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The shutdown of ferry service in Southeast Alaska has impacted many aspects of day-to-day life in communities across the region. In previous reporting by the Wrangell Sentinel and Petersburg Pilot, peoples' travel plans have been disrupted, businesses have been impacted, and cultural events like Celebration 2020 could potentially see decreased turnout. Another aspect of Southeast communities that is facing disruption from the lack of ferries are school districts. The schools of Wrangell and...
Sen. Bert Stedman told the community while attending the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce banquet on Saturday that the future of the Alaska Marine Highway System depends on how negotiations go with Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Stedman said that legislators will discuss the AMHS and present possible scenarios to the governor when Dunleavy releases his operating budget; however, without enough votes to override the governor's anticipated vetoes, negotiations won't be too aggressive. "If you don't have the...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities will use one or more private companies to operate ferries during an ongoing breakdown in state service, the governor said. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy said the state needs private companies to operate ferries to coastal communities, The Anchorage Daily News reported Wednesday. “We’re going to have to rely on the private sector as a stopgap to some degree,” Dunleavy said Wednesday. Only one of the state’s fleet of 12 ships is operating, with four laid up i...
Decades ago, the Alaska Marine Highway System was a pillar of the state’s transportation network. Alaskans and visitors alike piled onto ferries running up and down the Inside Passage for a trip that was a little adventurous, a little luxurious — Dining rooms! Staterooms! Bars on board! — and close enough to the cost of driving through Canada that they were a strong contender for traveler dollars. Fast forward to the present, and the system is in grave danger of falling to pieces. Its only operating vessel until early March is the MV Lituy...
With the M/V Matanuska going out of service last week, ferry service via the Alaska Marine Highway has completely shut down. According to a press release from the Alaska Department of Transportation, new issues have been found with the ferry's reduction gear system. The Matanuska, at the time of writing, is being towed to Ketchikan for repairs. "AMHS is aware of travel needs for upcoming school and community tournaments in March and is exploring options for alternative service in the event...
Over the past several months Cody Litster, Petersburg's Alaska Wildlife Trooper, has been busy settling into his new role as a sergeant for the Central Southeast Alaska's wildlife troopers, making preparations for a second wildlife trooper and moving into a spacious new facility by the airport. Litster was promoted in September of last year when the state decided to move the Central Southeast Alaska sergeant position, which was originally stationed in Juneau, closer to the area it supervises. Li...
The M/V Matanuska will be out of service through March 1 to address issues with the reduction gear system, according to a prepared statement released late Feb. 5 by the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. The ferry will travel to the Ketchikan shipyard where it can be inspected in a dry dock to determine if further repairs are needed. The Alaska Marine Highway System has refunded fares for passengers that have already booked travel onboard the M/V Matanuska and has assisted with...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — More than half of Alaska’s ferries will be out of service amid a lack of funds to repair the vessels, transportation officials said. The state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities announced this week that the Aurora and the LeConte will be pulled from service after inspections revealed required steel replacement, the Juneau Empire reported Friday. About 24 employees of the Aurora were already notified they would be relieved of duties effective Jan. 14, officials said. The Aurora is set for long-term lay...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska has been America’s canary in the coal mine for climate warming, and the yellow bird is swooning. July was Alaska’s warmest month ever, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Sea ice melted. Bering Sea fish swam in above-normal temperatures. So did children in the coastal town of Nome. Wildfire season started early and stayed late. Thousands of walruses thronged to shore. Unusual weather events like this could become more common with climate warming, said Brian Brettschneider, an assoc...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska lawmakers have rejected Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s location of his hometown of Wasilla for a special session that starts next month. The Alaska Legislature will instead convene in Juneau on July 8 and then hold a majority of its meetings in Anchorage, House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, an independent from Dillingham, and Senate President Cathy Giessel, an Anchorage Republican, said in a joint statement. “The majority of legislators in both bodies considers it our right to determine the location and venue best equipped to co...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A proposed ballot measure seeks to move Alaska legislative sessions from the state capital of Juneau to the state’s biggest city, Anchorage. Supporters say they’re not trying to move the capital and see the proposal as a way to make the Legislature more accessible. Juneau isn’t on Alaska’s road system, requiring lawmakers and constituents to fly or take ferries to reach the city. Juneau also is about 600 miles (966 kilometers) from the population centers of Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. But critics o...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska’s population has declined for a second consecutive year, dropping by 1,608 people to a total of 736,239, according to a state report. A report released Thursday by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development shows 7,577 residents left as Alaska gained 5,969 people from July 2017 to July 2018, the Juneau Empire reported. Some residents left to pursue job opportunities outside the state as unemployment rates in the state have consistently topped 6 percent in the last two years. Alaska has the highest une...
KENAI, Alaska (AP) — Part of a bill introduced in the Alaska Legislative session would increase the price municipalities pay for their license plates. The bill, sponsored by a House committee, would remove an exemption for municipalities that currently has them paying $10 per vehicle. That price would increase to the standard rate of $100 per vehicle, the Peninsula Clarion reported Sunday. The bill includes a number of other adjustments for the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles, including a $5 fee for driver knowledge tests, repealing p...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska is among a handful of states in the West that doesn’t mandate smoke-free workplaces statewide, and one powerful lawmaker is standing in the way of that changing. State Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux chairs the House Rules Committee and decides which bills make it to the floor. She has balked at moving the bill, which overwhelmingly passed the Senate last year and enjoys widespread support in the House – half the body’s 40 members have signed as co-sponsors. But LeDoux told a news conference last month that the state should...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Senate leaders on Tuesday urged Gov. Bill Walker to go back to the drawing board in seeking nominees for a vacant Senate seat if he could not support a candidate from the initial slate of finalists. Walker on Friday appointed Randall Kowalke to fill the seat vacated by former Sen. Mike Dunleavy of Wasilla. Dunleavy resigned last month to run for governor. Kowalke, a member of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly, was among 11 applicants for the seat but he was not on the list of three finalists Republicans in t...
WRANGELL – Wrangell delegates returned from last month's annual conference for the Alaska Federation of Natives at Anchorage's Dena'ina Center. AFN is the largest statewide Native organization in Alaska, representing 151 federally recognized tribes, 150 village corporations, 12 regional corporations, and various nonprofit and tribal consortiums. Its annual October conference, this year held between the 19th and 21st, provides AFN membership the opportunity to put forward resolutions as well a...
August 17, 1917 – At a special meeting of the council held last night Louis Israelson was engaged as construction foreman for sewer and street improvement work. Besides the sewer to be constructed on E street, the walk on that street is to be rebuilt; also the Main-street walk from the approach to the Packing Company dock north to where it joins the new walk. New walks are to be built on D and G street, as petitioned for. Satisfactory prices for lumber were submitted to the council by the Olaf Arness Company. The cost of the various i...
About 35 people gathered in the Public Library Wednesday evening to discuss potential solutions to the reportedly increasing homelessness in Petersburg. Chelsea Tremblay, a Petersburg activist who led the meeting, expected few people to attend. When the room became crowded, she knew the fibers of the meeting would be homelessness recognition, solutions and resources Petersburg has. “The first step with anything like this is awareness,” Tremblay said. “The shame component of people who find themselves on the brink of homelessness can maybe...
ANCHORAGE (AP) – An Alaska man suspected of killing two people during a robbery has been indicted on murder charges by a federal grand jury and prosecutors say they may seek the death penalty. John Pearl Smith II, 30, is charged with attempting to rob people he believed were trafficking in drugs, said Bryan Schroder, acting U.S. attorney for Alaska, at a press conference Thursday. Smith in home invasion cases tried robbing people at gunpoint in September 2015 and May 2016, Schroder said. Both were in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley north of Anchor...
Repairs to one of Southeast’s primary public ferries will take longer than anticipated. Alaska Marine Highway System reported the M/V Matanuska may not return to service until February 20, 10 days later than initially expected. Taken offline on January 3, the ship is currently in Ketchikan for its annual maintenance overhaul. “During that process they found some steel that needs to be replaced before it can return,” explained Department of Transportation and Public Facilities spokesperson Meadow Bailey. The delay has affected scheduling for s...
PETERSBURG – Ideas to reform the Alaska Marine Highway System were well received at Southeast Conference on Wednesday, but selling them to the rest of the state could be the largest gulf left to cross. Some of the plans presented by Southeast Conference and its consultants, Elliott Bay Design Group and the McDowell Group, are ambitious – they're exploring whether the system can be recreated as an independent transportation authority or a state-owned corporation similar to the Alaska Ind... Full story
Search and Rescue tips To the Editor: This past Wednesday evening a young boy in our community became lost. Thanks to the dedication of many in this community he was found cold but safe. As I witness the out pouring of volunteers willing to go out on a rainy night to find this young boy I felt a lot of pride in the caring folks of Petersburg. Whereas we live on the edge of the wilderness events like this will happen again. So that we can avoid a tragedy Search and Rescue would like to make the following recommendations. In the event of someone...
The Alaska Marine Highway System’s M/V Columbia is scheduled for a trip to Oregon for repairs after divers noticed a bent starboard propeller late last week, according to Jeremy Woodrow, Alaska Department of Transportation spokesman. “Not a huge bend, but there was a noticeable bend,” he said. “That was the only visible damage the divers noticed.” Earlier in the week, the vessel was traveling Lynn Canal to Haines or Skagway when those onboard noticed a vibration. Soon after, it was discovered the vibration happened when the vessel exceeded...
It's been just under a month since Ian Andersen departed Prudhoe Bay on his bike, and he spent part of last week in Petersburg. Andersen will spend the next year or so riding from Alaska to Argentina, and he couldn't be more excited, because he's making the 17,500-mile trip to raise awareness for spinal cord injuries and disabilities. When it comes to bikes, Andersen, 24, will be the first to tell you he doesn't know much about them. He completed a couple of two or three weeklong tours with...
The Alaska Marine Highway System’s fall, winter and spring 2016-2017 schedule is now available online for public review. The comment period opened in May 19 and runs until June 22. Because the AMHS is such an important means of transportation for many communities this time allows the public opportunity to review and comment on the proposed schedule. “There are no major changes from this year to the previous year,” said Jeremy Woodrow, Alaska Department of Transportation spokesman. “There are less service weeks planned and that is because... Full story
