Sorted by date Results 703 - 727 of 5673
A husband and wife have come back to spend their summer taking care of the Five Finger Lighthouse. John and Pat Jans maintain a "home base" or "nest" high in the mountains of Colorado, but Southeast also takes up special space in their hearts. "We've been here before, so it actually feels like a homecoming," Pat says. "It's really wonderful to be back home. It's very dear to us." When they were the lighthouse keepers in 2017, one of the first things John did upon arrival was figure out how much...
A couple days leading up to the event, Cindy Rodgers began saying, with a hint of concern, "It looks like it may rain Saturday." And she was right, rain it did, but no matter what the weather was doing, Rodgers was going to walk the Circle of Life. Rodgers, 75 and celebrating a birthday soon, moved to Petersburg a decade ago to be closer to her brother, Jim, and sister-in-law, Pia Reilly. Rodgers does tai chi, likes to drink red wine-but only if she has someone to drink with-and she loves...
Petersburg High School and Mitkof Middle School Principal Rick Dormer announced that he will be leaving at the end of the school year to become the principal at Ketchikan High School after 13 years in Petersburg. Dormer said that he has been looking at other opportunities for a couple of years and that now feels like the right time for a change as the district comes out of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, believing that a leadership change would be healthy for the district. "It's n...
Two Petersburg residents have pleaded guilty to providing false information with the intent of implicating another in an offense after accusing a Petersburg Police Department officer of sexual misconduct in 2020. Julie Ruhle and James Vick claimed that Officer Louis Waechter touched Ruhle, who was under arrest on charges of driving under the influence, inappropriately as she climbed into the back seat of a police car on Sept. 28, 2020. According to the court complaint, body cam footage of the... Full story
The Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs Task Force (SEACAD) conducted an operation during the week of April 17 which saw an estimated $177,400 worth of illegal narcotics seized in Petersburg according to Petersburg Police Chief James Kerr. The narcotics seized by SEACAD include crack cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and others. The SEACAD Task Force is a collaboration between the police departments in Southeast, the Alaska State Troopers, and federal law enforcement agencies which...
Alaskans for Better Elections will hold a presentation on Alaska’s new ranked choice voting system in the Petersburg Borough Assembly chambers on Thursday at 6 p.m. and via Zoom as the special election to fill the late Rep. Don Young’s seat approaches. Jason Grenn, the executive director of the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, will discuss how the system works as well as the differences between the primary and general elections. Grenn will also host a public Q&A at Salty Pantry from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Friday to answer additional que...
The Petersburg Indian Association is looking to complete two projects next year which would increase public access to parks according to Tribal Administrator Chad Wright. PIA has entered an agreement with the Petersburg Borough to provide design and construction for the replacement of the staircase at Eagle's Roost Park after discussions with Parks and Recreation Director Stephanie Payne. The approximately 60-foot wooden staircase allowed beach access until it was removed because of its poor con...
The Petersburg School Board voted this month to update the district's science curriculum and add new courses at the high school. The update to the science curriculum looks to keep it in line with new standards set by the state of Alaska. School board members had an opportunity to hear about the updates to the curriculum and what the new classes would entail at a work session on April 8. The class order in the science curriculum will see a shift over the next five years to allow for each grade...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously in favor of two ordinances in their first readings during Monday's meeting, with Assembly Member Bob Lynn excused, which would increase the rates residents pay for water and sewage utilities. According to Utility Director Karl Hagerman, the increases included in Ordinance #2022-05 and Ordinance #2022-06 would be the first rate increases since 2018 and are needed to meet increased costs and expenses. Hagerman included a report in the meeting packe...
The Harbor and Ports Advisory Board reviewed a conceptual design document last week for improvements to the Papke's Landing marine facility including the construction of a new ramp, a new float dock, and expanded parking. Alan Murph with Harai and Associates, who drafted the plans, presented the concepts at the meeting and said the project would be broken up into phases for a total estimated cost of $6,410,000. The document depicts a new 255-foot by 215-foot parking lot which would be built on...
Petersburg is expecting a 35% increase in passenger berths from last year as the cruise ship industry rebounds from two summers hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. This summer has the potential of seeing 11,000 cruise ship passengers across 107 port calls according to Dave Berg, president of Viking Travel and a ships agent for Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska. Some of the cruise lines that will visit Petersburg this year include Alaska Dream Cruises, American Cruise Lines, National Geographic, and...
The Petersburg Medical Center is bringing back its Health and Safety Fair after a four-year hiatus and is encouraging members of the community to come to the in-person event on June 4 and the blood draws leading up to it. The health fair, which is usually held every two years, was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the theme of this year's event is "Getting Back on Track." The in-person event will be held in the community gym from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. where booths will be set up to...
The state budget plan adopted by the House earlier this month includes an additional $263,000 in one-time funding for the Petersburg School District, an almost 5% boost from a state aid formula that has not increased since 2017. The one-time appropriation for a total of $57 million may be the political compromise to help Alaska's 54 school districts this next year as lawmakers continue to debate a change to the formula in state statute. Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter discussed House Bill...
Second COVID-19 vaccine booster doses are available in Petersburg and are primarily being administered at Public Health according to Petersburg Medical Center Chief Nursing Officer Jennifer Bryner. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a second booster dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine last month for those aged 50 or older and for immunocompromised individuals who received their first booster shot at least four months earlier. Though Public Health has taken the primary role of...
Forty years ago, Marlene Cushing was working as the community public health nurse when she attended the first meeting of Women's Aid in Violent Emergencies (WAVE). It was April and the head dispatcher of the Petersburg Police Department (PPD) was there and the assistant director of the children's center showed up, too. And so did a handful of other women looking to volunteer and make a positive impact when it came to dealing with domestic violence (DV) locally. But Cushing says, credit for...
The Petersburg High School jazz and concert bands attended Musicfest in Juneau last week which allowed students to see performances from high school bands from across Southeast and take part in educational clinics. Director Charlie O'Brien said the festival, which was returning after being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was a good opportunity for the 20 students to hear from and perform in front of other musicians. "That's what makes it such a special event and the audience is so support...
As the weather gets better and people begin to spend more time outdoors, those traveling to Sandy Beach will find it neat and tidy thanks to the work of a group of volunteers. Parks and Recreation staff, Petersburg Rotary Club members, and other volunteers gathered at Sandy Beach last Saturday to hold a cleanup event to get the park ready for spring and summer events. Volunteers picked up trash, animal waste, branches, and other clutter along the trails throughout the park. The clean-up efforts...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously voted to approve Resolution #2022-05 during Monday's meeting, signaling its opposition to two bills in the Alaska State Legislature which would make changes to commercial passenger vessel wastewater monitoring. The Ocean Ranger program was created in 2006 when Alaska voters passed Ballot Measure 2 requiring the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to station U.S. Coast Guard certified marine engineers onboard cruise ships to monitor the...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously voted to create a task force focused on addressing child care challenges in Petersburg and finding sustainable solutions during Monday's meeting. The creation of the Early Childhood Education Task Force came as a result of the ongoing discussions of child care needs in the community which identified issues with retention and recruitment of employees and the lack of availability of child care for families. Assembly Member Jeff Meucci opened by saying...
With the first statewide use of ranked choice voting in Alaska on the horizon, the Petersburg Borough Assembly discussed holding an information session to inform community members on how the new voting system works. The upcoming special election will use ranked choice voting, which was approved by Alaska voters in 2020, to determine who will fill the late Rep. Don Young's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives until the term expires in January 2023. During Monday's assembly meeting, Assembly...
A woman crashed off Mitkof Highway near Scow Bay Loop Road Saturday around 8:30 a.m. after losing control of a truck according to Assistant Fire Chief David Berg. The driver and her dog were uninjured in the crash but the truck was totaled. According to Berg, the woman said she was driving toward town when she discovered that she could not stop the vehicle. She pulled into the ferry terminal parking lot and made a couple of turns, but did not stop the truck, and got back on the road headed away...
The Alaska Board of Fisheries adopted a revised king salmon management plan during its March meeting in a compromise which will see sport fishery limits set prior to the start of the season based on a tier system instead of changing in-season. The hope is that the 80/20 split between the commercial troll and sport fisheries will be maintained while allowing all non-residents who travel to Alaska to catch king salmon the opportunity to do so. "In this plan the caveat there is when we're at those...
Alaska Marine Lines has announced increases to its general rates and fuel surcharges in Southeast as fuel prices continue to rise. On November 4, 2021, a release signed by Director of Pricing Margretta Grace announced that AML had filed with the Surface Transportation board to increase the general rate for shipments into, out of, and within Southeast by 4.8% effective January 30. The release cited inflation, rising costs, and the labor shortage as reasons for the increases. "Southeast Alaska is...
The Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery has seen multiple openings over the past week which have resulted in approximately 7,300 tons of herring harvested as of Tuesday according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. After four days of two-hour notice, the first fishery opening was held on March 26. Though there was no herring spawn observed in the aerial survey that day, department and industry vessels observed herring in the sound. The opening occurred from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and...
The Petersburg Medical Center hospital board hosted Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium CEO Charles Clement at its meeting on March 24 to give the public an opportunity to hear from him about SEARHC's current plans and opportunities for collaborations between the two entities. The assembly chamber was packed during the meeting and even more people logged in on Zoom to hear Clement answer questions sent by board members and hospital staff regarding the future of health care in... Full story
