Sorted by date Results 1151 - 1175 of 5587
PMC Director of Nursing Jennifer Bryner said at the Jan. 29 COVID-19 community update the state has allocated 150 doses for the month, but PMC will also receive doses from the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium. She also confirmed the day of the next community COVID-19 vaccine clinic, which will take place on Feb. 5 at the Parks and Recreation community gym. The upcoming vaccine clinic will focus on residents 65 years old and older, but Bryner encouraged anyone who wants to be vaccinate...
One positive case of COVID-19 has been identified in the community and is travel related, according to a joint press release between the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center on Monday. The individual tested positive for the virus upon landing at the Petersburg Airport. The traveler has been in quarantine since arriving in Petersburg and poses a low risk of transmission to the community, according to the press release. The recent positive case of COVID-19 marks the first in town in over a week following an outbreak in January. It is... Full story
A pre-hire employee for the 2021 tanner and golden king crab season at OBI Seafoods has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a joint press release from the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center. The individual tested positive during the cannery’s asymptomatic testing of all incoming employees, according to a press release from OBI Seafoods. The person is currently asymptomatic and is in isolation. Employees that may have come into contact with the infected individual have b... Full story
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency could replace a damaged submarine cable that is used as a backup cable to provide Petersburg with power as early as this summer, according to SEAPA Board of Directors Chairman Bob Lynn at the Borough Assembly meeting on Jan. 19. Sumitomo, a Japanese firm, was contracted by SEAPA to construct a cable to replace a damaged submarine cable between Woronksofski and Vank islands for approximately $14 million. The cable was expected to be delivered in late July and...
Petersburg Medical Center is setting Feb. 5 as a tentative date to hold another COVID-19 vaccination clinic, according to Petersburg Medical Center Director of Nursing Jennifer Bryner at the COVID-19 community update on Jan. 22. She said the facility will be notified by the state in the last week of January as to when they can expect their next allocation of the vaccine. The hospital will then vaccinate residents who received their first COVID-19 shot this month for a second and final time on Fe...
At the COVID community update on Jan. 22, Incident Commander Karl Hagerman told the public that the local COVID-19 active case count had finally returned to zero. Additionally, there haven't been any new cases of the virus reported within the last seven days. "We had a rough patch in the past week and a half or so with an increase in cases," said Hagerman on Jan. 22. "It's very nice to be back at zero." Petersburg Medical Center has collected a total of 8,055 test samples as of Friday to be...
Since the Borough Assembly passed the masking mandate at their Nov. 16 meeting, the Petersburg Police Department has been focused on educating the community about the mandate, instead of writing tickets, said Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht. Only one resident, Assembly Member Jeff Meucci, has received an official warning, said Giesbrecht. Other residents who were seen by police officers were spoken to, but the conversations didn't reach the point where the individual was cited or officially...
Mayor Mark Jensen participated in a phone call with Gov. Mike Dunleavy's office and other mayors in Southeast Alaska on Jan. 7 where he had the opportunity to address concerns regarding the state's budget and how it will impact Petersburg, he told the Borough Assembly at their meeting on Jan. 19. Among the challenges faced by the borough that Jensen spoke about were a 13 percent drop in the Community Assistance payment for Petersburg in the current fiscal year to $301,090; the Community Jail...
Seven Petersburg High School band and choir students performed in the 2020 Region V Honor Music Festival, which compiled videos of the students' individual performances into a virtual concert. The music festival is traditionally held in October and features several days of rehearsals and a concert. About 60 band students and choir 60 students from around Southeast Alaska also participate in the music festival, which takes place at one of the participating high schools. Because of the COVID-19...
Despite facing complications as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department continued responding to calls and keeping up with their training, clocking in a total of 4,153 volunteer hours last year, Fire Chief Jim Stolpe told the Borough Assembly at their meeting on Jan. 19. "As you know, 2020 was a very unusual year due to COVID-19," said Stolpe. "The Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department was not exempt from the restrictions and mitigation measures set forth by CDC...
The Petersburg School Board began discussing the 2021-2022 school year calendar at their meeting on Jan. 12 and looked at three possible calendars. All three scenarios had the school year start on Aug. 24 and end before Memorial Day. They also had the same number of instruction hours. Students in kindergarten through third grade need at least 740 hours of instruction and study periods, according to State Statute 14.03.030. Students in fourth grade through 12th grade must have at least 900 hours...
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities has begun taking comments on the 2021 summer ferry schedule. The proposed Alaska Marine Highway System schedule looks to funding projections in the coming fiscal year and the COVID-19 pandemic for its sailings from May 2021 through September 2021, according to a press release from DOT&PF. In the proposed schedule, the M/V Matanuska stops in Petersburg on Mondays on its journey south to Bellingham and again on Fridays on its way north...
The Borough Assembly meetings in February will be postponed to allow contractors to upgrade the Assembly Chambers sound system, according to Borough Clerk Debbie Thompson. The Feb. 1 meeting was postponed to noon on Feb. 8, and the Feb. 16 meeting was postponed to 6 P.M. on Feb. 22. Additionally, the assembly will be holding a special meeting on Jan. 29 at 1 P.M. to consider making an amendment to the memorandum of agreement with Petersburg Medical Center for the COVID-19 testing services at...
Alaska Seaplanes will begin offering two daily roundtrip flights between Petersburg and Juneau starting April 5, according to a press release from Alaska Seaplanes. The airline will be flying two turbine powered aircrafts, the Pilatus PC-12 and the C-208 Grand Caravan. Both planes can carry up to nine passengers and will take about 55 minutes to make the trip between the two cities, according to the release. Alaska Seaplanes will be operating out of the former Pacific Wings building at the...
Jerod Cook, president of the Petersburg Elks Lodge #1615, presented checks totaling $8,000 on behalf of the lodge to two local organizations on Jan. 19. Petersburg Mental Health Services received a $4,500 donation to support their Project Connection and food pantry efforts, and Lighthouse Church received a $3,500 donation to aid their Monday Night Dinner project....
Petersburg Medical Center vaccinated about 350 residents ages 65 and older during the COVID-19 vaccine drive on Jan. 14 at the Petersburg School District community gym, according to PMC Director of Nursing Jennifer Bryner at the COVID-19 community update on Jan. 15. "It felt really great immunizing so many people in our community and getting that first step to having a safer community and decreasing the risk for people to become ill and hospitalized or worse with COVID," said Bryner. Coupled wit...
A portion of Tonka Mountain was stripped down to the bedrock in a landslide on Nov. 1, as a result of heavy rainfall and soil saturation, according to District Ranger Ted Sandhofer, with the United States Forest Service. The normal amount of rainfall over Petersburg for Nov. 1 is .48 inches, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration but on Nov. 1, 2020, 4.17 inches fell. The above average rainfall led to increased soil saturation on Tonka Mountain and ultimately the...
During a discussion on the possibility of testing the water quality in the Petersburg Harbor at the Borough Assembly meeting on Tuesday, Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht said the Department of Environmental Conservation is already scheduled to come to town this summer to do just that. Mayor Mark Jensen said he and other mayors in Southeast Alaska lobbied Sen. Bert Stedman to pass legislation that would test the water quality of the region's aquatic traffic lanes. He said fishermen were complaini...
The Petersburg Borough gave the Petersburg Medical Center permission to apply for a second Paycheck Protection Program loan totaling $1.8 million at their meeting on Tuesday evening through emergency ordinance #2021-02. PMC applied and received a loan of the same amount in April through the Small Business Administration. Businesses that received a PPP loan had the opportunity to have the loan forgiven if the money was spent on certain expenses like payroll and rent. PMC had its loan forgiven in...
The Petersburg Emergency Operations Center is reporting eight active cases of COVID-19 in town as of Wednesday afternoon after positive test results reached as high as 11 on Jan. 16. At the COVID-19 community update on Jan. 15, Incident Commander Karl Hagerman said despite the recent spike in cases, he didn't see a great risk of the virus spreading. "The cases we are seeing have either done a good job of isolating or they're clusters within the same household," said Hagerman. "I'm feeling pretty...
The Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department responded to a structure fire in the 600 block of N. Nordic Dr. Tuesday morning at about 7 A.M., according to PVFD Assistant Fire Chief Dave Berg. Fifteen volunteers responded to a house on OBI Seafoods property near their bunkhouse on PFI Hill that was filled with heavy smoke. The source of the smoke was coming from under a couch in the center of the room, said Berg. Volunteers flipped the couch over expecting to find a burning cigarette or another...
The Petersburg School Board approved a winter revision to the fiscal year 2021 budget that addresses changes in funding and needs mainly due to a decrease in enrollment and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Petersburg School District projected an enrollment of 470 students across all three schools in the district in the 2020-2021 school year, according to Finance Director Karen Morrison; however, there are only 426 students currently enrolled with the school district. That's an 8.83 percent decrease...
Petersburg Indian Association unveiled plans to build a $800,000 multi-purpose transit building at the corner of 12th St. and Howkan St. across from their current location at a Transportation Priority Update meeting on Tuesday. The multi-purpose transit facility and parking lot will be used as a carport to store PIA transit related equipment, provide an indoor workspace to maintain equipment and add additional parking for PIA staff and tenants. The design of the facility is slated to take place...
PMC Director of Nursing Jennifer Bryner said at the COVID-19 community update on Jan. 8 that PMC is expecting to have a combined total of about 300 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine to begin vaccinating residents 65 years and older this week. She said most of the local residents who received the vaccine last month have already been vaccinated for the second and final time. According to the Petersburg Emergency Operations Center, 219 vaccines have been administered locally as of Wednesday,...
GCI cable TV customers in Petersburg and across Alaska have lost access to three network channels as negotiations continue over rates the cable company will pay to Vision Alaska and Coastal Television that operate Fox, ABC and CW. Vision Alaska and Coastal Television requested a nearly 40% rate increase this year, according to GCI. In a published statement Heather Handyside, a spokeswoman for GCI, said it's unclear when the companies may reach an agreement. She added that the networks rejected...
