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An Urban Corporation for the Petersburg area would claim 23,040 acres of federal land within the Petersburg Borough should Congress pass legislation put before them by Alaska's congressional delegation. The Unrecognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities Recognition and Compensation Act would amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) to allow native residents in Haines, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg and Tenakee to form Urban Corporations and receive 23,040 acres of...
Borough residents are now required to wear a face covering in public buildings, work settings and at outdoor public gatherings of 50 people or more following the approval of public health mandate #8 by the Borough Assembly at their Monday meeting. Monday's discussion on whether the assembly should pass a borough-wide face covering mandate left assembly members and the community divided. After several amendments to the mandate, public health ordinance #8 was able to pass in a 4-3 vote. The...
The Borough Assembly approved a letter on Wednesday to Alaska's congressional delegation asking they postpone enacting a bill that would transfer borough land to a Urban Corporation in order to gather the opinions of local residents that would be impacted by the decision. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Fulfillment Act of 2020 looks to authorize land transfers to five Southeast Alaska native communities that did not receive land under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971...
Three new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in town since last week's COVID-19 community update, according to joint press releases between the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center. The first two cases were identified on the morning of Nov. 14. One positive case was confirmed to be a local resident who is traveling out of state, according to a joint press release. The individual is isolated at their destination and will remain there until they have recovered. The person was not in...
Petersburg Indian Association received six declaration of candidacy letters for four seats on the Tribal Council, including the one-year council chair seat. The deadline to submit a letter of declaration of candidacy was on Monday, but anyone still interested in running for a seat on the council can fill out a letter of intent to run as a write-in candidate. Interested tribal members have until Nov. 23 at 4 P.M. to submit a letter of intent. Christina Morrison, the current Tribal Council...
As the state continues to count absentee and early ballots for the Nov. 3 election, Alaska House District 35 has seen its voter turnout rate jump from 26.25 percent to 64.74 percent as of Nov. 18, according to statistics from the Alaska Division of Elections. Only the ballots that were cast in person on Election Day were tabulated into the initial unofficial results, resulting in a 26.25 percent voter turnout for District 35 and a 23.88 percent voter turnout for the Petersburg Borough,...
Like most people in town, Ashley Lohr's summer travel plans were cancelled this year. Instead, she hunkered down in her workshop and churned out handmade earrings and necklaces at a pace that made her feel like she was an artist in residency. All 70 pieces of Lohr's jewelry, as well as six paintings, will be on display at the Clausen Memorial Museum until Nov. 28 in a solo exhibit titled, Equilibrium. The exhibit showcases how far she has progressed as an artist and jewelry maker in the past...
The Borough Assembly approved a health mandate on Monday that requires intrastate travelers arriving in Petersburg be tested for COVID-19 before or upon their arrival to town. Public health mandate #9 also lists procedures and protocols for anyone arriving in Petersburg through the James A. Johnson Airport or the Alaska Marine Highway System. If an individual arrives in town with proof of a negative test result, the test must have been taken within 72 hours, according to the mandate. If the pers...
The Borough Assembly extended the borough's health mandate that places COVID-19 protocols on vessels docking and disembarking at borough harbor facilities for the fourth time at their meeting on Monday. Public health mandate #5 requires anyone onboard a vessel that is looking to enter Petersburg harbor facilities and is subject to Alaska interstate and interstate travel protocols be screened by Borough Public Health Officer Mark Tuccillo before disembarking. If any crew members or passengers...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has released preliminary data on state salmon harvests for 2020. Information for Southeast Alaska shows that only half as many fish were hauled in this year compared to last year. 2020 data shows that 14,301,964 salmon were harvested this year, totaling a little over 74 million pounds. The estimated ex vessel value for this harvest is about $50 million. This is a major decrease from 2019 numbers, reported at about 32 million fish, 163 million pounds, and...
The Petersburg Borough, including the city of Kupreanof, saw a 23.88 percent voter turnout on Election Day earlier this month, with 707 of the 2,961 registered voters casting a vote in person on Nov. 3, according to unofficial results from the Alaska Division of Elections. According to Sally Dwyer, a local resident who handled early voting for the state, over 650 residents cast in person absentee ballots prior to Election Day. In a press release from the Alaska Division of Elections on Nov. 9,...
With the hopes of encouraging residents to resist pandemic fatigue as Alaska approaches the eight month mark of battling COVID-19, the Petersburg Emergency Operations Center released a health alert on Thursday, Nov. 5 reminding residents of the protocols they can take to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while keeping schools and the local economy open. Public health alert #3 strongly recommends, but doesn't mandate, six mitigation strategies. Residents are asked to wear a face covering when...
Rae C. Stedman Elementary School brought on board six new teachers this year as the school looks to create smaller class sizes to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 within the building. One of the new teachers is a face some students may already know. After teaching at the Mitkof Dance Troupe, Kaili Swanson decided she wanted to do something to help the community push through the COVID-19 pandemic. She received an emergency teaching certification through the state and started teaching kindergarten....
Sixth grade teachers Bridey Short and Casey Gates are the two newest additions to the teaching staff at Mitkof Middle School. Both teachers signed a one year contract with the district, but while Short's position is permanent, Gates was signed on temporarily to address the need for staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Short is originally from Petersburg, but left Alaska to attend college at the University of Montana. She moved back home in 2009 after graduating with a degree in social work and ph...
The Borough Assembly approved a resolution at their Nov. 2 meeting that requests a public hearing between the community of Petersburg and state and federal representatives involved with the Kake Access Project. Resolution #2020-21 also opposes the expenditure of further funds for the road and requests an environmental impact statement be completed for the project. By approving the resolution, the borough assembly hopes to set up a public meeting between officials from the Alaska Department of...
Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter had the unfortunate job of delivering bad news to the Petersburg School Board at their regular meeting on Tuesday; the Parks and Recreation Center's pool will likely not reopen for the rest of the school year. PSD had been working together with borough officials to get the pool reopened following a fire in the boiler room last month. Kludt-Painter said some repairs could be made in the short term, but the repairs needed to reopen the pool wouldn't be completed...
The Borough Assembly heard a detailed presentation on a recent rate study of the Sanitation Department at their Nov. 2 meeting that showed four possible scenarios for the borough's recycling program, all of which include rate increases for the department. Rate studies for the borough's water, wastewater and sanitation departments were conducted by FCS Group, based out of Washington, and cost a total of $42,000, according to Public Works Director Chris Cotta at an assembly meeting in August....
Grace Wolf heard what sounded like a jet flying over her home near the six mile mark of Mitkof Highway at about 7:30 P.M. on Sunday. She knew it had to have been a landslide, but the rain and the evening darkness blocked her view of the large landslide that occurred on Tonka Mountain on Kupreanof Island. To Wolf, it sounded like it could have occurred anywhere, even near her home. "The hillside behind our house has been known to slide before, so it's always in the back of my mind when it starts...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved the Petersburg Rotary Club's request to begin construction on their Sandy Beach playground project at their meeting on Monday. As part of the project, trees will be removed and trimmed to make room for the new playground equipment. Contractors had begun cutting down trees several weeks ago in preparation for the construction, but the tree cutting came to a halt when Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht became aware of some concerns from the community. In an...
Incident Commander Karl Hagerman encouraged residents at Friday's COVID-19 community update who travel to other parts of the state to be tested for COVID-19 upon their return to town. The request follows five recent confirmed cases of the virus linked to intrastate travel. While Alaska residents are required to test for COVID-19 either before or after they arrive back in the state from other parts of the country, they don't need to be tested for the virus when traveling throughout Alaska. Four...
As bears continue to search for food in town, Petersburg Area Biologist Frank Robbins, with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said he doesn't know at what point the bears will accumulate enough calories to hibernate. "We may have some hungry bears for a long while," said Robbins. Bears are currently experiencing a biological process called hyperplasia. It kicks in just before winter and tells the bears it's time to fatten up for hibernation, said Robbins. But the lack of natural foods,...
In the form of utility credit and business grants, the borough assembly approved $600,000 in community aid from the borough's Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act special revenue fund at their meeting on Monday. If a local resident could prove they suffered financially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic they could be eligible for a $500 one-time credit to their borough utility account. If more than a thousand individuals apply for the credit, the borough will adjust the credit...
The Petersburg School Board issued an administrative directive on Monday requesting school officials extend Alaska's state travel mandate to students and staff traveling throughout the state. State health mandate #10 requires incoming travelers to test for COVID-19 prior or upon entering Alaska and strictly social distance themselves for five days; however, the health mandate doesn't address Alaska residents who are traveling in the state. Students and staff at Petersburg School District will...
In his report to the Petersburg Medical Center Board of Directors last week, PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter said a nationwide shortage of Cepheid cartridges has caused the hospital to closely monitor its own supply of cartridges and enacted guidelines for rapid testing. The hospital's testing capacity is currently exceeding its par level, or the number of cartridges needed to react to a local outbreak, Hofstetter said. "We cannot get the supplies needed to test," said Hofstetter to the borough...
From the Daily Dozen Newsroom comes a monthly student-run newspaper dedicated to news Rae C. Stedman Elementary School cares about the most. Students in Vanessa Miller's fifth grade class delivered the first edition of their newspaper, What's up Stedman? on Oct. 7. Each paper was rolled up, wrapped in a rubber band and flung through the door of each of the classrooms in the elementary school. In the weeks leading up to deadline day, the fifth graders contacted sources and compiled information....
