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Children and staff lined the halls of Stedman Elementary School Friday morning to celebrate Principal Heather Conn's recent recognition as "Alaska Elementary Principal of the Year." The Alaska Association of Elementary School Principals (AAESP) selected Principal Conn as National Distinguished Principal for 2024 for her exemplary educational and community leadership. "I feel very honored, humbled, excited, and emotional all at the same time," Conn told the Pilot in an email. A life-long...
The Petersburg Fish and Game Advisory Committee(AC) met on April 8 to generate proposals to the state Board of Fish to change the Blind Slough King Salmon management plan. The need for proposals was driven by public outcry following the announced closure of sport fishing this summer in the freshwater of Blind Slough. The AC agreed on and submitted a proposal that attempts to balance the need to protect the return of broodstock king salmon for the Crystal Lake Hatchery, while also providing...
April 11, 1924 – H.J. Jorgensen already has a large number of signers for a roadway proposed to be built from the city limits to Sandy Beach. It is a needed improvement. Sandy Beach in the summer time is the playground for Petersburg people, owing to the fine sandy beach there, and the roadway would give an outlet for autos and growing business interests. When roads were first started in Juneau, there were but a few autos, but with every mile of road built, the number of machines increased rapidly and the same will hold true for Petersburg. A...
The Mental Health Trust Land Office (TLO) informed the Petersburg Borough that it will look into a feasibility study for constructing a road in the Trust’s proposed South Mitkof Subdivision on the condition that the plat is approved. If a plat is not approved, the Trust confirmed for the Pilot that work on the South Mitkof Subdivision project “will be put on hold for the foreseeable future” and TLO staff “will need to focus work on advancing subdivision efforts in other areas of the state that will generate revenues for the Trust and its ben...
Who better to talk about education in Alaska than students. They could continue leaving it to school administrators, elected officials, their parents and teachers to speak for them, but that would be the easy way out. It’s also been unsuccessful. Looking to break that losing streak with the governor and state legislators unwilling to adequately fund education, hundreds of high schoolers around the state last week showed they are frustrated at the outcome. From Ketchikan, Petersburg, Sitka, Juneau, in Anchorage, Eagle River, Homer, Bethel and U...
Dear Friends and Neighbors: The House Finance Committee wrapped up debate on amendments to the operating budget Thursday evening and moved the budget out of subcommittee on Friday. Amendments to the budget are being considered on the House floor this week. After we consider over 100 amendments the budget will be debated and voted on. If there is support, the budget will pass the House and then be considered by the Senate. Usually, the differences between the House and Senate versions of the operating budget are worked out in a conference...
April 3 – An officer responded to a report of a vehicle parked for an extended period of time. The owner was contacted and the vehicle moved from the area. Papers were served. An officer responded to a report of suspicious activity and determined it was unfounded. A driver was issued a warning for tail and headlight requirements. April 4 – An officer conducting a welfare check found the individuals of concern were okay. A driver was issued a warning for tail light requirements. An officer assisted Emergency Medical Services (EMS). April 5 – A...
Last month, a new 3D mammography machine —expected to be up to 60% more effective at detecting tumors— began serving patients in the radiology department at Petersburg Medical Center. Mammography uses x-rays to locate and help diagnose tumors in the breast. The newly installed machine can capture a clear, more in-depth image of a malignancy that may otherwise be missed in a conventional 2D mammogram. “This is a project we’ve been working on for a long time as a department,” said PMC radiology manager Sonja Paul. “We knew the machine we had was...
As the Alaska House of Representatives opened debate on the state operating budget Tuesday, financial experts away from the House floor were calculating that the draft spending plan under discussion may not be affordable. The operating budget, which will pay for state services for 12 months starting July 1, clocks in at $6 billion, excluding federally funded and fee-funded programs. The state’s capital budget, which covers construction and renovation projects, is expected to be another $550 million. Other legislation, labor contracts under n... Full story
In celebration of its 25th anniversary, the Petersburg Humane Association (PHA) has filled the window of Petersburg Rexall Drug with all kinds of donations for an on-line silent auction – from a full-day fishing trip for four to handmade crochet dog sweaters. The Clausen Museum, in recognition of all the wonderful things PHA has done to help Petersburg's animal population throughout the years, went through their archives and created an exhibit: Petersburg's Pets of the Past: A photographic journ...
Petersburg's Viking Swim Club competed against teams from eight Southeast communities at the Southeast Championships in Juneau last weekend. The 34 kids traveled up to swim in multiple events across two days where the VSC claimed second place overall for the second year in a row, showing great improvement and shrinking the gap towards their first-place competitors in Juneau's Glacier Swim Club. "Every year that we go we score a little bit more points than we did the year before, so I'm really ha...
Petersburg High School's Baseball team started their season off with a challenging series of games in Sitka this last weekend. This year's young roster faced off against several opponents over the course of three days, starting off strong with a win up against Thunder Mountain before struggling against tough competition from West Valley High School and Sitka. "[We] were excited to be playing," said head coach Jim Engell. "It's always nice to get on and see in a game situation the things you...
"Scenario, scenario, scenario. This is only a drill. There has been an airplane crash at the end of the runway," a voice called out from the emergency fire dispatch radio on April 6. "Repeat, this is only a drill." An emergency drill that occurs once every three years took place Saturday afternoon when members of the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services and Search and Rescue simulated a response to an airplane crash at the Petersburg airport runway. The first unit to...
WRANGELL - One hundred and fifty years ago, the Stikine beckoned people to its rugged landscape with the promise of wealth. This was the Cassiar gold rush of 1874, a huge moment in Wrangell history, according to Ronan Rooney, historian and creator of the podcast "Wrangell History Unlocked." Rooney's newest series "Strange Customs" tells the story of the gold rush in Wrangell in three parts. The story, however, is not just about the search for gold on the Stikine. It involves a political corrupti...
Silver Bay Seafoods will acquire the Peter Pan Seafoods plant in Valdez, and operate Peter Pan plants in Port Moller and Dillingham for the 2024 salmon season, the two companies announced today. The deal with Peter Pan is the second major acquisition Silver Bay has announced in recent days. The company announced its purchase of Trident Seafood’s Ketchikan processing plant in March. A joint news release by SBS and Peter Pan said, “Shifting operations of the two facilities to SBS is a component of a larger restructuring, still being fin...
New U.S. claims to seabed territory off Alaska have run into an obstacle: an objection from the Russian government. The Russian government, which has staked territorial claims to most of the Arctic Ocean, is challenging the U.S. claims made in December to sovereignty over 520,400 square kilometers of extended outer continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean – an area bigger than California - and another 176,330 square kilometers in the Bering Sea. The U.S. does not have the right to make such claims... Full story
