Articles from the February 8, 2024 edition


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  • Hammer & Wikan grocers named USA Retailers of the Year

    Olivia Rose, Pilot Writer|Feb 8, 2024

    The Independent Grocers Alliance (IGA) named Hammer and Wikan Grocery - represented by CEO General Manager Jim Floyd, Board President Gainhart Samuelson and Vice President Bruce Westre - 2023 USA Retailers of the Year. Representatives from nine stores were chosen for the honor. Nominations were made by their wholesalers "for providing leadership and excellence in their community," out of a network of 30,000 independent grocers in the U.S, according to a press release sent out by IGA. "It was a...

  • Resource fair connects with people experiencing housing insecurity

    Olivia Rose, Pilot Writer|Feb 8, 2024

    The seventh annual Project Connect Resource Fair was held in Petersburg on Jan. 30. Organized under the umbrella of nonprofit Humanity In Progress (HIP), the event provided access to free basic necessities and local resources for people in Petersburg who are experiencing housing insecurity - and was an opportunity to survey attendees about their present housing situation for a Point-In-Time count that records the status of homelessness and housing insecurity in Petersburg. When the doors to...

  • Celebrated concert pianist and teacher Tony Lu comes to Petersburg

    Olivia Rose, Pilot Writer|Feb 8, 2024

    Concert pianist Tony Lu, 26, arrived in Petersburg on Tuesday for a week of piano performances and inspiring the community to think about music differently. He will perform live at the Lutheran Church on Sunday, Feb. 11. Originally from Wuhan, China, Tony moved to the United States when he was 16 years old, completing high school in St. Louis, Missouri. "It was a really good experience ... getting to know the culture, getting to know the language," he said. He first started teaching piano to...

  • Learning Lefse at Sons of Norway Hall

    Olivia Rose, Pilot Writer|Feb 8, 2024

    Hours before the annual lefse and lutefisk dinner took place at Sons of Norway Hall on Feb. 4, Sally Dwyer instructs Joe Hofstetter on how to roll out balls of dough that would soon become lefse, a Norwegian treat: Coat the cloth-covered pastry board with flour, as well as the ball of potato-based dough, start in the center and push in each direction with a rolling pin to roll out the dough into a circular shape. Once thin enough, the dough is pried from the board with a lefse stick and...

  • Yesterday's News from 25-50-75-100 years ago

    Feb 8, 2024

    February 8, 1924 – An interesting discussion took place before the meeting of the Petersburg Men’s Club last Saturday evening when Thos. Elsemore, at that time a candidate on the Republican ticket for the Senate, and C. Christensen, a candidate on the Democratic ticket for the House, appeared and answered questions. Both candidates frankly admitted that so far they had not worked out a platform in detail, but were prepared to act to the best of their abilities for the general good of the Territory. A feature of the meeting was a talk by Rev. Jo...

  • Alaska must face food stamp litigation after a year of stays, court says

    Claire Stremple, Alaska Beacon|Feb 8, 2024

    In January of last year, 10 Alaskans sued the state because they said the Department of Health failed to provide food stamps within the time frames required by federal law. The state has been able to push pause on litigation since last year, but now it has to begin the process. District Judge Sharon Gleason wrote in a court order that further delays would be “inefficient” and noted that the state has now had a year to try and resolve its backlog. The court granted the state a series of stays, or pauses in the process, to allow it to work on... Full story

  • Editorial: Local news. Local jobs. Local accountability

    Orin Pierson, Petersburg Pilot Publisher|Feb 8, 2024

    Today, Feb. 8, 2024, the Petersburg Pilot turns 50 years old, and the occasion calls for some reflection on what it takes for a newspaper like ours to survive fifty years and what it takes to carry onward. In last week’s Yesterday’s News column we noted publisher Glenn Luckie’s description of the conditions in 1974 that brought the 62-year publishing run of the Petersburg Press to an end. He wrote about not being able to withstand “rising expenses outstripping declining revenue” and the fatal effect of local merchants reducing their local adver...

  • Guest Editorial: National group works with Forest Service for new cabins

    Larry Persily, Wrangell Sentinel Publisher|Feb 8, 2024

    Alaskans often like to complain — a lot, and loudly — about national groups sticking their noses and opinions into the workings of the 49th state. So, it’s only fair to extend a “thank you” when a national group puts up its money and time into doing something Alaskans like. The National Forest Foundation, chartered by Congress in 1992 as the official nonprofit partner of the U.S. Forest Service, is partnering with the federal agency to rebuild the popular public-use cabin at Anan Bay and, in an even bigger undertaking, building new cabins th...

  • Police report

    Feb 8, 2024

    January 31 – An officer observed an unsecured entry on Mitkof Highway and notified the responsible party. Officers responded to an alarm on Haugen Drive and determined it was a faulty smoke alarm. The Petersburg Police Department (PPD) received a report of found property. The owner was contacted to arrange its retrieval. An individual in need of assistance was given a courtesy transport to the hospital. An officer provided lockout assistance at the crane dock. An officer provided a courtesy transport to an individual in need of assistance. A...

  • Ketchikan police, troopers report seizure of fentanyl, meth with street value of nearly $1.7 million

    Scott Bowlen, Ketchikan Daily News Staff Writer|Feb 8, 2024

    The Ketchikan Police Department and Alaska State Troopers have announced the seizure of fentanyl and methamphetamine with a total street value of nearly $1.7 million. Tuesday's seizure by troopers and KPD drug investigators involved about 14,938 "counterfeit pills containing fentanyl" and about 1.8 pounds of methamphetamine, according to information contained in a troopers dispatch and a separate KPD social media post published early Wednesday afternoon. The KPD post indicated that the alleged pills weighed about 3.29 pounds. As of mid...

  • Court report

    Feb 8, 2024

    January 17, 2024 At arraignment, Magistrate Judge Rachel Newport presided as Kelly Wilbur Brown of Kake entered a not guilty plea to charges of Attempted Burglary 2, Theft 4, Criminal Trespass 1. The defendant was released on own recognizance with orders not to consume or possess alcohol or go into any establishment where it is the primary source of business, and to have no contact with the alleged victims nor go to their residence, and to submit to alcohol testing upon reasonable suspicion by village public safety officer. In a minor offence...

  • Open house presents hospital project updates

    Olivia Rose, Pilot Writer|Feb 8, 2024

    At a joint work session last week, the Hospital Board and Petersburg Borough Assembly discussed the estimated time, cost and progress of the Petersburg Medical Center replacement project. Much of the information was echoed the following day at the PMC Open House event where the public attended presentations about the new hospital project by Roy Roundtree with Bettisworth North Architects, Ben Coon with Dawson Construction, and PMC CFO Jason McCormick in the Assembly Chambers. With sizable...

  • Family learns homeowner's insurance does not cover landslides

    Larry Persily, Wrangell Sentinel Writer|Feb 8, 2024

    WRANGELL — John Florschutz was surprised to learn that his parents’ homeowner’s insurance policy did not cover the loss from the Nov. 20 landslide that destroyed their home and killed his father, Otto Florschutz. “I think it’s a shock to everyone I talk to,” he said last week. “What’s the point of home insurance. … You would expect flooding to be on the policy.” But floods, landslides, mudslides and other “earth movements” are not covered by standard home insurance policies. “There’s not a lot of people who know that,” commented Florschutz...

  • Landslide families could receive state parcels under disaster program

    Larry Persily, Wrangell Sentinel Writer|Feb 8, 2024

    WRANGELL — The borough assembly has declared as “hazardous” and assigned a property value of zero to the two lots owned by victims of the deadly Nov. 20 landslide at 11-Mile Zimovia Highway, making the owners eligible to possibly receive state land as replacement for their unusable property. The owners or their estate could build on their new lots, hold them undeveloped or sell them and keep the proceeds, explained Hannah Uher-Koch, who runs the land grant program at the Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Mining, Land and Water....

  • Proposed ordinance takes aim at illegal dumping in harbor dumpsters

    Larry Persily, Wrangell Sentinel Writer|Feb 8, 2024

    The dumpsters at Wrangell’s public harbors are for boat owners only and for their household trash only — but that hasn’t stopped people from tossing in waste oil, fishing nets, appliances and even a Volkswagen Beetle cut into pieces. “It’s been bad forever,” Harbormaster Steve Miller said last week. In an effort to stop or at least reduce the illegal dumping, the port commission on Thursday, Feb. 1, voted unanimously to recommend assembly approval of a new ordinance to explicitly prohibit throwing non-harbor and non-port related trash into the...

  • Gov. Dunleavy bans big new contracts with companies that boycott Israel

    James Brooks, Alaska Beacon|Feb 8, 2024

    Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a far-reaching administrative order on Monday that calls for public agencies to stop doing business with companies that support an economic boycott of Israel. The order makes Alaska the 38th state to take executive acts or pass legislation against boycotts intended to support Palestinians. Many of those actions are years old, but the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, a conflict that has killed more than 25,000 people since October, has intensified attention on a two-decade-old campaign that urges companies to boycott... Full story