Sorted by date Results 2757 - 2781 of 5587
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...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska House isn’t giving up on the special legislative session, even though the Senate has called it quits. The House majority coalition on Monday announced plans to hold technical sessions until the special session ends Nov. 21. The House plans for the two Juneau members to preside over the technical sessions, for which attendance isn’t mandatory, to keep the special session alive. That will force the Senate to hold similar sessions since one body can’t adjourn without the other. Special sessions can last up to 30 d...
Mon., Nov. 20 Stedman Elementary - Regular release time: Kndgtn 1:15, Grades 1-5 2:45pm. Scheduled conferences, 3-8pm. Mitkof Middle School - Regular release time: Grades 6-8 3:00pm. Conferences, 4-8pm (call middle school office for scheduling information). Petersburg High School - Regular release time: Grades 9-12 3:00pm. Walk-in conferences, 4-8pm Tues., Nov. 21 Stedman Elementary - Early release time: Grades Kndgtn -5 1:15pm Scheduled conferences, 1:20 - 8pm. Mitkof Middle School - Early release time: Grades 6-8 2:20pm. Conferences, 3-8pm...
Ray Olsen, 91, sat at a Veterans Day assembly in Petersburg on Friday in a wheelchair, with his hands folded on his lap. In a blue parka and sporting a trim white beard, he watched as students praise his service, and he stood for the honorary moment of silence. Olsen, who was a first class petty officer in the Navy from 1944 to 1945, watched middle schoolers read their definition of a veteran; he sat when high schoolers recited the Gettysburg Address; and he listened to the band play the "Armed...
The assembly unanimously denied a request by the Petersburg Housing Coalition that asked borough departments for data and solutions to the homeless population in town. Assembly Member Jeff Meucci asked for the coalition’s request to be on the agenda, not because he supports it, but rather that he wants the public to be represented. “I kind of feel strongly that people come up here and speak at the podium, and in the past, their letters or their requests -- it seems like they fall on deaf ears,” Meucci said. “I just wanted to make sure that when...
Soon after Rachel Kvernvik's dad died at sea in 2002, she wrote him a letter, sealed it in a bottle and threw it in the ocean, never thinking it would be opened. She was 16 and looking for closure. About 15 years later, on Halloween day 2017, a man told Kvernvik that he and a group of campers had found the bottle in 2003. The campers hadn't contacted Kvernvik for 15 years. They had broken the bottle, read the letter and returned it to the ocean, where they said it belonged. Afterward, they could...
Rain Country Quilters showcased about 40 quilts at its annual quilt show at the recent Oktoberfest event. Also included were antique quilts dating back to the Civil War. Rita Byrer, who's with Rain Country Quilters, estimated the group raised more than $700 through a silent auction in the high school library. That number will be confirmed at a meeting next year, at which they will decide what Petersburg organization a portion of the money should be donated to. Marcy Gelhaus was given the...
Firefighters on Tuesday responded to a distress call from a woman whose front lawn had caught fire, which burned her arm and nearly ignited the front porch, until a man who noticed the escalating blaze stopped to help. At about noon on Tuesday, the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department responded to a fire on Philbin Lane, where the homeowner had been injured, said David Berg, the assistant chief. The owner later said she was cooking when a grease fire ignited in her kitchen. She rushed the...
Mayor Mark Jensen reported on Monday that Gov. Bill Walker is scheduled to visit Petersburg next week to sign a borough land bill. Senate Bill 28, Petersburg Municipal Land Selection Bill, will entitle the borough to 14,666 acres of state land after it is signed by Walker. The Deputy Press Secretary to the governor, Jonathon Taylor, confirmed that the visit is scheduled. Walker is slated to sign the bill and give remarks on Thursday afternoon at the Sons of Norway Hall....
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — Horizon Air and its Bombardier turboprop Q400 aircraft will be phased out of Alaska in March and replaced with Boeing 737s, an Alaska Air Group official said. Horizon Air is a component of the group, which includes Alaska Airlines. Horizon’s Anchorage base will close March 10, 2018, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported. Alaska Airlines Regional Vice President Marilyn Romano said on Tuesday that Horizon “has struggled to operate cost-effectively in such a remote environment with limited resources.” Horizon started...
A wide-ranging recall of fire extinguishers produced by Kidde has been issued, after a device failure led to a death and multiple injuries. Announced last week by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission in conjunction with its Canadian counterpart, the recall involves 134 different models of extinguisher manufactured domestically and in Mexico between January 1, 1973, and August 15, 2017. The extinguishers were sold in red, white and silver, and are either ABC- or BC-rated. In all,...
SITKA, Alaska (AP) — A policy change in China has officials in the Alaska panhandle city of Sitka anticipating a major change in the city’s recycling program. China is the top purchaser of Sitka’s recyclables and advised the World Trade Organization in July that it planned to ban imports of 24 types of recyclables. The city’s recycling contractor, Republic Services, has now put Sitka on notice that it might have to stop accepting mixed paper, plastics and cardboard as of Nov. 1, the Daily Sitka Sentinel reported last week. Mayor Matt Hunter...
The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities reported that the M/V Kennicott has been temporarily taken out of service. After completing its southern run to Ketchikan on November 4 it entered dry dock for repairs. "It's got a leaky seal on its port-side propeller," explained Aurah Landau, public information officer for Alaska Marine Highway System's South Coast office. She estimated repairs should take until mid-month to complete, and the ferry may return to service later next week....
Arnold Enge’s F/V Moonshadow caught fire Sunday evening while moored in the North Boat Harbor. A malfunctioning oil stove was believed to be the cause of the fire. Enge said damage to the boat was minimal and added that he’s performing clean up duties following the fire. Some Formica sheets will have to be replaced on the ceiling that bubbled from the heat of the fire, but no structural damage occurred according to Enge. Enge said he had shut down the oil stove before leaving the boat on Sunday, but added that the oil stove carburetor may hav...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Alaska Gov. Bill Walker unveiled a plan Monday to address a rise in the state's crime rate and said a stable economic process would help. People training to put their lives on the line in state jobs connected to fighting crime should be assured they will not be repeatedly targeted for layoff notices every May during state budget deliberations, Walker said. “Alaska needs fiscal certainty,” the governor said at a news conference in Juneau. “They need to know now and into the future they're not going to have another...
Medical staff, an advocacy group and the police station in Petersburg have created a three-pronged approach to sexual assault cases. "Understanding what sexual assault is, it's kind of eye-opening," said Annette Wooton, the executive director of a Petersburg advocacy group called WAVE, or Working Against Violence for Everyone. "For a lot of people, when you look at the statutes, you realize 'oh, I've been assaulted.'" The Sexual Assault Response Team, or SART, is headed by local police, medical...
Tom Gregoire, a northern California pastor with five kids, had wanted to work in Petersburg the last three years, and in Alaska for decades. "I've been trying to figure out how to get back to Alaska since I was 17," said Gregoire, sitting in his study at the Petersburg Bible Church. "And it took me until I was 40 to make it." Gregoire was born in Kodiak but moved to California before he could remember much. He became a part-time pastor while working in construction. He had three children with hi...
The First Baptist Church in Petersburg started its search for a new pastor last week, coming after Don Higgins resigned due to health reasons. The first step for the search committee is to find an interim pastor to replace Pastor Higgins. Butch Young, who is the chair on the search committee, said the Southern Baptist Convention in Anchorage will assist in finding a likely retired pastor to step in. "We are praying that Don Higgins recovers completely and is able to return to preaching," Young s...
Trooper Cody Litster was about to pack everything he needed for the day into his truck one Thursday morning when he got a phone call about a shooting in his jurisdiction, 50 miles away. "It seems like it's all making sense now that I've asked a few more questions," said Litster, on his first call with a school administrator in Kake, who reported the shooting. Litster, a wildlife trooper, was in Petersburg when he first heard from Kake, a small village with no local police that's two hours away...
A Petersburg High School senior on Monday was given the highest honor in the Girl Scout youth organization. Julia Murph, a senior scout, was presented the Gold Award. She had to complete two projects to become eligible. The most recent was a brochure that mapped hiking trails near Petersburg. On the front is a photograph looking down on Petersburg taken by Murph when she was about 9 years old. Inside is a map of Petersburg with breakdowns of each hike and their difficulty. "Part of it was my mom...
WRANGELL – Wrangell delegates returned from last month's annual conference for the Alaska Federation of Natives at Anchorage's Dena'ina Center. AFN is the largest statewide Native organization in Alaska, representing 151 federally recognized tribes, 150 village corporations, 12 regional corporations, and various nonprofit and tribal consortiums. Its annual October conference, this year held between the 19th and 21st, provides AFN membership the opportunity to put forward resolutions as well a...
About 35 elementary students in Petersburg submitted drawings to local police in a contest to select its Christmas card. Three volunteer judges were in the Petersburg Police Department's training room on Saturday to select the station's next Christmas card. Teri Toland, Jeigh Stanton Gregor and Carolyn Hurtt scanned the drawings that sprawled across the table. Some were northern-lights themed, others were fish-based, and a few were bears with Santa Claus hats on. The judges quickly made a...
