Sorted by date Results 1 - 20 of 20
The borough assembly appointed the Public Safety Advisory Board to rewrite and craft an updated fireworks ordinance that includes fines and allows fireworks to be set off in service area one during certain dates and times each year. The current fireworks ordinance doesn't have the option to issue fines to residents violating the ordinance; as a result, the Petersburg Police Department has to file criminal charges of disorderly conduct instead. Police Chief Jim Kerr stated in a letter read by bor...
A thick swath of krill washed ashore along the North Nordic Drive beach on Sunday. NOAA oceanographers theorize they may have been pushed ashore while mating near the surface and were caught in the tide. Once the tiny shrimp-like animal is caught in the surf or tide that is the end of them. Another theory is that low oxygen conditions, known as hypoxia, are a less likely explanation because the condition doesn't occur until later in the summer. The mass strandings are unusual, but not unheard...
At an assembly meeting on Monday, members of the borough assembly discussed the possibility of instituting a fish box tax on fish charter customers who leave Petersburg with boxes of locally caught fish. The discussion topic was requested by assembly member Jeff Meucci who stated that a fish box tax wouldn't be charged to locals who wanted to take boxes of fish down south with them. "The idea here is to charge a fee for folks who come to town and off load 20 or 30 boxes of fish and take it to...
The borough assembly approved ordinance #2019-02 in its first reading on Monday that would update the borough's sales tax code to include language regarding internet sales of goods and services. Although the current tax code doesn't mention internet sales tax, it doesn't forbid it, according to finance director Judy Tow. The ordinance would just broaden the language in the sales tax code to internet vendors not located in Petersburg or Alaska. According to Tow, until the state has a unified...
April 4, 1919 The Golden Shore Canning Company, which was formerly known as the Alaska Clam Cannery Company; and which operated a clam cannery at Scow Bay has again been reorganized and is now known as the Mountain Point Packing Company, with headquarters in Seattle. A complete one line salmon outfit is being installed, including a Nicholson slimer, Troy Fox tall filler double seamer and two retorts and a Smith and Wright exhaust box. Recently six cottages and houses were erected to care for the help employed at the plant. March 31, 1944 Today...
Don Jarrett of McMillen Jacobs Associates gave the borough assembly a presentation on the status of the Blind Slough Hydroelectric project and recommended a refurbishment of the powerhouse and penstock. McMillen Jacobs Associates performed a condition assessment of the project and came up with a list of recommendations for the work that needed to be done in order to keep the project operational through the remaining term of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license, which is up in 2034....
Daily, it becomes increasingly clear Gov. Mike Dunleavy's staff is the gang that can't count, talk or think straight. Most everything the administration says is misleading, half-true or false, a perfect 10 on the truthlessness scale. They seemingly can't do simple math, read the Alaska Constitution or perform factual analysis of a smoke-and-mirrors budget plan. Fortunately, majorities in both houses of the Legislature are showing leadership lacking in the executive. If not so tragic, the...
The borough assembly approved an amended letter to Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Monday requesting that he travel to Southeast Alaska to speak on his 2020 fiscal year proposed budget and give an open-forum style meeting without involvement from Americans for Prosperity. On March 18, Dunleavy announced a statewide road show to discuss his FY2020 budget proposal. The locations included Kenai, Anchorage, Nome, Fairbanks and Mat-Su, with dates ranging from March 25 through 29. The road tour was sponsored...
WRANGELL - Robert Rang came on as the Wrangell Medical Center's administrator in October of 2015. The hospital was only the latest step in a three-decade career. Rang said he started his career as a CNA, and he kept on slowly rising up in the business. He was working in Kodiak when he first heard about this job being available in Wrangell, he said. "The opportunity opened up, it was something I was very interested in. Small town life is what my wife and I enjoy, along with all the other...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The owners of an air ambulance that crashed in Alaska have ended a private search for the three employees on board. Officials with Utah-based Guardian Flight say the search ended Wednesday after covering 7 square miles (18 square kilometers) of ocean floor and traversing more than 700 linear miles (1,127 kilometers) by ship. Company spokesman Jim Gregory says searchers will continue to look along the shoreline. Searchers earlier found most of the plane wreckage, including the cockpit voice recorder, over a large d...
HAINES, Alaska (AP) — A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued a group of boaters from a sandbar in an Alaska river early Sunday, according to authorities. The helicopter responded to a distress call near the southeast Alaska town of Haines and rescued the group of seven boaters and a dog from the Chilkat River shortly before 1 a.m., the Anchorage Daily News reported Sunday. The group was flown to Haines for medical checks, but no one was injured, police said. The boaters were identified as 30-year-old Gary Hinkle, 29-year-old Sierra H...
WRANGELL - The Pioneers of Alaska is one of the older social organizations in the state. According to the organization's website, the first group of pioneers, or "Igloos," was founded in Nome in 1907. The purpose of the Pioneers of Alaska is twofold, to preserve community history and to serve as a social outlet for members. At first it was a men-only club, but women were allowed in around 1912, according to the Pioneer website. From the first Igloo in Nome, the group spread across the state....
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) —Chinese tariffs are forcing Alaska’s seafood industry to look for markets beyond the Asian giant, according to an industry marketing organization. The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute is exploring how to expand the state’s seafood brand in response to a 25 percent tariff on Pacific Northwest seafood imposed by China in summer 2018, the Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Wednesday. Alaska’s seafood sales are off by more than 20 percent so far this year and could take a big hit in China, said Jeremy Woodrow, the institu...
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) — Ketchikan author Patrice Motschenbacher-Hammer has recently released her new fantasy novel, “The Weavings of Akaria,” the first in her planned series: “The Veils of Wisdom.” Motschenbacher-Hammer sat down at a local coffee shop Wednesday with her husband, Bob Hammer, to talk about the journey of publishing her first novel. “It just evolved,” she said, of completing the novel. “I like fantasy, so I wanted to write something about a fantasy type. I found that creating different worlds is wonderful.” Creating a fantas...
None of the members of the Senate Community and Regional Affairs committee (CRA) lives near the sea, but at a hearing last week they were not impressed by Governor Dunleavy's plan to pull millions of dollars in fish taxes from remote coastal towns. Bills submitted to the legislature by the governor would remove the ability of towns to keep their share of local fisheries business and landing taxes. For decades, the taxes have been split 50/50 with the state. Dunleavy wants to take all of the...
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — Two Alaska high schools hope to end their difficulties fielding football teams by merging their programs, according to school officials. Monroe Catholic High School in Fairbanks and Tri-Valley School in Healy have signed an agreement to establish a joint football team, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Sunday. A teacher and a community volunteer will serve as coaches in Healy and then at least twice per week the squad will join Monroe players and coaches in Fairbanks 112 miles (about 180 kilometers) north, o...
The first-ever ADF&G Small Game Hunting and Field Dressing class will be held in Petersburg on Tues., April 9 from 5:30-8:30 pm in the life science classroom at Petersburg High School. Participants will be able to field dress actual birds and learn about bird anatomy, what meat is best to preserve and how to care for it in the field. To register, go online to http://alaskansafield.adfg.alaska.gov. Click on the “Petersburg” tab. There is a fee. For information, contact Abby McAllister, Phone: (907) 465-4292, abby.mcallister@a...
A mink was spotted near Greens Camp on March 24 during the morning minus tide....
Juneau - The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced the 2019 sport fishing regulations for king salmon in Southeast Alaska and Yakutat. These regulations will be effective 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, April 2, 2019 through 11:59 p.m. Friday, May 1, 2020. The regulations are: • Alaskan Resident o The resident bag and possession limit is one king salmon, 28 inches or greater in length. • Nonresident o The nonresident bag and possession limit is one king salmon, 28 inches or greater in length; o Fro...
