Sorted by date Results 151 - 175 of 182
Skate of Gear moving closer to downtown is definitely helping year-round business. The family owned and operated store doesn’t focus on tourism. Any summer dollars from out of town guests is just a bonus. “I find that we don’t really carry or buy things that I would consider a tourist type of product,” says Lisa Nilsen. “We buy more for local customers.” Tourists will stop in to buy jewelry and cards, but that’s about it. The fact that Skate of Gear lacks large display windows is not helping business a bunch, but Nilsen likes the new location....
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Tourists who want to look at seal pups resting among Alaska’s glacial fjords may be making things harder for the marine animals. Cruise ship traffic in the glacial fjords an import nursery area for harbor seal pups has increased ten-fold in the past 30 years, the Juneau Empire reported. Biologists like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admistration’s John Jansen have been collecting data on seals in the fjords of southeast Alaska. Jansen has been studying harbor seals in Disenchantment Bay, one of the fjords among...
JUNEAU (AP) — While environmentalists are quick to complain about cruise ships dumping waste in the ocean, officials say Alaska ferries have even more lenient rules for treating wastewater. State ferries use water treatment systems that were standard in the 1970s, state Department of Environmental Conservation cruise ship program specialist Ed White said. Eight of the 11 state-owned ferries use chlorine to kill bacteria and then grind waste before discharging that slurry with used water from sinks, toilets and showers, White told the Juneau E...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — A sightseeing floatplane that crashed in a mountainous area in southeast Alaska, killing all nine people on board, was equipped with technology to provide detailed information about the terrain, according to a federal accident report released Tuesday. The preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board also said the June 25 crash occurred in conditions of reduced visibility. However, it drew no conclusions about the cause of the crash. The deHavilland DHC-3 Otter turboprop crashed on a steep cliff about 25 m...
JUNEAU (AP) — A team of aviation investigators worked over the weekend in a remote, mountainous site in southeast Alaska to determine what caused the crash of a sightseeing plane that killed eight cruise ship passengers and the aircraft’s pilot. The DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter turboprop – also known as a floatplane – went down June 25. The excursion was sold through the cruise company Holland America. Seven investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board made it to the crash site on Saturday morning and are spending the day scourin...
The Petersburg Port and Harbor is seeking improvements through a couple of different projects. The Borough Assembly approved to award the Middle Harbor repair project to local company Tamico, Inc. for an amount not to exceed $172,300 during its meeting Monday evening. Authorization was also given to amend a professional services contract with PND Engineers, Inc. out of Juneau for a Bulkhead Loading Dock design. The Middle Harbor work is the result of an accident that occurred in September 2014. “A tour ship hit the end of one of the floats a...
Petersburg shoppers will enjoy two Sales Tax Free Days this year: May 2 and October 3. The Assembly unanimously approved a resolution providing for the two days. Last year’s tax free days resulted in just over $19,000 in uncollected sales tax revenue for the Borough. Assembly member Jeigh Stanton Gregor said the days keep money circulating locally, which he said was a benefit for the community. “I think it makes lot of financial sense because people are spending discretionary money locally, which then gets reinvested in the community, whi...
The initial stages to repair a dock structure in Middle Harbor that was damaged in early September by the M/V Safari Explorer are underway after the Assembly approved a contract with PND Engineers at Monday's regular meeting. "Basically it was one of our small cruise ships and they hammered that float pretty good," Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht said. "We had PND do an analysis of it and there's some pretty severe damage." The damage incurred by the 127-foot long vessel owned by Un-Cruise...
January More than 600 Petersburg residents signed up for the borough's recycling program. The Petersburg Land Selection Committee requested the borough pursue legislative action regarding the State's calculation of land entitlement for the Petersburg Borough after the committee's determination that the State's selection of land was inadequate. The Petersburg School Board approved a $2.3 million exterior wall renovation project for the Rae C. Stedman Elementary School. Petersburg School District... Full story
Summer 2014 was a busy one for Petersburg, with tourists bringing more charter business to town and spending more on hotels and retail than the previous summer. This summer the Borough collected over $35,000 in sales taxes from charter businesses, almost double what was collected over the same time period in 2013. The Borough also collected about $4,000 more each in bed tax revenue and retail sales tax revenue. Marilyn Meucci of the Visitor Information Center said she thought that a rebounding economy played a large role in the increased...
Fishermen won’t need special permits to hose off their decks thanks to a bill moving through the US Senate. That’s garnered a big sigh of relief from harvesters across the nation and kudos to a rare show of bipartisanship by coastal lawmakers, notably Senators Begich of Alaska and Marco Rubio of Florida. “The Vessel Incidental Discharge Act extends a moratorium that was already granted to the commercial fishing industry from 2008, and it’s been up every couple of years. It would extend this moratorium indefinitely so commercial fishing vessels...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Water crept up on homes and closed roads and popular hiking trails Friday, as residents braced for possible record flooding after the release of water from a glacially dammed lake. The old record of 11.18 feet on Mendenhall Lake, set in 1995, was broken by Friday afternoon, as the lake water level reached 11.8 feet, then began to drop slightly, the National Weather Service said. Authorities have been monitoring the lake and Mendenhall River to see when they would crest f...
Last week, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators released a report of the likely cause of last summer's Pacific Wings sightseeing floatplane crash. The flight for cruise ship passengers crashed into a mountain about 14 miles east of Petersburg last June. Of the seven passengers, four, including the pilot, sustained minor injuries, two sustained serious injuries and one passenger was fatally injured. A report on the NTSB website states the pilot, 39, failed to maintain...
More than 50 cruise ships will stop in Petersburg this spring and summer—slightly up from last year. The vessel Safari Legacy stopped in Petersburg twice last year but is making nine stops this year. Cruise ships visiting Petersburg typically carry between 60 to 80 passengers and remain in port between four to seven hours. Viking Travel owner Dave Berg said visitors are offered a shuttle into town as well as several guided tours and a chance to watch traditional Norwegian dancing at the Sons of Norway Hall. “It’s nice to have the ships comin...
Sales increased for local Petersburg businesses by more than $14 million in 2013 compared to 2012. Business across town such as Viking Travel, Diamante Gift Shoppe and Hammer & Wikan all experienced increased sales. Lee Corrao, manager of the Hammer & Wikan hardware store, said 2013 sales increased by four percent over the previous year. “A significant amount of that is attributed to the fishing season,” Corrao said. “All of the fish processing plants were operating and there were more boats.” Southeast Alaska saw the highest harvest value for...
Former Petersburg resident, Jasmin Jones, moved back to town to open an acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine clinic earlier this month. Jones most recently worked as an acupuncturist on a cruise ship line based out of Spain. She also practiced acupuncture for several months in Nepal. Jones earned a master's degree in Chinese Medicine and Herbology from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in New York City and San Diego. "What acupuncture does from the Western point of view, which is... Full story
JUNEAU (AP) — Celebrity Cruises announced Tuesday it was cancelling the remainder of a seven-night cruise to Alaska, plus four additional cruises, after mechanical issues forced a ship carrying more than 3,100 passengers and crew members to return to port in Ketchikan. The cruise line said in a statement that passengers on the current cruise on its Millennium ship would receive refunds of their cruise fares and chartered air travel home. It also said it was offering future cruise certificates for 100 percent of the fare paid for this cruise. T...
Holy Oncorhynchus! Any doubts about the brand power of Alaska salmon can be put to rest after the high visibility contretemps over the past few weeks – and the fish story has a happy ending. All of Alaska’s ‘powers that be’ converged on Wal-Mart and the National Park Service (NPS) when both reportedly snubbed Alaska salmon over a labeling issue. Both Governor Parnell and Senator Mark Begich sent letters to Wal-Mart blasting the ill-advised decision, and Senator Lisa Murkowski verbally (and very publicly) spanked the NPS for not followi...
The annual Petersburg Chamber of Commerce Banquet was awash in green and sparkles as business owners and residents attended to hear Representative Beth Kertulla speak about herself and her experiences, the legislative session and the future. Kertulla's family has a long history in Alaska and her father, Jay was the state's longest-serving legislator and the only legislator to have served as both Speaker of the House and Senate President. Kertulla, herself has been elected eight times to the... Full story
Cruise ship sewage mixing zone To the Editor: It is with a feeling of pride that I can now tell family and friends that I am now a 'Cruise ship sewage mixing zone Alaskan commercial fisherman'. Imagine, out on the beautiful waters of Southeast Alaska, catching salmon from the fecal and heavy metal polluted waters. It's only a million people or so a season on the cruise ships. And for sure, once word gets out salmon and seafood consumers around the world will all want to purchase our fecal and heavy metal laced seafood. A nod of thanks to our...
Dilution is the solution for pollution sums up the Parnell Administration policy when it comes to cruise ship discharges in Alaska waters. A bill being moved quickly by state lawmakers will repeal a 2006 citizens’ initiative that requires cruise ships to meet Alaska water quality standards at the point of discharge, and instead create mixing zones for dumping sewage, hazardous chemicals and other wastes. Alaskans won’t know where those zones are, as House Republicans rejected amendments to require disclosure of the locations. The measure, intro...
