Sorted by date Results 2651 - 2675 of 5553
The Petersburg Medical Center is in its early stages of hiring a new CEO while deciding whether to build a new hospital, two major decisions that will have to work congruently in the approaching months. In a hospital board meeting two weeks ago, a financial feasibility study was approved to examine the cost of building a new facility versus remodeling. Days later, the hospital board held a work session that was led by a CEO hiring committee. “Yeah, I think that’s a factor,” said Marlene Cushing, hospital board member and chairperson of the C...
The Petersburg Borough recently applied for a federal grant worth about $6.6 million to develop a boat haul out near town, and a man who does business there is retracting his support for the project after reading the application. John Murgas publicly endorsed the Borough’s application for a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER Discretionary Grant, before reading it. If Petersburg was selected, it would fund nearly all of the project costs around a plan to build a haul out and boat yard at the Scow Bay Turnaround. T...
The Petersburg School District updated its strategic plan for the next four years, with a focus on health, diversity in the classroom, future readiness and co-curricular activities. A Planning Team with 16 people, including school staff, board members, students, and other community members took two days in mid-November to finish the strategic plan that will run through 2021. “[We talked] about what a school district will look like for the next four years,” said Mara Lutomski, “what our high aspirations are even though we may not end up there...
Petersburg School's food service program gained about $3,300 in last year's fiscal year, a striking result that is mostly accredited to the nutrition director cutting costs and the district cracking down on unpaid bills. The Petersburg food service program, a department the school usually has to add about $25,000 into every year, actually saw its revenues outweigh its expenditures in fiscal year 2017, said Karen Quitslund, the district finance director. "This is not a money making venture,"...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — An unprecedented heat wave has toppled weather records across Alaska. The Juneau Empire reports the National Weather Service thermometer Friday at Juneau International Airport hit 54 degrees, tying the highest temperature recorded in December there. General forecaster for the Weather Service in Juneau Devid Levin says the heat wave in Alaska is due to a big ridge of upper-level high pressure. With the jet stream moving to the north, warm air from the tropics has moved north, covering the state. Records kept by the W...
Hunters around Mitkof Island who shot a moose illegally this year have helped provide more than 1,400 pounds of meat - doubling last year -- to 10 service organizations and the school district in Petersburg. The five moose that were shot and then surrendered to state troopers this season were processed last week. Major Lonnie Upshaw with the Salvation Army, and Cody Litster, an Alaska Wildlife Trooper, recently were at the Petersburg Community Cold Storage with a small group, loading more than...
WRANGELL - A preseason forecast for next year's king salmon return to the Stikine River has come up worryingly short, boding ill for local fisheries. Released last week by Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the preseason terminal run size forecast for the Stikine River was at only 6,900 fish, less than half the lower threshold of the stock's escapement goal range. The Stikine EGR is between 14,000 and 28,000 Chinook salmon, and such a low forecast does not allow for an allowable catch under tre...
WRANGELL — The regional forest supervisor with the United States Forest Service issued a final decision on the Wrangell Island timber sale project on Monday. Addressing a number of objections to the project as it was proposed last year, the scope of the sale approved by the Tongass National Forest supervisor’s office in Ketchikan will be but a fraction of what it had been. Among five alternatives presented, it was Alternative 2 which the USFS opted for. Of the plans, it had the greatest amounts of acreage and timber deemed to be sus...
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) — Kodiak’s seafood processors are facing staff shortages as older employees reach retirement age and a younger generation is showing little interest in joining the workforce. James Turner, plant manager at Ocean Beauty Seafoods, said that over the salmon season, they were roughly 100 employees short. The processor usually requires about 350-360 workers, but this summer they were down to roughly 230-240. Though this didn’t inhibit the amount of fish that Ocean Beauty processed, it did affect the ways in which the fish was p...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Every morning, Cathy Dobson walks into her kitchen to make breakfast. The moment she steps into the room, her slippers are covered in rollicking puppies. “I love it,” she said. From her home in the Mendenhall Valley, Dobson is one of the most reliable volunteers for Southeast Organization For Animals, a network that connects abandoned animals with new owners. This week, she has some special guests: A litter of 6-week-old puppies from Prince of Wales Island. Most of them are blind. One is both blind and deaf. For SOFA, as t...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – President Donald Trump’s efforts to make the United States “energy dominant’’with help from Alaska got off to modest results Wednesday. The Interior Department made its largest-ever lease offering within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska: 900 tracts covering 16,100 square miles (41,700 sq. kilometers), roughly the size of New Hampshire and Massachusetts combined. But oil companies submitted bids on just seven tracts covering 125 square miles (324 sq. kilometers). The bids totaled $1.16 million, to be split bet...
On Dec. 11, at about 10:40 p.m., Juneau based Alaska State Troopers received a report of an assault at a Church Street residence in Kake. The next day State Troopers responded to Kake and investigated. Aaron Lee Loges, 32, of Kake is alleged to have assaulted three separate family members, two of which were small children, recklessly endangered a third child, and damaged the property of another family member. Aaron was arrested on three counts of Assault 4-DV, Reckless Endangerment, and Criminal Mischief 5-DV. He was transported to Juneau and...
The furbearer trapping season is open in Petersburg and the Alaska Department Fish and Game is asking pet owners to control their animals to avoid legally set traps. “Leash laws, where applicable, should be followed,” said Richard Lowell, an area management biologist with the department, who issued a press release on Wednesday. “A person may not obstruct, hinder, or disturb a lawful trapping effort.” The department is asking hunters to use discretion when setting traps near trails, recreational or residential areas where there are people...
A heat wave unprecedented in the past 73 years has toppled weather records across Alaska, particularly in Southeast Alaska. On Friday, the National Weather Service thermometer at Juneau International Airport hit 54 degrees, tying the highest temperature ever recorded in December there. The airport is the city’s official measuring point, and according to records kept by the Weather Service since 1936, three of the 10 warmest December days in Juneau’s history have come in the past week. The city has set four daily high-temperature records. It...
The Petersburg Vikings were crowned 2A Volleyball State Champions on Saturday, coming after an early loss to Wrangell and injury to one of its all-conference seniors, leaving the team shaken and its coach unsure if it'd regroup. Petersburg began the state championship on Thursday with two sweeping wins against Unalaska and then Kenny Lake. Wrangell was up next for Petersburg on Friday. In the first game, Petersburg was leading two to zero when senior Elisa Larson went up to swing and her knee...
The borough assembly on Monday appointed two members to the board of an agency that provides about 60 percent of the power used in Petersburg, Wrangell and Ketchikan. The vote on Monday was a redo after the first try in a previous meeting was deemed improper. The assembly had voted with closed ballots, which is only allowed when appointing a vice mayor, said Borough Clerk Debbie Thompson on Monday. In the do over, former Assembly Member Bob Lynn was selected as the voting member to represent Pet...
The Petersburg assembly on Monday continued its discussion on the possibility of charging a marine passenger fee to all vessels that enter borough waters. “Currently we aren’t charging cruise ships that come to Petersburg, though most of the communities around Southeast are,” said Jeff Meucci, an assembly member. “And I’m just trying to sort out how we would be a part of that process.” At first the assembly proposed a committee but members later voted to have a work session instead, a decision that could streamline the approach. The Harbor...
A town hall is scheduled in Petersburg on Thurs., Dec. 14 at 5:00 p.m. at the Sons of Norway Hall with Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins hosting a panel to discuss the opioid crisis and its effects on Alaska. Kreiss-Tomkins said the opioid topic has come up nearly every time he has spoken with Petersburg residents. "It's a huge issue," Kreiss-Tomkins said. "There is a lot of concern locally, and I wanted to make sure we could bring this expertise to Petersburg." The panel will include Dr. Jay...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game advised caution for hikers and for dog walkers in Juneau as wolf sightings have increased. Anecdotal reports of wolf sightings in Juneau have increased this year, but assistant area management biologist Carl Koch cannot be sure whether that’s due to an increase in wolf awareness from encounters posted to social media or a reflection of a population increase in Juneau, the Juneau Empire reported . “I’d say the anecdotal reports are higher (this year) than they have been,” Koch said...
Police have received complaints in recent months of marijuana dealers selling product outside the licensed retail shop in downtown Petersburg. “I am not aware of any thefts related to the new marijuana laws,” said Kelly Swihart, the Petersburg police chief. “But we have had complaints of non-licensees making sales in the immediate vicinity of a licensed business.” Susan Burrell, owner of The 420, a marijuana retail store located through an alley off North Nordic Drive, echoed the complaints heard by police. “Several months ago we had regular c...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The cruise industry has dodged a tax increase after Alaska’s U.S. senators helped strike the provision from the tax bill that passed the Senate. The bill approved early Saturday includes other provisions that Alaska Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan hailed as significant for Alaskans, including allowing oil and gas drilling on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Murkowski called the package “a critical milestone in our efforts to secure Alaska’s future.” The measure also would pro...
On Nov. 23, Juneau based Alaska State Troopers received a report of an assault on Canadian Side Road in Kake. State Troopers subsequently responded and investigated. Investigation revealed a 35 year old male resident of Kake physically assaulted a 44 year old male Kake resident. A charge of Assault 4 is being referred to the Juneau District Attorney’s Office for prosecution....
The Power and Light building at the Haugen and North Nordic Drive intersection is about to be taken in about nine feet. Public Works Director Karl Hagerman said the work to remove a nine-foot corner section of the Power and Light building could be done this month. Contractors are working on a plan to cantilever the upper floor and leave an 11-foot-tall opening for drivers stopped at Haugen Drive to have a better line of sight for drivers. "I hesitate to commit to a date when this will happen as...
The top executive at the Petersburg Medical Center has announced her retirement for next June. After 44 years in the medical field, Liz Woodyard is retiring as CEO of the medical center, effective at the end of June 2018, she said. "Well, I'm 65," Woodyard said. "I'll be 66 by then, so I'll be at my full retirement age." Woodyard has been CEO of the hospital in Petersburg for seven years. Before that, she pinballed around the west coast from being chief nursing officer in Fairbanks to CEO of a m...
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — Alaska’s lone individual insurance carrier has reached an agreement with the state Division of Insurance to make a one-time $25 million reimbursement. Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska announced on Friday that its reimbursement will go toward funding high-cost health insurance claims through the Alaska Reinsurance Program, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported. The state-operated reinsurance program aims to stabilize customers’ premiums by covering claims in the individual health care market for those with...
