Sorted by date Results 3783 - 3807 of 5553
The Petersburg Borough Assembly tabled a discussion regarding the takeover from the state of several dock facilities within the borough. In a January 21 letter, the Assembly wrote the state to request the transfer of state owned facilities Papke’s Landing, Kupreanof and Entrance Island docks to the Petersburg Borough. In a February 11 letter from the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities Commissioner Marc Luiken, the commissioner said he applauds the borough’s willingness to accept responsibility and stewardship for the har... Full story
Buschmann Park in downtown Petersburg received a long awaited addition last Friday. The bronze sculpture named "Everything starts with a dream" by local artist Eric Larson was installed. "It's a huge relief, I was apprehensive taking it down there, but then once it went in it was like 'oh, yeah,'" Larson says with a chuckle. Larson estimates the piece weighs around 700 pounds, and there is still some electric work to do until it can be officially unveiled later this year at the Little Norway... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly advanced the borough’s comprehensive plan Monday evening. The plan outlines and recommends strategies for borough management and the development of transportation, economy, recreation and tourism over the next two decades. The plan is several years in the making. A consulting firm in Anchorage, hired to update the borough’s plan, met with community members during that time, took surveys, interviewed citizens and received public comment. Planning and Zoning (P&Z) member Dave Kensinger attended the ass... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved a Petersburg Planning Commission letter regarding a proposed amendment to the Tongass Land and Resource Management Plan. On its website, the U.S. Forest Service stated an amendment was needed after U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack directed the Tongass to transition its management plan to be more ecologically, socially and economically sustainable. “An amendment is needed to accelerate the transition to a young-growth forest management program, and to do so in a way that preserves a vi...
The Alaska Marine Highway System brings more to S.E. Alaska than transportation. It’s also an economic driver for all of Southeast. Most of the benefits fall to small rural communities. For every $1 in benefits paid to subsidize the system’s operation, $2.30 comes back to local economies in jobs, spending, shipping and other services. The report from the McDowell Group states the ferry system is directly responsible for 1,017 jobs and indirectly responsible for 683 who are employed by businesses benefitting from the state ferries. Put another w...
The parking lot of the municipal building increased by a couple spaces this week after a Public Works crew demolished the old Mitkof Sales and Service garage on Sing Lee Alley. The borough bought the building a couple years ago, and it was being used for dry storage, but the structure was essentially vacant, says Public Works director Karl Hagerman. "It's been there for an awful long time, since the 50s," he says. "You never know what you're going to get into when you do a demo project, but the...
Joe Bertagnoli knows the inherent difficulties of trying to announce a basketball game live on the radio all by himself. Bertagnoli has called a couple different sports for KFSK, including baseball and basketball, and last year he was the only voice listeners tuning into basketball games on the radio heard. However, this season, he has someone to help call games and banter with at times, his grandson Brayden Larson. Early in the basketball season Bertagnoli asked Larson and his friend Thomas... Full story
JUNEAU (AP) — Fishing industry and lawmakers on Thursday puzzled over the origins of a proposed one percent tax increase in fisheries business taxes and fisheryresource landing taxes. During a hearing on the bill by the House fisheries committee, fishermen testified that they did not understand the origins of the increase. It is expected to raise $18 million in new revenue for the state annually, according to the Department of Revenue. It is one of six proposed industry taxes from Gov. Bill Walker, including increases to mining, motor fuels, a...
Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association Inc., (NSRAA) will hold its annual Board of Directors meeting on March 2 and 3 starting at 9:00 a.m. on both days. The meeting will be held this year at the NSRAA Boardroom, 1308 Sawmill Creek Rd, in Sitka. The agenda will include operational plans, and consideration of the FY ’17 Budget. Copies of the agenda will be available in the NSRAA office, and online atwww.nsraa.org. Meetings are open to the public....
JUNEAU (AP) — A price drop that lowered Fred Meyer's gas prices to less than $2 a gallon at the Oregon-based department store's Juneau store only was caused by a mistake and prices will gradually go back up, a company spokeswoman said. Melinda Merrill told the Juneau Empire that the overnight drop from $2.92 to $1.91 between Monday and Tuesday was due to an error made by corporate staff. “That huge price drop yesterday was a mistake,” she said. Merrill said the price drop was the result of a typo. The price should have been reduced by only...
Petersburg Police apprehended Jacob Sturgeon Friday afternoon, Feb. 12, after he escaped custody earlier that morning. Sturgeon was arrested earlier this month on a charge of domestic violence assault. During that investigation Sturgeon fled from PPD Officer John Dodson after the officer approached the suspect in the backroom of a residence on Lumber Street. "After Officer Dodson advised Sturgeon that he was under arrest, Officer Dodson took hold of his arm and told him to standup," charging doc... Full story
Rain drops falling upon the Elizabeth Peratrovich Day Parade is nothing new for those who march in it, and this year's honorary grand marshal Ray Dugaqua led the parade through the rain with a mile-wide smile. On Tuesday, Dugaqua buttoned up his red coat and hit the throttle on his motorized wheelchair, proudly followed by a group of just over 25 people. Peratrovich was a champion for civil rights, long before Martin Luther King took up the fight. She provided crucial testimony and a memorable... Full story
Petersburg entrepreneur Mindy Anderson won $40,000 in the Path to Prosperity competition that aims to promote local business and sustainability across Southeast Alaska. Anderson, who's been operating The Salty Pantry out of her home selling homemade artisan breads, sea salts and other dry goods, will soon open a restaurant cafe and is currently looking at a commercial space downtown. Anderson, along with 11 other Southeast Alaskans, participated in a "business boot camp" last September in... Full story
The Rainforest Islands Ferry operations between Coffman Cove and Banana Point will resume April 15. The North End Ferry Authority board of directors determined the date at a meeting in late January. The ferry will resume the four trip per week schedule it ran prior to suspending service in early December due to low customer traffic, according to North End Ferry Authority manager Kent Miller. The board also approved a staff recommendation to have the company's passenger bus stationed locally to meet the transportation needs of customers on Mitko...
Shortly after the newly constructed Petersburg Public Library opened its doors a couple years ago, local artist Doris Olsen felt like something was missing. She kept walking by the teen room and even though youngsters were laughing and having fun at eye level, the room itself felt somewhat lifeless above the books. Olsen says the room needed something to help it flow, and she eventually decided mobile art hanging from the ceiling constructed with found objects would be perfect. After talking wit...
State Sen. Bert Stedman talked about how well the community would weather the state budget deficit during Petersburg’s annual Chamber of Commerce Dinner Saturday night. He said the community’s already endured difficult times, citing several wars and economic downturns, and has come out of it unscathed. “We’ve had these austere moments where we’ve had to pull together and this is just another one,” Stedman said. “I don’t sit in my office and eat a lot of Rolaids over it.” Stedman went on to discuss the legislative climate in Juneau and what h...
Petersburg Chamber of Commerce members sat down at their annual banquet last Saturday evening at the Sons of Norway Hall. Halibut and prime rib were on the menu and chamber members bid on deserts and won raffle prices such as gift certificates and even 49,000 Alaska Air miles. Alaska Airlines Director of Sales and Marketing Scott Habberstad was one of the banquet speakers. He gave a brief history of the company, which began in 1952, and discussed its present and future. “It’s a great time for the company,” Habberstad said. “We had a great y...
When I was told I better write a story about Ruth Sandvik turning 100 years old the first thing I thought was, Who is Ruth Sandvik? I knew of her of course. Her name is synonymous with art, books and a general zeal for life, one of the cornerstones of cultural life in Petersburg. But I didn't know who she was. I certainly didn't know how to encapsulate her, 100 years of her, in one newspaper story. I can try though to glean a few clues, and perhaps pick out a pattern, from the collection of... Full story
Two fishing vessels belonging to Arnold Enge, the 42-foot gillnetter Moonshadow and 57-foot tender Robert G. Johnston, remain aground on the shore of Kupreanof Island after becoming submerged there last week. The initial report about the Robert G. Johnston came from a Coast Guard auxiliary vessel patrolling the area that reported seeing no evidence of any spillage. The Coast Guard immediately contacted Enge and he reported previously pumping the fuel and oil tanks, says Lt. Jennifer Ferreira,... Full story
The Petersburg School Board unanimously approved an $80,037 software program for the Petersburg School District’s finance office. PSD Finance Director Karen Quitslund said the current software is 35 years old and that she has been looking at new programs for several years. “The current system is really outdated. It’s inefficient,” Quitslund said. “All the processes are done manually and of course the more manual processes that you have the more the margin of error is greater.” The district’s current software doesn’t interface with other prog... Full story
Despite flat or decreased sales tax contributions from some of the largest local businesses, the Petersburg economy saw a 3.7 percent increase in overall consumption from 2014 to 2015 according to Petersburg Borough sales tax revenue data. In 2015 the borough brought in $3,128,549 in sales tax revenue compared to $3,011,968 in 2014. Local grocery and hardware businesses, the largest contributors in sales tax revenues to the Petersburg Borough, remained steady paying around $1 million in local...
As part of a plea deal, the state dismissed two drug distribution charges against Lars Christensen after his brother, Lawrence Christensen, entered guilty pleas to two counts, one of which was reduced. Both men were facing charges of two counts of Misconduct Involving a Controlled Substance in the 2nd and 3rd degrees. Lawrence entered guilty pleas Feb. 4 to attempted misconduct involving a controlled substance in the 2nd degree and misconduct involving a controlled substance in the 3rd degree, both Class B felonies. Federal and local...
There is one thing Nathan Lopez made sure to bring with him from the church he worked at in Omaha, Neb., the mini-basketball hoop from his tiny office. The hoop now hangs in his more spacious office at the Lighthouse Assembly of God, other items in the room include handcrafted Native flutes and a baby grand piano. Lopez is the new pastor for the church, but he is no stranger to Petersburg. He grew up playing basketball here and left the community after graduating high school in 1997 to begin...
One could hear the proverbial crickets chirping after Petersburg Mayor Mark Jensen brought up the assembly’s previous request to have a discussion about the possibility of re-appropriating money from the Kake access road project. During its last Borough Assembly meeting in January, several assembly members were in support of such a reallocation and suggested a bulk of the money go to projects for Kake and Petersburg. State Senator Bert Stedman appropriated the $40 million in 2012 for the project that would build a road and ferry connection from... Full story
A plan to release millions of chum fry in Thomas Bay, a popular sport fishing area for Petersburg locals, was put on hold in early December until more information on the potential affects of the proposal can be gathered. The request from the Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association (NSRAA) was tabled by the Northern Regional Planning Team with a unanimous vote of 6-0. NSRAA General Manager Steve Reifenstuhl says concerns from local sport fisherman and multiple unknown factors motivated the decision of the planning team. Now NSRAA is... Full story
