Sorted by date Results 2701 - 2725 of 5553
At the Sons of Norway Hall on Thursday, in front of about a dozen people, Gov. Bill Walker signed a bill that gave the Petersburg Borough more than 14,000 acres of land. The borough was entitled to about 1,400 acres before Walker came to Petersburg, a number that was personal to the Alaska-born governor. "I don't know the history of what happened, but [Petersburg] didn't get all the land that it was entitled to," Walker told the Pilot. "And I have a personal issue with the federal government...
In a story last week, the Pilot incorrectly referred to Sealaska Heritage as Alaska Sea Heritage. Also, in its first reference, a book illustrated by Janine Gibbons was referred to as “The Woman Carried Away by Killers.” It is “The Woman Carried Away by Killer Whales.” And due to a production error, a photo was credited to Ben Muir when it should have been credited to Nathaniel Stephens....
The assembly approved a bid award on Monday to spend about $59,000 on the electrical portion of a power outage response project, which raised questions from members as to why it can’t be done by Power & Light linemen. The award was given to Engineered Solutions Group, Inc., which is tasked with installing a new sectionalizing switch in Circuit 63, so the utility can isolate Icicle Seafoods and the Trading Union during outages and other line work, said Karl Hagerman, the Public Works Director, in a letter to the borough manager. It’s called the...
After two months without a hospital board meeting, the medical center CEO gave a report to the assembly on Monday that highlighted its newest staff, projects, in-house statistics and a board that recently added two new members. Liz Woodyard, the Petersburg Medical Center CEO, spoke to the assembly on Monday, starting with a note to long term care. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services gave the nursing department a five star rating based on health inspections, staffing levels and quality...
The Petersburg Borough wants to hear ideas from the community that could save the public money, and it’s offering a stage without an assembly meeting tone. “I hear from people all the time that this meeting scares people,” said Steve Giesbrecht, the borough manager, speaking at an assembly meeting. “They don’t want to come and talk because it’s very formal, so I am going to try to go the other way with this.” Giesbrecht is referring to his proposal to host a series of public open houses, or gatherings, which he said could facilitate in...
Petersburg volunteer firefighters and police spent about three hours knocking down a boat fire in the South Harbor on Saturday. At about 8:40 p.m. Saturday, Petersburg police responded to an electrical fire aboard the F/V Defiant. Ryan Welde, the fire marshal, confirmed that the fire department responded at the same time. He could not confirm when the department left, but the last report for the police was about 11:50 p.m., according to police Captain John Hamilton. Harbor officials were also...
(JUNEAU, Alaska) – The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) announced Wednesday that extended repairs needed on the MV Malaspina will change winter ferry service for Southeast Alaska and Prince Rupert. The Malaspina went in for its annual overhaul and certification on October 1, 2017 and was scheduled to return to service on December 22, 2017. During the overhaul, engineers determined that extensive steel replacement was needed and that both propeller hubs must be repaired. Because shipyard space is limited and propeller hubs will take s...
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) — A report by Alaska’s Southeast Conference calls for the state marine highway system to increase its ticket prices. The recommendation is part of a 25-year plan that Gov. Bill Walker asked the conference’s stakeholders to put together for the struggling Alaska Marine Highway System, the Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Thursday. The major part of the plan is to turn the marine highway into a public corporation. The system’s Reform Steering Committee is pursuing legislative changes to make that happen. Stakeholders estimat...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Sometime next April, pregnant cows in the Porcupine Caribou Herd in Canada will take the lead in an annual migration of nearly 200,000 animals north to Alaska. From winter grounds in Canada’s Yukon Territory, the caribou traveling in small and large groups will cross rivers and gaps in the mighty Brooks Range on the 400-mile (643-kilometer) journey. Their destination is the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a strip of flat tundra between the mountains and Arctic Ocean. The plain provides food and a v...
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) — A report by an Alaska regional development organization indicated that the success of the state ferry service could hinge on repairing the troubled relationship between its management and labor force. The Southwest Conference found that the relationship was strained, inefficient and ineffective, causing financial problems for the Alaska Marine Highway System, the Kodiak Daily Mirror newspaper reported Friday. “Management and labor need to have a realignment so they’re working toward a common goal,’’ said Robert Venables,...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — While constitutional questions swirl around a crime bill recently passed by the Alaska Legislature, the director of the state Department of Law’s criminal division thinks the courts will work out a solution. John Skidmore said courts will find a way to interpret the law in a way that avoids constitutional issues, KTOO radio reported. But Tara Rich, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, believes the courts will invalidate a provision dealing with Class C felonies. She also expects legal cha...
WRANGELL - Until further notice is given, the clerical offices and courtroom at the Wrangell Public Safety Building have been closed down temporarily. The closure began Monday morning, with the Alaska Court System citing air quality concerns for staff using the premises. The space is rented from the city, which maintains the entire facility and surrounding property. "We've got some water issues that need to be addressed," explained Neil Nesheim, area court administrator for the First District...
WRANGELL — Following talks earlier this month with the city, the hospital board drafted a letter requesting that it move forward with finding a third party partnership. At their November 15 meeting, Wrangell Medical Center governing board members discussed the pros and potential cons of partnering up with another organization. A major reason for considering the move is seeking out project support for construction of a new medical facility, an elusive goal for much of the past decade. Among the board’s more immediate concerns is maint...
SEATTLE (AP) - Harbor seals, sea lions and some fish-eating killer whales have been rebounding along the Northeast Pacific Ocean in recent decades. But that boom has come with a trade-off: They're devouring more of the salmon prized by a unique but fragile population of endangered orcas. Competition with other marine mammals for the same food may be a bigger problem than fishing, at least in recent years, for southern resident killer whales that spend time in Washington state's Puget Sound, a...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) _ The special legislative session is staggering toward its end Tuesday, with a small contingent of lawmakers holding so-called technical sessions to keep it alive after the Alaska House and Senate disagreed on adjourning early. Technical sessions are more casual gatherings involving a handful of members charged with gaveling in and out. They are used regularly, including when one side doesn’t want to keep all its members waiting around while waiting for the other to send it a bill. Doug Gardner, the Legislature’s top leg...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly talked at length in a meeting last week about forming a tax committee, made of community members who could explain how tax finances work and eventually bring recommendations to the council. “I’ve had a chance to talk to several members of the community who had all kinds of questions about senior citizen property tax exemptions and overall sales tax,” said Jeff Meucci, an assembly member. “And what the trends are.” As a result, the assembly agreed to ask community members to sit on a short term – possibly si...
A local Petersburg artist illustrated two children's book with ancient stories from the Tlingit and Haida native tribes, and the goal in her work is to connect people with symbols, shapes and patterns. Janine Gibbons illustrated "The Woman Who Married the Bear" and "The Woman Carried Away by Killers," two oral traditions of the respective native tribes. "You, as an American citizen, should know more about symbols and shapes and patterns," Gibbons said. "And repetitions of shape, and patterns...
The remodel of the Petersburg Municipal Power and Light building is asking for an additional $60,000 in contingency dollars to address items that were left out of a ‘bare bones’ plan in 2015, said Karl Hagerman, the Public Works director. “There wasn’t a whole lot of thought about this being the long term headquarters of the department,” Hagerman said. “Being that the construction of a new headquarters in Scow Bay has been eliminated from consideration and the current offices will be the PMPL headquarters for many years into the future, the...
A group of high school seniors at PHS are learning how to manage finances in a career readiness course. Students manage hypothetical loans, credit cards, 401k retirement plans, write checks and compete against classmates for who can be most fiscally responsible. “There may be a little bit of financial trash talking,” said Jim Engell, the careers class teacher, speaking at a school board meeting on Tuesday. “It’s been fun listening to the kids deal with real life scenarios, and I’m hoping it’ll reap the benefits down the road for them in ways th...
The Alaska National Guard will host a town hall meeting this Thursday in Juneau to provide an update on the Alaska National Guard in Southeast Alaska, present some of the challenges facing the Guard, and hear concerns from citizens in the community. Maj. Gen. Laurie Hummel, adjutant general for the Alaska National Guard, will host the meeting and will be accompanied by several Army Guard and Air Guard senior leaders, a chaplain, a recruiter and a representative from the state’s Office of Veterans Affairs. The focus of the town hall will be a...
The Southeast Alaska 2018 pink salmon harvest is predicted to be in the average range, with a point estimate of 23 million fish (80% confidence interval: 3–44 million fish). An actual harvest of 23 million pink salmon would be below the recent 10-year average harvest of 38 million pink salmon, but near the average even-year harvest since 1960 (25 million). The 2018 pink salmon harvest forecast was based on the average of 5 recent even-year harvests (2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016). Forecast Discussion: The 2018 harvest forecast of 23 m...
(JUNEAU) A joint letter sent Wednesday to U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson from Alaska Governor Bill Walker and Lt. Governor Byron Mallott, Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Representative Don Young emphasized the “potential catastrophic effects on Alaska’s communities” from upstream mining activities in British Columbia (B.C.) and urged the U.S. federal government to “help protect overall U.S. interests in this situation.” The letter also called the Tulsequah Chief “an example of an inadequate response by the B.C. government....
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) —Tourism leaders in Alaska are asking Congress to increase U.S. Forest Service recreation funding. Tourism leaders representing 49 businesses in Southeast Alaska wrote in an open letter last week that the U.S. Forest Service’s budget has shrunk by nearly half in a little more than a decade, hampering growth in southeast Alaska’s visitor industry. The U.S. Forest Service’s funding for recreation on the Tongass and Chugach national forests declined 46 percent from 2004-2014, the businesses said. That’s hurting businesse...
WRANGELL — Wrangell’s mayor chose the community’s new voting and alternate member on next year’s Southeast Alaska Power Agency board. Based in Ketchikan, the regional power provider services that community, Wrangell and Petersburg. The three member utilities pool production from their hydroelectric facilities and collectively purchase power from the agency through 25-year power sales agreements, with the current agreement extending through 2034. Decisions guiding the agency is overseen by a governing board consisting of five voting directo...
One of the state’s public ferries will help collect data on ocean acidification during its regular route. The news was announced last week by Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center at University of Alaska Southeast, which has partnered with the Alaska Marine Highway System, British Columbia’s Hakai Institute, Alaska Ocean Observing System and other federal agencies on the project. The vessel chosen for the data collection study is the M/V Columbia, which at 418 feet and a gross tonnage of 3,946 is the ferry system’s largest. On its route betwe...
