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Six candidates filed to run for three Borough Assembly seats before Tuesday's filing deadline. Incumbent Jeigh Stanton Gregor filed for reelection, while incumbent Rob Schwartz opted not to run again. Two of the three Assembly seats carry three-year terms, and four candidates are running for them: Stanton Gregor, Sarah Fine-Walsh, Donna Marsh and Tom Kowalske. The third seat is a one-year term and drew two candidates, appointed incumbent Scott Newman and Don Koenigs. Every other board on this...
As the sunsets creep earlier and earlier, hinting at shorter days to come, it’s only a matter of time until winter cold sets in. Alaskans know well that you don’t wait for the cold to arrive to figure out how you’re heating your home, and with rising fuel oil prices it may be time to consider a more cost-effective and environmentally friendly option. A pair of nonprofits, the Southeast Conference and Alaska Heat Smart, are encouraging Alaskans warming their homes with oil, propane or wood to take advantage of their heat-pump rebate progr...
The U.S. Forest Service filed a proposal to rescind the national 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule last Tuesday. The agency is seeking public comment on the rescission and draft of an environmental impact statement until Sept. 21. More information is available on the Forest Service Roadless Areas webpage. The 2001 Roadless Rule includes 45 million acres of the 193-million-acre National Forest System — about 9.3 million acres of which is the Tongass National Forest. The rule established broad prohibitions on road construction, road reconstruc...
Petersburg Medical Center is testing a different way to pay for a trip to the doctor: a flat monthly fee, no copays, and as many primary care visits as a patient needs. The hospital has gone live with a direct primary care plan - a subscription model CEO Phil Hofstetter described to the borough assembly this month as a way to make routine care more affordable and to reach residents who are uninsured, underinsured or carrying high deductibles. "It's a subscription-based primary care model, and...
For the third year in a row, free breakfast and lunch will be available to all Petersburg School District students. Superintendent Robyn Taylor said free meals take financial burdens off families, and she sees educational and behavioral benefits that come with making sure students are fed. "It's not uncommon to see disruptive behavior or inattention, and when you're working with that student or that family, to really find out that they're struggling," she said, "A lot of the lack of ability to... Full story
On Alaska’s primary election day, NBC News — citing unidentified sources — reported that the U.S. Department of Justice has issued grand jury subpoenas as it investigates whether Petersburg candidate Dan J. Sullivan may have somehow violated federal law. If that’s true, subpoenas haven’t reached Sullivan, currently running third in this week’s election and the person that incumbent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan has accused of running a sham campaign. Subpoenas also haven’t reached anyone in the campaign of Democratic candidate Mary Peltola...
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Democratic governor candidates Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Tom Begich, and Republican candidates Bernadette Wilson and Dave Bronson led in early vote counting for Alaska's Tuesday primary election for governor. Seventeen people, including two Democrats, 12 Republicans and three independents, are seeking to replace Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who is term-limited and unable to run again this year. As of 2 a.m. Wednesday, with 378 of 402 precincts reporting results from election day, Kreiss-Tomkins had 21.... Full story
Petersburg's Community Aquatic Center reopened its pools this week after being closed since mid-May for a sewer-line repair beneath the facility's concrete floors. However, while contractors finish up the job and reconcrete the locker room floors, swimmers will need to adjust to reduced capacity and altered access, announced Parks and Recreation Director Stephanie Payne. The leisure and wellness pool and the lap pool have reopened as of Tuesday morning on Aug. 18. The sauna and the second-floor...
Early vote counting in Alaska’s statewide, top-four primary election showed no surprises in the state’s two federal races. For U.S. Senate, Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan and Democratic challenger Mary Peltola led a 16-candidate field with 378 of 403 precincts reporting results as of 2 a.m. Wednesday morning. Peltola had 48% of the votes counted to that point, while Sullivan had 42.8%. Republican challenger Dan J. Sullivan of Petersburg was in third with 2.4%, and Democratic candidate David Leslie was in fourth with 1.1%, only sli... Full story
A Petersburg man is pleading not guilty to two felony drug charges after police said they found methamphetamine and fentanyl in his car. According to police reports, Alaska Wildlife Trooper Cody Litster conducted a traffic stop on 32-year-old Cory Drew Wilson on August 5. After smelling alcohol, Litster asked Wilson to step out of the car, and a small ziploc fell onto the ground. Local police officers also responded and said the contents in the bag tested positive for 5.5 grams of meth. Police said Wilson told them he had two guns behind his... Full story
The votes are adding up for Alaska’s primary election, which happened Aug. 18. Poll workers say Petersburg had strong voter participation in this year’s primary. In the Petersburg-Kupreanof precinct, 555 voters cast ballots in-person on Tuesday by the time the polls closed. That turnout was higher than the previous primary held in 2024, which officially saw 393 ballots from Petersburg. Not including early or absentee ballots, the unofficial local primary results from votes cast on Tuesday are as follows: For U.S. Senate, Petersburg voters fav... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly, sitting as the Board of Adjustment, voted unanimously Monday night to grant in part an appeal by the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska and order the borough Planning Commission to take a formal vote on the tribe’s subdivision application at 1200 Haugen Drive. The CCTHITA, doing business as Tidal Network, had appealed the Planning Commission’s inaction at its July 14 meeting, when a motion by Commissioner Floyd to approve the minor subdivision died for lack of a second. Because no...
Construction on a new set of breakwaters at Banana Point wrapped up on Aug. 7. Petersburg Public Works Director Aaron Marohl said the project will improve safety at the boat launch, which is about 25 miles south of town. "This will create a safer boat ramp for both the water taxis and our sporting teams that go back and forth between here and Wrangell," he said. Banana Point is an important transportation hub between Petersburg and other communities. The boat launch was originally built by the s...
The remains of an infant girl who was taken from a Thomas Bay cave nearly a century ago are coming home to Petersburg next month for burial. Stephanie Aikins, who is coordinating the project for the Petersburg Indian Association, said the infant — known to those working on her return only as “Baby Girl” — will arrive on the morning jet Friday, Sept. 4. A welcoming ceremony of singers and dancers is planned on the tarmac as she is unloaded. “She will be back on her land for the first time in almost 100 years,” Aikins said. For Aikins, this repat...
Early tallies from Tuesday’s statewide primary election showed overwhelming support for a ballot measure that will restrict the amount of money that political candidates can accept from groups and individuals. With 377 of 402 precincts reporting by 2 a.m. Wednesday morning, Ballot Measure 1 had the support of 71.5% of participating voters. That’s only slightly less than the 73% margin that a similar ballot measure received in 2006. The limits imposed by that 2006 measure remained in place until 2021, when a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S... Full story
The University of Alaska Board of Regents unanimously approved a cut in the tuition rate for out-of-state students to create a standard tuition rate for all resident and nonresident students across campuses and degree types, beginning in fall 2027. The board preliminarily approved the change at a special meeting on Tuesday. A final vote is expected in November. University officials said the goal is to simplify students’ billing and attract more students to the University of Alaska. “It really moves steps forward in our goal to student rec... Full story
WRANGELL – Southeast Alaska isn’t particularly known for regular blue skies and sunny days, but that isn’t stopping progress on a new solar farm in Wrangell. The Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA) began preliminary construction earlier this summer on its solar farm out near 6-Mile. To satisfy federal investment tax credit requirements outlined in last year’s Trump administration tax and spending plan, known as the Big Beautiful Bill, the company was required to start building before July 4, 2026. “By breaking ground and putting in the substa...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly last Monday passed the second reading of an ordinance establishing a new Thomas Bay Service Area, building the legal and financial framework the borough says it will need as it prepares to sell off state-platted land it acquired three years ago. Ordinance 2026-17 creates the service area and adds a new chapter to borough code defining its boundaries, the services it may provide, and how those services could be paid for. But according to a memorandum from Community Development Director Liz Cabrera, adoption “does...
For a third straight summer, Katie Holmlund - the youth program coordinator behind Petersburg Medical Center's Kinder Skog outdoor program - led a group of local teenagers on a sea-kayak expedition down the south end of Mitkof Island, roughly 50 kilometers over 10 days in collaboration with the guiding outfit Onward and Upward. Eight students and five instructors launched from Banana Point, worked their way out to Woewodski Island, and backtracked home. By the last few days, the adults were most...
Petersburg's St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church caught fire and burned to the ground in July 2023. It was a devastating blow to Petersburg's Catholic community, which spent three years without their own church. Father Thomas Jose was in his first year in Petersburg when the church burned down. He said other faith communities propped the church up in its darkest days - like Petersburg's First Presbyterian Church, where St. Catherine of Siena held mass as they sorted out the construction of a... Full story
Shannon Baird, finance director for the Petersburg School District, has been named a recipient of ASBO International's 2026 Emerging Leaders Scholarship Award, an honor that comes with a $2,000 travel reimbursement grant and free registration to the national organization's annual conference this fall. Baird said she was one of 17 recipients selected nationwide this year. The award recognizes newer professionals in school business and accounting, and winners take part in their own reception and...
Alaska lost a higher percentage of its federal workforce last year than almost all U.S. states to sweeping Trump administration cuts, according to a newly published analysis by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. By the end of 2025, Alaska’s federal workforce was 10.5% smaller than it had been at the end of the prior year, according to the analysis, published in Alaska Economic Trends, the monthly magazine of the department’s research section. In the fourth quarter of 2025, after many workers accepted buyouts or early ret... Full story
On one of Petersburg's rare warm, sunny days, Dan Sullivan was sitting in a little folding chair in his home workshop. All around him were shelves full of various tools and parts. "I play music down here with friends sometimes, and make lots of sawdust and clean my fishing gear," Sullivan said, looking around. The candidate for U.S. Senate had recently finished up the paperwork for accepting campaign donations, a process he described as "excruciating." He said that originally, he hadn't planned... Full story
Independent U.S. House candidate Bill Hill brought his campaign to Petersburg last week, fielding questions at a Q&A session hosted at the Harbor Bar and later sitting down with the Petersburg Pilot to make his case for unseating first-term Republican Rep. Nick Begich III. Hill, a lifelong Bristol Bay commercial fisherman and retired school superintendent from Naknek, is running as an independent in a race he now frames as effectively two-way, after Democrat Matt Schultz ended his campaign and...
