Sorted by date Results 2059 - 2083 of 5569
The Alaska DMV is working to reach compliance with the federal REAL ID Act. According to the Department of Homeland Security’s website, the act sets a minimum standard for identifying documents, such as a driver’s license or a passport. Marla Thompson, Director of the Alaska DMV, said that what this means for Alaskans is that the DMV will be offering licenses and state IDs that meet a higher standard of federal requirements. Thompson added that old IDs will remain valid, and the new IDs are not mandatory to have. It is simply an option ava...
The United States Forest Service will be reconstructing two miles of the Raven trail and decommissioning the last mile that leads to the Raven's Roost Cabin. A new Raven's Roost Cabin will be built at the end of the third mile of the trail, just before the decommissioned fourth mile. It will be a brand new design. The second and third mile of the current Raven trail will be reconstructed to address steep, muddy and slippery locations on the trail, according to a decision memo released by the...
The Salvation Army Thrift Store has been receiving donations after hours, but individuals have been taking the donations thinking they are free. “There’s people out here that think because it’s donated outside that it’s free stuff and they can go through it,” said Salvation Army Major Loni Upshaw. After the thrift store has closed for the evenings, people will leave donations outside the building to be processed the next day by staff. However, Upshaw said there are video recordings of people ba...
This week Superior Court Judge Carey scheduled the wrongful death lawsuit against the Petersburg Borough for Jan. 13, 2020. The borough, State of Alaska and Chris Allen are all named as defendants in the suit filed by the Estate of Molly Parks. Parks, 18, and Marie Giesbrecht, 19, died on July 4, 2016 while riding in a parks and recreation van driven by Chris Allen, 23. Allen and another passenger Catherine Cardenas, 19, survived the accident. All were employees of the Petersburg Parks and Recreation Department and were setting up for a 4th of...
On Monday, a budget policy document will be presented to the borough assembly at their first meeting of the month for the 2020 fiscal year. The document is a general outline of the structure that the assembly wants borough department heads to create their budget around, according to borough manager Stephen Giesbrecht. It will be the first step towards creating next year’s budget and give a hint at what decisions the borough assembly is going to make to balancing the budget. “I hate to sound mysterious, but it’s kind of one of those thing...
Petersburg Medical Center approved $11,660 to Rock-N-Road Construction, Inc. at a board meeting last week to demolish an abandoned house on hospital property to free up more room for parking. "We're asking to clear the lot, to remove that house," said PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter. "It's an abandoned building. It's a liability. It's an eye sore. I feel likes it's in the best interest of PMC to clear that lot. Also, we can have parking lot space if we clear that, which is a big need as the winter...
At a board meeting last week, the Petersburg Medical Center board of directors approved $20,000 to work with DOWL, a project management firm, on the facility project. DOWL will be looking at space requirements and the possible location for a new or remodeled PMC facility. They will also build off existing work and progress that has been made towards the project to avoid repeating work that has already been done. “They can have a product to us in about six weeks to really kind of determine those kinds of aspects,” said PMC CEO Phil Hof...
At a Southeast Alaska Drift Gillnet Task Force meeting on Tuesday, members from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game gave a detailed run down of the gillnet harvest from the 2018 season showing a below average year in the sections and districts surrounding Mitkof Island. A salmon return summary for 2018 and return forecast for 2019 was also given by Douglas Island Pink and Chum, Inc. In district six, the area between Mitkof Island and Wrangell Island and the Stikine River, the sockeye and Coho salmon harvest was below the 10 year average,...
Women, 29 years old and under, with limited or no access to health care can get exams and reproductive health services on a sliding scale at the Petersburg Public Health Center’s Women’s Health Clinic Dec. 17-18. The clinic will offer exams and reproductive health services, as well as STD testing. All services will be provided by a nurse practitioner with Public Health Nursing, the Alaska Division of Public Health. Appointments are required. No one will be refused service if unable to pay. All testing is confidential. To schedule app...
On Friday, the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and the Petersburg Ragnarök Rollers hosted the annual Brew and Stew Festival at the Sons of Norway. The festival, which has been an annual event for over 14 years, featured 21 different submissions by contestants who made soups, chilis, beers, wines and cordials. Participants in the festival sampled each submission and voted for their favorite in several categories: four categories for stew and three categories for brew. Each stew had a variety of to...
Long time Petersburg resident Tom Lewis was this year's tree lighter for the community Christmas tree. Growing up in Foster, Oregon, Lewis took on a variety of jobs from working on a hay baler to falling timber. Almost on a whim, Lewis and some of the men that he felled timber with made the decision on a Monday in 1942 to join the navy. After he was discharged from the Navy he began working in Oregon again. "Then I got curious about Alaska," said Lewis. He came to Alaska in the early 1950s and...
Members of NOAA's North Pacific Large Whale Entanglement Response Team freed an entangled humpback whale in Sarkar Cove, north of Naukati on Prince of Wales Island on Wed., Nov. 21. NOAA received word of the possibly life-threatening entanglement on Tues., Nov. 20. Dr. Fred Sharpe, an experienced member of the team and research biologist was flown to the scene Wednesday morning to assess options for response. He consulted with NOAA's lead large whale entanglement response expert Ed Lyman on...
On Friday, Erin Watkins Kandoll handmade jewelry line Twisted Ginger was featured at a show at FireLight Gallery & Framing. Made from sterling silver, copper and stones, the jewelry on display were all handmade by Kandoll over the last two months. A majority of the work was done in the last two weeks in her own shop set up with table saws, drill presses, rolling mills and other equipment she acquired over the years. "I have a studio full of all kinds of fun tools," said Kandoll. She began making...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) announces that the District 8 commercial beam trawl shrimp fishery bycatch limit of 6,000 whole pounds of spot shrimp has been reached effective 11:59 p.m., Tuesday, November 27, 2018. Pursuant to 5 AAC 31.116(d) all permit holders fishing in District 8 must retain, weigh, sell, and report on a fish ticket all harvest of spot shrimp taken that are less than 60 count per pound. The permit holder must then surrender all proceeds from the sale of this bycatch overage to the State....
Although this morning's earthquake in Anchorage was too far away to be felt in Petersburg, members of the Petersburg Indian Association were getting ready to leave Anchorage after attending a Bureau of Indian Affairs conference when the ground began to shake at about 8:30 A.M. "Oh my gosh, it was just really scary because it just kept going," said Jeanette Ness, a social worker with PIA who was in the airport waiting for the number 64 jet when the earthquake started. Ness said that ceiling... Full story
The Petersburg School District received its first score from Alaska’s system of school success, as required by the Every Student Succeeds Act, which shows all three schools scoring above the state average. “We are above average, which is often where we are,” said Superintendent Eric Kludt-Painter at a school board meeting last week. “We are not in any sort of targeted assistance or comprehensive assistance.” Rae C. Steman Elementary scored an overall school index value of 62.48, Mitkof Middle School scored an overall school index value of...
The borough assembly held a second public hearing on Monday to allow the community to share feedback on Ordinance #2018-18, which will provide an updated development code for the borough. Two community members were present to give their opinions on the ordinance. Tor Benson expressed confusion with square feet requirements in certain parts of the code. In one instance, he said the code could be simplified to have a 800 sq. ft. accessory dwelling with the opportunity to build a primary dwelling later that is larger than 800 sq. ft. “A lot of t...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Federal regulators are preparing an environmental review for a possible offshore lease sale in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea and environmental groups are calling foul. The legality of Arctic Ocean offshore lease sales is the subject of a federal lawsuit. Environmental groups say it’s irresponsible to plan lease sales ahead of a ruling. “Rather than moving ahead with expending large amounts of governmental resources for analyses and holding public hearings for a lease sale the court may decide is illegal, the Trump Adminis...
At the recommendation of Harbormaster Glo Wollen, the borough assembly awarded Tamico, Inc. a bid amount not to exceed $188,500 for the demolition and the reconstruction of the timber dock adjacent to the Harbor Office. The base bid is $187,500 and includes the demolition and reconstruction of the dock. Materials for the dock will be made up of recycled construction material furnished by the borough's harbor department and new material furnished by Tamico, Inc. An additive alternate of $1,000...
The borough assembly vote unanimously not to pass an ordinance that would clarify language in the Marine Passenger Fee at an assembly meeting on Monday. "At this point, I'd like to just kind of see it go away," said assembly member Jeff Meucci. "Right now we have a sales tax ordinance in place, we have the Marine Passenger Fee in place. The Marine Passenger Fee goes into effect in 2019. It just seems like at one time or another we just get caught up in the minute details of this ordinance that...
The Petersburg Medical Center board of directors passed its strategic plan for the 2019-2023 fiscal years at a board meeting on Tuesday after the document failed to pass at last month's meeting due to clarity issues. The strategic plan had been updated since the previous meeting to reflect the concerns with more clarity, but issues were still found with the current version. "It needs some work," said board member Jim Roberts to PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter. "You made changes, but there's places where...
On Thursday, the Petersburg Medical Center held the first in a series of “community cafes” to inform residents on trends affecting the hospital with residents giving feedback on what they expect from PMC. At the beginning of the forum, PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter made it clear that the day’s meeting was to receive feedback from the community and not talk about the idea of a new facility or remodel of the current one, which is something Hofstetter has been working towards since his arrival over the summer. “It’s very easy to go down rabbit ho...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska netted $28.1 million from its oil and gas lease sales in the North Slope and Beaufort Sea. The Alaska Journal of Commerce reports the state received bids on 133 tracts in the North Slope covering about 350 square miles (906 square kilometers). State Division of Oil and Gas Director Chantal Walsh says the winning bids Thursday for the North Slope accounted for about $27.3 million, the third highest amount since 1998. Winning bidders paid about $848,000 for the eight near shore tracts covering about 32 square m...
The University of Alaska Southeast has called for all residents of Southeast Alaska to submit their creative talents to this year’s edition of “Tidal Echoes,” the college’s literary and art journal. The journal seeks to showcase and support the diverse creative talents of Southeast Alaskans, according to the UAS website. A portion of the journal has been reserved for UAS students, but anybody in the region with literary or artistic talent is invited to submit their work. Emily Wall, faculty advisor with UAS, said that “Tidal Echoes” h...
WRANGELL - Students at Evergreen Elementary School have spent the past few days making Christmas ornaments. Some students drew pictures of Alaskan wildlife, others made miniature wreaths, and another class made poinsettias. All these ornaments are not only fun projects for students to work on. They will be travelling up to Juneau in the coming weeks to hang on the governor's Christmas tree. Tory Houser, with the Forest Service, said that the Wrangell district of the Tongass National Forest has...
