Articles from the March 11, 2021 edition


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  • PMC anticipates 1,000 to be vaccinated

    Brian Varela|Mar 11, 2021

    About 400 residents received their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at Petersburg Medical Center's vaccine clinic on March 5, and 1,000 residents are expected to be fully vaccinated in the next two weeks, according to PMC CEO Phil Hofsetter at Monday's Borough Assembly Meeting. PMC will be hosting another COVID-19 vaccine clinic on Friday, March 12 at the Parks and Recreation community gym. The clinic will focus on administering the first dose of the vaccine, but some second doses will also...

  • The snow moon

    Mar 11, 2021

    Feb. 26's Snow Moon shines bright through the trees on Papkes Landing Rd. According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, the full moon in February is traditionally referred to as a Snow Moon due to the heavy snowfall experienced throughout the month....

  • Two-hundred affected by hospital data breach

    Brian Varela|Mar 11, 2021

    About 200 patients at Petersburg Medical Center may have had their medical records viewed inappropriately in a data breach, said PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter in a prepared statement on KFSK on March 4. PMC first became aware of the data breach when an employee told the hospital's compliance officer that another employee may be committing curiosity lookups. PMC employees are only allowed to look up a patient's medical record when their job requires them to do so, said Hofstetter. The hospital...

  • Local COVID-19 cases falls to 16

    Brian Varela|Mar 11, 2021

    Sixteen infected residents were released from isolation on Wednesday, while just one new active case has been added to Petersburg's active COVID-19 case count, according to a joint press release from the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center. Additionally, Petersburg is only reporting 16 active cases of COVID-19 as of 4 P.M. on Wednesday. The current case count is the lowest the town has seen since Feb. 21 when Petersburg was reporting 13 cases. The Petersburg Operations Center has...

  • Yesterday's News

    Mar 11, 2021

    March 8, 1946 Invaded by the horrors of hand-to-hand fighting, establishing beach heads constructing air fields under fire were and one of the major events in the movie shown to the Student Body last Friday. William Bendix, Lloyd Nolan and Preston Foster lead in the cast of “Guadalcanal Diary.” The Marines landed and the Japs left though it was a bitter struggle for the Americans which resulted in victory for the GIs. In the absence of Mr. Wingard, the movie projector was operated by Mr. Dick and company. March 10, 1971 Twenty-seven bas...

  • Audit shows borough's finances in good standing

    Brian Varela|Mar 11, 2021

    An audit of the borough's finances for the 2020 fiscal year reveals an overall positive change in the borough's net position from July 1, 2019 through June 20, 2020, according to documents presented to the Borough Assembly at their Feb. 22 meeting. The audit was conducted by BDO and was presented to the assembly by Sam Thompson, an auditor with the accounting firm. The audit showed a positive change in the net position of $825,913 for the 2020 fiscal year. Additionally, the unassigned fund...

  • To the Editor

    Mar 11, 2021

    Heartfelt thank you To the Editor: I would like to thank everyone for sending me their prayers and well-wishes during my recent health problems. I feel so fortunate and grateful to have so many people thinking of me. Thank you also to the wonderful doctors and nurses that took care of me during my stay at PMC, to the P.P.D. first responder, the Volunteer E.M.S. crew and to the crew of the medivac transport. Last but not least thank you to my wife and my family who stood by me through the entire...

  • Guest Editorial: The governor needs to read the calendar

    Wrangell Sentinel|Mar 11, 2021

    Alaska is in a fiscal mess and Gov. Mike Dunleavy is making it worse. The state has spent almost all of its easily accessible savings. Budget cuts have hit hard at essentials such as the ferry system, university and some social service programs. Our credit rating is at risk. And yet the governor acts like next year or the year after is soon enough to figure it out. Calm and thoughtful is good, irresponsible is bad. Dunleavy's plan is to spend from the Permanent Fund until a better idea comes...

  • Police report

    Mar 11, 2021

    March 3— A resident received a scam call. The caller claimed they had a warrant for the individual’s arrest and wanted money. Authorities responded to a report of a phone scam requesting money. Authorities conducted a welfare check at a location on Dolphin St. An individual at a location on N. Nordic St. needed help finding their residence. March 4— An officer attempted to issue a paper service at an undisclosed location. March 5— Authorities conducted a security check in the downtown area. A child custody dispute was reported to authori...

  • Triem v. Alaska Airlines:

    Ron Loesch Publisher|Mar 11, 2021

    The Supreme Court of the State of Alaska ruled last month that Superior Court Judge William Carey acted correctly in disqualifying Petersburg Attorney Fred Triem from representing the Estate of Helen A. Lingley and upheld his order dismissing the lawsuit filed by Triem against Alaska Airlines, Inc. and its supervisor Dan Kane. Triem filed the lawsuit for the wrongful termination of Lingley, from the company in December 2012 after the woman was terminated from her customer service position in...

  • Visitor industry planning document completed after two years

    Brian Varela|Mar 11, 2021

    A Petersburg Economic Development Council document that highlights opportunities within the community to improve the local tourism industry has been given to the Borough Assembly to be reviewed. The Visitor Industry Management Plan categorizes Petersburg's tourism industry. A working group selected a goal for each category and presented several actions the borough could take to reach that goal. The six categories are quality of life, maximize local benefits, infrastructure and planning,...

  • Wading merganser

    Mar 11, 2021

    A female common merganser swims in the waters of Wrangell Narrows Tuesday morning....

  • Obituary: Dorothy M. Bains

    Mar 11, 2021

    Dorothy M. Bains, 88, passed away peacefully at her home on February 24, 2021. She was born in Bremerton, Washington on January 8, 1933, and grew up in Everett, Washington. She retired from the Boeing Aerospace Company in 1994, and relocated to Sequim, Washington. She moved to Petersburg in May of 2016, after the passing of her husband, Herb. Dorothy loved to help others; it wasn't long before she was the mail lady for Wikan Enterprises. Almost daily she was in awe-there was always a kind... Full story

  • User fees reset at P&R

    Brian Varela|Mar 11, 2021

    The Borough Assembly approved an ordinance in its third reading on Monday that reinstates user fees at the Parks and Recreation Center and makes changes to the fee structure. Ordinance #2021-03 reestablishes user fees at the Parks and Recreation Center. The facility had been waiving user fees since the facility reopened in August after it closed its doors at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ordinance also groups all users into two categories and establishes three types of fees. Those...

  • St. Patrick's Day 2020

    Mar 11, 2021

    Pat Blair changes the street signs at the corner of Gjoa and N. Nordic Dr. ahead of last year's St. Patrick's Day celebration. Blair said he will again exchange the street signs at eight intersections in the downtown area for more festive signage. This year's St. Patrick's Day Parade is scheduled to start at 4 P.M. on Wednesday, March 17 at the intersection of N. Nordic Dr. and Dolphin St....

  • Fish Factor: No other fishing regions of the world reach out for stakeholder input as much as Alaska does

    Laine Welch|Mar 11, 2021

    It’s likely that no other fishing regions of the world reach out for stakeholder input as much as Alaska does to gather policy-shaping ground truth by state and federal managers and organizations. That’s demonstrated by two new surveys – one which aims to quantify how much Alaska fishermen and processors paid out over the past year to lessen Covid impacts and how much relief they got from government programs; the other to learn what technology needs are tops with harvesters. The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute is collecting infor...

  • PHS to test athletes for COVID-19 weekly

    Brian Varela|Mar 11, 2021

    Petersburg High School will test students involved in interscholastic, in-person sports that involve competition and travel on a weekly basis as the Petersburg School District looks for ways to get students participating in activities again, according to school district officials at the Petersburg School Board meeting on Tuesday. The school district will be using BinaxNOW Antigen tests, which are a low-level indicator for possible COVID-19 infection. Only high school students and their coaches w...

  • Artifact Archive: The Alaska Magazine

    Mar 11, 2021

    Before the Alaska Magazine we know today, there was another Alaska Magazine--a small and unrelated periodical produced in Juneau in 1927. As editor, John Edward Meals included articles about explorers to Alaska, stories of interest to tourists and cultural information. Meals was born in Nebraska and lived for a time in Valdez. He worked for the Kennecott Copper Mine there before launching his publication in Juneau. Only 5 volumes were published, and by 1930, Meals had moved on to Seattle. There...

  • SEAPA could raise rates to pay for submarine cable

    Brian Varela|Mar 11, 2021

    Southeast Alaska Power Agency will likely have to raise rates to pay off bonding for the replacement of a damaged submarine cable, said SEAPA board voting member Bob Lynn at a Borough Assembly meeting Monday. At a recent SEAPA board meeting, board members discussed bonding as a way to pay for the approximately $14 million replacement submarine cable. SEAPA has to pay Sumitomo, a Japanese firm, for the cable at one time, but $14 million is nearly all SEAPA has in financial assets, said Lynn. The...

  • COVID-19 case count down to 10

    Brian Varela|Mar 11, 2021

    Petersburg's COVID-19 active case count is down to 10 as no new cases were reported on Tuesday, according to a joint press release from the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center. One infected resident was released from isolation, which brought the active case count from 11 to 10, according to the press release. The current active case count is continuing its downward trend after the number of infected residents peaked at 68 on March 3. On Monday, the Emergency Operations Center... Full story

  • COVID-19 community risk level lowered to orange

    Brian Varela|Mar 11, 2021

    The Petersburg Emergency Operations Center has lowered the local community COVID-19 risk level from red to orange Monday morning, according to a joint press release from the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center. There were several reasons the EOC made the decision to lower the local risk level from high to moderate. Several recent positive cases have come from households where infected residents were isolated according to the press release. Additionally, the COVID-19 positivity rate... Full story