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The Organized Village of Kake is looking into using a U.S. Forest Service facility at Portage Bay as a cultural healing and rehabilitation center. The overall goal of the program would be to reconnect people with their cultural identity, improve their mental health, and counsel those recovering from alcohol and substance abuse and other issues. The cultural healing center has been a dream of Joel Jackson's, the president of the OVK, for years. "What I had in mind was getting people to teach them...
The Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department responded to a house fire near 4.7 Mile Mitkof Highway on Wednesday, which destroyed the interior of the building. The fire was in an older two-story home constructed with logs at 471 Mitkof Highway on property owned by Michael Boggs. Though the investigation is ongoing, the fire is believed to have been caused by a wood stove according to Assistant Fire Chief Dave Berg. No persons were in the building when the fire broke out. The smoke from the building...
The Petersburg Indian Association held its annual election on Monday, which saw Tribal Council President Cris Morrison and Tribal Council Members Jaclyn Mae Eide and Joe Stewart reelected according to the unofficial results. Morrison, Eide, and Stewart all ran unopposed for the seats they will be retaining on the council. Morrison, who joined the council in 2017 and has served as council president since 2019, was reelected to a one-year term with 15 votes. "I am looking forward to working with...
During its Jan. 3 meeting, the Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved an ordinance in its first reading that would tie the service rates for self-pay residents at Mountain View Manor Assisted Living to the maximum service rates allowed for the facility under Medicaid. Medicaid raises per day services rates for Medicaid Residential Supported Living annually, but those increases have not been adopted by the borough. That is because the service rates charged for Medicaid RSL cannot...
It’s past time for the Southeast and coastal Alaska communities to be heard regarding the collapse of our ferry system. It’s time to more forcefully make our Alaska Marine Highway needs known by energizing the Southeast Conference, the Southeast Conference of Mayors, and other organizations. Southeastern and coastal Alaska are entitled to have a highway functioning just like our roaded neighbors to the north. The newly passed Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill provides the federal funding to make this happen if we don’t let it slip away The AMHS...
AP KETCHIKAN — A police chief in Alaska pleaded not guilty on Dec. 29 to charges that he assaulted an intoxicated man while he was off-duty at a resort restaurant, including allegedly shoving the man head-first into a wall and putting him in a chokehold. A grand jury returned an indictment Thursday for Ketchikan Police Chief Jeffrey Harrison Walls for felony third-degree assault. He is also charged with three counts of fourth-degree assault and two counts of reckless endangerment, which are misdemeanors. During an arraignment Friday, defense a...
Petersburg High School graduate Brooklyn Dormer was one of the singers in the third annual PBS New Year's Concert, "United in Song: Ringing in the New Year Together." A celebration of the diversity of American music, the concert was a nationwide musical journey highlighting well-known performers singing in unique and historic theaters across the country, including the Egyptian Theater in Boise, Idaho, where Dormer is a junior majoring in biochemistry with a minor in music. The PBS special...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously voted during Monday's meeting to award the construction contract for the Blind Slough Hydroelectric refurbishment project to McG/Dawson Joint Venture for an amount not to exceed $5,744,000. McG/Dawson's contract bid was evaluated by an engineering team led by Don Jarrett, P.E. with McMillen and was recommended to the assembly by both McMillen and Petersburg Municipal Power and Light. The project received four contract bids ranging from $5,744,000 up...
Petersburg birders cast their gaze to the skies on Dec. 17 as part of the National Audubon Society's 123rd Christmas Bird Count, spotting 52 species totaling 8,868 birds around Mitkof Island. The count is a nationwide event where citizen scientists spend the day searching for birds in their area and documenting their findings. "It's one of the most valuable nationwide databases for monitoring changes and trends in bird populations," said Brad Hunter, who coordinates the local bird count. The cou...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved an ordinance in its first reading during Monday's meeting that would rezone a lot located at 10 N. 12th Street for commercial use. The rezoning was requested by the Petersburg Indian Association, which filed an application to purchase the 0.31-acre lot from the borough in September 2022. PIA has stated that it is only interested in the lot, which is currently zoned as an open space, if it is rezoned for commercial use so that it matches an...
The famous Salvation Army red kettles, manned during the holiday season by volunteers armed with silver bells, raised a combined $13,206.43 in Petersburg according to Capt. KV Saengthasy. The donations will be used to fund the Salvation Army's social services budget and also went toward purchasing a couple of Christmas presents for local children. Though they finished just short of their fundraising target, both red kettles stationed outside of Hammer & Wikan stores were filled on Christmas...
Wrangell — The borough’s target date is 2024 for the sale of the first 22 residential lots in the proposed subdivision of the former Wrangell Institute property upland from Shoemaker Bay. The assembly last month approved $2.2 million for installing utilities and putting in streets across a portion of the 134-acre property, which the borough acquired in 1996. “Our goal is to start construction this fall,” Borough Manager Jeff Good said last week. “That’s our target right now.” The borough is moving closer to receiving its U.S. Army Corps of...
WRANGELL — The borough is about to begin the five-year, state-mandated process of updating its wastewater treatment plant. Borough officials are currently searching for sources of funding for what will likely be a multimillion-dollar project. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issues permits to wastewater treatment plants across the nation, regulating the amount of pollutants they are allowed to release into the water. Historically, the Wrangell treatment plant has received a waiver allowing it to discharge wastewater that has not u...
An obscure clause in the just-passed $1.7 trillion federal omnibus budget law has awarded the University of Alaska a plot of land half the size of the state of Rhode Island. The clause begins on page 2,819 of the 4,126-page law and calls for the university to receive 360,000 acres of federal land within the next four years, fulfilling the amount owed to it because of its status as a land-grant school. The university earns between $7 million and $8 million per year in revenue from 151,000 acres it already owns, and development of the new land is... Full story
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency Board approved a wholesale rate increase at its Dec. 8 meeting, raising the price to 7.3 cents per kilowatt hour-a 0.25 cent increase-beginning in January 2023. According to Vice Mayor Bob Lynn and Utility Director Karl Hagerman, who reported on the SEAPA Board meeting at last week's Petersburg Borough Assembly meeting, the decision to raise rates followed a review of a rate study completed this year. A draft of the rate study, which was presented at the last...
With discussions beginning on what next year’s school calendar could look like, the Petersburg School District is seeking input from community members on what changes could be made to best benefit learning. During a school board meeting on Dec. 13, the board discussed the ongoing challenges facing the district and some ways changing the calendar could address them. Ideas included changing from early release on Fridays to late arrival on Mondays and adjusting the length of the school year and p...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved an Education Incentive Program, which looks to support child care professionals and improve retention in the field, during Monday's meeting. The assembly voted 6-1 in favor of the trial program with Assembly Member Donna Marsh opposed. The Education Incentive Program will award bonuses ranging from $2,000 per year to $5,000 per year to child care educators and is structured in three tiers based on their level of education. The hope is to encourage local...
The Alaska Marine Highway System is cutting back on port calls while it sends its ships into their annual winter overhaul. As a result, Petersburg will go without any state ferry service for three weeks this winter. There will be nothing northbound out of Petersburg after the Kennicott's scheduled Jan. 6 sailing to Sitka and Juneau until the Matanuska comes back to service after its winter work and stops here northbound on Feb. 3. The Kennicott's last southbound run before winter overhaul is...
The Petersburg School District Board unanimously approved a major revision to the FY23 budget during its meeting on Dec. 13, which will see a new projected ending fund balance of $622,672. According to Finance Director Karen Morrison, the proposed budget revision was based on an average daily membership student count of 429.6 students, which was calculated in October and is above the threshold for three school funding. The final student count numbers brought the district's foundation funding up...
During its meeting on Dec. 13, the Petersburg School District Board voted unanimously to amend the district's COVID-19 mitigation policy, changing when students and staff can return to school following a positive test. The new policy states that students and staff who test positive can now come back to school on a date determined by the Petersburg Medical Center, possibly allowing them to return earlier than what the previous guidance allowed. If students and staff who test positive do not obtai...
WRANGELL — Dusty Cowan, 41, of Wrangell, was sentenced to seven years in prison last week for online enticement of a minor and distribution of indecent materials to a minor. His crimes included “soliciting sexual photos from a minor as well as sending photos of his (genitals) to the minor,” according to a statement from the Alaska Department of Law. The victim was 14 years old when Cowan began initiating sexually explicit conversations and video chats with her via Facebook Messenger. He had known the victim since she was in kindergarten and was...
A man who allegedly stole $58,000 from a Haines tour operator earlier this fall was apprehended Dec. 6 in Riverton, Utah, according to Haines Police. As of Dec. 13, Charles was in a Utah jail pending extradition to Alaska. Haines Police Officer Maxwell Jusi said Riverton police arrested Charles after Haines police received a tip about his whereabouts. Two Riverton police officers made the arrest at a movie theater in a shopping mall, according to a Riverton police report. One of the officers worked with an acquaintance of Charles to coordinate...
Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Rep. Elect Rebecca Himschoot held two joint public office hours in Petersburg earlier this week to meet with community members ahead of the legislative session starting next month. The pair were at Glacier Express Cafe Monday afternoon and Salty Pantry Tuesday morning. Kreiss-Tomkins, who currently holds the Alaska state House seat representing Petersburg and Sitka, announced earlier this year that he would not run for re-election after having held a seat in the...
Shoppers hoping for a little relief at the grocery store for their holiday meals will be disappointed by the Consumer Price Index released Tuesday. The CPI shows inflation cooling but food prices — particularly for some holiday staples — remain high. The CPI increased 0.1% in November, which was lower than some economists expected. Over the last 12 months, it rose 7.1%. Food went up 0.5% last month after an increase of 0.6% in October. The food index climbed 10.6% over last year. “The headline inflation numbers are encouraging for the gener... Full story
Petersburg is expected to be in for a cooler than normal winter as La Niña conditions return for an unusual third consecutive winter. The weather patterns in Southeast brought on by La Niña can be traced all the way back to trade winds off the Pacific coast of South America according to Rick Fritsch, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Juneau. Enhanced easterly trade winds coming off of the Pacific coast of South America blow the warmer water at the surface of the ocean w...
