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While the total number of cruise ship visits to Petersburg will decline this summer, local tourism experts say the quality of port calls should actually increase. "I think after looking at the schedule, the numbers of port calls are down, however, the quality of port calls are high," said James Valentine, co-owner of Viking Travel. Petersburg will welcome 87 cruise ship visits in 2025, down from 104 the previous year. However, Valentine notes that many of last year's visits came at times when to...
Southeast Alaska fishermen discovered Tuesday that harvest limits for Chinook salmon in 2025 will be almost 40 percent less than last year’s. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced an overall allocation of 130,800 treaty Chinook salmon — fish that didn’t originate in Alaska hatcheries — for all gear groups targeting Chinook in waters off Southeast Alaska and Yakutat in 2025. In recent years, Southeast Alaska’s all-gear allocation has ranged between a high of 355,600 treaty kings in 2016 down to 130,000 in 2018, Fish and Game reco...
The American Legion provided the first home for the Petersburg Public Library in 1931. Initially, it was a modest shelf of books donated by the community, managed by the American Legion Auxiliary in the Legion's building. This humble beginning eventually grew into the institution we know today. The collection was so small at first that some people even took out membership cards in the names of newborns to borrow more books. As time passed, the Alaska Territorial government and the City of...
WRANGELL - Without a real plan, Olivia Strano found herself in the right place at the right time. When she walked away from her work as a yacht stewardess and onto a Wrangell dock last summer, she felt she had found her home. "I've been searching for my place for 10 years, and Wrangell is everything I've been looking for," she said. While she was working a variety of jobs to make ends meet, she asked locals what was something that Wrangell needed but didn't have. Music, music venues and more...
The bell jingles as the door to Kinder Komfort opens, and a customer slips in with a hopeful smile. "Did you find it?" he asks Jenny Cisney, who lights up behind the counter. "I did!" she cheers, retrieving a copy of Code Names, a board game the customer had hoped to special order but couldn't quite remember the name of days earlier. Jenny had put together the clues and figured out the name, found the game and even had her visiting mother bring it from Washington with her luggage rather than... Full story
The Petersburg School District and its support personnel union reached a tentative three-year contract agreement in less than a day of negotiations, school officials announced Tuesday. The agreement includes a $2.50 per hour wage increase across the board in the first year, followed by 1.5% increases in each of the following two years, according to Finance Director Shannon Baird. Support staff will also receive a $500 matching contribution to a 403(b) retirement plan. This matches a similar...
Alaskans have until 11:59 p.m. Monday, March 31, to file for this year’s Permanent Fund dividend, whether they file online or mail a paper application to the PFD office. But if they mail the application, it absolutely positively must be postmarked by March 31. Anything dropped in the mail after that date will be rejected. Last year’s dividend was $1,702, though this year’s amount — which will be set by legislators during the budget-writing process this spring — likely will be at least several hundred dollars less. The state is facing a combine...
Total property values in Petersburg Borough increased by more than $30.7 million in the latest assessment cycle, representing roughly 4% growth from last year, with borough-wide assessments reaching $795.5 million, according to a recent report from the borough's assessors. The annual assessment, required by state law, indicates that "the overall market continues to grow despite the high cost of living and rising interest rates," wrote assessors Mike Renfro and Martins Onskulis of the Appraisal...
WRANGELL — Confronted with an engineering report that cited “concern for potential failure of the ramp,” Wrangell borough on Thursday evening, March 13, notified freight haulers that the municipally owned barge ramp downtown was closed, immediately. The borough made arrangements for the weekly freight barge to use the old sawmill dock at the Marine Service Center as a temporary unloading and loading site, Borough Manager Mason Villarma said Friday, March 14. “This should have happened some time ago,” he said of shutting down the 47-year-o...
A rustic Forest Service recreation cabin tucked away on Kupreanof Island will soon get a much-needed sanitation upgrade, according to U.S. Forest Service officials. The Tower's Arm Cabin, one of the Petersburg Ranger District's most remote sites, will have its dilapidated outhouse replaced during a three-day project in spring 2025, the agency announced this month. According to the decision memo, the cabin's existing outhouse is "dilapidated and unsanitary." The new outhouse will feature a...
Musician Seán Dagher will bring his interactive sea shanty performance to Petersburg next week, inviting locals to join in the maritime musical tradition that has experienced a surge of recent popularity. The performance will be "pretty participatory," Dagher told the Pilot it will be fun and easy to take part. "The shanties are like call and response songs, so I'll sing the call part, and people sing the responses," Dagher explained. Dagher's performance, being presented by the Petersburg... Full story
Members of the Alaska Legislature said this week that they’re likely to use the state’s Constitutional Budget Reserve to fix a roughly $173 million budget deficit for the 12 months that end June 30. Lawmakers are confronting another, larger deficit as they craft the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, but it remains possible that some tax increases — on oil, business income and online sales — could offset the need to spend from savings for that year. When it comes to the current fiscal year, things are more certain. Passing new tax... Full story
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to impose a 25% tariff on imported cars and light trucks. Trump, who campaigned on bringing down consumer costs, said during an Oval Office signing event the additional tax on foreign goods would spur U.S. production. Asked if, like other tariffs Trump’s threatened, trade partners could do anything to avoid the fee on cars and trucks, Trump answered no. This tariff will remain in place until he leaves office, he said, and was meant to protect the U.S. industry. “I think our aut... Full story
The Alaska House of Representatives is asking the Trump administration and Canadian government to step back from a brewing trade war. In a 33-4 vote Monday, the House approved a resolution saying that state lawmakers oppose “restrictive trade measures or tolls that would harm the unique relationship between Canada and Alaska or negatively affect our integrated economies.” If approved by the Alaska Senate, the resolution would be sent to national officials in both the United States and Canada. Monday’s vote comes amid continued threats by the T... Full story
Silver Bay Seafoods and Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation (BBEDC) jointly announced Tuesday a partnership they say "will increase stability for Alaskan fishermen and communities reliant on seafoods processing operations," with Silver Bay acquiring Icicle Seafoods' 50% ownership stake in OBI Seafoods. The acquisition affects many processing facilities throughout Alaska, including Petersburg's OBI plant, one of the community's largest employers. According to the March 18 announcement, S... Full story
The Petersburg Police Department's previously rejected K9 unit proposal has gained significant momentum through community financial support and grassroots advocacy efforts. Reconsideration of the proposal is anticipated at the Borough Assembly's first meeting in April. The Petersburg Indian Association (PIA) has emerged as a major supporter, pledging $14,000 from opioid settlement funds to help cover the unit's maintenance costs. "We received opioid settlement funds from class action lawsuits...
A recent inspection revealed significant damage to Petersburg's wastewater outfall pipe in Frederick Sound, potentially causing the borough to face unexpected repair costs and regulatory challenges. Borough officials discovered that the approximately 65-foot diffuser section of the outfall pipe, which disperses treated effluent from the wastewater treatment plant into Frederick Sound - located around 800 feet offshore at a depth of 60 feet - has become completely detached from the main line. It...
Last month, Petersburg resident Lila Trask's friends received an email saying, "Good Morning, I hope you're doing well. Unfortunately, I'm currently dealing with a serious throat infection that's making it difficult for me to communicate over the phone. Do you shop Amazon? Lila." She was completely unaware that her no-longer-used GCI email account had been hijacked, meanwhile two of her friends, a couple, fell for the scam, at least initially, and responded to the email. "Glad to hear from...
Some fired federal employees received letters on Monday notifying them they were “reinstated” according to a federal court order, but on “paid, non-duty” status, a type of administrative leave. The U.S. Department of Commerce issued a letter to fired employees, including those formerly with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, who shared a copy with the Alaska Beacon. “When I first heard the decision, I was super excited,” said one former employee with NOAA, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid potential r... Full story
Though a $5 million federal grant to help pay for expanding the generating capacity at the Tyee Lake hydroelectric station is "clearly frozen," the head of the Southeast Alaska Power Agency hopes the funds will be released soon and the project can stay on schedule. The agency's lobbyist in Washington, D.C., and others "feel fairly confident ... that freeze will be thawed," Robert Siedman, chief executive officer of the Southeast Alaska Power Agency, or SEAPA, said earlier this month. The Tyee...
A glass cabinet gleams near a big window in the Mountain View Manor Assisted Living apartment of George and Florabelle Rice. The display case is brimming with collected mementos: two small ceramic cats - prizes from a Quaker Oats container - given to Florabelle ninety years ago by her mother, souvenirs from the couple's travels, family photographs, keepsakes spanning nearly a century of memories. "I love this stuff that has a happy memory," says Florabelle, her eyes lighting up. "I get such a... Full story
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, encouraged members of the Alaska Legislature – and the public – to work together to get things done, despite major uncertainties caused by the Trump administration, as well as its cuts to budgets, personnel and programs. “I’ll tell you I accept the challenge. I want you to know that I’m going to do everything in my power to make the best of this,” Murkowski said, of her role in advocating for Alaska’s priorities in Congress. “We are engaging every day to try to identify where we are seeing challenges pres... Full story
The state of Alaska is still facing a significant budget deficit despite a revised state revenue forecast published Wednesday by the Alaska Department of Revenue. Oil revenue makes up about 40% of Alaska’s general-purpose revenue, leaving state finances unstable and dependent upon estimated oil prices. The Department of Revenue updates its outlook twice per year, and its changes can radically alter the state’s budget process. For the 2025 fiscal year, which ends June 30, the department is estimating $6.23 billion in general-purpose rev... Full story
A Petersburg-based fishing commercial vessel caught fire Thursday near Point Gardner in Chatham Strait where it had been participating in the golden king crab fishery. The fire prompted a coordinated response from nearby Samaritan vessels, the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department, and the U.S. Coast Guard. The U.S. Coast Guard received a distress call at 1:49 p.m. reporting that the F/V Spicy Lady, a 58-foot steel vessel, was on fire and crew members were preparing to abandon ship into a life...
