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Local healthcare consumers face an imminent deadline. After twice extending the deadline to sign up for a healthcare plan under the Patient Affordable Care Act – known colloquially as Obamacare – the date finally stuck at March 31, with little indication that officials will change it, according to various national news outlets. Uninsured patients will thus face a penalty on their next tax return. Consumers who fail to enroll will face a penalty of $95 or one percent of their income, whichever is greater. Families must pay $47.50 per uni...
The Petersburg Medical Center submitted a balanced budget to the assembly earlier this month. The budget for fiscal year 2015 anticipates a net gain of $333,014 after covering $13.5 million in total operating expenses compared to $13.3 million last year. More than $9 million is budgeted for salaries, wages and employee benefits—an increase of around $229,000 from the year before. Net patient revenue is anticipated at around $13.7 million compared to $13.5 million last year. In creating next year’s budget, the PMC Board operated under sev...
Fifty years ago today, March 27, 1964 the largest U.S. earthquake ever recorded rocked southern Alaska. Petersburg resident and Harbor Way Parts Owner Phil Meeks was seven years old at the time. He was building a snow fort in his Anchorage front yard just before the 9.2 magnitude earthquake struck. "I remember feeling frustrated that my fort wouldn't stand up," Meeks said. "It kept caving in." Meeks said when the Great Alaskan Earthquake began he noticed the sound more than motion. "It went from...
Summer break will start early for Stedman Elementary School students this year after the Alaska Department of Education Commissioner gave the Petersburg District School Board tentative approval to release students four days early so construction can begin on the elementary school’s exterior renovation project. The $2.3 million project will require a large amount of shuffling of classrooms and supplies and the extra few days will allow staff to pack up and move before full access to the building is granted to contractors on June 6. Exterior w... Full story
Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Production Manager Bill Glass said plans are moving forward to continue production at Crystal Lake Hatchery even if it can’t immediately reconstruct the incubation facility destroyed by fire earlier this month. “We don’t anticipate any delays or reductions in future productions beyond what we lost in the fire,” Glass said. “Plans are that the entire hatchery will continue on as is without any decreases in programs.” The hatchery lost 550,000 Chinook eggs that were bound for Neets Bay, 200,000 Coho that w... Full story
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced the Sitka Sound herring roe fishery is on a two-hour notice as of 8 a.m. March 20. A test sample taken March 17 from shallow waters near Magic Island revealed a high percentage of immature roe with an average weight of 201 grams, which is higher than average. Although the immaturity levels during that time were considered high, the past several days may have allowed more growth time as well as the separation of less mature herring from the mature schools. The guideline harvest level this season... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly and Power and Light staff will meet this Friday to determine whether or not to raise electric rates by 2 percent. Power and Light Superintendent Joe Nelson requested direction from the assembly last Monday evening. Nelson said his department had two options to consider as it prepares next year’s budget. “Should we go with the rate increases, stay solvent make sure that we have adequate money for depreciation looking forward or should we draw the reserve down and postpone that for future years,” Nelson asked...
Three Petersburg School District Superintendent applicants land in Petersburg early next week for interviews and will speak with PSD staff and administrators, visit with the community and tour the island. Jay Thomas, Virginia Jewell and Lisa Stroh have all been selected as finalists for the position. Thomas is currently the Assistant Superintendent in Unalakleet, Alaska. “During my 13 years in rural Alaska, I have been a coach, mentor, teacher, principal and assistant superintendent,” Thomas wrote in his application’s cover letter. “In every s...
Petersburg High School may soon offer a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) course. PHS Principal Rick Dormer said the course would be added to the school’s vocational technology class offerings. “It would allow kids to walk out with a diploma and a CNA certification,” Dormer said. PHS currently has a shop and aquaculture program. The CNA program would consist of one school year’s worth of classroom lessons as well as clinical experience at Petersburg Medical Center. Angela Menish, PMC Director of Patient Services and Registered Nurse, would b...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved 4-3 the first reading of an ordinance that would rezone residential property to commercial in the Olsen Subdivision. Richard Burrell and Aaron Miller and Katrina Miller applied for the rezoning through the Petersburg Planning and Zoning Commission last year. The body approved the property owner’s request 7-0 and passed its recommendation to the borough assembly for final approval. The Millers want to eventually build a warehouse on their property, which isn’t allowed under residential zoning codes. The...
A bill being considered in the State Senate could impact local ferry workers. Senate Bill 182 amends Alaska State law pertaining to bargaining rights to eliminate what is known as a cost-of-living differential. This provision of contracts allows for salaries to be automatically adjusted to match the cost of living of a certain area. For individual employees, this can amount to as much as $4 per hour, or roughly $8,320 per year for, in particular, Alaska Marine Highway System employees, who are currently bargaining with the state for a new...
(Sitka) – The brown bear hunting season opens March 15 in Game Management Unit 4 (GMU4) with two registration hunts; RB088 and RB089. Both hunts open March 15th but have different closing dates. Inside drainages (RB089) close May 20th, and outside drainages (RB088) close May 31st. For boundary clarifications, refer to the 2013-14 Alaska Hunting Regulations and online maps. Hunters are reminded of the requirement to watch the brown bear identification video called “Take a Closer Look” prior to registering. This can be viewed online ADF&G...
WRANGELL — It’s an ethical dilemma as old as the hills. You find a wallet stuffed with money lying unattended on the ground. What do you do? Members of the Wolves varsity basketball team and the pep band found themselves in just such a situation during the Region V basketball tournament, March 5. Some members of each student group were at a Fred Meyer’s store during the tournament loading into a van to return to Juneau Douglas High School, when freshman Sig Decker noticed something lying in a snow bank. “I almost let it go because we were al...
Higher than expected recycling collection contract bids have forced the Public Works Department to exceed its budget this year by $43,000. The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously Monday night to award the $80,400 annual collection contract to Ruger’s Trucking. Assembly member Jeigh Stanton Gregor asked how soon the unanticipated budget shortfall would be corrected. “If we approve this contract, what is the vision to narrow that deficit as much as possible or make this potentially profitable,” Stanton Gregor asked. Karl Hager...
Director of the University of Alaska's Institute for Social and Economic Research Dr. Gunnar Knapp encouraged community members that doing more with less will be a central theme in the coming decade for fishing communities such as Petersburg and others across Alaska. Knapp was the guest speaker for the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce banquet last weekend. After touting Petersburg as one of the most successful fishing communities he's encountered, he encouraged the community to adapt in changing t... Full story
In an effort to balance next year’s budget, the Petersburg Medical Center Board voted Tuesday to increase patient fees and reduce employee raise mechanisms. Inpatient and long-term care patients will see a 3 percent cost increase and outpatients will pay 5 percent more. Most PMC employees are typically given yearly 2 percent wage increases, similar to a cost of living increase, and an annual ‘step’ raise of 2.7 percent. The board-approved budget reduces the wage increase to 1 percent and eliminates raises. Employee salaries, wages and benefits... Full story
The topic of PERS and the strain it puts on State and local funding continues to crop up as news stories develop. The Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) and Teacher Retirement System (TRS) are the State’s public employee pension and healthcare plans. The State has underfunded and, in the past, not funded at all these benefit systems which has resulted in a more than $11 billion “unfunded liability”—the difference between the expected availability of money for retirees and the anticipated costs for the many years of upcoming State retirem...
The Seas Masons—Petersburg High School’s Alaska Tsunami Science Bowl team—placed 4th out of the 18 teams from across Alaska that competed in the science bowl in Seward two weeks ago. The competition consisted of three categories: a research paper, a presentation and a quiz bowl. In those categories, the Petersburg team placed 9th in the research paper, 2nd in the presentation and 3rd in the quiz bowl. The Sea Mason’s spent the past seven months researching the effects of ocean freshening through the air-sea interface. Sea Mason’s team capt...
Petersburg Mental Health Services (PMHS) is looking for volunteers to sign up for its bystander training class that will be held next week as part of it’s community wide ‘Green Dot Campaign.’ The campaign, launched in early February, is part of a larger PMHS state grant and the outcome of a community wide assessment survey on alcohol related risks, which cited domestic violence as the number one perceived problem caused by alcohol abuse in Petersburg. Green Dot, etc. is an organization that aims to measurably and systematically reduce power-bas...
Gov. Sean Parnell visited Petersburg last week and spoke with Petersburg Pilot staff about regional issues as well as the future of Alaska’s economy. Parnell said, because of oil tax changes, oil companies are increasing investment in production. “What that means in real life is that money is going into wells where there is known oil which means new state revenue which means not only jobs for Alaskans but more revenue for communities that depend on that revenue,” Parnell said. But it will take time for the revenue to become real. A slim state...
WRANGELL — Two prominent local taverns will join the ranks of the smoke-free in the coming weeks. Totem Bar & Liquor Store will go smoke-free tomorrow, according to signs posted inside the bar over the weekend. Elks Lodge members also voted this week to go smoke-free, though Elks leadership has not yet set a date for the transition. Both bars follow in the footsteps of Rayme’s Bar, which went smoke-free in January. The bar owner cited changing demographics among his clientele as the primary reason for the change. The moves by the Elks and the...
WRANGELL — A highly contagious and potentially fatal canine virus has been reported in Wrangell. Two cases of Parvovirus, symptoms of which include lethargy, severe vomiting, loss of appetite and bloody diarrhea, have been reported in Wrangell, said Judge Conniff, a local vet. “I had two cases, both of them doing very well, both of them discharged,” he said. Several dog deaths earlier in the year could be tied to this outbreak, but there’s no way to know for sure, Conniff said. “No way to know the answer to that question for sure,” he said. “W...
Western Marine Construction was the solitary bidder for the Crane Dock approach-widening project. The construction company bid the construction costs at $611,500—more than $50,000 under the engineer’s estimates. The bid includes an additive to the project that will remove old access ladders and add new ones. Harbor Master Glo Wollen said the project is set to begin mid-September in order to allow the fleet to transition from Salmon to other fisheries. “We should be done and back in action about the 25th of January,” Wollen said. “We purposely...
The incubation building and the generator shed at the Crystal Lake Hatchery were both destroyed in an early morning fire Tuesday. Petersburg firefighters responded and fought the blaze in 9 degree temperatures. Hatchery Manager Loren Thompson said 1.2 million incubating fish were killed. It took out about one half to two-thirds of the production and included 200,000 Coho and one million Kings. An alarm went off at about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to Thompson. "I walked out the door, saw the... Full story
A Petersburg jury convicted Tore Lenz, 19, of one count of Sexual Abuse of a Minor in the 2nd degree last Friday. Lenz was charged with two counts of Sexual Abuse of a Minor after having intercourse with Josie Prus, 15, last July after a party because Prus was under 16 years old and at least four years younger than Lenz. During the trial’s closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Nick Polasky summarized his arguments and said the most important piece of evidence was that Lenz knowingly engaged in sexual relations with a minor and that h... Full story
