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Stedman Elementary School and Mitkof Middle school transitioned to remote learning this week due to the rise in COVID-19 cases according to Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter. The elementary school started online instruction on Tuesday while the middle school moved online on Thursday. Kludt-Painter wrote in her announcement that the district is experiencing multiple staffing issues as Petersburg continues to see high community spread. Contact tracing efforts within the district are also being...
The Petersburg Medical Center reported 21 additional cases of COVID-19 Wednesday for a total of 84 active cases. 19 cases were cleared by Public Health and 65 new cases have been reported in the past week. Currently Petersburg Borough has the highest per capita rate of COVID-19 in the United States of America, with an averaged daily rate of 262 new infections per 100,000. This is according to the New York Times hot spots map, which displays a county-by-county average of new reported cases over...
A car rolled into a ditch near 10 mile Mitkof Highway at around 8 a.m. Monday due to ice on the road according to Assistant Fire Chief David Berg. The Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department, EMS, and Petersburg Police Department were paged out to the accident and found the occupants of the vehicle, a young woman and her dog, uninjured. According to Berg, the vehicle was stopped waiting for traffic before turning onto Mitkof Highway near the Falls Creek fish ladder when it began to slide on the...
COVID-19 cases continue to rise, impacting the Petersburg Medical Center's staff and operations as the hospital approaches its breaking point. As cases go up, work effort and stress levels among hospital staff increase as they battle the virus. "...this spike ... is impacting practically every component of the community, and there's one, two, and three degrees of separation with each other, so it affects our staff, daycare, kids," PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter said. When a staff member is affected by...
The Petersburg School Board met virtually for its regular meeting on November 9 where members listened to a presentation on the audit for the year ending June 30, 2021. Bikky Shrestha from BDO USA, LLP presented a summary of the company’s findings to the board including the financial data from FY21. According to Shrestha, BDO conducted the entire audit remotely and Shrestha was the only person who was able to come to Petersburg. Apart from a couple of issues on the financial statements, Shrestha said, “the majority of the audit went really smo...
The Clausen Museum is displaying the profiles of six Alaska Natives to mark November as Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month. Clausen Museum Director Cindi Lagoudakis said the profiles she chose to write were of people who had some connection to Southeast Alaska and may not be well known. "We tell a lot of stories about Amy Hallingstad and Elizabeth Peratrovich, and not to take away from their importance in Alaska Native Heritage and history, but there are other people that have...
The Petersburg Indian Association has started a new program to help tribal households whose subsistence harvests have been impacted by COVID-19. According to Tribal Administrator Tracy Welch, the subsistence impact program was made possible through funding from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 which she said was a follow up to the Cares Act passed by the federal government in 2020. Through the act, Congress designated $30 million for federally recognized tribes in coastal or Great...
The Alaska Redistricting Board adopted its final proclamation of redistricting November 10, marking the boundaries that will be used for house districts and senate pairings for the next decade. New districts are drawn every 10 years based on data collected from the U.S. Census. This year the state was divided into 40 districts, each with an approximate population of 18,355 people. The new districts were also required to be compact, contiguous, and socioeconomically integrated according to the...
A small audience gathered Sunday afternoon, socially distanced in the pews of Petersburg Lutheran Church, to experience the music of concert pianist Roman Rudnytsky. Audience member Susan Erickson gave the concert rave reviews. "It was joy ... rapture ... an awesome 90 minutes of piano," said Erickson. "He is a maestro ... and we are so fortunate in Petersburg that someone of that caliber came to our community." Roman Rudnytsky has spent a lifetime mastering the piano. His parents were...
Construction has finished on the Kake Access Road project and the road and boat launch opened to the public October 29 according to Garrett Paul, project manager with the Department of Transportation. The project improved between 20 to 25 miles of existing roads and added six miles of new roads. It spans a total distance of 42 miles from Kake to the new boat launch. The total cost of the project was $40 million, consisting of $34 million for the construction contract and $6 million for project...
The Borough Assembly approved an emergency ordinance Friday which requires that masks must be worn inside all public indoor spaces. Petersburg saw a dramatic increase in cases in the week leading up to the meeting. The Petersburg Medical Center reported 15 new cases November 1, one of the highest recorded in a single day, and Friday saw the total number of active cases stand at 63. Vice Mayor Jeigh Stanton Gregor called for the special assembly meeting to consider the emergency ordinance and...
Businesses in Petersburg are feeling the impacts of global supply chain challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The manufacturing of some goods is slowing down and shipments are being delayed or canceled altogether, leading to shortages and stores guessing when to order more products. “It comes down to two main things: the labor shortage and the lack of resources,” Hammer & Wikan General Manager Jim Floyd said. While the company could previously rely on 80 to 90 percent of orders com...
The Petersburg Medical Center reported 21 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total active cases to 79, the most Petersburg has seen since the beginning of the pandemic. 64 new positives were reported in the past week. Community spread is escalating rapidly according to PMC which is asking people to follow mitigation recommendations. PMC remains in red status and though they will attempt to keep all appointments, they warned that they may experience limitations or rescheduling...
Parks and Recreation are working on a project to set up lights near the ballfield at the ice skate pond to provide safety to users of the pond during the dark winter months, according to Parks and Recreation Director Stephanie Payne. She hopes the two light posts standing next to the pond, which do not have lights installed yet, will allow the pond to get more use from members of the community. In the past, Rock-N-Road Construction has taken a light stand that runs on diesel to the pond so that...
With the holiday season coming up many people look to help the Salvation Army by either donating food and clothing or volunteering their time, but some recent challenges are affecting the charitable organization's operations according to Salvation Army Major Loni Upshaw. Bags of donations are sometimes being dropped off in front of the Salvation Army's thrift store after hours, leading to items intended to be donated being stolen or ruined by the weather. "We've been dealing with the stealers,...
The Petersburg Indian Association is making progress on constructing the Mountain View Manor boardwalk trail and now has a 2022 estimated completion date according to Tribal Administrator Tracy Welch. The Tribal Transportation Program works on projects such as trails, sidewalks, and street construction that are included in PIA's long range transportation plan which is updated every year. Members of the public can give feedback on future projects and the council makes a priority list of projects...
The Petersburg Medical Center reported 12 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday for a total of 48 active cases. Community spread is rapidly occurring, causing closures and staff shortages, and PMC is asking people to follow mitigation recommendations. 37 of the 48 cases were identified within the past seven days according to the Petersburg COVID-19 Dashboard. 93 COVID-19 tests have been sent to a reference laboratory and results are expected in the next 3-5 business days. PMC has moved into red...
After months away from family and friends, Joseph Tagaban hopes to return home to Petersburg in time for Thanksgiving. Joseph was checked into Seattle Children's hospital in January after it was discovered that a lump underneath his tooth was a type of cancer called acute myeloid leukemia (AML). So far he has gone through four rounds of chemotherapy and is now finishing his recovery from the fourth round. He was also taking an experimental drug called gilteritinib but is now off of it and is awa... Full story
The Borough Assembly approved ordinances #2021-15 and #2021-17 during Monday's meeting in each of their third and final readings. Ordinance #2021-15 would move a chapter of the old city code which centers on disease control into the borough code. The ordinance limits the powers of the health officer, such as the power to compel vaccination, and makes it so the officer must act under and report to the assembly and the borough manager. It was reviewed by the Petersburg Medical Center, the police...
The Vakker Sted affordable housing complex, soon to be home to 15 low income housing units, on Excel Street across from the Petersburg Medical Center will have to wait a while longer before it can welcome residents. The complex, which was expected to have tenants moved in by January 1, 2022, will likely not open until March according to Glenn Gellert of Swell, LLC. Though the project was pushed back, Gellert said it is progressing fine. "It's not the fastest project that we've ever done, but...
Trish Oppenheim was not actively seeking out opportunities for work, but when she heard about the need for a nurse at the Petersburg School District, she stepped up to the challenge. Oppenheim has 14 years of ICU experience in a range of settings including the NICU, PICU, recovery room, and the operating room. For the last two years she worked in triage for Providence battling COVID-19. "I'm typically an ICU nurse, but teaching is obviously a huge part of our job as a nurse," Oppenheim said....
During Monday's meeting the Borough Assembly listened to a presentation by John Heberling on the Petersburg Municipal Power & Light 2021 electric rate study conducted by D. Hittle & Associates. The rate study proposes increases to electrical rates for all classes of customers in Petersburg with the full rate adjustment being made over the span of two years. The study identified future energy issues and how they would impact the forecasted cost of energy to Petersburg. The two major factors...
The Petersburg Medical Center Hospital Board met Thursday to discuss the latest COVID-19 outbreak attributed to the delta variant and its effects on the community. PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter presented a graph highlighting the two highest spikes in COVID-19 cases in Petersburg since September of 2020. The first spike occurred near the end of February and beginning of March 2020, shortly after Alaska's emergency declaration expired, and peaked at just under 70 cases. The second spike occurred near...
The Borough Assembly approved Resolution #2021-14 during Monday's meeting, signifying their support of the map proposed by the Senate minority in the upcoming redistricting of the state. At the last assembly meeting on October 19, Assembly Member Chelsea Tremblay presented each of the six maps that the Alaska Redistricting Board showcased when they recently traveled to Petersburg. Tremblay voiced her support for the Senate minority map at both the redistricting board's public hearing and after...
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...
