Sorted by date Results 2561 - 2585 of 5569
The first thing Charlotte Hoiosen did when she moved to Alaska in 1960 was have dinner with the governor. Hoiosen was 38 and married with two kids. The family loaded a van and started a one-way trip from Southern Minnesota to Petersburg. Her husband, Roscoe, would be a teacher there. The family camped along the way. Not for leisure. Money was tight back then. "I remember waking up one morning and finding a nice little nest of baby rattlesnakes not far from our tent," said Hoiosen, who turned 95...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Moose thrive in Alaska's largest city with little to fear from natural predators such as wolves or bears, but getting an accurate count of the largest member of the deer family remains a challenge for the state wildlife biologists who must manage their numbers. Traditionally, aerial surveys are performed from low-flying aircraft after there's snow on the ground when spotters can distinguish between male moose with antlers and cows without them, but flight rules from...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska legislators are considering a bill that would require smaller boats to obtain a title issued by the state Division of Motor Vehicles. The bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Peter Micciche is aiming to reduce the number of vessels becoming derelict and abandoned along the state’s waterways, KTOO Public Media in Juneau reported Friday. Micciche told the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday that the bill intends to help officials track ownership of the boats, so they can address the issue before boats become aba...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Taking a cue from the fight over immigration, some states that have legalized marijuana are considering providing so-called sanctuary status for licensed pot businesses, hoping to protect the fledgling industry from a shift in federal enforcement policy. Just hours after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Jan. 4 that federal prosecutors would be free to crack down on marijuana operations as they see fit, Jesse Arreguin, the mayor in Berkeley, California, summoned city councilman Ben Bartlett to his office w...
WRANGELL - The Wrangell Museum added a new piece to its public gallery, an antique cannon. Not that the piece itself is new, thought to be close to two centuries old. Nor is it newly acquired, donated in 2002 to the museum by nonagenarian Bruce Johnston, a former resident then living in Ketchikan. Handed over before the museum's transition over to the Nolan Center, during the shift the cannon wound up in one of the many scattered caches of items kept around town. By now settled, museum staff hav...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Winter at the top of the world wimped out this year. The Arctic just finished its warmest winter on record. And sea ice hit record lows for this time of year, with plenty of open water where ocean water normally freezes into thick sheets of ice, new U.S. weather data show. Scientists say what’s happening is unprecedented, part of a global warming-driven vicious cycle that likely plays a role in strong, icy storms in Europe and the U.S. Northeast. “It’s just crazy, crazy stuff,” said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow...
A petition that circulated in Petersburg last week is catching some fallout after three borough employees reportedly used city equipment to seek signatures during work hours. In an assembly meeting on Monday, member Jeff Meucci read from an email written on Friday by the borough manager, which addressed a public appeal petition of the electrical reorganization. “This is clearly the right of persons involved,” reads the email from Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht. “However, it has been reported t...
The Petersburg assembly again approved restructuring leadership of two departments in the borough, introducing the ending to a contentious debate since last spring on who should head the electric utility. The assembly chambers in Petersburg on Monday was full, mostly with people in the electrical field waiting to testify against a plan to have the public works director assume leadership of the power and light department. The plan was approved 4-3 in its second reading after eight audience...
The keynote speaker at the chamber of commerce dinner last weekend is the owner of a cruise line that specializes in exclusive trips, and he announced that one of his ships based in Sitka is moving its homeport to Petersburg. Dan Blanchard, owner of UnCruise Adventures, operates a fleet of nine ships, seven of which are in Alaska. Blanchard announced at the Sons of Norway hall on Saturday that the Safari Quest would be homeporting in Petersburg starting this year, and the captain is his...
Three police officers and two citizens in Petersburg were honored at a borough assembly meeting on Monday for their rescue efforts during an apartment fire last year. On May 5, 2017 an apartment fire was reported at the Narrows Inn in Petersburg. Before responders arrived, Petersburg citizens Mandy Smida and Cecilio Escatell entered the burning apartment in search of an injured person inside. "Using brute strength," said Capt. John Hamilton, who presented the awards, "[Escatell] forced the door...
Twelve Petersburg community members were heard at an assembly meeting on Monday opposing the borough's plan to reorganize leadership of the electric utility. The plan, introduced by the borough manager in May 2017, is not to hire an electrical superintendent with experience in the field. Instead, to cut costs and focus on managing a team, the assembly voted Monday to reorganize departments. The public works director, Karl Hagerman, with 25 years as a municipal employee, would assume the role of...
The borough assembly on Monday finalized two ordinances that plan to generate revenue by charging fees on tax exemption cards and cruise ship passengers who come to Petersburg. Assembly members approved an ordinance to impose a $100 annual fee on senior citizens who qualify and apply for a tax exemption card. The fee is waived to qualified applicants who sign an affidavit claiming they have a combined household income that doesn’t exceed $20,000. Household was defined at the meeting as a tax filer, plus a spouse, plus dependents. The senior s...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The number of cruise ship visitors in Alaska is primed to make a sizeable jump in the next two years, a cruise industry expert said. John Binkley, the president of Cruise Lines International Association Alaska, said his organization has predicted that the number of cruise ship visitors will jump 19 percent between 2017 and 2019, the Juneau Empire reported Wednesday. Binkley said that would mean 200,000 more visitors in Alaska. About 1.1 million cruise visitors came to Alaska in 2017, which was the most in state history, h...
WRANGELL - With a month left before work is scheduled to resume, discussions continue on the future of a stockpile of contaminated soil excavated from the former Byford junkyard. Heading the cleanup effort that began in 2016, the Department of Environmental Conservation removed over 60 shipping containers of debris and heavily contaminated soils from the yard, which for years had been a privately-run repository for automotive and marine junk. The City of Wrangell had assumed responsibility for...
The Alaska Marine Highway System announced it has adjusted ferry service schedules for the middle of April in order to help roughly 400 students and chaperones from across Southeast travel to the Region V Music Festival in Juneau. AMHS will be rerouting the M/V LeConte to make a round-trip run through southern Southeast to pick up and return the students. With this service adjustment, students from Ketchikan, Wrangell, Metlakatla and Klawock will be able to attend the annual festival. Students from Sitka and Haines will use a...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said violence in video games and movies should be discussed as part of a larger debate on gun violence and suggested Monday that states should decide whether school teachers should be armed. Meanwhile, Alaska Gov. Bill Walker, who was in Washington, D.C. for a gathering of the nation’s governors, told The Associated Press something must be done in response to the violence. But he said he wants to speak with advisers from within his administration and possibly also hear from outside voices before tak...
The newest eatery in Petersburg was honored with the 2018 Business of the Year Award on Saturday at the annual chamber of commerce dinner. The Salty Pantry opened for business in early April 2017. Its owner, Mindy Anderson, spent a year on the business plan. She attended a baking institute in San Francisco in 2016 where she learned the science of yeasted breads, croissants and pastry doughs and desserts, Angela Christensen said as she introduced Anderson on Saturday. "The place might be small...
In the months before Kelly Swihart announced he would retire as police chief in mid-2018, the department he leads was besieged by three separate internal investigations. Two looked into possible policy breaches and crimes by current and former employees, and the third scoured bullying allegations against him. Two of the investigations have closed since he announced his retirement in early January: a more than three-month administrative investigation into who leaked confidential information from the police department, and the bullying investigat...
The Mitkof Middle School wrestling team traveled to a regional tournament last weekend in Juneau, a trip coming after the team raised nearly $3,000 to help make travel costs more affordable for parents. Petersburg 6th, 7th and 8th graders wrestled in the Southeast Alaska Middle School Regional Tournament in Juneau last weekend, placing fourth overall. But the price tag for travel expenses was more than planned. Petersburg had to cancel its trip to Ketchikan in January after the local ferry was...
School administrators in Petersburg are using recent student incidents to spark conversations and learn, while confronting the conversations with young students about active shooter scenarios. There were two students charged in early February with fish and game violations after one 17 year old allegedly hit two deer consecutavly with a truck and the other filmed it from its passenger seat. There appears to be laughter as the deer were hit. One of those teens, Jasmine Ohmer, 17, issued a statement on Monday, in which she sought forgiveness and...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Doctors confirmed the presence of mumps in Juneau for the first time in more than two decades. There has been one confirmed case of the disease in Juneau as of Thursday, and three other possible cases, Juneau Public Health Center nurse manager Alison Gaines said. The first case was diagnosed in January, with the most recent suspected case appearing this past week, Gaines said. This is the first confirmed case of mumps in Juneau since 1997, Alaska Division of Public Health Epidemiologist Amanda Tiffany said. Mumps is a cont...
It took police officers less than 10 minutes to locate two vehicles that were allegedly stolen on consecutive days by the same Petersburg man. Ron Wallen Sr., 59, allegedly stole a vehicle on Feb. 9 from 14 Harbor Way. Police received a report at 5:01 a.m. that morning, saying a green pickup truck had been stolen. Derek Thorsen, police officer on the case, located the vehicle by 5:03 a.m., said Kelly Swihart, the police chief. The investigation was over in about 55 minutes, and Wallen was arrested and charged with vehicle theft in the first...
A prosecutor last week dismissed sexual assault charges against a Petersburg man who was accused last spring of raping a woman. On May 11, 2017 a grand jury indicted Kenneth L. Birch, 36, on two counts of sexual assault, one in the first degree and one in the second degree. Birch pleaded not guilty to the charges. The trial in this case was scheduled to start next week. Assistant District Attorney Amanda Browning dismissed the charges on Feb. 14. On Wednesday, a representative from Browning’s office said the district attorney was not a...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency governing board earlier this month approved moving forward with a remote inspection of the tunnels underlying the Tyee Lake hydroelectric plant. In his report to the board on February 8, SEAPA power systems specialist Ed Schofield explained a remotely operated vehicle would be needed to perform an inspection of the facility’s water conveyance structures. Unlike the dam at Swan Lake, Tyee is a natural lake which is tapped for the facility. Water is conducted to the powerhouse through an intake in the lake i...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A study of bears and berries has determined that the big animals are the main dispersers of fruit seeds in southeast Alaska. The study by Oregon State University researchers says it’s the first instance of a temperate plant being primarily dispersed by mammals through their excrement rather than by birds. Researcher Taal Levi says seed dispersal is a key component in the understanding of any ecosystem. He says brown and black bears thrive on Alaska’s Panhandle because of abundant salmon but both feed on berries whi...
