Sorted by date Results 1 - 19 of 19
On a night where ghosts and goblins roam the streets, Petersburg residents had a bigger problem to worry about. A landslide occurred near 5.5 Mile Mitkof Highway on Monday around 4:30 p.m., damaging power lines and taking down trees to completely block the road. The slide left Petersburg without power and a row of cars waiting along Mitkof Highway to see if they could get home for the evening. According to Fire Chief Jim Stolpe, firefighters searched the area around the landslide and there were...
The City Creek king salmon release site will close after a decision was made by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association (SSRAA). The decision to close the release site comes as a result of a combination of factors according to sources from the two organizations. The City Creek release site was a collaboration between Fish and Game and the SSRAA which utilized funding from the Pacific Salmon Treaty mitigation funds and saw its first... Full story
Members of the newly formed Housing Task Force held their first meeting in the assembly chambers on Oct. 26 to begin discussing ways the borough could address local housing challenges. "The main thing that we're trying to do is to come up with a set of recommendations that we can give to the assembly and then they can decide what they want to do," said Dave Kensinger, the facilitator of the task force and a member of the Petersburg Borough Assembly. The task force features a group of Petersburg...
November 3, 1922 – The famous “Lost Rocker” placer gold claim for which prospectors have been searching for the past thirty years has been rediscovered and located by J.U.G. Morrison on the headwaters of the Farragut River at Farragut Bay, about thirty miles from Petersburg. Mr. Morrison has discovered eight claims and next season will start the work of actively developing them. The history of the “Lost Rocker” is one of interest and one which has fired the imagination of miners and prospectors of this section for years. About thirty years ago...
November 8th is our State Election; don’t forget to Vote! To the Editor: Mark and I are supporting Rebecca Himshoot for State House representing our district. She is a strong supporter of education, teachers and stabilizing school funding. She will work for accessible housing, invest in infrastructure, work to improve our Alaska Marine Highway, and will safeguard our Permanent Fund for future generations. Rebecca will stand up for women’s reproductive rights in our State. She is committed to fishing issues and creating more jobs that will hel...
Thank you — to the Petersburg Police and PVFD first responders who ensured no one was hurt and the scene was safe enough for work to commence, Petersburg Municipal Power and Light who restored power faster than expected which made it possible for so many kids to be out trick or treating on Halloween, Public Works who with Power and Light and Alaska Department of Transportation worked through the night alongside the teams from Rock-n-Road and Reid Brothers to clear the landslide from the highway by Tuesday morning, the emergency line crew f...
October 26 – An officer spoke with an individual about illegal parking at the airport. An officer conducted a welfare check on South Nordic Drive. A driver on Mitkof Highway was issued warnings for excessive speed and expired tags. October 27 – An officer responded to a report of a bear attempting to access garbage, but was unable to locate the bear. An officer responded to a report of a possible fight on South Nordic Drive and determined there was no criminal activity. A driver at the corner of 4th and Excel Streets was issued a warning for...
The Petersburg Medical Center Board will hold a work session on Nov. 10 to discuss the hospital's strategic plan for the next five years. Recommendations for the plan were formulated at a managers retreat on Oct. 19 and PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter said he would present his notes from the retreat at the upcoming work session. The recommended focuses for the plan include community engagement, financial stability, staffing, and patient healthcare among others. During the PMC Board meeting last...
Since 2018, an ongoing insect outbreak has been killing the foliage of hemlock and Stika spruce in the Tongass. The Wrangell area is among the most affected. Though residents have expressed concern at the island's gray and red-spotted hillsides, state entomologist Elizabeth Graham shared reassuring news with the Wrangell and Petersburg communities at an online forum last Wednesday. The hemlock sawfly and western blackheaded budworm populations have likely reached their peak, and though the...
The Petersburg High School wrestling team headed to Sitka last weekend for a two-day tournament which gave the Vikings a good look against many of their regional opponents. Though not every school that attended brought their full team, each student still got about five matches to help build their experience, which Coach James Valentine said was the most important thing. "It was awesome because we saw schools that their program has been gone for the last couple years," Valentine said. Petersburg...
The Petersburg High School swim team closed out its season at the regional championships last weekend. Though none of the swimmers from Petersburg will be traveling to the state championships, the Vikings did post some of their best results of the season at their last meet. The Thunder Mountain girls placed first after scoring 160 points. Brooklyn Whitethorn placed fifth in the 100-yard freestyle, going sub-1-minute for the first time this season with a 59.13 second swim. The Juneau-Douglas...
Restoration of Inter-Island Ferry Authority service from Coffman Cove on Prince of Wales Island to Wrangell and Petersburg would take money. The service ended in 2008, and the two communities will talk about what it would take to bring back the run, how much it would cost and who would pay. The Petersburg borough assembly last month voted unanimously to send a letter to the Wrangell assembly to start talks on possibly restoring the route. Wrangell assembly members at their Oct. 25 meeting directed Borough Manager Jeff Good to talk with his...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Backers of a proposed copper and gold mine in southwest Alaska “tried to trick regulators by pretending to pursue a smaller project with the intention of expanding” after the project was approved, a report released Friday by a U.S. House panel says. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report ahead of its release. The report makes several recommendations, including environmental review process changes to “ensure holistic review of cumulative impacts of projects.’’ Mike Heatwole, a spokesperson for the Pebble Limi...
Women's basketball was a sport in Petersburg as early as 1914, when the Petersburg Progressive reported women were taking an interest in the game. In 1922, married women and single girls were invited to play at the Sons of Norway, for a 10 cent share of hall rent. High school Coach Vincent said of the 1933 team, "...if the boys team had picked up as much as the girls have this past year, they would be able to defeat any team in Alaska..." This 1934 team photo is from the annual Flood Tide....
David Juel Marifern, age 30, of Shoreline Washington passed away unexpectedly Sunday, September 25, 2022 not far from Ballard, where he started his life. David was born in Ballard, Washington on April 27, 1992 to Barbara and Bruce Marifern, brother to his sister Samantha Marifern. He grew up and attended Petersburg High School where he swam competitively. Raised in a fishing family, he took pride in participating in different fisheries throughout his young years. David has always had a heart... Full story
NOAA Fisheries is taking public comment on a request to take emergency action to close the Red King Crab Savings Area and the Red King Crab Savings Subarea to all fishing gear that comes into contact with the ocean bottom. The request is from the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers and is dated September 29, 2022. If implemented, the requested emergency closures would include pelagic trawl, pot gear, and longline gear, and would be in effect for 180 days after the emergency rule is published. The petitioners requested that the closure occur for 6 months...
