(left) Haines Police’s Michael Fullerton listens to Mike Ward as the two watch four of Ward’s stores burn down on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Haines, Alaska. (Rashah McChesney/Chilkat Valley News)
(left) Haines Police’s Michael Fullerton listens to Mike Ward as the two watch four of Ward’s stores burn down on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Haines. (Rashah McChesney/Chilkat Valley News)

Less than a month ago, Mike Ward’s convenience store and apartment complex was destroyed  in a late night fire. The closure of the Haines Quick Shop, Outfitter Liquor, Outfitter Sporting Goods, and Mike’s Bikes & Boards left a hole in the local economy. 

But Ward,…

Rashah McChesney is a multimedia journalist and editor who has reported and edited newsrooms from the Deep South to the Midwest to Alaska. For the past decade, she has worked in collaborative news as the...