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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The state of Alaska is challenging the constitutionality of a proposed ballot initiative aimed at protecting salmon habitat. The state says it is appealing a court decision that called for allowing backers of the measure to begin gathering signatures. The matter went to court after Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott last month refused to certify it, citing a Department of Law opinion. The department maintained that the measure would limit the Legislature’s ability to decide how to allocate anadromous streams among competing uses and...
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) — A commercial rocket is expected to launch early next year at a state-owned aerospace company’s facility on Kodiak Island. Alaska Aerospace Corp. has secured three launch contracts and has a fourth in the works, the Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Monday. Ad Astra, a Texas-based aerospace company specializing in advanced plasma rocket propulsion technology, is scheduled for the first launch. Vector Space Systems is expected to launch from the facility in late 2018 and the company will also support a second Rocket Lab lau...
The Petersburg borough manager on Monday was cleared to start recruiting for an electrical superintendent, requiring that he find an applicant with knowledge of mechanical operations and a supervisor’s background. At a meeting Monday evening, there were four assembly members in favor and three against, enough to approve a job description for the Power & Light top position. The requirements include, among other qualifications, five to seven years of supervision experience, along with knowledge of hydro and utility power distribution systems. ...
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht received high marks from both department heads and assembly members following his performance evaluation for borough work performed between March 1, 2016 and Feb. 28, 2017. “I wholeheartedly support the veracity of this evaluation,” Nancy Strand, an assembly member, said at a meeting on Monday. “I think we should approve and, in addition, repay Steve for following his suggestions.” In its summary, six evaluators said the manager met job standards; eight said his work exceeded job standards and four rated t...
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht's request that the assembly give him a 5-year contract renewal along with a salary increase to $121,000 annually was granted Monday night. "His highest marks were in fiscal responsibility," said Assembly Member Jeigh Stanton Gregor, commenting on Giesbrecht's recent annual performance evaluation. "He's earned those marks because that's his top priority. We've given him a mandate: Save this community money and be efficient." In a memo to the Borough Assembly,...
The assembly on Monday approved a bid award to the Power & Light department for a project that would make restoring power during an outage quicker and safer. In a memo to the borough manager, Public Works Director Karl Hagerman requested about $48,000 for the Retaining Wall Project, which would add a switch to Circuit 63. This would make turning the power back on, or energizing, easier. Also it would isolate Icicle Seafoods and the Trading Union, which are among the borough’s biggest energy users. “Load separation allows the utility to bri...
Sally Dwyer was appointed on Tuesday to represent the Planning Commission on the historic committee in Petersburg, coming after the borough had advertised the seat for at least two years. In her first meeting as a board member on the commission, the 3rd generation Dwyer was asked to become a representative of the Historic Preservation Committee. She accepted the nomination and was appointed to a one-year term after a swift motion, ending years without a representative from the commission. Dwyer...
Mitkof Island is no longer without a pumpkin patch. Bennett McGrath was tired of buying pumpkins at a grocery store, so she orchestrated a patch, and it opened last weekend. Last year McGrath took her children along with some friends to Wrangell just to visit the pumpkin patch there. They made a vacation out of it – visited the bowling alley, got a hotel, explored more of downtown – but the premise was pumpkins. McGrath spent a few hundred dollars on boating and lodging just to get there. "I...
Anglers who purchased an Alaska sport fishing license in 2017 may soon receive a copy of the 2017 Alaska Sport Fishing Survey—an annual mail survey conducted by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) to assess where sport fishing occurs and how many fish are caught and kept by anglers in Alaska. This week, ADF&G Division of Sport Fish will begin mailing the first wave of 2017 Alaska Sport Fishing Surveys. The survey is sent to approximately 47,000 randomly selected Alaska resident and nonresident households having a person who purchased...
Hunters still have until tomorrow to get their harvest reports in, but the 2017 moose hunt has already broken the RM038 district record. As of Tuesday afternoon some 117 animals had been logged by hunters in the Wrangell and Petersburg area. It surpasses the 111 taken last year, and marks the fourth year in a row where the harvest has exceeded 100 moose. The month-long season started September 15 and wrapped up Sunday. The majority of moose were taken on surrounding islands, with 48 taken on...
PETERSBURG, Alaska (AP) — Petersburg drivers are complaining that the state’s new system for painting street lanes has smeared paint across roadways and stained vehicles. It comes a month after a new paint job left officials in Ketchikan baffled. Petersburg Borough assembly member and former city Mayor Jeff Meucci said he had yellow paint on his vehicle’s mirror, running board and bumper _ similar to what happened to Ketchikan Gateway Borough Mayor David Landis, KFSK-FM reported. Meucci said it looks like the crews had a hard time drivi...
To understand a tidewater glacier in Alaska – to picture its movement and how it sheds ice, or how it merges fresh water with salt water and shoots out the front – the first step is to remove it. "Picture a valley without any glacier," said Roman Motyka, a glaciologist and professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. "You have all these streams feeding into the main river that drain through the valley and into the ocean. The same thing is happening, except it's happening underneath the gla...
Officials in Petersburg were scrambling about two weeks ago when the borough recycling program almost shut down because the country recycling is sent to nearly refused to take it. The recycling in Petersburg is exported to China, and in a national effort to become more environmentally friendly, it announced that importation policies would become stringent, said Karl Hagerman, the Public Works director. The borough works with a recycling company called Republic Services that sends disposables to Seattle. From there, most is sent to China,...
There wasn't an oval to fill in or a write-in candidate to name, but voters helped make a decision for a man in the middle of one of the most talked-about issues in Petersburg. Karl Hagerman withdrew his name from consideration for the electric department's top position, dealing a blow to the borough manager's plan to restructure Power & Light. Since May, Manager Steve Giesbrecht planned to make Hagerman director of the electrical department. The reorganization would have reportedly saved the...
A cancer awareness organization in Petersburg is hosting a race this weekend and a poker tournament the next, both to raise funds for hospital equipment, travel costs, counseling and education to those affected by cancer. "People don't realize there is help available," said Michele Parker, the committee chair of Beat the Odds, which raised more than $31,000 from last year's run and the Circle of Life event in April. Beat the Odds will hold its 18th annual local race on Saturday, its first event...
The staff of the Petersburg Pilot brought home top honors from the National Newspaper Association when the paper was named first place in the General Excellence category for weekly newspapers with circulation of 3,000 or less. The judge noted: “An all around good read, with something for everyone. I could tell that if I were to put all of the back issues of the Pilot together in chronological order, I’d have an excellent history of Petersburg. The layout is pleasing and complements the content without overwhelming it.” Editions from June 2, Ju...
The Petersburg School Board on Tuesday echoed a statement by the governor of Alaska that proclaimed October 2017 as the month to recognize school principals. Mara Lutomski, who was appointed to president of the school board in a meeting Wednesday, read from Gov. Bill Walker's proclamation to make this October as principals and assistant principals month. "We encourage all Alaskan's to recognize the invaluable contributions of Alaska's principals and assistant principals," Lutomski read, " ......
The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities started repainting white and yellow stripes Tuesday on Haugen Drive and Mitkof Highway. There is still wet paint on Haugen Drive where crews started the work, along with Mitkof Highway just past Papke’s Landing. Aurah Landau with the department said the paint in use is not drying as fast as it was intended to. An investigation into the paint is underway, and in the meantime, drivers are asked to follow the signage on the paint trucks and notice the markings along the impacted roads. ...
Ashlin Larsen from University of Washington School of Medicine will be at the Petersburg Medical Center for her third year Family Medicine Clerkship. She will be here until November 3. Ashlin received a major in Biology and minor in Chemistry from University of Oregon. She was born in Anchorage, Alaska and has also lived in Eugene, Oregon. She has travelled to the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Spain, Italy, Canada, and multiple US states. Her interests include running, hiking, kayaking, and...
The Borough Assembly on Friday certified results of the Petersburg Borough Municipal Election. Borough Clerk Debbie Thompson counted nine additional absentee ballots, bringing the total to 1,168 in the election. Races Mayor • Mark Jensen: 640 • Cindi Lagoudakis: 496 Assembly, two seats filled • Jeff Meucci: 530 • Brandi Marohl: 512 • Bob Lynn: 459 • Will Ware: 321 • Richard Burke: 154 • Ken Hamilton: 105 School Board, two seats filled • Sarah Pawuk Holmgrain: 931 • Janine Gibbons (write in): 211 • Meredith Evens (write in): 180 Hospital Boa...
With one weekend to go in the 2017 moose hunting season, numbers were approaching 100 as of Tuesday. Ninety-five bull moose had been reported by hunters in the Petersburg-Wrangell management area, only seven of which have been confiscated due to noncompliance with local antler restrictions. “It seems like a nice, lower number of illegals,” Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist Rich Lowell said of the year. Typically about 10 percent of the total harvest is deemed illegal by management officials, making this year’s slightly bette...
The assembly approved a stipend increase last week for 13 officers of the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department. Excluding the fire chief, each officer received $20 more in their monthly stipend, equaling $3,120 in additional funds a year. The officers include: two assistant fire chiefs, two fire captains, three fire lieutenants, one SAR captain, two SAR lieutenants, one EMS captain and two EMS lieutenants....
State troopers arrested a Kake man last week after he sat in a Chevrolet pickup truck and allegedly sprayed semi-automatic gunfire into a construction site trailer with eight people inside, leaving no one hospitalized or shot. Jacob Hallingstad, 46, was arrested on Thursday in connection to the shooting in Kake. Nine charges were doled to him at a felony first hearing in Petersburg over the weekend, to which he teleconferenced from the Lemon Creek Correctional Center in Juneau. Sgt. Nicholas Zito with the Alaska State Troopers filed a report...
The summer months in Petersburg were cool and packed with nearly 30 inches of rain, leading into a winter season that forecasters are hard-pressed to calculate. Petersburg felt the third rainiest summer on record, placed behind 2014 and 2015, according to the National Weather Service in Juneau. The average temperatures ranked toward the middle, with cooler highs and warmer lows – a perfect recipe for about 28 inches of rainfall from June through August. As for winter, and predicting its weather, forecasters say it could be warm, cold, snowy o...
WRANGELL — Eleven Wrangell high school students took part in a two-day workshop, enabling their certification to conduct fishing vessel drills. Secondary schools principal Bill Schwan explained the 18-hour instructional course was provided through a grant with Alaska Marine Safety Education Association, a Sitka-based organization which provides marine safety training for a variety of nautical activities across the country. Its Coast Guard-approved fishing vessel drill conductor trainings focus on safety issues pertinent to commercial f...
