Week of May 21, 2026
Week of May 21, 2026
After more than a year of mounting community pressure over the locations of wireless broadband towers in Petersburg, the Borough Assembly voted unanimously Monday to advance a comprehensive wireless communications zoning ordinance on its first reading, encouraging the public to submit written comments during the two weeks before a scheduled public hearing June 1. The ordinance - 17 pages of amended municipal code accompanied by a seven-page explanatory memo from Community Development Director...
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Two years after Petersburg voters rejected a sales tax cap increase by an incredibly narrow margin, the Borough Assembly voted 6-1 Monday to send the question back to the ballot this October. The ordinance, approved on its first reading, would ask borough voters at the October 6 municipal election whether to raise the maximum taxable amount on a single purchase from $1,200 to $5,000. If approved, the maximum sales tax collectible on any single transaction would rise from $72 to $300. The borough’s sales tax rate would remain at 6 percent....
A high-stakes quid pro quo deal fell apart in the Alaska Capitol on Monday as legislators failed to approve a tax break for the proposed trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline and Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a bill that would have restored public pensions in the state. The failure leaves public employees with a 401(k)-like retirement system and legislators likely to head into a special session for further work on a gas pipeline bill. Rep. Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage and the Legislature’s lead negotiator on the planned deal, said on Monday night that... Full story
Viking and Valkyrie couple Don and Julie Spigelmyre have announced that, after 26 years, they are retiring from their iconic roles. For decades, the Spigelmyres have been a large part of the Little Norway Festival tradition of fur clad, armor-wearing, weapon-wielding vikings and valkyries rampaging through Petersburg. The couple decided that this year's "Little Norway" festival would be their last as Vikings and Valkyries. The town's notorious party group is known for having fun and giving...
In last week’s story about the Mitkof Mummers play, a quote was misattributed to LeeAnna Lucas. It was in fact Tatum Hagerman who said, laughing and in character as the villain of the play, “I just do it because I love the attention and...
At the Petersburg Community Foundation annual award reception Saturday, Desi Burrell was named 2026 Volunteer of the Year. Representing PCF, Glorianne Wollen, said the board's decision was unanimous and easy, citing Burrell's lifetime of community service. "She sees things that need doing, then she does them," Wollen said. Wollen described how the previous Saturday, Burrell was spotted at Sandy Beach with a shovel and a five-gallon bucket, cleaning up after other people's dogs to prepare the...
The Petersburg Community Foundation distributed grants totaling nearly $50,000 to nine local organizations at its annual award reception Saturday, highlighting during the event that the local foundation's invested endowment has officially crossed $1 million for the first time. Board chair Glorianne Wollen opened the ceremony by tracing the milestone back to the foundation's founding in 2008 as an affiliate of the Alaska Community Foundation, when its initial fundraising goal was $50,000. "It is...
The camera watches an old man in wet raingear staring at dark clouds and gray sky from his fishing boat in the waters of Southeast Alaska - behind the camera is Ketchikan-filmmaker Emilio Miguel Torres who has toured his film, "The Ladder," to film festivals across North America. This Saturday, May 23, it will be showing at the Northern Nights theater. The sci-fi story set in Ketchikan, will be screened twice - at 4 p.m. and at 7 p.m. The independent film has yet to be released to stream....
Inside a small booth with a large glass window, Petersburg Medical Center Radiology Manager Sonja Paul was running Petersburg’s new MRI machine through a quality control test. “These machines can get pretty loud,” she explained, turning up the volume on a nearby speaker. “It sounds like a lot of knocking, hammers, ticks, things like that.” An MRI is a medical device that takes images of soft tissues in your body – like your tendons or your brain – using powerful magnetic fields. Those images can help diagnose joint and back... Full story
May 19, 1926 – The big dredge, long-awaited by the citizens of Petersburg, is expected to begin work next week. Engineers have been sounding the channel for some time now, in preparation for the “clam-shell” dredge which will do much to clear out the Narrows. The “clam-shell” dredge clears out the silt and digs the channel deeper. Where the bottom is rocky it will be necessary to blast. Almost a new industry will be added to Petersburg for a while as the dredge is said to be 270 feet long and employs a crew of 50 men. After almost a...
Caleb Morrow is a journalism and communications student at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. This week he arrived in Petersburg to join the newsroom as the Pilot's summer reporting intern. Morrow's path to journalism started in fourth grade, when he picked "sports journalist" on career day. During high school, when COVID shut down in-person events, he joined his school's broadcasting club that put Morrow behind a microphone doing play-by-play for football games that fans...
Sport fishing on a popular slough south of Petersburg is open to all anglers this summer. Recreational anglers can harvest hatchery-produced king salmon in the Wrangell Narrows-Blind Slough Terminal Harvest Area from May 15 to Aug. 15. The area includes a stretch of the Wrangell Narrows saltwater and the Blind Slough freshwater that the salmon travel through when instinctually returning to the Crystal Lake Hatchery upstream. Resident anglers can harvest up to two king salmon a day of any size.... Full story
A few weeks ago and during their first meet of the season, the Petersburg boys 4x100 relay team came within a few mere seconds of setting a new school record. After the meet, the team consisting of Brayden Tucker, Alex Homgrain, Noah Pawuk and Jakob Preisler planned to set a new school record. This past weekend, a new school record was born in the 4x100 and 4x200 relay. The 4x100 team ran an official time of 46 seconds (46.41) and the 4x200 team, consisting of Brayden Tucker, Nolan Lutomski,...
This is more about who will pay the cost of the president’s war on Iran and how it’s disrupting the global flow of oil than it is a history lesson about Alaska oil production. But stay with me as I run through the history to get to my point. Think of it like setting the handle on the gas pump to fill up your tank and watching as the dollars spin by on the screen. Decades ago, Alaska’s North Slope produced so much oil that the supply overwhelmed U.S. West Coast refineries. It required a choreographed system of tankers, barges and...
Bear-proof bins at the ballfields are needed To the Editor: I’m writing as a frequent user of the Petersburg Ballfields, a volunteer softball coach, and a youth programs coordinator to encourage the Assembly to consider purchasing new bear- and critter-resistant garbage cans for the ballfield complex. Many community members spend time at these fields every week, and throughout the year I often find myself picking up litter around the complex, usually alongside dedicated kids who are helping out. Last week was especially discouraging because...
Susan Wanberg, 77, passed away peacefully on May 3, 2026 with her family by her side. Susan was born on November 3, 1948, in Petersburg, Alaska, to Thomas Wanberg and Genevieve (Murray) Wanberg. She was the middle of three siblings, with an older brother, Daniel "Danny" Wanberg, and a younger sister, Laurie Dunham. Susan spent her childhood in Petersburg and graduated from Petersburg High School. She received a scholarship to attend beauty school in Eugene, Oregon, before moving to Juneau,... Full story
Petersburg Pilot... Full story
Notices published in the Petersburg Pilot and all of Alaska's... Full story
