Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 27
Petersburg Indian Association donated an SUV to Mountain View Food Services (MVFS) to replace the non-profit organization's unreliable delivery vehicle. The vehicle was purchased through a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was only available to tribes, said PIA Tribal Administrator Tracy Welch. There were limitations to what the grant could be used for, but PIA decided to use the grant to assist with elderly food service meals and deliveries in the community....
Petersburg School District switched over to a low risk level of operations, or green level, on Monday. Rae C. Stedman Elementary School will be in session from 8 A.M. to 1:45 P.M. in person Monday through Friday, said Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter at the COVID-19 community update on Friday, Sept. 25. Teachers will stay with their classes throughout the day and limit interaction with other teachers and pods. Students will still get recesses, lunch and other breaks while in school. Mitkof...
October 1, 1920 Sixty three thousand dollars was the valuation placed on a shipment of live foxes taken south on the last trip of the City of Seattle from various fox farms in the Territory. Part of the shipment was from Skagway and the interior but 20 blue foxes and ten silvers were placed aboard the boat at Petersburg. The thirty foxes from here were consigned from the Hercules Fox company on Sukoi Islands to the eastern farm of the same concern located at Glance, Minnesota. September 28, 1945 The Junior High girls and Miss Heikes went...
This year's borough assembly candidates took the stage on Sept. 24 to answer questions ranging from the borough's COVID-19 response to the tourism industry in this year's candidate forum. The candidates answered questions from representatives of KFSK and the Petersburg Pilot. Marc Martinsen, Dave Kensinger and incumbents Jeff Meucci and Brandi Thynes were each asked the same questions and had two minutes to respond. The order of the candidates changed with each question that was asked. The forum...
The Pilot asked Katherine (Katie) Holmlund and Craig Anderson, who are both running for a single 3-year term seat on the Petersburg School Board, six questions related to the Petersburg School District. Due to a production error, Holmlund's closing statements didn't run in last week's paper with the rest of her responses. Below is her last response as she submitted it to the Pilot. Anderson's last response is not included, because he didn't submit one. Provide a brief statement on any school...
A new 20-ft. x 40-ft. tent has been erected at the Petersburg airport to provide shelter for hospital employees providing COVID testing services for passengers arriving at the airport each day. Emergency operations center director Karl Hagerman said the new tent encompasses the same size footprint as the three tents and trailer that were in place this summer. "The tent survived the wind test this weekend," according to Hagerman. The airport experienced wind gusts up to 40 mph and sustained...
The Aspen Daily News in Aspen, Colorado runs a statement every day on their front page Flag that states: “If you don’t want it printed, don’t let it happen.” It’s a bit brash for our taste, but the words apply to this newspaper when it comes to public record reporting that appears on our pages. Recently we’ve had three persons request that we remove police and court reports that pertain to cases they were involved in. They cite invasion of privacy concerns and correctly state that the information will jeopardize future hiring opportuniti...
September 23— An individual reported possible harassment to authorities. Criminal mischief at a location on Skylark Way was reported to authorities. Suspicious activity was observed at a location on Hungerford Hill Rd. Matthew Allen Everett Davis, 23, was arrested on charges of violating a protective order. Fraudulent activity at a location on Howkan St. was reported to authorities. Bears were seen at locations on Skylark Way, Odin St., and Charles W St. September 24— Trespassing at a location on S. 2nd St. was reported to authorities. A veh...
On Sept. 21, Jared M. Bright, age 46 of Petersburg, was cited by Wildlife Troopers for unlawful storage of commercial Dungeness crab gear. The gear was located during a routine patrol by state aircraft. Bright was given an arraignment date of Oct. 28 in the Juneau district court. On Sept. 23, Ladd Norheim, age 60, of Petersburg was cited by Alaska Wildlife Troopers. Norheim self reported taking a bull moose with an unlawful antler configuration during the RM038 registration moose hunt. The moose was seized. Arraignment is set for October 13 in...
Aug. 31 – Brandon A. Burrell appeared in Felony First hearings on charges of burglary in the 1st degree, criminal mischief in the 3rd degree and sexual assault in the 1st degree. The public defender was appointed and the preliminary hearing was set for Oct. 12. The defendant was released on $15,000 performance bail along with other conditions. Sept. 1 – Judge Carey sentenced Brina Compton to 12-months jail time, gave credit for time served and resuspended all remaining time after the defendant admitted to all allegations read before the court....
Mitkof Middle School was recognized as a 2020 National Blue Ribbon School by the United States Department of Education for its overall academic performance. MMS was one of 367 schools nationwide that were selected for the award. Recipient schools were recognized for either their overall academic performance or progress in closing the achievement gap among students. The middle school was the last school in the Petersburg School District to receive the award. Petersburg High School was honored...
A mother bear and her three cubs were seen near Rae C. Stedman Elementary School on Tuesday, which put staff and teachers on high alert; however, Principal Heather Conn said in an email to parents that the students were safe throughout the day. "I wanted to let you all know the story behind what happened as I know that for some kiddos this was a scary event," said Conn in the email. "Some it was way cool, and some had no idea it even happened." At around 1:15 P.M. all the students were brought i...
The Petersburg High School boys cross country team finished second in the Capital City Invitational, their last meet of the season. The meet was held virtually with the cross country team running out at Greens Camp in preparation for the regional meet this weekend, which will be held in the same location. Uriah Lucas took second place in the meet with a time of 17:19. Valon Weathers and Chase Lister came in 12th and 13th place with final times of 18:58 and 19:01 respectively. Rylan Smith...
This year's moose harvest is on track to match 2018's harvest, with a combined moose count of 44 for Unit 3 and Unit 1B as of Wednesday, according to Fish and Game Area Biologist Frank Robbins. Around this time of the season in 2018, 42 moose were harvested in both units. The average moose count between 2014 and 2017 at about halfway through the season was 58. Last year's moose harvest broke the five year average with 64 moose harvested around the halfway point of the season. Overall, last...
A contractor at Southeast Alaska Power Agency's Tyee Lake hydroelectric facility accidentally entered an incorrect control system input, resulting in a power outage in Wrangell and Petersburg Saturday morning, said SEAPA CEO Trey Acteson. SEAPA staff were conducting a training session associated with recent control upgrades when the error was made. Tyee Lake generation was lost at 9:15 A.M. on Sept. 26, said Robert Siedman, an electrical engineer with SEAPA. Power was restored 25 minutes later...
WRANGELL — The Public Safety Building has been a topic of much discussion and concern to city government. The building, which houses Wrangell’s police department, fire department, court, and DMV, is in disrepair. It was first constructed in 1987, according to Capital Facilities Director Amber Al-Haddad. Much of the discussion has been whether or not replacing the entire building would be cheaper than renovating it, and about the growing list of issues present in the building. Another pro...
WRANGELL - The Freeberg family moved to Wrangell in April of 2019. Kyle Freeberg moved here to take a position as the town's state wildlife trooper. He has a total of three years of experience as a state trooper, the previous two spent in Fairbanks. His year as state trooper in Wrangell involved enforcing state laws, educating the public about important hunting and fishing regulations, and as he said in a July 2019 interview, working to increase collaboration between himself and the community....
WRANGELL — In last week’s assembly meeting, Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen reported that the city had recently been informed by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation that they had surpassed allowable levels of HAA5 in the water supply. HAA5, or Haloacetic Acids, is a byproduct of organic material in the water being treated with chlorine during the disinfection process. “It is important to remember organic material is always present in the source water treated for Wrang...
During Southeast Alaska's record breaking rainfall this summer, the Swan Lake hydroelectric facility reached its full capacity for the first time since the project was upgraded three years ago, according to a press release from Sen. Bert Stedman's office and Southeast Alaska Power Agency. Water levels reached the flashboards and forced a reservoir spill on July 24. The upgrade expanded the capacity of the hydroproject from 86,000 acre-feet to 111,800 acre-feet, according to the press release. Th...
Some surprising results are revealed in the first of a series of briefing papers showing how Alaska’s seafood industry has been affected by the pandemic from dock to dinner plates. The updates, compiled by the McDowell Group for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI), show that so far the amount of seafood that has been harvested is in line with previous years. “While 2020 harvests have been significantly lower in some salmon fisheries…the declines are due to weak runs rather than reduced effort or other forces that might have some...
BETHEL, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska village has regained electrical power after a month-long outage during which some families lost subsistence harvests stored in freezers. Newtok’s backup generator gave out in late August and power was not restored until Sept. 21, KYUK-AM reported Tuesday. The backup failure happened three years after the main generator stopped working in the village west of Bethel populated by members of the Yupik Alaska Native tribe. Short, intermittent outages are expected as testing of the system is completed, Tribal Adm...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic has caused a national increase in the number of people enrolling in the federal Medicaid health payment program and officials have said Alaska residents are joining at unprecedented levels. Over the last six months, more than 12,000 people in Alaska have joined Medicaid, known in the state as DenaliCare and Denali KidCare, Juneau Public Media reported Friday. Alaska’s program covered 232,735 participants as of Aug. 31, or nearly one out of three state residents, including most children. Alaska’s Me...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — President Donald Trump has said he will issue a permit for a rail line connecting Alaska and Canada, he said. Trump sent a tweet last Friday citing the influence of two members of Alaska’s congressional delegation on his decision, The Anchorage Daily News reported. “I will be issuing a Presidential Permit for the A2A Cross-Border Rail between Alaska & Canada. Congratulations to the people of Alaska & Canada,” Trump said in the tweet. Trump credited what he called a “strong recommendation” by U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and U...
The U.S. Forest Service is proposing to exempt the country’s largest national forest from a ban on timber harvests and road building in roadless areas, a move conservation groups denounced Thursday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, under which the Forest Service falls, announced Thursday the upcoming release of a final environmental review identifying a preferred alternative to exempt the Tongass National Forest from the so-called Roadless Rule. Once the review is released, at least 30 days must pass before a final decision is made. The Tong...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The amount of donations to a fight over an Alaska oil tax ballot initiative has exceeded $17 million, with the vast majority contributed by big oil companies opposed to a tax increase. OneAlaska, the opposition group to the proposed Fair Share act, reported raising $15.4 million as of Friday, The Anchorage Daily News reported. Most of the opposition money has come from Alaska’s top oil producers, ConocoPhillips Co., ExxonMobil Corp. and Hilcorp Alaska LLC, the three companies that would face tax increases under the act...
