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The Petersburg Medical Center is continuing to seek grant funding with its plan for a phased approach to build a new medical facility in Petersburg according to PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter. PMC sent a letter to Congressman Don Young in February detailing the master planning of the facility with the hope of obtaining $14 million for the next steps of the projects. That value was based off an estimate drawn up by their grant writer and other consultants. The same letter was sent to Senator Lisa...
Salmon season in Southeast Alaska is wrapping up in a year that has seen an estimated 58 million fish harvested according to Troy Thynes, regional management coordinator for commercial fisheries with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The final numbers for fish tickets are still preliminary, but, of the estimated harvest, pink salmon was the clear leader with 48.2 million fish. It was also 41% higher than the recent 10-year average. "The main thing is the pink salmon run came in a lot stron...
The Borough Assembly discussed a resolution during their October 19 meeting which seeks to protect transboundary salmon rivers between Alaska and British Columbia. Resolution #2021-11 asks for a permanent ban on tailings dams and a temporary pause in activities relating to Canadian mines along the border. The resolution references the United States-Canada Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which support the need to maintain the...
The Petersburg Medical Center is recovering since the most recent outbreak of COVID-19 in Petersburg according to PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter. The number of cases across the State of Alaska began to climb in July of 2021 and hundreds of new cases are still being reported each day. The case count is causing high alert levels in many boroughs and census areas statewide according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services' COVID-19 Dashboard and the state activated its crisis standard of...
The active COVID-19 case count in Petersburg rose to 11 Wednesday according to the Petersburg COVID-19 Dashboard. The count is up from the five reported on October 20 with six new positives in the last seven days. According to the dashboard, the risk level to both the Petersburg School District and the Petersburg Medical Center is moderate. The school district has continue to enforce universal masking and contact tracing is underway. 67.38% of Petersburg Borough residents are fully vaccinated...
After two years of COVID-19 impacting the livelihoods of performers and artists, the Petersburg Arts Council is looking to reunify people and bring about a return to normalcy. Canadian musical artist Royal Wood will come to Petersburg November 2 for a concert hosted by the arts council in the Wright Auditorium. At the onset of the pandemic Wood, like all other live performers, had his world flipped upside down as he faced the struggles of his new reality. "I've been in motion as a touring...
The Rasmus Enge bridge is expected to see repairs to its deck and structural components next summer according to Public Works Director Chris Cotta. The bridge was built in 1945 and last saw major work in 2014 after state inspectors identified some issues. It was closed Monday and Tuesday for periodic maintenance focused on repairing sections of rotting wood, but there is more work that needs to be done on the bridge in the future. "We are going to do a complete replacement of the deck, probably...
The moose harvest closed Friday with a final count of 129 moose according to Hilary Wood of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The total count, including illegal moose, was a four-year high, beating 2019's total by two. The number of moose harvested on Kupreanof Island, including the area around Kake, was higher than the previous three seasons, totaling 61, six of which were illegal. Though Kuiu Island's final count of 21 fell short of the 29 reported in 2020, it still numbered higher than...
The Borough Assembly held their second reading of Ordinance #2021-17 Tuesday night which would make changes to recycling collection and would introduce measures to combat problems with bears coming to town looking for food in garbage. The assembly also hosted a public forum on the ordinance, but no members of the public chose to speak. The ordinance is comprised of four key components which include preventative measures regarding bears, recycling collection changing from once every week to once...
There are now 5 active cases of COVID-19 in Petersburg as of Wednesday according to the Petersburg COVID-19 Dashboard. The count is down 14 cases since the Petersburg Medical Center last put out a press release on October 11. The dashboard labels both PMC and the Petersburg School District risk levels as moderate. The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services reported 830 new cases of COVID-19 in the state Tuesday. There were also 19 new resident hospitalizations and eight Alaska resident...
The Borough Assembly walked through each of the six maps being considered by the Alaska Redistricting Board during Tuesday's meeting and discussed each map's affects on Petersburg. The districts are redrawn every decade based off data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. Each of the 40 districts must be socioeconomically integrated, reasonably compact, contiguous, and have an approximately equal number of people. This year that number is 18,335 per district. Members from the Alaska...
The Borough Assembly held their second reading for Ordinance #2021-15 along with a public forum during Tuesday's meeting which would update a chapter of old city code regarding disease control and move it into the Petersburg Municipal Code. The ordinance, which was approved in its first reading 6-0 with Assembly Member Taylor Norheim absent, would limit the powers of a health officer and revise antiquated language. Many people spoke during the public hearing about their problems with the...
Proposition #2 passed during the October 5, 2021 municipal election, allowing the Frederick Point East subdivision to be removed from Service Area One after it gathered the necessary majorities of Service Area One voters and Frederick Point East voters. The next step in the process is to code properties in the subdivision to the right tax code according to Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht who said the tax assessor is in town if the borough needs a second pair of eyes to help with the...
The 2021-2022 Dungeness crab harvest is predicted to total 4.23 million pounds, over two million less than the last harvest, according to Joe Stratman, the lead shellfish biologist for region one with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Numbers released so far include the harvest data for the 2021 Dungeness crab summer season in Registration Area A, which is comprised of the inside waters of Southeast Alaska. The commercial Dungeness fishery summer season totaled 3.09 million pounds...
A switch replacement at the Blind Slough hydroelectric plant will have to wait until April of next year after the work slated for this fall was delayed according to Utility Director Karl Hagerman. The work, unrelated to the Blind Slough hydroelectric plant refurbishment project, aims to replace a remote operated switch called a VacPac at the plant's substation. "There was some concern from the utility, actually many years ago now, that that VacPac had reached the end of its service life and so...
The 45th annual Oktoberfest Art Share, sponsored by the Muskeg Maleriers, will be held Saturday in the community gym. The event will be similar to its previous iterations and will feature the creations of local artists including rosemaling, baked goods, Christmas decorations, and more. Sally Dwyer, one of the organizers of the event, said there is something for everybody. "We've got quilters, we've got painters, we've got booksellers, we've got artists, we've got cupcake makers, brownie makers....
Members of the Alaska Redistricting Board traveled to Petersburg Thursday to present proposed redistricting maps and receive public comments. The board was on a tour of communities in Alaska to allow residents to view the maps and learn more about the process. The districts are redrawn based off data collected from the 2020 U.S. Census and are required to have approximately equally sized districts. In Alaska, the state is divided into 40 districts which each contain about 18,335 people...
The Petersburg School Board discussed COVID-19's continued impact on the school during Tuesday's meeting. The majority of students have returned to in-person learning according to Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter. Classes were moved online on September 28 after several cases were reported among students and staff at Mitkof Middle School and Petersburg High School. The schools reopened on October 5, but some students remain in quarantine because of close contacts. "It's been a relatively normal...
The Petersburg Medical Center reported 16 active cases of COVID-19 Wednesday after several cases were cleared by Public Health. Seven new cases were recorded Monday, two of which were diagnosed in Petersburg while five cases were identified among Petersburg residents visiting another Alaskan community. PMC says there is concern of significant community spread in Petersburg, especially from gatherings where people are not masking or social distancing. Both the PMC and school risk levels are...
The Borough Assembly unanimously certified the results of the October 5, 2021 municipal election during a special meeting Friday morning. Borough Clerk Debbie Thompson read 12 additional ballots, which did not affect the results of the election. Incumbent Bob Lynn received the most votes for Borough Assembly with 708, the newly counted ballots added five to his total, and Thomas Fine-Walsh claimed the other three-year term with 592 votes and increased his tally by three since election night....
The Petersburg School Board reviewed the results of Performance Evaluation for Alaska's Schools (PEAKS) tests Tuesday during a report given by Testing Coordinator Bridget Wittstock. The PEAKS tests were not conducted in the spring of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but they returned in the spring of 2021. According to Wittstock, the State of Alaska expanded the window for testing to allow for as many tests to be taken as possible, but only about 64% of the eligible population participated....
Artwork from the Five Finger Lighthouse Society auction is on display this week at the Clausen Museum. The society reached out to artists, most of them locals, to contribute art to the show as part of the fundraiser. According to museum director and participating artist Cindi Lagoudakis, 46 pieces are on display at the museum while a few more are being reserved for the auction. The art can also be seen and bid on through their bidding owl website which museum-goers can open by scanning QR codes...
The United States Forest Service is proposing to combine three Resource Advisory Committees in the South Tongass region according to Alaska Region Secure Rural Schools Coordinator Kevin Hood. The Wrangell-Petersburg, Prince of Wales, and Ketchikan committees face problems with lack of quorums at meetings, preventing business such as approving recommendations for the allocation of federal Secure Rural Schools funding. The merger would see the three RACs be consolidated to form a new South Tongass...
This year's moose harvest has tallied 108 moose so far in Hunt RM038 as of Wednesday according to Petersburg Area Biologist Frank Robbins. "The current harvest tally is 108 which means we've exceeded 100 in the harvest again, and we have since 2014," Robbins said. Since last week, the area that has seen the most activity is Kupreanof Island. 13 additional legal moose were taken from the island, bring the new legal total to 48. One illegal moose was reported is the past week from the island,...
The Petersburg School District purchased a 2021 Honda Pilot EX-L according to a report from Director of Facilities and Maintenance Aaron Buller. The car serves to replace the school’s Ford Explorer which was on its last leg and finally broke down. According to Buller the vehicle’s transmission is shot and the school was recommended replace it rather than fix it because of its age and worth. The vehicle is used for student transport and mail runs and has been used for driver’s education in the past according to Buller. The board approved the p...
