Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 196
While the total number of cruise ship visits to Petersburg will decline this summer, local tourism experts say the quality of port calls should actually increase. "I think after looking at the schedule, the numbers of port calls are down, however, the quality of port calls are high," said James Valentine, co-owner of Viking Travel. Petersburg will welcome 87 cruise ship visits in 2025, down from 104 the previous year. However, Valentine notes that many of last year's visits came at times when to...
The bell jingles as the door to Kinder Komfort opens, and a customer slips in with a hopeful smile. "Did you find it?" he asks Jenny Cisney, who lights up behind the counter. "I did!" she cheers, retrieving a copy of Code Names, a board game the customer had hoped to special order but couldn't quite remember the name of days earlier. Jenny had put together the clues and figured out the name, found the game and even had her visiting mother bring it from Washington with her luggage rather than... Full story
The Petersburg School District and its support personnel union reached a tentative three-year contract agreement in less than a day of negotiations, school officials announced Tuesday. The agreement includes a $2.50 per hour wage increase across the board in the first year, followed by 1.5% increases in each of the following two years, according to Finance Director Shannon Baird. Support staff will also receive a $500 matching contribution to a 403(b) retirement plan. This matches a similar...
Total property values in Petersburg Borough increased by more than $30.7 million in the latest assessment cycle, representing roughly 4% growth from last year, with borough-wide assessments reaching $795.5 million, according to a recent report from the borough's assessors. The annual assessment, required by state law, indicates that "the overall market continues to grow despite the high cost of living and rising interest rates," wrote assessors Mike Renfro and Martins Onskulis of the Appraisal...
Musician Seán Dagher will bring his interactive sea shanty performance to Petersburg next week, inviting locals to join in the maritime musical tradition that has experienced a surge of recent popularity. The performance will be "pretty participatory," Dagher told the Pilot it will be fun and easy to take part. "The shanties are like call and response songs, so I'll sing the call part, and people sing the responses," Dagher explained. Dagher's performance, being presented by the Petersburg... Full story
Silver Bay Seafoods and Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation (BBEDC) jointly announced Tuesday a partnership they say "will increase stability for Alaskan fishermen and communities reliant on seafoods processing operations," with Silver Bay acquiring Icicle Seafoods' 50% ownership stake in OBI Seafoods. The acquisition affects many processing facilities throughout Alaska, including Petersburg's OBI plant, one of the community's largest employers. According to the March 18 announcement, S... Full story
The Petersburg Police Department's previously rejected K9 unit proposal has gained significant momentum through community financial support and grassroots advocacy efforts. Reconsideration of the proposal is anticipated at the Borough Assembly's first meeting in April. The Petersburg Indian Association (PIA) has emerged as a major supporter, pledging $14,000 from opioid settlement funds to help cover the unit's maintenance costs. "We received opioid settlement funds from class action lawsuits...
A recent inspection revealed significant damage to Petersburg's wastewater outfall pipe in Frederick Sound, potentially causing the borough to face unexpected repair costs and regulatory challenges. Borough officials discovered that the approximately 65-foot diffuser section of the outfall pipe, which disperses treated effluent from the wastewater treatment plant into Frederick Sound - located around 800 feet offshore at a depth of 60 feet - has become completely detached from the main line. It...
Last month, Petersburg resident Lila Trask's friends received an email saying, "Good Morning, I hope you're doing well. Unfortunately, I'm currently dealing with a serious throat infection that's making it difficult for me to communicate over the phone. Do you shop Amazon? Lila." She was completely unaware that her no-longer-used GCI email account had been hijacked, meanwhile two of her friends, a couple, fell for the scam, at least initially, and responded to the email. "Glad to hear from...
A glass cabinet gleams near a big window in the Mountain View Manor Assisted Living apartment of George and Florabelle Rice. The display case is brimming with collected mementos: two small ceramic cats - prizes from a Quaker Oats container - given to Florabelle ninety years ago by her mother, souvenirs from the couple's travels, family photographs, keepsakes spanning nearly a century of memories. "I love this stuff that has a happy memory," says Florabelle, her eyes lighting up. "I get such a... Full story
A Petersburg-based fishing commercial vessel caught fire Thursday near Point Gardner in Chatham Strait where it had been participating in the golden king crab fishery. The fire prompted a coordinated response from nearby Samaritan vessels, the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department, and the U.S. Coast Guard. The U.S. Coast Guard received a distress call at 1:49 p.m. reporting that the F/V Spicy Lady, a 58-foot steel vessel, was on fire and crew members were preparing to abandon ship into a life...
In Wright Auditorium, tubes of cardboard are being transformed into marble columns. Costumes salvaged from thrift stores are repurposed into Elizabethan finery. And students are grappling with language written over 400 years ago learning how to bring it to life. Petersburg High School's drama program, under the direction of Elsa Wintersteen, is tackling William Shakespeare's comedy "Much Ado About Nothing" this spring, with performances scheduled for March 27-29, including a Saturday matinee....
Acclaimed taiko ensemble Unit Souzou will bring their powerful blend of traditional Japanese drumming, dance, and storytelling to Petersburg next week as part of the "sunset tour" for their production "Constant State of Otherness." The Portland, Oregon-based group will perform Tuesday, March 18, at the Sons of Norway hall. Tickets are available online and at Lee's Clothing. Unit Souzou, founded in 2014 by co-directors Michelle Fujii and Toru Watanabe, has built a reputation for innovative...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voiced serious concerns that potential federal funding cuts could devastate essential services and potentially threaten the town's viability by approving a strongly worded letter to Alaska's congressional delegation during Monday’s assembly meeting. The letter, approved by all six assembly members present, details how the rural Southeast Alaska fishing community of approximately 3,000 residents could face an existential crisis if federal support is significantly reduced. “Indiscriminate and across the board red...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted 6-0 Monday to adopt a resolution formally approving a comprehensive Visitor Industry Management Plan developed by a local working group in 2019-2020 and updated in early 2025. The plan, created by 17 Petersburg residents including business owners and borough staff, aims to address visitor industry growth while “maintaining the balance between Petersburg's quality of life and the visitor economy while preserving Petersburg's authenticity and sense of place,” states the resolution. Petersburg Har...
When Victoria Moore's son Alex was first diagnosed with autism, she found herself overwhelmed by the volume of information available and the challenge of finding practical, actionable guidance. Now, she's written and published the book she wishes she'd had during those crucial early days – "Parenting Children with Autism Unlocked." "It would have been nice to have that one go-to book that kind of helped at that beginning, crucial stage of early intervention," Moore says of her motivation to w...
The first-of-its-kind event was an all-male pageant where dance dads of Mitkof Dance Troupe (MDT) students bravely entertained a sold out crowd at the Elks Ballroom. After several uproarious rounds of competition, high school teacher Dustin Crump was crowned Mr. MDT and celebrated his win with an encore rendition of "the Dougie." Thousands were raised to upgrade the dance studio's facilities....
Last week’s federal budget resolution — which narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives with a 217-215 vote — has sparked serious concerns about healthcare funding for Alaska’s most vulnerable. The resolution directs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to cut $880 billion over 10 years from the section of the federal budget that oversees Medicare and Medicaid. Petersburg Medical Center CEO Phil Hofstetter, Jared Kosin with the Alaska Hospital and Healthcare Association, and Brandy Boggs PMC Patient Navigator joined Hannah... Full story
A damaged undersea communications cable disrupted cell phone service in Petersburg on Saturday and other Southeast Alaska communities since Thursday – the damaged Alaska Communications (ACS) subsea cable system serves as a carrier for multiple cell providers, including AT&T. The broader regional outage began around 9:15 p.m. Thursday, with ACS and AT&T customers in Juneau, Haines, Skagway and Gustavus reporting limited or no service. Alaska Communications confirmed Friday that damage to their subsea cable system was the cause. The cell phone o...
A Petersburg-based fishing commercial vessel caught fire Thursday near Point Gardner in Chatham Strait where it had been participating in the golden king crab fishery. The fire prompted a coordinated response from nearby Samaritan vessels, the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department, and the U.S. Coast Guard. The U.S. Coast Guard received a distress call at 1:49 p.m. reporting that the F/V Spicy Lady, a 58-foot steel vessel, was on fire and crew members were preparing to abandon ship into a life... Full story
The Alaska Board of Fisheries has approved significant changes to the Wrangell Narrows-Blind Slough Terminal Harvest Area Salmon Management Plan, creating new king salmon sportfishing opportunities for resident anglers while working to protect crucial hatchery broodstock. Last year’s controversial closure of freshwater fishing for king salmon in Blind Slough prompted a community driven effort to change the area’s salmon management plan. Proposal 159, developed by the Petersburg Fish and Game Advisory Committee with input from community mem...
This month the Petersburg Indian Association (PIA) was honored at the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet with the Community Impact Award — for transforming local transportation infrastructure through decades of partnerships, generosity, and community engagement. Glowing with pride as she presented the award, Petersburg Parks and Recreation Director Stephanie Payne described the partnership between the borough and PIA “in creating and maintaining trails for the community, along with ro...
Six fathers of Mitkof Dance Troupe students will bravely step into the spotlight this Saturday competing to be crowned Mr. MDT in a male pageant fundraiser to raise money for updates to the dance studio’s facilities. The event, taking place at the Elks Ballroom, features dads who answered the call after some persistent recruitment tactics from the dance teachers. “We literally begged them,” said Kelsey Lambe, MDT dance teacher. “We wrote them letters,” said fellow MDT teacher Olivia Reid. A few seemed willing, but mostly the letters went unan...
Ashley Kawashima - pictured above (right) volunteering alongside Everett Bennett at Humanity in Progress a local nonprofit they both co-founded - was named Young Leader of the year at the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce banquet on Feb. 15. James Valentine presented the award and said "I've known Ashley for a long time ... she has always been a person who puts others before herself and works hard to help people in need. I feel it was time she be recognized for what she has done for the community...
Petersburg Police Chief James Kerr presented the department’s annual report to the Petersburg Borough Assembly at last week’s assembly meeting, offering a summary of the department’s past year. Assembly Member Jeigh Stanton Gregor thanked Chief Kerr and Fire/EMS Director Aaron Hankins for “for taking the time to put those [reports] together for us.” And Stanton Gregor encouraged to the public to read through the reports which are included in the 2/18/25 meeting packet on the borough’s website. The Petersburg Police Department reported an increa...
