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The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously during Tuesday's meeting to approve the borough's FY24 budget in its first reading. No amendments were made to the budget, though some are expected to be introduced in successive readings. During the meeting, Assembly Member Dave Kensinger proposed an amendment to increase the funding for Mountain View Food Services to $43,000, though it failed in a 3-4 vote with Assembly Members Kensinger, Jeff Meucci, and Scott Newman in support. The proposed...
Legislative leaders focused on the Permanent Fund dividend and taxes as they described the budget choices facing lawmakers trying to find a combination that will win enough political support to balance state spending. “The dividend has been the massive rock in the middle of the road,” making it difficult to find an affordable path to a long-term state fiscal plan, Anchorage Sen. Cathy Giessel, the Senate majority leader, said during an online discussion with Alaska Common Ground last week. “The dividend provides a lot of benefits to Alask...
(Alaska Beacon) The Legislature has passed and is sending to the governor a bill intended to reduce the cost of Alaska-made lumber for housing projects. The state House on Monday overwhelmingly approved Senate Bill 87, sponsored by Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, of Nikiski. The Senate passed the measure without opposition on April 26. After it is signed into law by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, the legislation would set up a quality testing system for lumber produced by Alaska sawmills. Currently, that lumber must be tested and graded by a national standards... Full story
A press release this week announced that Petersburg Medical Center Youth Programs will offer expanded summer programming to better meet the community's needs by providing additional options for childcare. Kinder Skog, the popular outdoor forest school, will expand to include a "Forest Kindy" program designed specifically for five and six year olds. Following a recommendation from the State of Alaska Childcare Program, Kinder Skog will transition from a licensed childcare program to a recreationa...
Wrangell may not be on the road system, but that doesn’t mean it’s not connected to the rest of the world. Last month, a U.S. Forest Service project put Wrangell on the map — the Motus map. The Motus Wildlife Tracking System is an international collaborative research network that uses radio telemetry technology to study the migratory patterns of birds and other animals. After scientists put a nanotag on a bird, its movements can be tracked by hundreds of Motus antennae all over the world. These tags can weigh less than a gram. The program’s res...
The Alaska Division of Elections improperly removed Al Gross, an independent candidate for U.S. House, from last year’s special election ballot, the Alaska Supreme Court said in a ruling published Friday. Gross withdrew from the race after finishing third among 48 candidates in the special primary election that was the first step in filling the House seat left vacant by the death of Congressman Don Young. Democrat Mary Peltola, who finished fourth behind Gross in the special primary, won both the special election in August and the regular g... Full story
Thousands of new mothers will receive extended Medicaid coverage under legislation proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy and passed by the Alaska Legislature on Wednesday. The Alaska House of Representatives voted 35-3 to approve Senate Bill 58, which now returns to the Senate for a procedural vote before being sent to Dunleavy’s desk for final approval. In a separate action, the House also approved a permanent extension to the state’s renewable energy grant fund. House lawmakers had previously approved a 10-year extension, and the Senate changed tha... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved an extensive resolution during its last meeting that will move the Petersburg Medical Center new facility project one step closer to shovel-ready status. The resolution, passed in a 6-1 vote with Assembly Member Donna Marsh against, approved the North Haugen site as the location of the future hospital and authorized the PMC board to proceed with a preconstruction services contract with Dawson Construction. The new facility project was made the borough's...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy told legislators in a pair of closed-door meetings last week that he will introduce a state sales tax as a component of a budget-balancing, long-term fiscal plan. But with just three weeks left in the legislative session, with no details about the governor’s tax bill as of Monday, and with strong opposition from lawmakers who represent communities with a local sales tax, the odds of passage this year are extremely low. If the governor goes ahead with a sales tax bill, it would join more than a dozen proposals offered by H...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously passed a supplemental budget during its April 17 meeting that includes spending for dredge projects, attorney fees, and more. The FY23 budget revision was amended in its final reading to increase the South Harbor dredge project budget by $1 million, bringing the borough's total budgeted amount up to $2.1 million. The project, which has removed approximately 29,351 cubic yards of material so far, has faced difficulties removing hard blue clay from the...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly held a work session on Monday to review the borough's FY24 draft budget ahead of its first reading. Finance Director Jody Tow walked through the presentation, along with Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht and other borough department heads, which gave assembly members an overview of what next year's budget may look like. Giesbrecht said this upcoming budget was a bit of a challenge to put together due to increased costs of insurance, inflation, uncertainties in...
A bill advancing in the Alaska Legislature would dramatically shorten the time needed to approve the logging of some state-owned lands, shrinking approval time from years to days in the most extreme cases. Proponents say the bill will alleviate fire danger and revitalize the state’s dwindling logging industry by expanding the amount of timber that can be sold from public land, but legislative and public critics have noted that the bill’s lack of specificity gives the commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources almost unlimited dis... Full story
The state should change its tax code to increase corporate income tax collections from out-of-state businesses that sell goods or services to Alaskans, particularly digitized services, according to a legislator promoting the revisions. “The world has changed,” said Anchorage Sen. Bill Wielechowski. “We’re no longer bricks and mortar.” His legislation would amend Alaska’s income tax code to ensure that online and digital sales are included in calculating how much of a company’s U.S. profit was made in Alaska and should be subject to corporate...
The Alaska Press Club held its annual conference in Anchorage last weekend where Petersburg-based journalists representing the Petersburg Pilot, KFSK, and CoastAlaska received awards for their work over the last year. The three-day conference was the first held in-person in four years and featured speakers, breakout sessions, and professional development opportunities with reporters from across Alaska. The Petersburg Pilot was awarded a third-place prize for Best Weekly Newspaper in the state....
Brad King, the current principal at the K-12 school in Gustavus, visited Petersburg over the weekend as a candidate for secondary school principal. He's lived in Southeast Alaska ten years, serving as principal in Hydaburg and then Gustavus. Before that he was the district curriculum coordinator in the Fairbanks school district. A teacher for 14 years before turning to administration for the last 19, King still tries to teach a class at every school he works at. He's taught social studies, Germa...
Early Monday morning, passengers in Seattle sat awaiting their flight to Ketchikan where their plane, a Boeing 737 with an enormous salmon painted on the side, would make its final run as Alaska's most well-known flight. The iconic Salmon Thirty Salmon was ready to board passengers for the final flight of its 18-year tenure serving as Alaska's famous flying fish. Kaitlyn Lynch, a software engineer for Alaska Airlines showed up at the gate wearing a sweatshirt featuring a large salmon on it. The... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly chambers were filled during Monday's meeting with members of the community there to request a third-party investigation into the July 4, 2016 van crash that killed Marie Giesbrecht and Molly Parks and to hear a report on the practices and procedures instituted by the borough's HR Department in its aftermath. Along with those who spoke at the meeting, many Petersburg residents wrote letters to the assembly in favor of a third-party investigation into the borough's...
Jim Roberts was appointed to the Petersburg Medical Center Board by Mayor Mark Jensen with the approval of the assembly during Monday's Petersburg Borough Assembly meeting. Roberts previously served on the hospital board from 2018 to 2021 but lost his bid for reelection. "The hospital is a vital part of our community and it needs to grow to provide the services required by our community," Roberts wrote. He also worked for 41 years at the Central Intelligence Agency as a computer scientist and a...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted on Monday to hold a work session to discuss the borough's FY24 draft budget and reschedule its first meeting in May. The work session will give the assembly and the public their first opportunity to review next year's borough budget ahead of its first reading. The work session will be held on Monday, April 24 at 6 p.m. in the assembly chambers. The assembly also voted to move its meeting scheduled for May 1 to Tuesday, May 2 at noon. The rescheduling was...
The Petersburg High School band took the ferry down to Ketchikan last week to perform at Musicfest and cheer on other bands who made the trip from Metlakatla to Skagway. The 28 PHS students spent three days putting on concerts in front of a packed Ketchikan High School auditorium as well as playing solo and ensemble pieces. "We've been working really hard in here and we performed better than we had been performing in class, which is always the goal, so there were lots of smiles from our kids...
The Lighthouse Assembly of God church is a well-loved landmark in Petersburg, both to those who attend service there and to those who simply enjoy the sight of it. Inside, there is a large stage that hosted live music for a good part of the Assembly of God's 75th anniversary celebration service Sunday night. The anniversary program included much standing and clapping, with a few chances to sit down and hear some of the stories that have come out of the church over the years. The Assembly of God...
In a pair of closed-door meetings with members of the Alaska Legislature on Tuesday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he is prepared to introduce a statewide sales tax as part of a long-term budget plan for the state. In his first term, the governor said he would not approve new taxes without a statewide vote — he didn’t include that caveat Tuesday. Legislators said the governor also did not immediately dismiss an income tax as he has in the past, but a spokesman for the governor denied that the governor would support one. “He said that every... Full story
The Alaska House of Representatives on Monday approved a $6.4 billion state operating budget for the 12 months that begin July 1, passing by a 23-17 vote a major hurdle needed for final acceptance of the state’s annual operating plan. “This bill is far from perfect … but it is a good-faith, collaborative effort, with strong input from the governor,” said Rep. DeLena Johnson, R-Palmer and co-chair of the House Finance Committee. The proposal passed by the House now goes to the Senate, which is preparing an alternative proposal whose first d... Full story
WRANGELL — Every spring when the eulachon spawn, the Stikine River flats are flooded with thousands of migratory shorebirds. And each year, the town responds in-kind with the Stikine River Birding Festival, filling the radio airwaves with bird songs and holding an array of avian-themed events. This season, the festival will run for three weekends between April 21 and May 6. It will feature movies, crafts, workshops and more. “Birding is such a nice welcome to spring,” said Corree Delabrue of the U.S. Forest Service, who helped plan the festi...
Prince of Wales Island Post — The Alaska Department of Natural Resource has approved the 292-acre Whale Pass Timber Sale. The sale, in the community of Whale Pass, population about 60, requires a 100-foot buffer between the harvest area and residential property. A request for reconsideration of the commissioner’s decision is due no later than April 26. Whale Pass considers tourism and recreation as its major economic industries, according to James Greeley and Katie Bode, who are Whale Pass residents and representatives of Friends of Whale Pas...
