Sorted by date Results 4305 - 4329 of 5553
Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA) CEO Trey Acteson spoke before the Petersburg Borough Assembly last week and the Wrangell Assembly this week to update the communities on the progress of the Swan Lake expansion project and apprise them of their role in upcoming refinancing efforts. The current dam at Swan Lake is 174 feet tall and 430 feet wide with a spillway slot that is 15 feet high and 100 feet wide. "Essentially the project is to fill that spillway slot, be able to raise the reservoir...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) _ The supervisor of the Coconino National Forest in Flagstaff, Arizona, will move north to become supervisor of the nation's largest national forest. The Juneau Empire reports Earl Stewart has been named supervisor for the Tongass National Forest, which spans more than 26,500 square miles in southeast Alaska. The U.S. Forest Service in an announcement says Stewart likely will take the new position in May but a start date hasn't been decided. Stewart says working in the Tongass is a lifelong dream. He will replace Forrest...
Tonka Seafoods, Inc., announced last year that it was working to bring shrimp fisheries and processing back to Petersburg after a nearly decade-long absence. Well, it's delivered. The fishery is closed for March and April, but Chief Financial Officer Seth Scrimsher said they purchased 250,000 pounds of pink shrimp from fisherman at a price of 40 cents per pound over the winter. A customer contacted Tonka and requested the shrimp after spotting the seafood company as one of 12 finalists for the... Full story
The assembly continues to be divided on changing the current blue bag recycling program to a cart-based system that would also bring collection in-house. The ordinance containing the budget item for the sanitation department narrowly passed its second reading at Monday’s meeting with members Bob Lynn, Kurt Wohlhueter and John Havrilek opposing. The sanitation fund is one of two enterprise funds that are not currently meeting their reserves goal. The budget policy approved by the assembly last November established that reserves should equal at l... Full story
Petersburg Indian Association started their week off without a tribal administrator on staff. Bobbi Scherrer was hired into the position this January and left at her own hand after creating an operational budget and seeing the funds weren’t there for fiscal year 2015 for the organization to employ an administrator. “I’m very sad to be leaving. It’s not what I thought would happen and certainly not this soon,” Scherrer said. “I knew we weren’t out of the woods yet, but I was hoping when I put together the operational budget to find a little... Full story
Individuals will have the opportunity to provide public testimony via teleconference on two bills being discussed in the Alaska State Legislature on Thursday, March 5 from 4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. at the Petersburg LIO (Legislative Information Office) at 11B Gjoa St. The two house bills under consideration cover the state operating budget and the mental health budget. The public hearing time allotment will be shared with Sitka, Delta Junction, Unalaska, Glennallen and Tok. Public testimony is limited to two minutes. Individuals wishing to...
She's got just a few weeks left in the office, but they're going to be busy ones for former Petersburg Borough Clerk Kathy O'Rear as she prepares for retirement. "We've always got a ton of work to do here," she said. Debbie Thompson was sworn in as clerk Monday, and O'Rear's last day will be March 31. Until then, she'll be assisting Thompson in the transition. O'Rear became Petersburg's clerk in August 2000, and was a city clerk in East Jordan, Mich., for 16 years before that. "We had come up he...
Despite the proposed statewide budget cuts, our legislators will not close paved highways elsewhere in the state. Likewise, they won’t restrict two-lane highways down to a single lane. But that will be the effect a proposal by a legislative subcommittee that is proposing a 10-percent cut to the Alaska ferry system. Some proposals call for taking ferries out of service, including replacement vessels that go into service when vessels are taken out of service for repairs or annual Coast Guard required overhauls. Southeast communities will not o...
The Salmon Project, a Kodiak-based non-profit that explores Alaskans’ relationships with wild salmon, will be holding a book drop at the Petersburg Public Library this weekend. Some 1,250 copies of David Montgomery’s book ‘King of Fish’ will be given away as part of the statewide campaign, which will then head to Sitka, Cordova and other communities in Alaska. “When we do book drops our first step is always to go into a community with a large number of books and try to get them in people’s hands,” said Executive Director Erin Harrington. ...
An 18-member Local Marijuana Regulation Advisory Committee has been formed to discuss the local implementation of a law that took effect Feb. 24, allowing for the private use and commercial sale of marijuana. The assembly unanimously passed a resolution to create the committee at Monday’s regular meeting. Three assembly members, Nancy Strand, Kurt Wohlhueter and Jeigh Stanton Gregor, will sit on the committee with Stanton Gregor appointed as the committee’s chairperson. Joined by the three assembly members are 15 residents who expressed int...
A number of public hearings on Alaska Marine Highway System’s operating budget have been scheduled this week, allowing ferry users the opportunity to give their input to state legislators as they draw up a budget. In a media release, Southeast Conference highlights the ferry system’s importance to the region’s communities, and further warns of a possible $9.5 million cut to AMHS being weighed as the Legislature finds ways to address a $3.5 billion deficit anticipated for the 2016 fiscal year. If that sized cut goes ahead as planned, servi...
These ordinances, resolutions and requests came before the Petersburg Borough Assembly at Monday’s regular meeting. Approved by the assembly •The assembly approved a bid award for landscaping at the Petersburg Public Library. Of two bidders, Reid Brothers Construction won the bid for an amount not to exceed $199,332 to do hardscape and rock work at the library along with drainage improvements. Funds for the landscaping project will come from a 2012 State Legislative Grant allocated for the construction of the new facility as well as from pri...
Dani Palmer, 27, joins the Petersburg Pilot this week and will write news, sports and features for the paper. She most recently worked for the twice-weekly Newport News-Times (Oregon) covering education and county news for the paper and provided coverage for The Herald Bulletin as well. A graduate of the University of Southern Indiana, she was both a Chief Copy Editor and Editor in Chief for the university newspaper. Palmer was named Senior of the Year in 2011 for Journalistic Excellence and...
The availability and affordability of housing in Petersburg Borough and the effects of a changing age composition of the borough’s population were two emerging themes highlighted in a report released Feb. 20 by Agnew Beck, the consulting firm heading up the borough’s new Comprehensive Plan. The report outlines challenges and opportunities in nine key areas that spring from residents’ feedback at the consultants’ last visit to town in December as well as a community-wide survey that closed last month. Over 350 individuals, more than 10 percent... Full story
Petersburg Indian Association (PIA) announced the departure of Tribal Administrator Bobbi Scherrer in a press release yesterday. Scherrer’s position and two part-time positions will be eliminated from PIA due to a budget deficit. “My first act as Tribal Administrator was to formalize an operating budget for PIA,” Scherrer said in the release. “The 2015 finalized budget identified a deficit that required serious cuts.” Scherrer has been serving as the tribal administrator for about one month. In a February interview, she told the Pilot she... Full story
After two years of work Petersburg Mental Health Services (PMHS) has earned a three-year accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). This is the first such accreditation PMHS has earned from the international accrediting body. “This has been a process we’ve been working on for two years,” said PHMS Executive Director Susan Ohmer. The organization began undergoing the accreditation process in 2013 as part of a state mandate for grantees of behavioral health services. Since then PMHS staff, heade...
The Petersburg High School shop class recently finished making 19 new log books for the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) cabins in the area using the computer numerical controlled (CNC) router put into service at the school in the fall of 2013. The shop class, lead by teacher Nick Popp, has been using the CNC router to produce signage for the Petersburg Borough and other organizations around town. The partnership between the USFS and the school began the idea for such collaborations, and also helped...
JUNEAU (AP) — Alaska on Tuesday became the third U.S. state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana for adults, but it was a subdued milestone. Unlike in Colorado and Washington state, there were no street parties and public smoking displays in Alaska’s biggest cities. But backers of legal pot said the mild reaction was fitting because they are aiming to promote responsible consumption of marijuana as they work with lawmakers during the next few months in preparing its sale. “We wish people would just celebrate in a little less publi...
JUNEAU (AP) — Questions to ponder as Alaska legalizes marijuana: HOW DID LEGALIZATION HAPPEN? Alaskans voted 53-47 percent in November to legalize marijuana use by adults in non-public places. Possession and transportation of up to an ounce of pot, and growing up to six plants, half of which can be mature, are legal as of Feb. 24. The state has nine more months to create regulations for a commercial marijuana industry whose pot will be sold and taxed. BUT WASN’T POT ALREADY LEGAL IN ALASKA? Yes and no. A 1975 Alaska Supreme Court decision pro...
Lieutenant Governor Byron Mallott filed an emergency regulation Feb. 24 defining what “in public” means in the Alaska statute that make the consumption,possession, transport and transfer of marijuana legal. A meno from Mallot’s office reads: “Alaska Statue 17.38.010 expressly makes it unlawful to ‘consume marijuana in public.’ Alaska Statute 17.38.040 defines ‘consumption’ as ‘the act of ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing marijuana into the human body.’ But AS 17.38 does not define ‘in public.’” “This emergency regulation is nec...
An enhanced Clausen Museum will reopen to the public March 3 after being closed since mid-January for staff to work on projects. Director Brittany Zenge has been taking inventory of the museum's collection and building new displays, along with making preparations for a new discovery center that will allows kids of all ages to learn more about the natural world of Mitkof Island. Zenge took the director position last October and said the revamp is a response to feedback she's heard about the...
Petersburg High School sophomore Brandy Mulbury will be traveling to Washington D.C. this summer to participate in the National Student Leadership Conference (NSLC). The NSLC invites a select group of high schoolers from across the U.S. and around the world to participate in summer programs that develop leadership skills and allow students to further explore their interests while giving them an experience of college life. Mulbury will stay on the campus of American University as a participant of...
JUNEAU (AP) — Alaska’s minimum wage will rise to $8.75 an hour Tuesday, giving a pay increase to thousands of workers. Voters in November overwhelmingly approved raising the minimum wage from $7.75 per hour to $8.75 per hour, effective Jan. 1. Because the state constitution calls for ballot measures to take effect 90 days after election results are certified, the raise doesn’t take effect until Tuesday. A second increase, to $9.75 per hour, is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1 under the initiative. The minimum wage is to be adjusted for infla...
JUNEAU (AP) — A review of the commission that regulates commercial fisheries participation in Alaska details inefficiencies, a backlog of permit applications and options for restructuring. The report requested by former Gov. Sean Parnell reviewed operations of the three-member Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission. That board decides how many fishermen can participate in a limited fishery and who receives the permits. Parnell requested the review in August after the Legislature sought its own audit. It was written by Tom Lawson, former d...
Erika Kludt-Painter will be offered a one-year contract to serve as superintendent for the Petersburg School District in the 2015-16 school year. After meeting in executive session, the school board voted to suspend the superintendent search and instead proceed with contract negotiations with Kludt-Painter at the March 17 meeting of the board. "I appreciate the confidence and the support of the board and of the staff and community," she said. "I feel like I've had a lot of support and... Full story
