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The Petersburg Medical Center Hospital Board voted to support a pilot program which could see the hospital offer after-school child care programming as soon as fall 2022 through its Community Wellness department. Julie Walker and Becky Turland, who was recently appointed to the Early Childhood Education Task Force, spoke to the board during last Thursday's meeting about their idea for the program which grew from the results of the child care needs assessment completed by the SHARE Coalition...
The Petersburg Medical Center Health Fair is returning for the first time in four years this Saturday in the community gym. The in-person fair, organized by the Community Wellness team, will feature speakers, booths, prizes, and more. After its cancelation in 2020 because of the pandemic, this year's theme is "getting back on track" with the hope of returning focus to preventative care such as annual health checks, something that many set aside while spending the last two years mitigating... Full story
The Petersburg High School track and field team ended its season strong with many students setting new personal records at the ASAA Division II State Championships in Anchorage last weekend. Head Coach James Valentine said his team was better equipped at handling the heat than at the regional tournament and spoke highly of their performance. "The whole team in general, I thought, looked better than they did when they were at regions because the pressure was off, they had more fun doing it, and...
Petersburg Medical Center staff discussed how a surge of COVID-19 cases in Petersburg has affected hospital operations and the community during its hospital board meeting last Thursday. According to Dr. Selina Burt, over the past month the hospital has had to reshuffle its staff to cover shifts of those who had to stay at home with the virus, but that at this point operations are mostly back to normal. PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter also reported that there has recently been "a little bit of an explosi...
June 2, 1922 One hundred and fifty salmon canneries are planning operations in Alaska this season, an increase of more than thirty over last year. Two crab canneries and three clam canneries will operate in the territory. May 30, 1947 New Cab Company Formed by Veterans. A new cab company was formed in Petersburg this week, starting operation on Wednesday morning. The two World War II veterans who have formed the organization are Jim Miller and Neil McDonald. They will take their calls at the Pastime, phone 76, and operate under the name...
The Biden administration has officially revived an Obama-era plan that would put the Bristol Bay watershed off-limits to the proposed Pebble Mine or any similar project. The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced its intention to invoke a rarely used provision of the Clean Water Act to prevent the issuance of any wetlands-fill permit for a Pebble-sized metals mine. “Bristol Bay supports one of the world’s most important salmon fisheries,” Casey Sixkiller, EPA’s Region 10 administrator, said in a statement. “Two decades o... Full story
Memorial Day Ceremony 2022 To the Editor: I may be stepping into a hornets’ nest here; but nobody ever accused me of knowing when to keep my mouth shut. The day was sunny and cool; there were flags and flowers everywhere; the cemetery was well-tended - the perfect setting for the ceremony. Then the orations began. To me, Memorial Day is a civic occasion which should be for everybody in our pluralistic society. But the preachers saw a captive audience. Too many sermons and prayers were made for Christians and “in Jesus’ name.” One reading...
Despite repeated claims and allegations conjured up from the thin air of political dishonesty, there has never been any proof, no charges and convictions, no indictments for voter fraud that cost Donald Trump his reelection dream in the 2020 voting. And yet, the former president and his followers continue to spew out and stir up claims that thieves will do it again in 2022. It’s called “preemptive excuses.” If they lose in this fall’s elections, it must have been stolen. Can’t be that voters picked someone else. Best to start now with the...
May 25 – Donald Fincher, 42, was arrested and charged with assault in the 2nd degree and resisting arrest. An officer assisted a citizen on North Nordic Drive. Sawyer Bryner, 20, was issued a citation for speeding. May 26 – An officer assisted a citizen on North Nordic Drive. An officer assisted a citizen with checking to see if a firearm had been reported as stolen. An officer responded to a report of a dangerous driver on Gjoa Street but was unable to locate the described vehicle. An officer responded to a report of debris in the roadway at...
May 11: In the Petersburg District Court, Magistrate Rachel Newport presided over a bail review hearing for Dylan R. Adams. After some discussion, the request to reduce bond was denied. Adams will stay in the custody of the Petersburg Police Department. May 13: In the Petersburg District Court Magistrate Judge Rachel Newport presided over a request for a 30-day extension fugitive from justice hearing for Ariel Brook Eller. The State of Alaska has not received a response from the formal letter that the Colorado Department of Corrections asked...
Ted Cheeseman, the co-founder of Happywhale, gave a presentation to the people of Petersburg last month on the online whale documentation project and what has been learned through the contributions of users. Happywhale is a program which uses pictures of whale flukes submitted by users to identify whales and chart where they have been spotted. Cheeseman co-founded it after speaking to scientists about how regular photographs could be collected and used as data to research individual whales. The...
The Petersburg High School baseball team will be competing in the ASAA DII State Championships this weekend after earning an at-large berth. The first-seeded at-large Vikings traveled up to Wasilla High School on Wednesday ahead of their final competition of the season. They will face off against Fairbanks’ Monroe Catholic in their first game on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. Win or lose, they will play again on Friday versus either Palmer or Kodiak. Head Coach Jim Engell said his team’s goal this season is to play a game on Saturday at the state tou...
Heidi Drygas, the former commissioner of the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, visited Petersburg as part of her campaign for lieutenant governor during the Little Norway Festival in late May. Drygas is running with independent Bill Walker who served as Alaska's governor from 2014 to 2018 against incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy in this year's election. The trip marked her first visit to Petersburg and during her time in town she set up a booth to talk to members of the community...
Months before Alaska’s state elections, the Legislature is set for major turnover. At least 17 of the Legislature’s 60 members will be in a new position or out of office entirely by next January — and that doesn’t count anyone who loses their seat this fall. The deadline to file for this year’s legislative elections is June 1, but many candidates have already made up their minds. Because a steep learning curve awaits new legislators, several departing incumbents said the turnover will slow the progress of complicated legislation, such as a... Full story
If oil prices stay above $100 a barrel for the next 12 months, the state could end the fiscal year in June 2023 with about $2.3 billion in its savings accounts, not counting the Permanent Fund. It hasn’t had that much in savings since 2018. “That’s not enough cash,” Senator Bert Stedman, co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said last Friday. The state treasury needs a healthier shock absorber to cushion against the inevitable periods of low oil prices, he said. It all depends on oil markets and prices. Alaska North Slope crude has average...
