Sorted by date Results 3076 - 3100 of 5569
Over a year ago, Topi Karikorpi made a list of four countries he would perhaps like to spend a year in. Foreign exchange program officials decided the rest for him --- Country: United States; State: Alaska; City: Petersburg. Karikorpi came to Petersburg in August 2016 as part of the Rotary Club's foreign exchange program. He is from a town in south Finland populated with 1,100 people, so he was relieved to find out Petersburg was going to be his temporary home. "I hoped to go to a small place,"...
The Petersburg Assembly unanimously approved its budget last week for the upcoming year that starts July 1 and runs through June 2018. Over three meetings and three readings of the proposed budget, the Assembly grappled with a change worth about $160,000. A vote to delete a fourth lineman position from the Power & Light budget ultimately passed unanimously on the third reading. "[The Assembly] went back and forth on this," said Petersburg Borough Manager Stephen Giesbrecht. "I can't speak for...
The Petersburg Borough is a signature away from increasing its state land grant from 1,400 acres to more than 14,600, as legislation was passed on the last day of session in May, said Liz Cabrera, who is the Petersburg community development director. "This is a really big deal for Petersburg," Cabrera said. "If the bill didn't get passed on that day, we would have to wait until next January to take it up again. It was kind of on the 11th hour." The bill passed through the House and Senate...
As your Borough Manager, my job is a combination of providing advice along with implementing the policies of your elected officials. This necessitates me taking criticism, including from those very people your elected officials (the Assembly) are trying to help. I am not whining, just stating a fact. Today I find myself involved in a debate that clearly I started when I made a proposal to save money in some of the community's utility departments (water, sewer, electric). The savings, about $110,...
The two marijuana growers in Petersburg are apparently not in competition, as one wants to grow for her own retail shop and the other plans to export his product to Ketchikan. Susan Burrell has been licensed to sell weed in Petersburg for months. But now she is in the process of becoming licensed to harvest it as well, despite a grower already being on the island. The move is to dodge high Alaska weed costs, Burrell said. Further, she couldn't make a sufficient deal with the current weed grower...
The Petersburg municipal building project is slated to be done mid June and is currently $700,000 under its $10 million projected cost, said Petersburg Borough Manager Stephen Giesbrecht. The project, which has cost $9.3 million so far, is a week behind its scheduled finish of June 1, but Giesbrecht said that was expected and agreed upon. "In a sense, it's done," Giesbrecht said. "We're probably only talking $30,000 to $40,000 more. It's really tiny, but I don't want to misrepresent." The city...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Research by a Juneau scientist has helped uncover a new species of flying squirrel. Allison Bidlack and her six-person team released their findings about what they dubbed the Humboldt’s flying squirrel in the May 30 issue of the Journal of Mammalogy, according to a news release from the Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center. The group determined the existence of the third species using satellite data and DNA samples that Bidlack took 20 years ago while working on her master’s degree at University of Alaska Fairbanks. Bidla...
The Petersburg Community Foundation gave $14,000 in grants to nine local nonprofit organizations during the 2017 Mayfest weekend, said Holli Flint, who is the program manager. Specific dollar amounts given to each organization is not disclosed, as the community foundation does not want to take away from the funding sources that contributed, Flint said. "A lot of projects are not entirely made possible through the Petersburg Community Foundation," Flint said. "Each project is really interesting....
Hundreds of people gathered at the Petersburg Elks Lodge Friday evening to honor Rob Schwartz, who is retiring after 26 years of being a teacher and wrestling coach. "Coaching and teaching is often a thankless activity," said Eldon Walker, who spoke about Schwartz to the crowd. "The fact that you juggled as much as you did for as long as you have is a testament to the kind of person that you are. While you are an amazing coach and a teacher, you are a mentor and a friend as well." Schwartz's dau...
The Chilkat Valley News has a new owner this week, as Tom Morphet passed the torch to reporter Kyle Clayton. Morphet has owned the CVN for five years. Before buying the paper, he worked at it 22 years as a reporter, editor and manager. Morphet's ownership of the newspaper became contentious in August when he began campaigning for a seat on the Haines Borough Assembly. Morphet hired interim editors and started advertising and publicizing the newspaper's sale. "Obviously, being elected to office m... Full story
WRANGELL- After several days of serial car thefts around Wrangell a suspect is in custody at the police department. After Wrangell Police Department discovered three missing vehicles on Tuesday, more vehicles were taken Wednesday. “We had three or four more stolen last night,” Chief Doug McCloskey reported. Details on the chain of events are still forthcoming, but officers pursued their suspect through town. The individual at several points changed vehicles, damaging at least one in the process. Currently down by three of its seven off... Full story
The Petersburg High School Class of 2017 ended their K through 12 tenures at a commencement ceremony Tuesday evening. Petersburg gave diplomas to 29 students. Of those, 24 will attend, or plan to attend, a university, community college or trade school. Four others intend to seek a career in photography, aquaculture, engineering, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration and travel. One more, Alan McCay, plans to enlist in the United States Coast Guard. Forty-five scholarships...
A seemingly routine 2017 salmon derby shifted to shock and thrill Monday after Karrie Byrer caught a 34.3 pound king salmon just minutes before the derby closed. Byrer and her fiancé, Chris Malcom, idled their boat into the dock at about 4:50 p.m., 10 minutes before deadline. Malcolm hopped off and rushed a burly king salmon to the weigh station, grinning fervently, with Byrer close behind. "I knew it was decent size," Malcom said. "Once I netted it and put it on the boat, I said, 'holy...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Officials on Friday posthumously honored more than a dozen members of a largely Alaska Native citizen militia who protected the U.S. territory from the threat of Japanese invasion during World War II, bringing closure to their families for a service that went unrecognized for decades. Gov. Bill Walker and state veterans affairs officials presented Army discharge papers to the relatives of 16 deceased members of the Alaska Territorial Guard during a ceremony ahead of Memorial Day weekend. The event was an emotional t...
Following a recommendation from the Petersburg Medical Center's Long Term Planning Committee the hospital board voted Thursday night to proceed with building a new hospital in lieu of making extensive renovations to the existing facility. In May 2016 architects from the firm Jensen Yorba Lott presented the PMC board with five options: do nothing; make systematic replacements; make phased renovations; build an addition and renovate in phases and construct a new facility. PMC CEO Liz Woodyard...
Following an executive session on Tuesday, Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht reported via email that he and Borough Clerk Debbie Thompson would work on the preparation of job descriptions for both the Electrical Superintendent and the proposed Utility Director position. Giesbrecht wrote, “The Assembly continues to be interested in any opportunity to save the community money, so they are mulling their options over…. We are all really concerned about future budget challengers, and the reorganization would have helped, but I am sure we will fin...
We find the turmoil created by proposing that an inexperienced electric utility supervisor take over the Power and Light Department a very risky decision. It backfired. And it’s not about Karl Hagerman. Every employer would like to have a worker like Karl, but he needs time to learn the job before he can run an electric utility department. Unfortunately for the community, we lost a good mayor who worked hard for the Borough. Mark Jensen could not support the manager’s proposal for replacing retiring Joe Nelson and decided to resign rather tha...
The airport might add more parking to accommodate increased demand for spaces and to anticipate potential restrictions on current long-term parking, said Richard Burke, who is a Planning and Zoning Committee representative. "It's more for the need for additional spaces," Burke said. "I've talked to a number of folks who almost missed their flights due to lack of parking." Burke went before the Petersburg Borough Tuesday and asked the assembly to lease property across the street from the...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Juneau police investigating a reporter’s allegation that he was slapped by a state senator have sent the case to the state Office of Special Prosecutions for further review. Lt. David Campbell said police investigated the incident at the state Capitol as harassment. While police have not identified anyone involved in the May 2 incident, the editor of the state’s largest newspaper has said reporter Nathaniel Herz was slapped by Sen. David Wilson after Herz asked him about a recently published story in the tstory was about...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced that the 2017/2018 commercial Dungeness crab fishery in Southeastern Alaska will be opening as scheduled at 8 a.m. on June 15. Dungeness crab fishermen must register their vessels and applicable gear with the department. The holder of a valid 2017 Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission permit for Southeastern Alaska Dungeness crab must be onboard the vessel during fishing operations and the permit holder’s name must be listed on the vessel registration. Buoy tags must be purchased prior to f...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Sport Fish announced the bag and possession limit of king salmon in the Wrangell Narrows-Blind Slough terminal harvest area, effective June 1 through July 31. Under the regulations, king salmon bag and possession limits for residents and nonresidents will be two fish for those 28 inches or greater, and two fish less than 28 inches in length. Additionally, king salmon caught by nonresident anglers in the terminal harvest area do not count toward...
Ben Muir, 22, joins the Petersburg Pilot staff this week and assumes the position of news reporter. Muir graduated from Michigan State University in May with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and a minor in Anthropology. He was the Sex and Health Editor for The Big Green, an online student publication that covers news and culture stories at Michigan State University. He completed an internship at The Olympian, a daily newspaper in Olympia, Washington in the summer of 2016. Muir grew up in...
WRANGELL – A combination golf tournament and auction dinner raised just over $35,000 for the hospital’s charitable arm last weekend. “It went really well,” commented Kris Reed, with Wrangell Medical Center. This year there were about 140 booked spots at Saturday’s evening tables, with the auction and dinner held at the Nolan Center’s main hall. “We had almost a full house at dinner.” Running 10 years strong now, proceeds from the annual event go toward the WMC Foundation. It supports various efforts, notably its cancer care fund and schola...
About 50 people gathered at the Petersburg Memorial Cemetery Monday to remember friends and loved ones who died while serving in the military. The Memorial Day ceremony lasted under 30 minutes and included speakers from the Petersburg Ministerial Association who led prayer, read Bible passages and asked for a moment of silence. Preceding the moment of silence was a time for the crowd to shout out names of the people they knew who died in the military. "There is a lot of military history here...
Four traffic cameras have been placed at Haugen and Nordic Drive locations to collect both pedestrian and vehicle data for the Alaska Dept. of Transportation, according to Ryan Siverly, Regional Highway Data Manager. Cameras are mounted to telescoping poles attached to street signs. At the base of the pole is a battery pack. Data is relayed to equipment in an ADOT van for storage. The cameras are placed at the corners of Nordic and Dolphin, Nordic and Haugen, Haugen and Second and at Haugen and...
