Sorted by date Results 4273 - 4297 of 5553
Environmental organization Earthjustice announced last Friday groups it is representing in a trio of lawsuits opposed to U.S. Forest Service’s Big Thorne timber sale have filed two notices of appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, following the dismissal of their suits by a federal judge in a March 20 ruling. The Big Thorne sale involves the harvest of around 6,200 acres of forest on Prince of Wales Island and includes the clearcut of old-growth rainforest. Klawock-based mill Viking Lumber was awarded a contract last September to h...
WRANGELL — Wrangell residents and other Alaskans from around the state were given more opportunity to voice concerns over impending cuts to state programming during a public hearing held Monday evening for the draft of next year’s budget being considered by the Senate Finance Committee. Six Wrangellites came to their local Legislative Information Office to provide testimony via telephone, along with residents of Petersburg and Ketchikan. “I am speaking in opposition to the cuts to the Alaska Marine Highway System,” borough manager Jeff Jabusch...
Dave Kensinger of Chelan Produce has a 38-year-long business history with the ferry system. “I’ve probably ridden the ferry more than anybody else,” he said. He uses the barge to ship produce (and has for a long while), but utilizes the ferry to travel back and forth between Sitka, where he also sells produce. With a Senate Finance Subcommittee proposing a $12.3 million cut to the ferry system, reducing service to Petersburg and other Southeast communities, Kensinger said he and his wife are looking to fly back and forth to Sitka now, a more ex...
The Senate Finance Subcommittee voted Thursday, March 25, to eliminate all funding to public radio and television. “To be clear: this level of a cut would end KFSK’s local service,” General Manager Tom Abbott said in an email attached to a parent legislative update from Petersburg schools. KFSK has a total budget of $480,000 in revenue: $137,000 in state funds, $125,000 in federal funds and $218,000 in local revenue, Abbott wrote. Governor Bill Walker proposed an 18 percent cut to public broadcasting, then a 59 percent one was proposed in th...
The Petersburg Borough was the lone bidder on three parcels of land at Papke's Landing. Seven parcels at Papke's Landing were up for bid as part of the Alaska Mental Health Trust's 2014 winter land sale, which closed Friday. The parcels bid on by the borough measure half an acre each and are located south of Papke's Landing Road near the dock and parking area. Outgoing borough clerk Kathy O'Rear said the Borough bid $46,000 for lot 7 (parcel 24) and $31,050 each for lots 1 and 2 (parcels 18 and... Full story
The Local Marijuana Regulation Advisory Committee met for the first time Wednesday evening, establishing subcommittees to discuss concerns more in-depth. It ultimately decided to form three subcommittees: zoning, discussing where marijuana may be grown, sold and smoked; permitting and taxation; and public safety. “My main concern is to make sure it (marijuana) stays in proper places and not near schools,” committee member Thomas Kojima said. He wasn’t alone in wanting to keep marijuana out of the hands of minors. That’s why the topic got tossed... Full story
The Petersburg School District is looking at a potential enrollment increase next year, “exciting” news for a district that had been seeing a fairly steady decline until the last year or two, Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter said. After speaking with preschools and health clinics, the district is looking at an estimated 44 kindergartners next year. It currently has 27 and is graduating 30 seniors this year. Mitkof Middle School will actually see a smaller group, with 29 sixth graders going over. It’ll provide “different opportunities for sch... Full story
The two have spent 65 years together as a married couple, traveling and taking on new ventures. George and Florabelle Rice are celebrating that anniversary this week, having married on March 25, 1950. The couple met in college in 1949. Florabelle was a junior and George had just begun school on the GI Bill. They married quickly. "In '50, we graduated together from Western Washington, one of five couples," George said. The two stayed in Washington state for several years working as teachers. In 1...
The Petersburg Community Foundation’s (PCF) will award $11,000 to local nonprofit organizations this year as part of their annual grant cycle. Three or more organizations will receive grant monies from PCF to support programs in areas ranging from health and safety to community and economic development to the arts, recreation and education. In order to be eligible for the grant, organizations applying must have 501c3 status. Community services organizations without such a status may partner with a 501c3. “These grants are quite often ideal for...
It's a great opportunity to work with scientists and see what peers from other parts of the state are doing: four students from Petersburg High School are heading to the Alaska Statewide High School Science Symposium this weekend. The "fabulous four," as their AP (Advanced Placement) biology teacher Joni Johnson referred to them, have each completed their own experiments and made presentations based upon them. They presented their hypothesis and findings to an audience at the Petersburg Public L...
One People Canoe Society (OPCS) will be hosting their first-ever Petersburg paddle making workshop this weekend. Veteran paddle makers Jim Zeller and Doug Chilton will lead participants through the three-day workshop using equipment in the Petersburg High School shop classroom. “We promote healthy activities using canoes and canoeing activities,” said OPCS organizer Alicia Armstrong, adding that the workshops teach teamwork as well as the technical skills of paddle making. “The paddles are actually used for being out in the water and on a can...
The Inside Passage Waterkeeper organization premiered their "Water is Life" film to a Petersburg audience of about 50 at the public library on Friday. The ten-minute video follows the Stikine River from its headwaters to its terminus and highlights its importance to nearby communities. "The purpose of the video is to help people remember that this really is a rich, rich resource that we have here and it's increasingly rare in this world to have such a rich resource like that," said Daven Hafey,...
It may be called the 10,000 Steps Challenge, but the real goal, Assistant Fire Chief Dave Berg said, is for community members to take as many steps as they can during a day. Petersburg’s third challenge began Monday, March 23, and ends Sunday, May 3. Sponsored by the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department, Petersburg Mental Health Services and the Petersburg School District, the challenge not only offers a chance at better health but a go at prizes provided by major sponsors, such as Piston and Rudder and the Trading Union, and through d...
Stedman Elementary School students helped collect 1,400 canned food items to donate to the food bank at the Salvation Army through their reading efforts in February. Each 30 minutes students read earned them one can to contribute to the Read to Feed drive. Gregg Kowalski, head of the student council at Stedman, said the school has an annual tradition of doing a fundraiser, and since the last two year's projects had an international focus, the wanted to do something closer to home this year. "In...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — A logging project in the Tongass National Forest is closer to beginning after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by conservation groups. KTVA reports U.S. District Court Judge Ralph Beistline ruled in favor of the U.S. Forest Service on Friday. The Forest Service last year approved selling 6,000 acres of old growth trees for logging as part of the Big Thorne timber project on Prince of Wales Island. Environmental groups have raised concerns about how the logging would affect wolf and deer populations. The Forest S...
JUNEAU (AP) — U.S. Rep. Don Young has introduced legislation that would provide federal recognition for states that allow medical marijuana. According to a press release from Young's office, the legislation, also sponsored by Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee, would prevent federal prosecution of medical marijuana patients, doctors and businesses in states that allow medical marijuana. It would also allow Veterans Administration doctors to recommend medical marijuana to their patients. The bill matches one introduced in the Senate e...
JUNEAU (AP) — Gov. Bill Walker says he considers Medicaid expansion and an Interior energy bill to be must-haves for the remainder of the legislative session. Walker tells The Associated Press that Medicaid expansion should be able to pass this session. Walker last week introduced a bill calling for expansion and reforms to the Medicaid program. Walker initially put expansion-related issues in the budget, but the House rejected that approach, and lawmakers called on him to introduce a bill. For states accepting expansion, the federal g...
There are different management challenges with the Petersburg-Wrangell area having more freshwater opportunities, but new Area Manager for Sport Fish Patrick Fowler said the move has "been good." Fowler came to Petersburg in late September after serving as the assistant area biologist in Sitka for about five years. He had worked with his predecessor Doug Fleming before and "always liked Petersburg." "It was a job opportunity to advance," Fowler said. "I thought it would be a challenging career...
Those looking to work at Petersburg’s fish processors will have a good chance to jump onboard with this summer’s pink salmon season predicted to be a big one. “The 2015 harvest forecast of 58 million pink salmon is well above the recent 10-year average harvest of 41 million pink salmon, and a harvest of that magnitude would be in the top ten harvests since 1960,” according to a guide put out by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Andy Piston, pink and chum salmon project leader in Ketchikan, and Steve Heinl, Ketchikan regional research...
While established Alaska ferries fight for funding, a small startup is about to launch from northern Prince of Wales Island. The North End Ferry Authority based in Coffman Cove has created the Rainforest Islands Ferry, a three stop service that revives a canceled route of the Inter-Island Ferry Authority. Operating four days a week beginning June 14, the Rainforest Islands Ferry will travel from Coffman Cove to Wrangell and Petersburg via the South Mitkof terminal. The ferry authority is overhauling a landing craft, to be named the R...
The borough will transition to a cart-based, in-house recycling program. The assembly passed an ordinance 5-2 at Monday's meeting that budgets for the switch. Sixteen residents spoke on the issue-the vast majority of who were in favor of keeping the current system-as part of an extended comment period before the vote. Many speaking against the changes to the blue bag program cited their satisfaction with the current collection system. "I think Ruger and PIA (recycling contractors) did a good... Full story
Doug Ward is passionate about the maritime industry and preparing today's youth for work in it. The Director of Shipyard Development for Vigor Alaska Shipyard and Drydock, Inc., Ward spoke at the Chamber of Commerce's Annual Banquet last Saturday. TWI, or training within industry, began in World War II days, "teaching old dogs new tricks" to keep industries going during the war. Now referred to as career technical programs, they're usually expensive and often the first cut. "And yet, for a lot...
Chamber MC Donnie Hayes, left, claps as Chamber of Commerce Board of Director Vice President Dave Kensinger, middle, hands Hammer and Wikan True Value Hardware Store Manager Lee Carrao a plaque for receiving business of the year at the chamber's Annual Banquet on Saturday. The store was nominated by local businesses in Petersburg. "I just want to say thank you very much on behalf of Hammer and Wikan, and the employees. It really is our employees that make it happen day in and day out. You know,... Full story
Contracts and budgets were a big part of discussion during Tuesday evening’s school board meeting. The school board reached an agreement with the Associated Teachers of Petersburg, approving a 1 percent salary increase for teachers in 2015-16. Negotiations for years two and three will continue. Board members also touched on Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter’s contract for 2015-16. It will be a 260-day contract for $120,000. The board approved it after coming out of executive session during a special meeting on Feb. 19. Former Sup... Full story
After nearly 14 years on the school board (with a 20 year break in-between), President Jean Ellis has resigned. Ellis said her term was originally supposed to be up in 2014, but that she “drew the long straw” when Petersburg became a borough. Her term extended to 2016. There’s always something going on in the school district, she added, pointing to issues like the funding ones Petersburg is facing now. Ellis noted that it was just time to step down. “It’s a great community,” she added. She’ll be...
