Sorted by date Results 4085 - 4109 of 5553
Parks and Recreation Director Donnie Hayes said there’s been a string of vandalism this month at the ball field and Hungry Point Trail, which begins near the fields. “At the ball field itself, someone took a large rock to one of our porcelain sinks to the point of destroying that sink,” he said. The damage was discovered on July 4 when staff went to ensure the restrooms would be clean and ready for the crowd arriving at the ball field to watch fireworks. The incident likely happened at night on July 3 because, Hayes said, the restrooms are chec...
A new three-year contract was approved for Petersburg Medical Center (PMC) CEO Liz Woodyard. Woodward has been the CEO at the hospital since 2011, and this is her second contract. She hails originally from Minneapolis, Minn. Before moving to Petersburg, she worked as the CEO of Banner Lassen in Susanville, Calif and the Chief Nursing Officer at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital in Fairbanks. Woodyar's new contract took effect at the beginning of this month. It includes a $200,000 annual salary with...
Mechanical and electrical problems plagued the Rainforest Islander ferry on its way to Ketchikan from the boat yard in Bellingham, Wash. “We had mechanical and electrical problems at the start of the boat’s delivery trip from Anacortes, Washington to Ketchikan,” said North End Ferry Authority Manager Kent Miller. Miller said the vessel was docked in Nanaimo, BC for emergency repairs before heading back to the boatyard in Bellingham where it arrived Sunday. “We’re going to have those (emergency) repairs further checked out, and then we’ve got...
Early birds and night owls may have noticed a lack of power during the early morning hours Monday, after service for Wrangell, Petersburg and Ketchikan went down for several hours. The grid went down at 2:48 a.m. after a mature bald eagle ran afoul of a section of line near Ketchikan’s Herring Cove. “We’re very apologetic, especially when we cause problems in our neighboring communities,” said Andy Donato, manager of Ketchikan Public Utilities’ electric division. By 5:32 a.m., Tyee Lake Hydroelectric was back online and most of Ketchikan...
KETCHIKAN (AP) — Alaska State Troopers are asking for help in their investigation of the death of a woman found floating off Ketchikan. The body of 34-year-old Angeline Tanya Dundas was recovered Thursday in Tongass Narrows about a quarter-mile from the Coast Guard Base in Ketchikan. Troopers say they took a call on the body at about 1 a.m. Troopers and Coast Guard personnel recovered the body. An autopsy has been scheduled to determine the cause of death....
JUNEAU (AP) — A spokeswoman for Gov. Bill Walker says Walker is expected to announce this week how he will move forward on Medicaid expansion in Alaska. Spokeswoman Katie Marquette says Walker has been weighing his options, including whether to move forward on expansion through legislation or unilaterally. Walker campaigned on expanding Medicaid coverage. For states that opt in, the federal government is to pay 100 percent of health care costs for newly eligible recipients through 2016, stepping down to 90 percent by 2020. In May, during the f...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Experts say this year’s Bristol Bay sockeye harvest will be less than half the record-breaking boom recorded last year. Commercial harvest forecasts had put the catch this year at 37.6 million fish. As the season’s halfway point passed, that number fell by over 17 million sockeye, the Alaska Journal of Commerce reported. Experts are saying a late run is unlikely. “My perspective is that the run is below forecast,’’ said Travis Elison, the management biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Dillingham office. “That...
JUNEAU (AP) — Juneau police say foul play is not suspected in the death of a 51-year-old Kake woman. Police in a web posting say the body of Macaria Wallace was found Tuesday morning under the Gold Creek Bridge. Police were alerted about 6:30 a.m. about a person under the bridge who was not breathing. Responding officers and medics declared Wallace dead at the scene. The police investigation continues....
JUNEAU (AP) — While environmentalists are quick to complain about cruise ships dumping waste in the ocean, officials say Alaska ferries have even more lenient rules for treating wastewater. State ferries use water treatment systems that were standard in the 1970s, state Department of Environmental Conservation cruise ship program specialist Ed White said. Eight of the 11 state-owned ferries use chlorine to kill bacteria and then grind waste before discharging that slurry with used water from sinks, toilets and showers, White told the Juneau E...
JUNEAU (AP) — The University of Alaska plans to eliminate or suspend a number of majors this year to deal with an ongoing budgetary squeeze on the state’s public universities. The university system has slated 31 academic programs for removal, including 21 at the University of Alaska Anchorage, the Juneau Empire reported. “Sometimes having three of something isn’t as good as having one strong something,’’ UA president candidate Jim Johnsen told the Juneau Empire. The university system has $15 million less to work with this fiscal year. The legis...
JUNEAU (AP) — A trade association has been created to promote the nascent legal marijuana business in Alaska. Four of the five board members of the Alaska Marijuana Industry Association held a news conference Thursday in Anchorage to discuss the group’s formation; the event was teleconferenced. State records show the group received status as a nonprofit corporation in late April. The goal was to announce shortly after that, but those involved have been busy working at the local level to help set up the industry, board member and vice president...
Rates for the Petersburg EMS ambulance service will soon be increased to help the service keep pace with rising costs, though a proposal considered by the Assembly at Monday’s regular meeting was tabled to allow more time for EMS Director Sandy Dixson to pull together information about the cost of running the local service. Currently, there is a flat rate of $300 charged for the service. That fee hasn’t been increased since 2002 and Dixson pointed out that comparable communities in Sou... Full story
Organizers are gearing up for the second annual Paddle Battle in the Narrows to be held next Saturday, July 18. The event is a fundraiser for the Petersburg Medical Center Foundation, and this year's proceeds will go toward renovating the shower and tub room used by residents in Long Term Care. "The residents that live here, this is their home and it's (the shower room) not been updated in many, many years and it's showing signs of wear and tear," said Director of Nursing Jennifer Bryner. All... Full story
The Alaska Department of Transportation (ADOT) has cancelled the scheduled summer sailings of the M/V LeConte that would have utilized the South Mitkof ferry terminal due to maintenance-related delays of the Alaska Marine Highway System's (AMHS) vessels. Once a month sailings from May to September between Juneau, South Mitkof and Coffman Cove were planned to show the terminal was being used for its intended purpose and to avoid possible penalties or having to pay back federal funds used to... Full story
An investigation conducted by a British Columbia commission found that the provincial government had not violated public disclosure laws by withholding information on Mount Polley mine prior to its tailings impoundment dam breach last summer. The report was put together by Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham and addresses complaints that the province had violated Canada’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. On Aug. 4, 2014, the mine’s tailings pond wall ruptured and released 13.8 million cubic yards of met...
The Wrangell and Petersburg museums are teaming up in an attempt to identify several hundred individuals in a collection of photographs that dates back more than seven decades. The Clausen Museum in Petersburg is hoping to put names to the faces of 1,474 individuals from the early 1940s as part of its ongoing World War Two project. The museum possesses a collection of photographic negatives, originally used for wartime identification. Following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, the United States entered the war already e...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — A sightseeing floatplane that crashed in a mountainous area in southeast Alaska, killing all nine people on board, was equipped with technology to provide detailed information about the terrain, according to a federal accident report released Tuesday. The preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board also said the June 25 crash occurred in conditions of reduced visibility. However, it drew no conclusions about the cause of the crash. The deHavilland DHC-3 Otter turboprop crashed on a steep cliff about 25 m...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Gov. Bill Walker is limiting the amount available to pay for oil and gas tax credits this fiscal year, saying Wednesday that no sector of the state would be untouched by Alaska's current budget situation. The credits affected are for explorers or companies developing fields but not yet in production on the North Slope and in Cook Inlet. Walker said the tax credit system is unsustainable and that credits for these companies could soon top $1 billion, becoming one of the state's largest expenditures. Alaska needs to look f...
Assembly members voted unanimously in favor of ratifying a new collective bargaining agreement for IBEW member employees in the Electric Department. It was ratified by member employees on May 29. The new contract agreement comes at a cost of $156,292 to the Borough, though that’s spread out over the contract’s three-year lifespan. Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht highlighted some of the changes at Monday’s meeting. “We cleaned up some language regarding the use of temporary employees, work performed on Sunday and travel for training and pro...
Owner Paine & Partners, LLC of San Francisco has entered into agreements with two different groups to sell Icicle Seafoods. According to the press release issued, Convergence Holdings, Inc. will acquire Icicle's land-based wild seafood processing and farmed salmon activities while Dominion Catchers, LLC will acquire the company’s harvesting and processing vessels, as well as associated fishing rights. Dominion Catchers is a limited liability company licensed by the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. C... Full story
Subscribers, click the link below to view or download the full 4th of July Schedule, 2015.................................................................................................................................................................................. http://www.petersburgpilot.com/7-2-15pilot4thofjuly.pdf...
In the works for awhile, Rainforest Islands Ferry Service has been delayed yet again. The ferry was set to sail June 14, then postponed to June 28. “We were so close” to that start, spokeswoman Heather Hedges said, but work at the shipyard was delayed. The 65-foot landing craft made its way up to Ketchikan from Anacortes, Wash. on Monday and sea trials have just begun with another U.S. Coast Guard inspection scheduled. The first delay was due to a wait on USCG certification. “As long as everything goes smoothly,” Hedges said, service is expe... Full story
The Petersburg Public Library just got a whole lot bigger. Not physically, but it has extended its electronic catalogue through the Joint Library Catalogue (JLC). “It’s a consortium of libraries across the state, so we actually have over 1.7 million titles Petersburg patrons can choose from,” said Chris Weiss, library technician. Residents with library cards can use them to reserve an item in any library that’s a part of the consortium, including those in cities such as Sitka, Juneau and Anchorage. Items include books, DVDs and music. “Everyt... Full story
Working to preserve its history, the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department has restored one fire engine and is wrapping up restoration of another. "We're trying to create some interest with the younger people," Fire Chief Doug Welde said. "It's history and kind of neat." Jack Slaght, a chief engineer on the M/V Malaspina, has experience working on a variety of engines. "Some mechanics like to get away from work and not pick up a wrench after hours," he said. That's not Slaght's thing. Engine and...
Five of Alaska Marine Highway System’s 11 ferries will be laid up at some point next year under a draft vessel deployment plan released on June 24. The Taku will be held in layup status the whole year, while the Kennicott will be from October until entering overhaul in early January. The Fairweather and Chenega will enter federal projects in October and mid-September, respectively, and will both be laid up starting in May 2016. The Malaspina is also scheduled to enter layup status in late May of next year. Under the draft schedule, from O...
