Sorted by date Results 1 - 20 of 20
During Tuesday's meeting, the Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously, 7-0, in support of Ordinance #2022-03 in its first reading which would increase harbor moorage fees by approximately 5%. The proposed fee increase was first presented to the Harbor and Ports Advisory Board during a meeting on February 1 where Harbormaster Glo Wollen said the increase was necessary to keep up with inflation and that fees have not increased since 2018. During that meeting, the harbor board approved a...
Almost three years after pulling pollution monitors - called Ocean Rangers - from large cruise ships, Gov. Mike Dunleavy has proposed legislation to replace the onboard state personnel with regular inspections by shoreside staff while ships are in port and underway. The Ocean Rangers program was written into state law when voters approved a citizen's initiative in 2006 to step up oversight of the cruise ship industry. However, start-of-season and random inspections during the summer "are a more...
February 24, 1922 Big Firemens’ Mask Ball Huge Success. One of the largest and most successful masquerades ever held in Petersburg was given on Wednesday night by the Petersburg Fire Department. The committee in charge had worked hard on the arrangements and everything moved with perfect precision. During the early part of the evening the fun was fast and furious as the masked couples whirled around the dance floor to the music of the Petersburg Jazz Band. Nearly a hundred persons were masked and the judges had a hard time picking the twenty to...
Haines-Lynn Canal fishermen might have an opportunity to diversify if a Juneau-based fishing charter and lodge owner is right about his hunch that a viable commercial squid fishery could exist in Southeast. Richard Yamada, who's been operating fishing charters for 40 years, has been looking for ways to reduce the impacts on his business from king salmon declines. He speculates that an observed influx of magister squid in the northern inside passage might be one factor in salmon survival. About 1...
Since he officially began his reelection campaign last August, Gov. Mike Dunleavy has spent nothing on personnel for his campaign. He’s paid for food, processing fees for fundraising, office supplies, postage and travel, but nothing on any campaign staff from August until the end of January. One way he has managed this is by using state resources for campaign purposes. For instance, his campaign spokesman, Andrew Jensen, is a state communications employee in Dunleavy’s office. Jensen’s state job is to sing the praises of Dunleavy and attac...
The Estate of Molly Parks v. Petersburg Borough, et al. went before the Alaska Supreme Court for oral arguments earlier this month in an effort to overturn the Superior Court's decision to dismiss the case and reopen the lawsuit against the borough and Allen. The wrongful death claim stems from a van crash in 2016 which killed Molly Parks and argued that the borough should be held civilly liable for her death while the borough argued that workers compensation is the sole source remedy since the...
February 16 – Chase Martin, 27, and Gerriann Collins, 28, were charged with theft in the third degree. Officers conducted a welfare check on a citizen on South Nordic. February 17 – A dog was reported killing chickens on South Nordic. A vehicle was reported for parking in the wrong direction and in a yellow zone on North First Street. February 18 – An individual completed registration as a sex offender. An officer responded to a report of suspicious activity on Excel Street. An officer responded to a report of an individual causing a distu...
The state of child care availability in Petersburg remains a central concern for the community. During Tuesday's regular borough assembly meeting Assembly member Jeff Meucci remarked that "child care in Petersburg is the cornerstone to economic development in town. Without dependable child care in Petersburg, we can't get back to normal." But he added that understanding the fluid state of child care is challenging. As the conversation continues locally about how to meaningfully support this...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Petersburg's Representative in the State House has broken his leg after crashing a paraglider in Anchorage last weekend. Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins told the Anchorage Daily News he intends to return to Juneau late Wednesday. Kreiss-Tomkins has been recuperating in Anchorage following surgery and attending committee meetings remotely. He broke two bones in his right leg in the Saturday crash. Anchorage Republican Rep. Laddie Shaw was out flying with Kreiss-Tomkins when the crash happened. Kreiss-Tomkins was taking his f...
The Mountain View Manor Assisted Living Facility is reporting one active case of COVID-19 as of Wednesday according to Mountain View Manor administrator Shelyn Bell. Since February 10, 14 cases have been identified at the manor, two of which were in the past week, and there has been one fatality where COVID-19 may have been a contributing factor. Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht briefed the Petersburg Borough Assembly on the state of the outbreak during Tuesday night’s assembly meeting According to Giesbrecht, all staff are wearing full PPE i...
Alaska's state housing agency has distributed more than $243 million in financial aid the past year to help renters hurt economically by the pandemic and will soon embark on a $50 million federally funded program to help homeowners, too. The aid can go toward eligible homeowners' monthly mortgage payments, and may also be applied to current and past-due property taxes, insurance premiums and utility bills, the Alaska Housing Finance Corp. announced Friday. Preregistration for Alaska Housing...
A state and federally designated economic development organization for Southeast Alaska has received $1 million in two grants to build up mariculture in the region, with half the money to go toward applying for an even larger grant and the other half going to design a processing facility on Prince of Wales Island. A $500,000 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration will be used "to build an application to allow us to compete for $50 million," Robert Venables, executive director...
An award-winning film chronicling the Metlakatla boys basketball team's run to the 2018 state championship will make its Petersburg big screen debut next week. "Alaskan Nets" plays at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 3, at Wright Auditorium. Tickets are $20. Californian Jeff Harasimowicz, director and producer of the documentary film, said he got the idea in 2017 when he was scrolling sports stories, which he loves, on ESPN.com and came across a 2016 photo story by photojournalist Samuel Wilson about...
The Petersburg High School girls basketball team traveled south to Wrangell last weekend to take on the Lady Wolves in their homecoming games, winning on Friday and losing on Saturday in non-conference play. Petersburg Head Coach Dino Brock said his team stepped up defensively and were able to battle the "big and athletic" Wrangell team across both games. "I thought that we played at the pace that we wanted to both nights which really helped us on both ends of the court," Brock said. "Friday we...
After a short boat ride over to Wrangell last weekend, the Vikings took to the court twice against the Wolves for Wrangell High School's homecoming, losing on both Friday and Saturday. The Vikings were missing a few key players, said Head Coach Rick, and his team struggled to score against Wrangell's tough half-court defense. "I think it was two times we went probably over five minutes without scoring and when you have those long lapses in your offense it's difficult to be successful and that's...
The 2022 sport fishing regulations for king salmon in Southeast Alaska and the modifications for the Petersburg and Wrangell area were released by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game earlier this month. According to the announcement, Alaska residents have a bag and possession limit of two king salmon that measure 28 inches or more in length. Resident anglers may use two rods from February 3 to March 31, 2022 and October 1 to March 31, 2023 but can only retain salmon. Non-residents have a bag...
Our patrons often expect us to focus mainly on the past, but what about history that is evolving now? Museums around the world have been capturing items and experiences of the last couple years to be able to share and teach future generations about the COVID crisis. Here, we’ve collected face masks, airport social distancing signs, photos of the graduation parade and hospital testing stations, the box of the first vaccinations received locally, Zoom screen shots, flyers, newspapers and even a m...
Lifelong Petersburg resident, fisherman, educator, and line cook, Roy Otness passed away at age 93 Monday, February 14th at Mountain View Manor. The 5th of 6 children, Roy was born in his parent's home on Front Street (N. Nordic Dr.) on July 29th, 1928 along with his twin brother, Ralph. Roy was born second and when he arrived, he wasn't breathing. The doctor told the nurse to "Just leave him. This poor woman has enough children!" but the nurse disobeyed the doctor and gave him mouth to mouth... Full story
The Viking Swim Club traveled to Fairbanks last weekend for the Age Group Championships which saw 10 of its members swim in over 40 events against hundreds of swimmers from across the state. Head Coach Scott Burt said the level of competition pushed his team to up their game and helped them improve their times across the board in both preliminary races and in the finals. "Having the energy of a swim meet when you have hundreds of people there cheering and having intense, talented competition to...
