Sorted by date Results 3111 - 3135 of 5587
The airport might add more parking to accommodate increased demand for spaces and to anticipate potential restrictions on current long-term parking, said Richard Burke, who is a Planning and Zoning Committee representative. "It's more for the need for additional spaces," Burke said. "I've talked to a number of folks who almost missed their flights due to lack of parking." Burke went before the Petersburg Borough Tuesday and asked the assembly to lease property across the street from the...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Juneau police investigating a reporter’s allegation that he was slapped by a state senator have sent the case to the state Office of Special Prosecutions for further review. Lt. David Campbell said police investigated the incident at the state Capitol as harassment. While police have not identified anyone involved in the May 2 incident, the editor of the state’s largest newspaper has said reporter Nathaniel Herz was slapped by Sen. David Wilson after Herz asked him about a recently published story in the tstory was about...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced that the 2017/2018 commercial Dungeness crab fishery in Southeastern Alaska will be opening as scheduled at 8 a.m. on June 15. Dungeness crab fishermen must register their vessels and applicable gear with the department. The holder of a valid 2017 Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission permit for Southeastern Alaska Dungeness crab must be onboard the vessel during fishing operations and the permit holder’s name must be listed on the vessel registration. Buoy tags must be purchased prior to f...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Sport Fish announced the bag and possession limit of king salmon in the Wrangell Narrows-Blind Slough terminal harvest area, effective June 1 through July 31. Under the regulations, king salmon bag and possession limits for residents and nonresidents will be two fish for those 28 inches or greater, and two fish less than 28 inches in length. Additionally, king salmon caught by nonresident anglers in the terminal harvest area do not count toward...
Ben Muir, 22, joins the Petersburg Pilot staff this week and assumes the position of news reporter. Muir graduated from Michigan State University in May with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and a minor in Anthropology. He was the Sex and Health Editor for The Big Green, an online student publication that covers news and culture stories at Michigan State University. He completed an internship at The Olympian, a daily newspaper in Olympia, Washington in the summer of 2016. Muir grew up in...
WRANGELL – A combination golf tournament and auction dinner raised just over $35,000 for the hospital’s charitable arm last weekend. “It went really well,” commented Kris Reed, with Wrangell Medical Center. This year there were about 140 booked spots at Saturday’s evening tables, with the auction and dinner held at the Nolan Center’s main hall. “We had almost a full house at dinner.” Running 10 years strong now, proceeds from the annual event go toward the WMC Foundation. It supports various efforts, notably its cancer care fund and schola...
About 50 people gathered at the Petersburg Memorial Cemetery Monday to remember friends and loved ones who died while serving in the military. The Memorial Day ceremony lasted under 30 minutes and included speakers from the Petersburg Ministerial Association who led prayer, read Bible passages and asked for a moment of silence. Preceding the moment of silence was a time for the crowd to shout out names of the people they knew who died in the military. "There is a lot of military history here...
Four traffic cameras have been placed at Haugen and Nordic Drive locations to collect both pedestrian and vehicle data for the Alaska Dept. of Transportation, according to Ryan Siverly, Regional Highway Data Manager. Cameras are mounted to telescoping poles attached to street signs. At the base of the pole is a battery pack. Data is relayed to equipment in an ADOT van for storage. The cameras are placed at the corners of Nordic and Dolphin, Nordic and Haugen, Haugen and Second and at Haugen and...
A grand jury indicted Randal K. Long on three counts of Misconduct Involving a Controlled Substance on Wednesday May 24. Long was arrested by the Petersburg Police Department on April 26 after search warrants were executed and 1,500 doses of Methamphetamine were seized from two locations. The indictment allows prosecutors to proceed with a criminal case against Long. The search was carried out with the cooperation of multiple law enforcement agencies. The seized drugs had a street value of...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Tuesday king salmon sport fishing regulations have changed for the marine waters adjacent to the Stikine River in District 8, near Petersburg and Wrangell. From May 25 through July 15, sport fishing for king salmon is closed for the Grey's Passage area. This area is defined by all waters encompassed by a line from Babbler Point to Hour Point; Point Highfield to an ADFG regulatory marker located at the eastern entrance of Blind Slough; a...
The 36th Annual Petersburg Chamber of Commerce King Salmon Derby gets underway this Friday at 7 a.m. The derby continues through the Memorial Day Weekend and ends Monday at 5 p.m. The Derby hopes to tag and release two fish worth $10,000 and $5,000 prior to the start of the Derby. The $10,000 prize is sponsored by Alaska Marine Lines and the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce. The $5,000 tagged fish is sponsored by Hammer and Wikan. Volunteers fished all morning on Wednesday for the tagged fish and, weather permitting, will continue trolling on Thu...
Without explanation or elaboration Mayor Mark Jensen resigned his position in a single sentence letter sent to the Borough Clerk, Borough Manager and the Borough Assembly. “I, Mark Jensen, resign my position as Mayor of the Petersburg Borough effective 8:00 a.m. today, May 18, 2017,” the letter read. Cindi Lagoudakis is the Vice Mayor and will assume the mayoral duties. Jensen was elected to a second three-year term during the Borough election held October, 2016....
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – A divided federal appeals court panel has ruled that the U.S. Forest Service “chose jobs over wolves” in approving a logging project in southeast Alaska but was within its authority to do so. The decision is in response to lawsuits by conservation groups that challenged the Big Thorne project on Prince of Wales Island and cited concerns about the impact on the Alexander Archipelago wolf. It upholds a lower court ruling. The majority opinion from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel states that the Forest Servi...
“Outstanding students in athletics, activities and scholastics,” is how Principal Rick Dormer will remember the PHS Class of 2017. The senior class members have, “distinct personalities, and are funny kids who lighten up your day,” according to the principal. “Their personalities will be missed by the staff. Respectfully, they were a handful in Middle School, but they have grown into mature young adults,” Dormer added. Dormer noted the athletic achievements of members of this year’s championship basketball team and the impressive feats of the c...
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht's proposal to replace the retiring power and light superintendent with Public Works Superintendent Karl Hagerman, received strong criticism from both the public and the assembly on Monday night. Hagerman started with the City of Petersburg as a Water and Wastewater plant operator in 1992, and was named to the Public Works Director position by City Manager Bruce Jones in 2001. Hagerman has no experience in managing an electric utility. Petersburg Power and Light...
Researchers from the University of Alaska Southeast and Oregon State University have returned to Petersburg to continue fieldwork at LeConte Glacier to gain a better understanding of how tidewater glaciers interact with the ocean and how the ocean interacts with the glacier. This is the second and final year of fieldwork for collecting data from both below the bay and above the bay, where time-lapse cameras record glacial movement throughout the year. Jasmine Nahorniak holds a Masters Degree in...
A grand jury indicted Kenneth L. Birch, 36, on two counts of sexual assault, one in the first degree and one in the second degree. The indictment was filed in the Petersburg Trial Courts on May 11. On May 12 Birch entered a not guilty plea to the charges and the trial was set for July 18. On May 2, in a probable cause statement filed by the Petersburg Police Department, the police responded to a report of a sexual assault on April 30 at 11:44 p.m. The victim told police she had been lying on her stomach on Birch’s bed watching TV while doing l...
Representatives of the IBEW Local 1547 office in Ketchikan and the Power and Light Superintendent of Wrangell Power and Light have responded to Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht’s proposal to appoint Public Works Director Karl Hagerman to head the Petersburg Power and Light Department. Jay Rhodes, Assistant Business Manager of the IBEW Local 1547 wrote in a letter to Giesbrecht on May 12, “The proposed combining of the Power and Light Superinte-ndent with that of Water Wastewater Supervisor poses serious safety concerns for employees of the Pow...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – King salmon fishing crews in Southeast Alaska have fallen short of catching their limit for the winter season. This year’s commercial harvest total is down from the previous two winters, KFSK-FM reported Monday. Crews have caught about 43,000 king salmon this season after catching more than 45,000 in each of the past two years. The winter had been looking even bleaker four weeks ago before a late surge, said Grant Hagerman, Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s troll management biologist. “So a down year,” Hagerman said. “A...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly advanced 5-1 the fiscal year 2018 budget in its second reading with several failed budget amendments that would have kept property taxes from rising and given power and light around $775,000 to help purchase property on Birch Street to build a parking lot. Assembly member Kurt Wohlhueter proposed the latter amendment in order to help power and light replace aging infrastructure. Power and Light superintendent Joe Nelson said purchasing the property is something his department could do in the upcoming year in...
WRANGELL – The sounds of a couple dozen projects can be heard coming from Wrangell's Marine Service Center, as commercial fishermen, pleasure boaters and other mariners finish work ahead of the busy summer season. Activity at the yard has heightened over the past six weeks, harbormaster Greg Meissner reported, following a steady but comparatively slower winter. The uptick is normal, however, with a little fewer than half of the boats lifted at the yard through the year moved during this final fi...
The Petersburg Rod and Gun Club announced the receipt of two grants from the National Rifle Association. Half the grant will be used to build a side barrier wall between the shotgun and handgun ranges. The other half of the $10,376 grant will be used to purchase two storage containers that will be used for dry, secure storage for equipment, targets and ammunition. According to a news release from the Rod and Gun Club, the kid’s club received $14,000 to purchase ammunition, clays, a portable launcher and a dry fire stimulator. Club president J...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – A third air ambulance will be servicing a southeastern Alaska community. Juneau patients got a third option for their medical evacuation needs in early May, the Juneau Empire reportedLifeMed Alaska joins Airlift Northwest and Guardian as an air ambulance service in the area, a frequent stop for tourists. LifeMed Alaska has two Lear jets based in Juneau that can carry two patients each. Their medical team is experienced in pediatric, obstetric and neonatal care as well as adult care. LifeMed Alaska is the preferred provider...
WRANGELL – The school district has begun advertising for a new principal at Evergreen Elementary School, after its board accepted the resignation of current principal Deidre Jenson on Monday. Once the school year ends, Jenson said she will be heading north this summer with her husband, Joel. “We’re heading to Deering, Alaska,” she explained. There, Jenson will be a principal and special education instructor for the Northwest Arctic School District. Two of the Jensons’ children have already graduated, while arrangements are being made for a thi...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Officials are lowering the asking price for a state ferry that has been tied up since 2015. The Alaska Marine Highway System had put the ship up for sale in March, but no one responded by the Tuesday deadline, CoastAlaska News reported Wednesday. After being on the market for a minimum bid of $1.5 million, the new minimum bid for the ship is $700,000, spokeswoman Meadow Bailey said. “This gives people who expressed an interest in the vessel a little bit more opportunity and perhaps makes the vessel a little bit more att...
