving the sport and the coach, Ted Lasso, played by Jason Sudeikis. When season four begins, Rebecca is in Kansas City asking Ted to come back to England.

23:11 Spreker 6 We want you to coach our women's team.

23:13 Spreker 4 Are you trying to sabotage this team now, too, or something?

23:15 Spreker 6 No, quite the opposite. Last time, I hired you for all the wrong reasons. This time, I absolutely want to hire you for all the right ones.

23:24 Spreker 1 Immediately, though, Rebecca gets called out for not considering a woman to coach the team, and she questions herself, am I a feminist?

23:32 Spreker 6 There's a beautiful scene with Rebecca's mom. She's clearly been indoctrinated from birth by this mother saying that very much so in a very passive way and in a playful way that women are inferior to men. And Rebecca doesn't notice that until she's called out.

23:53 Spreker 1 But there is a version of that, I think, for all of us where we realize, oh, wait, no, we have been raised with these sort of internalized things.

24:02 Spreker 6 We've been passively indoctrinated generationally that women are less than. For sure. I was myself. Yeah, same. But I suppose the sliding doors of myself and Rebecca Welton are that Rebecca doesn't realize until she's the age she is. Whereas I realized probably when I was about 15. You're like, wait a second. That there was a male dominance in my family and that my mom was also indoctrinated by it. I don't mind saying.

24:31 Spreker 1 This is a fictional story, but it is playing out a conversation we're having in the real world about the appeal of women's sports. So there are these big questions about can we make money off a women's team? Is it a drain on the men's team, which we already know is popular? Is this fictional story a story for the real world?

24:51 Spreker 6 Oh, my gosh, is it ever. And it's a story that's long overdue. You know, whenever I've been to see any women's sports in Britain, it's just empty seats. I mean, I love the fact that in the show, the way the writers have written our new girls, where they are just accepting of it. Wait, so hold on, do you all have to share this room?

25:12 Spreker 3 Only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and every other Saturday.

25:16 Spreker 6 But on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we get to keep our toiletries overnight.

25:18 Spreker 4 Oh, OK. So there are showers.

25:21 Spreker 5 And there's one shower.

25:22 Spreker 1 And one toilet.

25:23 Spreker 3 And a urinal, which I actually prefer to use now.

25:26 Spreker 6 They don't even really notice anymore that they're just in, like, the visitor's room, that the door has a piece of tape over it that says their name on it. And they're just accepting of that because t'was ever thus.

25:37 Spreker 1 You also came up in an industry that has very gendered ideas of what women and men should play and what they should play at different times in our lives, right?

25:47 Spreker 6 right? Well, you say that, but musical theatre, we're a very happy gaggle all together. The only thing that I found for the first 10, 12 years of my career, my height. I wondered. I think they were like frightened of casting me because you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on. Because you're

26:06 Spreker 1 6'2"? Well, I'm 6'2 in heels. I'm 5'11". Oh, I'm 5'10". Are you? So I know the struggle.

26:11 Spreker 6 You know, I just got used to it. When I was first setting out, I had a CV or a bio that said 5'10 and one that said 5'11. Really? Because 5'9 is more palatable and less intimidating than 5'11. And I would kind of stand like into my hip and make myself less than.

26:32 Spreker 1 When did you stop that?

26:33 Spreker 6 Probably in my mid-twenties. That's when I would say, well, oh dear, I can't be the same size head as everyone else. I'll have to stand apart then. Yeah. You know, I've just turned 52. I have a 12-year-old daughter and I'm a single mom. And I think it's really important to absolutely at this age, very much so, live in my power. And if I can change anything, even in terms of like casting, that's no small thing.

27:01 Spreker 1 I read something you said that really struck me as somebody. I'm just turned 45 and you're kind of thinking, am I going to resist the wrinkles and not age like the world tells us we're not allowed anymore? Or am I going to be who I am? And I read this quote from you that you said, I want full control of my face because I'm actually more confident, more settled at 52. so why would I want to make myself look like I'm 30 when I wasn't as happy at 30? And I just wondered why you speak so publicly about it and if you could say more about that feeling.

27:32 Spreker 6 For me, let me prefix it with for me. I'm not here to judge anyone else wanting to do anything. But for me, I am an old school theater girl and my face is my tool. i love moving people whether it's to tears of laughter or making them look inwards about something in their own lives i need my range of movement to do that and i love the fact that the etchings on my face are my life played out as a canvas does anybody like the aging process Not particularly. Do I like looking at photos that we're not allowed to kind of slightly smooth out a bit? No. But, you know, it is what it is. And what's more important to me is being an actor first and also for my daughter to see that she doesn't need to start sticking things in her face preemptively as people do now in her 20s. I can't speak to it and then not do it myself.

28:39 Spreker 1 self. Hannah Waddingham, thank you so much for speaking with me and congratulations on season four. Thank you so much. Episode one of Ted Lasso's fourth season is out now on Apple TV and a note, Apple is a financial supporter of NPR.

29:12 This is NPR News.

29:14 Spreker 4 Funding for this program comes from LFS Marine Supplies,

29:18 Spreker 5 offering a variety of bottom, topside, and touch-up paint and painting supplies.

29:22 Spreker 3 LFS Marine Supplies open Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Catley Ann Street.

29:28 Spreker 4 Phone number 747-3171.

29:44 Spreker 2 Join us at 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday of the month for Sitka Tells Tales. Each episode features friends, family, and community members telling real stories from their own lives centered around a monthly theme. We also go back into the vault and revisit live events and stories from years past. To find the podcast or to pitch your own story or theme, you can visit artchangeinc.org.

30:15 Spreker 5 Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch's confirmation has cleared a major hurdle.

30:22 Spreker 3 Republican Senator Bill Cassidy announced a short time ago he will vote for Blanch.

30:27 Spreker 2 This process should be about Mr. Blanch and how he will go forward in a difficult job and how the American people can be best served. I have a history with Mr. Trump, but that history does not matter one bit.

30:38 Spreker 4 Cassidy's support clears the way for Blanch's confirmation in a full Senate vote, even though fellow Republicans Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins announced they would join Democrats in voting no.

30:48 Spreker 5 Iranian state media report Iran's parliament is reviewing a plan to bar ships linked to the U.S., Israel, and other countries deemed hostile from passing through the Strait of Hormuz until Tehran is compensated for war damage.

30:59 Spreker 1 It's part of an agreement Iran reached with Oman.

31:02 Spreker 4 Reporter Samir Hashimi has more from Dubai. Iran has also denied reports of a disagreement with Oman on toll charges. The fee, according to the draft shared by Iranian media, would be a combination of many variables.

31:15 Spreker 3 And as Iran said earlier this week, this all remains conditional on Washington ending its blockade of Iranian ports.

31:22 Spreker 5 As of now, Oman has still not commented on any of this. That's Samir Hashemi reporting.

31:28 Spreker 3 A federal appeals court says the White House does not have the authority to build its new ballroom without Congress's approval. approval. Today, judges voted 2-1 to order a halt to the $400 million project. This is NPR News.

31:53 Good morning. The time is 31 minutes after the hour. Taking a look at the zone forecast for today in Sitka, cloudy, slight chance of drizzle, highs around 60, and light winds. Later tonight, chance of rain showers, lows in the mid-50s, light winds.

32:14 Taking a look at the tides, earlier this morning at 2.21 a.m., we experienced a low tide of around 1 feet. later on today we can expect a high at 8 53 a.m a high of 6.2 feet and then later this afternoon at 1 33 p.m we can expect a low of 4.2 feet and lastly the close out the day at 8 08 p.m there will be a high tide of around 9.7 feet today the sun rose earlier at 5 12 a.m and we can expect the sun to set here in Sitka at 9 p.m., leaving us with a total of 15 hours, 47 minutes, and 38 seconds of sunrise today, which is 4 minutes and 18 seconds less than yesterday. Later today, for the morning interview, musicians from the Sitka Blues Festival will discuss the upcoming event. I will have the full marine forecast and zone weather at 8 30 this morning. It's 33 minutes after the hour, this is Raven Radio, KCAW, in Sitka.

33:44 Support comes from Alaska Seaplanes, providing scheduled service to 14 communities in southeast Alaska, with charters available across the region. Booking available online at flyalaskaseaplanes.com. Alaska Seaplanes, flying at a higher standard.

34:15 Support for NPR comes from the station, and from the Wallace Foundation, an independent, nonpartisan research foundation collaborating with grantees and partners in the arts, school leadership, and youth development.

34:27 Spreker 6 More at wallacefoundation.org.

34:30 Spreker 3 From Jarl and Pamela Moan, focusing on civil liberties, foster youth, public radio, and the arts. And from the William T. Grant Foundation, supporting research to improve the lives of young people, at wtgrantfdn.org.

34:49 Spreker 1 It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Laila Fadl in Washington, D.C.

34:53 Spreker 3 And I'm A. Martinez in Los Angeles, California. The Bureau of Labor Statistics came out with its report on the U.S. job market, and it looks weaker than forecasters had expected.

35:03 Spreker 1 Employers cut 23,000 jobs in July, and job gains for May and June were revised sharply lower. NPR's Scott Horsley joins us now. Scott, what's happened in the job market?

35:14 Spreker 4 Well, it wilted in the summer heat. Restaurants and retailers both cut thousands of jobs last month.

35:20 Spreker 5 Local government also cut a lot of jobs in public schools.

35:23 Spreker 4 We continue to see some modest hiring in factories and construction companies, and health care is still adding jobs. But even in health care, job gains are not as strong as they were earlier this year.

35:33 Spreker 5 As you say, a lot of analysts were caught off guard by this downbeat report, but it won't surprise a lot of ordinary workers.

35:39 Spreker 4 Daniel Zhao is chief economist at the job search website Glassdoor. We are increasingly hearing from workers that they are anxious about their job security and they are frustrated by the fact that they are stuck in roles that are not necessarily good for them. them, and that's on top of workers who are not in a job right now and feel frozen out of the job market. Schaus says Glassdoor's worker confidence index had fallen to a record low even before this

36:05 Spreker 5 morning's report. Yeah, and yet the unemployment rate is also really low, so what's that telling us? The unemployment rate is low, and it actually inched down a bit more in July, but not for the

36:17 Spreker 4 reasons we'd like to see. The jobless rate fell to 4.1% last month, but that was only because more more than 260,000 people dropped out of the workforce. Now, it's true that employers are not laying people off in large numbers, but in most cases, workers aren't feeling confident enough to quit their jobs and go looking for better opportunities. So that means there just are not a lot of openings for people trying to get a foot in the door. More than a quarter of the people who were unemployed last month have been out of work for six months or more, and some would-be workers are getting discouraged and leaving the labor market altogether.

36:50 Spreker 1 together. Okay, so if the job market then is weakening, how is that going after people's

36:55 Spreker 4 paychecks? Yeah, employers don't have to boost wages as much these days in order to attract workers. For the 12 months ending in July, wages rose just 3.2%. That's a smaller annual increase than we were seeing earlier in the year. And of course, we know prices have been going up faster than that. So Glassdoor Xiao says workers' real buying power has been eroding. Part of the reason

37:17 Spreker 2 and that workers are feeling that about today's job market is that even though wage growth is fairly stable, maybe it's come down a little bit, a lot of those wage gains have been eaten up by

37:28 Spreker 4 rising energy prices. Gasoline prices are still more than a dollar a gallon higher than they were before the U.S. launched its war with Iran this spring. We did get a little break on gas prices in June, but then pump prices rebounded in July. So today's wage gains are not keeping pace with

37:46 Spreker 5 inflation. I'm thinking about the Federal Reserve. They're battling inflation and now has to deal

37:51 Spreker 3 with this softening job market. So what does this mean for the Fed? Yeah, it certainly makes the

37:55 Spreker 4 Fed's job more complicated. Ordinarily, the central bank's main tool for fighting inflation is to raise interest rates. But policymakers are going to be more cautious about doing that if it looks like the job market is on shaky ground. Before we got this jobs report this morning, investors had been leaning towards bets that the Fed would hike interest rates at their next policy meeting in September. That's looking less certain, though, after this downbeat jobs report.

38:22 Spreker 1 That's NPR's Scott Horsley. Scott, thanks a lot. You're welcome. President Trump's plan for a giant arch in Washington, D.C. is facing criticism from a federal agency. Trump wants to build it across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial. The National Park Service says that would obstruct the views of dozens of nearby historic sites. NPR's Rachel Treisman reports. The Trump administration has been talking about building an

38:46 Spreker 5 arch in this particular spot since last fall. This monumental arc will beam at 250 feet tall

38:53 Spreker 2 in honor of 250 years. That's White House spokesperson Caroline Leavitt showing designs

38:59 Spreker 5 to reporters back in April. And stand on ground that is currently empty green space in Memorial Circle on Columbia Island, a man-made island in the Potomac River managed by the National Park

39:10 Spreker 2 Park Service. For many, it's the location that's the problem. Anything that would be built there would be controversial. Especially the arch, says Ed Sturley. He leads government relations for the non-profit National Parks Conservation Association. But I think what makes this so

39:26 Spreker 5 controversial is the pure scale of it. We're talking about one of the largest monuments to

39:30 Spreker 2 ever be built in Washington, D.C. At 250 feet tall, the arch would be more than double the height of the Lincoln Memorial. It's gotten considerable pushback from historic preservation groups, veterans, and concerned citizens. And a report released by the National Park Service this

39:47 Spreker 5 week underscores those concerns. It lists 37 sites whose historic significance would be disrupted by

39:54 Spreker 2 the Arch, including the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument. It's going to have a

39:58 Spreker 5 tremendous impact, you know, not just on Arlington National Cemetery, but the entire National Mall

40:04 Spreker 2 in the landscape of DC. There are other places in DC where a giant arch would have a smaller footprint, says Greg Werkheiser. His law firm, Cultural Heritage Partners, is involved in several lawsuits against the Trump administration's construction projects. But, he says, location

40:20 Spreker 1 hasn't really been a part of the conversation. They skipped over real consideration of alternatives

40:27 Spreker 2 and just went to what arguably is the most concentrated collection of important historic sites in the country. The White House and the Department of the Interior didn't directly answer NPR's questions about whether alternate locations were explored. But the administration is defending Memorial Circle as a fitting place for the arch and celebrating the idea that it would be visible from other historic sites.

40:53 Spreker 1 It's as if the president is saying,

40:55 Spreker 2 only if I jam my arch between Arlington Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial

40:59 Spreker 3 and make it tower over everything else in the city, will it be noticed?

41:04 Spreker 2 One person did propose an alternative, David Maloney, D.C.'s State Historic Preservation Officer. In a June letter to the National Park Service, Maloney suggested the arch could be built in Anacostia, a less developed part of D.C. He said an arch there would, quote, enhance the city's monumental landscape escape rather than detracting from it. I think had he chosen an alternative, not only would some of

41:28 Spreker 3 the folks who are opponents now not be opponents, but I think they would be supporters. Sterling

41:34 Spreker 2 says conversations about new monuments in D.C. typically start with the question of where to put

41:39 Spreker 5 them, but that wasn't the case with the Arch. He said the federally required review process,

41:45 Spreker 2 which is called Section 106, is happening very quickly and with little input from outside experts. It only started after a federal panel had already approved the arch's design in May.

41:56 Spreker 5 This continues to move forward. It feels like more of a box checking

41:58 Spreker 4 than an actual legitimate process.

42:01 Spreker 2 And he worries that will be the norm going forward. A federal panel packed with Trump allies voted last month to weaken Section 106. Those changes, if enacted, would make it easier for the federal government to build near historic sites, with implications for the arch and other places across the country.

42:19 Spreker 5 Rachel Treisman, NPR News.

42:40 Spreker 1 This is NPR News.

43:22 Spreker 3 Good morning. You're listening to Morning Edition on Raven Radio, KCAW in Sitka. I'm Ryan Cotter. Our top story today on Raven News is that early in-person voting opened on Monday for Alaska's primary election. I'll have that and more at 11 minutes before the hour. Stick with us.

44:14 KCAW is supported by Cascade Convenience Center, located at 1211 Sawmill Creek Road. Open at 7 a.m. with wine, beer, distilled spirits, and soft drinks. Cascade Convenience Center, open daily until midnight on Sawmill Creek Road.

44:47 Spreker 1 Good morning, I'm Layla Fawzid. Gelato is a kitten at an Ohio animal shelter. When he got there, he couldn't walk or stand on his own, and they didn't have a mobility device that fit him. So staff cobbled together a makeshift wheelchair using wooden rulers, zip ties, and a pair of Hot Wheels ambulances. A photo of Gelato in his ride went viral. He has since upgraded to a custom 3D-printed wheelchair. It fits perfectly. It's morning edition.

45:14 Spreker 6 Support for NPR comes from this station.

45:17 Spreker 3 And from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, investing in creative thinkers and problem solvers who help people, communities, and the planet flourish. More information is available at hewlett.org. From the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, RWJF is a national philanthropy working toward a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right.

45:41 Spreker 6 Learn more at rwjf.org. And from the Doris Duke Foundation.

45:50 Spreker 3 It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm E. Martinez.

45:53 Spreker 1 And I'm Leila Fadil. Vitamaxing, Fibromaxing, Biohacking, all these health trends are, by and large, powered by nutritional supplements. Do they actually work? Our Planet Money podcast team dug into the business of supplements. Here's Sarah Gonzalez and Jane Black.

46:12 Spreker 3 There are more than 100,000 different supplement pills, powders, gummies for Americans to choose from. Supplements are a $70 billion market and growing fast. It's fueled in part by influencers

46:24 Spreker 5 hyping everything from echinacea to creatine. And according to TikToker Mari Llewellyn,

46:29 Spreker 1 the new IT supplement, colostrum. It's basically like nature's superfood. It comes from cows.

46:36 Spreker 3 And our love of a supplement silver bullet is not new. We have been here before.

46:42 Spreker 5 Melanie Benesch is a lawyer at the non-profit Environmental Working Group.

46:45 Spreker 1 She says supplements always thrive in times when Americans feel less confident

46:49 Spreker 5 in government and institutions. It happened in the 1970s, and it's happening now.

46:55 Spreker 6 You can use these natural herbal remedies. You don't have to go to your doctor. Your doctor

47:01 Spreker 2 might be in the pocket of the pharmaceutical industry, and this is a way for you to be in

47:06 Spreker 5 charge of your own health. But there's little science to back up the bold claims that supplements and their influencer fans are making.

47:13 Spreker 3 For example, manufacturers do not have to provide scientific proof that their pills or powders or gummies actually do what they claim they do.

47:23 Spreker 5 Yeah, they can make all kinds of claims on their labels

47:26 Spreker 1 without actually proving they are true,

47:28 Spreker 5 as long as they only use certain words to do so.

47:33 Spreker 2 Impermissible, lowering serum cholesterol levels. levels. Permissible, helping to maintain cholesterol levels already within the normal range.

47:43 Spreker 3 Impermissible, relieves painful joints. Permissible, helps maintain proper joint function. Little news you can use, if the front of your supplement bottle says supports X or promotes Y, that should be a signal to you that it is not actually proven to do

47:59 Spreker 1 anything. Marion Nessel is a professor emeritus of nutrition at New York University.

48:04 Spreker 5 She said it's not only about the claims either.

48:07 Spreker 1 It's also about what's in the bottle.

48:09 Spreker 2 Take turmeric supplements. Your turmeric supplement may or may not have turmeric in it.

48:15 Spreker 3 What? Don't you check the ingredient list and say, does it say turmeric as an ingredient?

48:20 Spreker 2 It doesn't matter. It doesn't have to have in it what it says on it.

48:24 Spreker 3 The FDA doesn't require anyone to test what is in the bottle before a product goes to market. So she says that's why you can't always trust what's even in there.

48:33 Spreker 2 Nobody has the resources to check and see whether those supplements have in them what it says on the label unless somebody sues the company.

48:43 Spreker 3 And who's going to sue the company?

48:44 Spreker 2 If there's no lawsuit involved, there's nobody minding the store.

48:48 Spreker 1 So why do Americans keep buying all those supplements? We talked to a lot of people, and we found Marian Nestle's theory the most persuasive.

48:58 Spreker 2 Supplements make people feel better.

49:00 Spreker 3 There's absolutely no question about that. She says there is plenty of evidence that supplements are fabulous placebos.

49:09 Spreker 2 In fact, I can tell you a story about a study that proved that. But it doesn't matter. Life is really hard these days.

49:17 Spreker 5 And if all it takes is a supplement pill to make people feel better, I'm not going to argue too much about it.

49:24 Spreker 1 For NPR News, I'm Jane Black.

49:26 Spreker 3 And I'm Sarah Gonzalez. Support for Planet Money comes from Workday, an enterprise AI platform for HR, finance, and IT. Dedicated to providing precision and the ability to not just help get work done, but get it done right. It's a new Workday.

49:46 Spreker 1 This is NPR News.

49:50 Spreker 3 You're listening to Raven Radio, KCAW in Sitka. Today is Friday, August 7th, 2026. I'm Ryan Cotter with Raven News.

50:03 Early in-person voting opened on Monday for Alaska's primary election. In Sitka, that means voters can cast their ballots at Harrigan Centennial Hall on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through August 17th. The primary will decide which four candidates from several long lists will advance to the November general election for U.S. Senate, House, and the governor's seat. For Sitka's representatives at the state level, the primary and general election ballots will look very much the same. District A Senator Bert Stetman is running unopposed. Incumbent Representative Rebecca Hemshoot, a nonpartisan candidate, has two challengers, Republican Kenny Carl Scaffoldstad and Alston Evans, who is undeclared. You can find links to a sample ballot, voter registration information, and a voter guide on our website at kcaw.org. Alaska's primary is Tuesday, August 18th. On Election Day, polls at Harrigan Centennial Hall will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Slug slime and lichen-laced hair were some of the works featured at an art exhibition in Sitka last week. The event showcased high schoolers' final creations for their summer course on how to better notice the world around them. KCAW's Lauren Salemo has the story.

51:30 Spreker 5 A thick slug sits on a deer heart leaf in Tiger Shue's hands. He holds the leaf up to a large window misted with creek water. Petting it with his pointer finger, Shue tries to coax the slug onto the glass.

51:44 Spreker 3 I can name him Franklin. I like that. It's an arbitrary name.

51:46 Spreker 5 Shu is wrapping up a summer seminar called The Art of Noticing in Multispecies Worlds. This was a three-week course for high schoolers through Outer Coast, an undergraduate liberal arts program in Sitka.

51:59 Spreker 3 Their body's super, like, gelatinous, per se, so let me give it a touch.

52:04 Spreker 5 Instead of papers or exams, students created art to showcase what they learned in an exhibition called It's Literally About Everything, and they used just about anything to prove it. Shu is using Franklin's goo, and as the slug slides across the window, its trail of slime will be the art on display.

52:23 Spreker 3 I'm putting it on a vertical surface that's moist because, you know, we could never adhere to a surface like that, right?

52:29 Spreker 5 During the seminar, the students helped rehab sections of Sitka's trails as a service project. Shu noticed how classmates would nudge slugs with their boots or chuck them to the side of the path, and that attitude is something Shu wants to change.

52:42 Spreker 4 How do you empathize with a mollusk that has a face very different from yours?

52:47 Spreker 5 That's Eben Kirksey, an anthropology professor at the University of Oxford who led the seminar. He says Shu's art aims to create a greater sense of slug empathy by spotlighting the creature's curiosities, like its slime. The idea is to teach students to pay attention to creatures in our shared environment and especially notice what get called the unloved others that share the world with us. Taking a closer look could lead to new discoveries. It did for Zoe Cole, who stumbled across some scraps when scavenging for salmon berries. At first, she noticed discarded bathroom tiles scattered outside of a campus residence hall. The closer she looked, and the deeper she dug, Cole realized they were entangled with metal and cement.

53:31 Spreker 3 How can I make this art, how can I make this actually meaningful and not just a bunch of garbage?

53:35 Spreker 5 Her moss-covered findings now sit in the center of the exhibition. Rusted wires, chunks of concrete, and broken tiles sprawl across a folding table draped in an inside-out emergency blanket.

53:47 Spreker 3 When I first found it, I was like, whoa, this reminds me of an ecosystem

53:50 Spreker 1 and how everything is connected in ecosystems.

53:53 Spreker 5 The more she thought about it, the more it symbolized. She says it looks like a galaxy or a family tree.

54:00 Spreker 3 It can be life with all the moss that's growing on the pieces, or it can be death with all the rust that's on the wires. It's everything.

54:09 Spreker 5 Kirksey says it was Cole who came up with the exhibition's name. It's literally about everything. It's been all about hope. It's been about love. It's been about how to undergo symbiogenesis, which means becoming symbiotic.

54:21 Spreker 3 So this is what the students have done together socially and also with the art that's on display today.

54:27 Spreker 5 That idea is best represented by a branch hanging on the wall. Maria Hrhorco wanted to literally intertwine her classmates into her art. So she twisted tendrils of moss and lichen together with their human counterpart.

54:42 Spreker 3 We took moss and lichen and we weaved some braids with the hair of our participants.

54:50 Spreker 5 One strand is nearly a foot long.

54:52 Spreker 3 So it's one of our co-creators and she contributed a lot. As you can see, she's very dedicated to this artwork.

55:00 Spreker 5 Kirksey, the teacher, says the seminar's 12 students came to Sitka from all over the world with their own values and perspectives. Anna Mae Owen and Anne-Marie Sakaar collected heart-shaped leaves, shells, and bark they found in the forest. Owen says nature is full of hopeful symbols.

55:18 Spreker 2 A late night that's like full of stars with the northern lights or the early morning sunrises or the sunsets.

55:25 Spreker 4 The birds chirping in the early mornings or in the dawn.

55:30 Spreker 2 Those are the kind of things that bring me hope for a new day and a better tomorrow.

55:35 Spreker 5 Kirksey says the course has been about that kind of observation and thinking more about the creatures around us. He wants the students to ask what's the world like as a starfish without eyes? How does human infrastructure change where a plant might grow? Or what's it like to be Franklin? Empathizing may have been tough before but as people peer at the slug leaving a trail of ooze across across the glass, they now have a mutual interest. Art. In Sitka, I'm Lauren Salemo.

56:06 Spreker 3 A two-year-old humpback whale was found entangled in a gillnet near Petersburg last week. A team of a dozen volunteers successfully freed the whale after two days of attempts. KFSK's Baze Hohen

56:21 Spreker 2 reports. Heath Whitaker is at home chopping wood when he gets the call about the entangled whale.

56:28 Spreker 5 We got a call that a whale was trapped in a fisherman's net, a gill netter's net.

56:32 Spreker 2 Whitaker is a trained volunteer for Petersburg Marine Mammal Center, a local volunteer-run nonprofit which helps rescue and respond to distressed wildlife. A lot of the members of the team work during the daytime,

56:45 Spreker 1 and so it took a little while for us to scramble out there.

56:48 Spreker 2 He's told the whale is near Frederick Point on Mitkoff Island, towards the Stikine River. The Stikine River has a lot of glacial runoff into the Sound, so the water is really silty. When Whitaker reaches the whale by skiff, he sees that the young humpback is tied up in the gill net, which is still attached to the fisherman's boat. Soon after, Toby Bakus arrives. He's the stranding coordinator for Petersburg Marine Mammal Center. Whitaker's crew is just freeing the net from the boat, and Bakus and his crew try to get up to the side of the whale with a GoPro to get a better look at how badly the whale is tangled.

57:22 Spreker 5 But it was so far down toward the stickeen

57:25 Spreker 4 that that water's especially murky, and we just didn't have any luck.

57:30 Spreker 2 So after almost eight hours out on the water, the crew has to retreat. Before they leave, Whitaker attaches a telemetry buoy to the net, a bright green buoy with a tracking device that beams back the whale's location to the team in real time. Then they call up the federal whale rescue expert.

57:47 Spreker 1 So my name is Ed Lyman.

57:48 Spreker 2 Lyman is the Large Whale Entanglement Response Coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. He's been rescuing whales for decades, and works with communities in situations like these. Free a whale if it gets entangled, when it does happen, prepare for it, do the trainings,

58:04 Spreker 5 and do the investigation, as in the science behind it, so we can help everyone. Lyman is able to

58:12 Spreker 2 arrive in Petersburg the following day. He'd just been teaching a training session on whale entanglement in Tenneke Springs, a tiny town on nearby Chichikov Island. Based on what the The Petersburg team reports he has a pretty good idea of how the whale got entangled. This youngster comes along, tried to punch through the net, and gets partway through and then panics and twirls. Lyman says the net then wrapped around the whale's flukes, or tail fins.

58:35 Spreker 5 And at this point, it's entangled. You know, it's enough of a wrap, it's entangled in the gear.

58:40 Spreker 2 So when Lyman gets off the plane in Petersburg, a sort of Avengers team is assembled. The group of trained volunteers like Whitaker and Bakas, another group who offers their boats as support, Petersburg's Alaska state trooper who offers his boat as the main rescue boat and Lyman. They hold a brief meeting, assign roles, load up with whale rescuing gear, and set off to find that green telemetry buoy. Whitaker, Bakas, and Lyman are on the main boat tasked with freeing the whale. Whitaker's role is to cut the net, and his cutting tool isn't fancy.

59:10 Spreker 3 It's basically a long telescoping pole with sort of a homemade Spyderco knife.

59:16 Spreker 2 Bakas stands right behind Whitaker on the boat holding on to him.

59:19 Spreker 4 Yeah, Heath had the pole, and I was just trying to keep him from falling off the bow.

59:24 Spreker 2 Whitaker says it was hard to cut the line because the whale was not happy. The whale was really moving away from us and being evasive,

59:33 Spreker 5 and so we kind of changed tactics and had to be a little more aggressive getting in on it.

59:39 Spreker 2 Baker says the whale kept diving below the surface. He said they made over 30 attempts to cut the line.

59:44 Spreker 3 There were many misses. The tail would be too low.

59:47 Spreker 4 we couldn't even see the tail most of the time.

59:50 Spreker 2 After two hours of following the whale in and out of the main channel in front of Petersburg, they get a hit.

59:55 Spreker 5 And suddenly the line popped up to the water,

59:58 Spreker 1 the buoys stopped moving,

60:00 Spreker 3 and we saw the whale

60:01 Spreker 5 cruising off, and we were like,