Sorted by date Results 3332 - 3356 of 5625
KENAI (AP) – More than a dozen environmental groups are seeking to join lawsuits filed by the state of Alaska over a federal ban on certain hunting techniques in national refuges and preserves. The two lawsuits filed in January claim the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service illegally pre-empted the state’s authority to manage wildlife by banning state-approved hunting practices. The federal regulations prohibit the killing of black bears in their dens with the aid of artificial light and shooting brown bears over bait st...
Tanner crab estimates are down from the previous season although there is enough to go around for a successful fishery. Mature male Tanner abundance estimate is 4.9 million pounds, down from the 5.6 million estimate from the previous year, according to a Alaska Department of Fish and Game press release. "The Tanner crab harvest strategy sets the season length based on the mature male biomass estimate and the number of pots registered at the start of the fishery," ADFG region one lead crab...
Petersburg's hospital board received an update of the Medical Center's strategic plan for the years 2017-2020 at last month's meeting. Part of the plan addresses people and includes patients, employees and physicians. The planning effort has been in use for decades, "and gives focus and direction as the hospital plans for the future. I'm a firm believer in the plan," said PMC CEO Liz Woodyard this week. The first stated goal is to reduce employee turnover to less than 20% by January 2018. The...
PETERSBURG (AP) – A seafood processing company will stop canning salmon at its facility in the southeast Alaska city of Petersburg this year in response to a growing demand for frozen salmon. Tom Sunderland, vice president of marketing for Ocean Beauty Seafoods, said the company will make more money selling frozen salmon than canned salmon this year. He said the company will focus on freezing salmon at its plant northwest of Petersburg in Excursion Inlet, which has “substantial freezing capacity,” KFSK-FM reported. “And by doing so, the hope is...
ANCHORAGE (AP) – A year after tens of thousands of common murres, an abundant North Pacific seabird, starved and washed ashore on beaches from California to Alaska, researchers have pinned the cause to unusually warm ocean temperatures that affected the tiny fish they eat. Elevated temperatures in seawater affected wildlife in a pair of major marine ecosystems along the West Coast and Canada, said John Piatt, a research wildlife biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. Common murres are an indicator of the regions’ health. “If tens of thous...
Alaska Power & Telephone is announcing its redesigned website www.aptalaska.com that is now live. Central to the new format are clean straightforward visual references on each page directing customers and visitors to locations within the site quickly and easily. The new homepage also provides continual at-a-glance access to the latest product and service announcements as well as career opportunities, news releases and our award-winning customer newsletter, TALK. With the increasing number of customers who prefer self-service support over...
ANCHORAGE (AP) – The search has been called off for the six veteran fishermen aboard a crabbing boat missing in the icy, turbulent Bering Sea. The fishing vessel Destination went missing early Saturday after an emergency signal from a radio beacon registered to the ship. The signal originated from 2 miles off St. George, an island about 650 miles west of Kodiak Island. The Coast Guard released a statement Monday night saying the search has been suspended. “We extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the six crewmembers dur...
Four Kake women reported overdue KAKE – On Feb. 11, at 8:44 a.m., Alaska State Troopers received a report of four adult female Kake residents overdue in two separate vehicles out a logging road outside of Kake. The females were identified as Falen Mills, 29, Jocelyn McKinnon-Crowley, 24, Jordana Grant, 27, and Julianne Brown, 31. The females were last seen on Feb. 10 at 11:45 p.m., and they were not intending on remaining out overnight. A search team was assembled and responded to their anticipated location. At 9:39 a.m., the females were locat...
ANCHORAGE (AP) – A lawmaker wants to spike Alaska’s studded-tire tax from $5 to $75. Sen. Cathy Giessel’s bill is aimed at raising money to repair rutted roads damaged by studded tires, reported KTVA-TV. Giessel called the tax hike a “public safety user fee.” “There are states in northern climates that do ban studded tires, but this is not a ban,” she said. “It is a user fee to help to restore the damage that’s caused from the studded tires.” The higher tax would add $300 to the cost of four studded tires compared with the current $20. “While...
Trappers are reminded the season for marten, mink, weasel, and river otter in Unit 4 (Admiralty, Baranof, and Chichagof Islands) ends Wed., Feb. 15, 2017. Beaver season remains open in Unit 4 through April 30, 2017. Pelts of marten, river otter, and beaver must be sealed by a department representative within 30 days after the close of the season....
WRANGELL – In its first meeting of the new year, the governing board for Southeast Alaska Power Agency looked ahead to political reshufflings at the state and federal levels. Meeting in Petersburg February 8, members of the board learned from SEAPA executive officer Trey Acteson a change in administrations at the federal level could be useful to the agency’s future operations. For example, only two commissioners sitting on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission – which licenses hydropower projects – remain in place since the swearing in of P...
The front page article (February 9, 2017) incorrectly cited the wholesale power rate from the Southeast Alaska Power Agency at 8 cents. SEAPA’s base wholesale power rate is 6.8 cents per kWh....
WRANGELL – A planned-for merger between two regional healthcare providers has been put on hold for two months. Alaska Island Community Services was to merge with larger organization SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) on February 1, but the consolidation will have to wait until April 1. The merger was formally announced last October, and heads of both organizations subsequently met with Wrangell officials in November and in January to explain the transition. AICS executive Mark Walker has said the move was needed due to g...
SITKA – March 30th is officially recognized in Alaska as Seward’s Day. On this date in 1867, Russia and the United States signed the Treaty of Cession agreeing to the sale of vast Alaskan lands. That same year, on October 18, now known as Alaska Day, the official transfer ceremony took place in Sitka, or New Archangel, which had been the capital of Russian America since 1808. The Russian Flag was lowered, the American Flag was raised, and Alaska became a US Territory. Today, historic sites from Alaska Native culture and from Russian occ...
Petersburg Police Department searched a residence at #12 Towne Trailer Park and recovered 6 one-quart mason jars of marijuana, more than one ounce of methamphetamine, two handguns and cash. The warrant was served on Feb. 3. One of the handguns was reported stolen locally last year. The methamphetamine represents about 160 typical dosage units with a street value of about $8,000, according to a department press release. Several people, all of whom have been identified, occupied the residence. PPD has been in contact with the prosecutor’s o...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly discussed a request made by the Petersburg School District and Petersburg Medical Center to pay a lower power rate last month. The request comes after meetings between PSD, PMC and borough administrators on how to maintain services without increasing fees or taxes. "The school, the hospital and the borough have been getting together in these meetings to try to figure out ways that we can continue to function in the way the community wants without having to cut...
The Alaska Marijuana Control Board approved the license for Petersburg's first marijuana cultivation operator, Southeast Moog Droog, on Tuesday. Operated by Gary Morgan, the growing facility will be in a 500 square-foot Quonset hut style building near his home in the Papke's Landing subdivision. Morgan participated at the Juneau hearing via teleconference. His license was approved easily with little fanfare. Morgan said the building has passed the state's inspection and is very secure. The...
Entering its third full week of the session, Alaska’s Legislature continues to look at a variety of spending cuts and revenue options. On February 2, the Senate Finance Committee heard SB 21, a proposal of Sen. Bert Stedman to restructure how Permanent Fund earnings are appropriated. Currently the $56B in the fund are constitutionally protected, but the bill proposes further limiting the amount of money that can be withdrawn from the principal to 4.5 percent of market value, based on a rolling five-year average. That rate falls within the f...
JUNEAU (AP) – The Alaska Senate, amid public outcry about crime in the state, is eyeing changes to sweeping criminal justice legislation passed last year. North Pole Republican Sen. John Coghill, who sponsored the new law, said several areas have emerged as needing to be re-examined, including penalties for petty thefts. Legislation is expected to be introduced soon. The law, based on recommendations from a criminal justice commission, sought changes to a system that has experienced high rates of repeat offenders. The commission, in a recent re...
WRANGELL – Wrangell’s Port Commission gave its go-ahead to a tidelands purchase proposed by the Stikine Inn’s owners. Bill Goodale, who jointly manages the dockside hotel with his wife, Cheryl Goodale, appeared at the February 2 meeting to explain his proposal. He wishes to purchase from the city 25,450 square feet of submerged tidelands and 2,000 square feet of uplands to the north and west of the hotel’s current property line, with the intent of expanding and adding to the building. “We’re hoping for 30 rooms, plus retail space on the lowe...
JUNEAU, (AP) _ The head of the board that regulates marijuana in Alaska said he expects officials will have to address again at some point the issue of pot users consuming marijuana products in authorized stores after regulators rejected doing so last week. But Peter Mlynarik, chairman of Alaska’s Marijuana Control Board, said Monday he did not know when the board might take up the matter again. Mlynarik sided with two other board members last Thursday in rejecting rules by a 3-2 vote for allowing people to buy marijuana in Alaska’s aut...
WRANGELL – A new trooper has been selected to take the vacant Wrangell assignment, Alaska Wildlife Troopers confirmed this week. “We’ve had that position filled,” said AWT Captain Steve Hall. In October the Wrangell post was vacated with the resignation of Trooper Fred Burk. Burk had been stationed in the area about a year, following a push by locals and their legislative representation to retain the position, which had been under threat of reduction due to budget cutbacks. No trooper had been stationed in Wrangell through the spring and sum...
JUNEAU, (AP) – A contractor has completed the first half-mile of a rough road that will provide additional access to the back side of Juneau’s Douglas Island. The municipality of Juneau and a contractor broke ground last month on a 2.5-mile pioneer road that will extend the North Douglas Highway, the Juneau Empire reported. The city is working with construction company Enco Alaska Inc. on the West Douglas Pioneer Road and expects to complete the road in June. The road initially will not be open to cars or even all-terrain vehicles. It will be...
PETERSBURG (AP) – A small community on Prince of Wales Island in southeast Alaska has become the state’s newest city. Whale Pass was incorporated as a city following a final count by the state’s division of elections that determined a majority of residents approved the action, KFSK-FM reported Tuesday. Of the 46 ballots, nearly 75 percent voted to give Whale Pass second city status. Residents also voted this winter to form a city government and have elected seven people to serve on the city council. The new government has the power to levy...
JUNEAU (AP) – Twice a week, seven Juneau residents with Parkinson’s disease go through a transformation. “Once they go through this door, they are no longer Parkinson’s patients _ they’re fighters,” trainer Kirk Burke said. Inside the upstairs workout room at Pavitt Health and Fitness Center, Luann McVey, whose husband Richard Steele has Parkinson’s disease, led the group of seven participants in yoga to warm them up for “Rock Steady Boxing.” These “fighters” don’t jump into a ring to square off against another flesh and blood opponent. Ins...
