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The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has released preliminary data on state salmon harvests for 2020. Information for Southeast Alaska shows that only half as many fish were hauled in this year compared to last year. 2020 data shows that 14,301,964 salmon were harvested this year, totaling a little over 74 million pounds. The estimated ex vessel value for this harvest is about $50 million. This is a major decrease from 2019 numbers, reported at about 32 million fish, 163 million pounds, and...
The Petersburg Borough, including the city of Kupreanof, saw a 23.88 percent voter turnout on Election Day earlier this month, with 707 of the 2,961 registered voters casting a vote in person on Nov. 3, according to unofficial results from the Alaska Division of Elections. According to Sally Dwyer, a local resident who handled early voting for the state, over 650 residents cast in person absentee ballots prior to Election Day. In a press release from the Alaska Division of Elections on Nov. 9,...
With the hopes of encouraging residents to resist pandemic fatigue as Alaska approaches the eight month mark of battling COVID-19, the Petersburg Emergency Operations Center released a health alert on Thursday, Nov. 5 reminding residents of the protocols they can take to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while keeping schools and the local economy open. Public health alert #3 strongly recommends, but doesn't mandate, six mitigation strategies. Residents are asked to wear a face covering when...
Rae C. Stedman Elementary School brought on board six new teachers this year as the school looks to create smaller class sizes to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 within the building. One of the new teachers is a face some students may already know. After teaching at the Mitkof Dance Troupe, Kaili Swanson decided she wanted to do something to help the community push through the COVID-19 pandemic. She received an emergency teaching certification through the state and started teaching kindergarten....
Sixth grade teachers Bridey Short and Casey Gates are the two newest additions to the teaching staff at Mitkof Middle School. Both teachers signed a one year contract with the district, but while Short's position is permanent, Gates was signed on temporarily to address the need for staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Short is originally from Petersburg, but left Alaska to attend college at the University of Montana. She moved back home in 2009 after graduating with a degree in social work and ph...
The Borough Assembly approved a resolution at their Nov. 2 meeting that requests a public hearing between the community of Petersburg and state and federal representatives involved with the Kake Access Project. Resolution #2020-21 also opposes the expenditure of further funds for the road and requests an environmental impact statement be completed for the project. By approving the resolution, the borough assembly hopes to set up a public meeting between officials from the Alaska Department of...
Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter had the unfortunate job of delivering bad news to the Petersburg School Board at their regular meeting on Tuesday; the Parks and Recreation Center's pool will likely not reopen for the rest of the school year. PSD had been working together with borough officials to get the pool reopened following a fire in the boiler room last month. Kludt-Painter said some repairs could be made in the short term, but the repairs needed to reopen the pool wouldn't be completed...
((Last week’s police report ended halfway through the Nov. 4 report. This weeks police report picks off where it left off)) November 4— Suspicious activity was reported at a location on Skylark Way. Authorities responded to a disturbance at a location on Mitkof Highway. A buck was seen with a piece of fabric caught in its rack. The deer was not injured. November 5— A disturbance was reported at a location on Ira II St. Authorities responded to an intoxicated person at a location on Haugen Dr. Authorities received a wildlife complaint at a loc...
The Borough Assembly heard a detailed presentation on a recent rate study of the Sanitation Department at their Nov. 2 meeting that showed four possible scenarios for the borough's recycling program, all of which include rate increases for the department. Rate studies for the borough's water, wastewater and sanitation departments were conducted by FCS Group, based out of Washington, and cost a total of $42,000, according to Public Works Director Chris Cotta at an assembly meeting in August....
SITKA, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska island village plans to use an advanced version of an ancient renewable energy system to lower its high energy costs. The village of Kake wants to build a biomass district heating system to warm its public buildings while saving the community nearly $100,000 annually in energy costs, Alaska’s Energy Desk reported Tuesday. Kake was awarded a federal Department of Agriculture grant to design its biomass system. The village is now seeking funding. The system planned for Kake, on Kupreanof Island south of Juneau, woul...
BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — A man has died after falling off his 75-foot (23-meter) fishing boat and into an Alaska harbor. Ronald Cameron, 65, drowned on Monday after trying to tie up his Washington state-based fishing boat in sizable winds, The Bellingham Herald reported. Sitka police said they received a report of a person floating face down in the water. Authorities located Cameron’s body and emergency workers pulled him from the water, police said in a statement. Cameron was pronounced dead at the scene. No foul play is suspected in Cam...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — When a Tlingit elder dies, leaders from the Alaska Native tribe’s two houses, the Raven and Eagle clans, typically come together along with family and well-wishers for a memorial ceremony featuring displays of traditional tribal regalia. After elder, tribal leader and college professor David Katzeek died last month, the tribe scrambled to find a way to observe their sacred traditions while keeping everyone safe during the pandemic, with coronavirus cases surging in the state. “We know that many of our people are griev...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska’s governor has announced a new COVID-19 disaster declaration for the state that will take effect Nov. 16 and last 30 days. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced the updated declaration on Friday, ahead of the scheduled expiration of the emergency declaration he issued in March. Dunleavy said he took action because of “the rise in cases, and given the uncertainty over the next two to three months,” he said. The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services on Saturday reported that the state hit a daily record in...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska election officials plan to begin counting more than 155,000 absentee and other ballots Tuesday, a week after Election Day. Some have questioned or criticized the lag, citing a provision of state law that says the counting of reviewed absentee ballots should begin the night of the election. But Maria Bahr, an Alaska Department of Law spokesperson, said absentee ballots are not deemed eligible for counting until voter histories have been run to guard against any possible duplicate votes. The process involves going t...
Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan has won reelection in Alaska, defeating independent Al Gross in a race that attracted outside attention with control of the Senate at stake. The race had been determined too early to call on Election Day Nov. 3 due to a large number of outstanding absentee ballots. Election officials began counting more than 150,000 absentee and other ballots on Tuesday. The result in Alaska means that control of the Senate won’t be decided until January Senate runoffs are held in Georgia. The Gross campaign on Wednesday did n...
ANCHORAGE — Don Young, often referred to as Alaska’s third U.S. senator because of his long tenure as the state’s sole representative in the U.S. House, has been elected to a 25th term. Young, the longest serving Republican ever in the U.S. House, was declared the winner of the general election on Wednesday after officials started counting more 150,000 absentee and other votes. He again defeated Alyse Galvin — an independent who won the state’s Democratic primary — after winning against her in 2018. With Young’s victory, Alaska’s thre...
The number of boots on deck in Alaska has declined and most fisheries have lost jobs over the past five years. Overall, Alaska’s harvesting sector ticked downward by 848 jobs from 2015 through 2019. A snapshot of fish harvesting jobs is featured in the November edition of Alaska Economic Trends by the state Dept. of Labor. The findings show that after hitting a peak of 8,501 harvesters in 2015, fishing jobs then fell to around 8,000 for the next two years before dropping again in 2018 to about 7,600. In 2019, average monthly fishing e...
Kathryn (Kay) Crozer, 85, passed away on Oct. 5, 2020. She was born on April 16, 1935 in Boston, Massachusetts, to Celia (Dolan) and Leo Joseph Doherty. She attended Girls' Latin School and received her nursing degree from the Faulkner Hospital School of Nursing in Boston. Her adventuresome spirit led her to Sitka, Alaska, where she worked at Mount Edgecumbe Hospital and met her husband Edward Allen (Al) Crozer, a forester. They married in 1961 and were together for 44 years until his death in... Full story
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Federal and state wildlife managers have announced an extension of the wolf trapping season on Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island. Officials on Friday announced the extension of the trapping season by five days with a limit of five wolves, CoastAlaska reported. Alaska Department of Fish and Game regional wildlife supervisor Tom Schumacher said managers looked at data and decided trapping could be safely allowed from Nov. 15 to Dec. 5. “It’ll allow a little bit more opportunity,” Schumacher said. “But we think that that w...
November 12, 1920 Active preparations to engage in the shrimp and crab fishing business out of Petersburg are now being made by the Ness Fish Company a new co-partnership formed by Erick Ness former mayor of Petersburg and Carl Wold. The new concern has secured quarters on the approach to the Public Dock, and a force of carpenters is busy making the necessary repairs and alterations to the buildings. The new plant will make two concerns handling shrimp and crab out of Petersburg. The new shrimp plant will give employment to about twenty people...
