Sorted by date Results 440 - 464 of 5583
Petersburg birders cast their gaze to the skies on Dec. 17 as part of the National Audubon Society's 123rd Christmas Bird Count, spotting 52 species totaling 8,868 birds around Mitkof Island. The count is a nationwide event where citizen scientists spend the day searching for birds in their area and documenting their findings. "It's one of the most valuable nationwide databases for monitoring changes and trends in bird populations," said Brad Hunter, who coordinates the local bird count. The cou...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved an ordinance in its first reading during Monday's meeting that would rezone a lot located at 10 N. 12th Street for commercial use. The rezoning was requested by the Petersburg Indian Association, which filed an application to purchase the 0.31-acre lot from the borough in September 2022. PIA has stated that it is only interested in the lot, which is currently zoned as an open space, if it is rezoned for commercial use so that it matches an...
The famous Salvation Army red kettles, manned during the holiday season by volunteers armed with silver bells, raised a combined $13,206.43 in Petersburg according to Capt. KV Saengthasy. The donations will be used to fund the Salvation Army's social services budget and also went toward purchasing a couple of Christmas presents for local children. Though they finished just short of their fundraising target, both red kettles stationed outside of Hammer & Wikan stores were filled on Christmas...
With discussions beginning on what next year’s school calendar could look like, the Petersburg School District is seeking input from community members on what changes could be made to best benefit learning. During a school board meeting on Dec. 13, the board discussed the ongoing challenges facing the district and some ways changing the calendar could address them. Ideas included changing from early release on Fridays to late arrival on Mondays and adjusting the length of the school year and p...
The Alaska Marine Highway System is cutting back on port calls while it sends its ships into their annual winter overhaul. As a result, Petersburg will go without any state ferry service for three weeks this winter. There will be nothing northbound out of Petersburg after the Kennicott's scheduled Jan. 6 sailing to Sitka and Juneau until the Matanuska comes back to service after its winter work and stops here northbound on Feb. 3. The Kennicott's last southbound run before winter overhaul is...
The Petersburg School District Board unanimously approved a major revision to the FY23 budget during its meeting on Dec. 13, which will see a new projected ending fund balance of $622,672. According to Finance Director Karen Morrison, the proposed budget revision was based on an average daily membership student count of 429.6 students, which was calculated in October and is above the threshold for three school funding. The final student count numbers brought the district's foundation funding up...
During its meeting on Dec. 13, the Petersburg School District Board voted unanimously to amend the district's COVID-19 mitigation policy, changing when students and staff can return to school following a positive test. The new policy states that students and staff who test positive can now come back to school on a date determined by the Petersburg Medical Center, possibly allowing them to return earlier than what the previous guidance allowed. If students and staff who test positive do not obtai...
Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Rep. Elect Rebecca Himschoot held two joint public office hours in Petersburg earlier this week to meet with community members ahead of the legislative session starting next month. The pair were at Glacier Express Cafe Monday afternoon and Salty Pantry Tuesday morning. Kreiss-Tomkins, who currently holds the Alaska state House seat representing Petersburg and Sitka, announced earlier this year that he would not run for re-election after having held a seat in the...
Petersburg is expected to be in for a cooler than normal winter as La Niña conditions return for an unusual third consecutive winter. The weather patterns in Southeast brought on by La Niña can be traced all the way back to trade winds off the Pacific coast of South America according to Rick Fritsch, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Juneau. Enhanced easterly trade winds coming off of the Pacific coast of South America blow the warmer water at the surface of the ocean w...
Hammer & Wikan is currently in the midst of a construction project behind the grocery store in an effort to create more storage space and eventually expand the store by building a new warehouse according to Hammer & Wikan CEO Jim Floyd. The project got its start as vulnerabilities in the supply chain were brought to light by the COVID-19 pandemic. Supply chain issues have cast doubt on when retailers will be able to bring in products, causing them to order them while they can. But they can only...
Petersburg Medical Center CEO Phil Hofstetter gave a report on the finalized PMC Strategic Plan for FY24-28 during November's hospital board meeting. The plan had previously been presented at a hospital board work session on Nov. 10 following input from PMC's manager retreat in October. The new strategic plan retains the same five priority goals as the previous five-year plan but features refinements to semantics, language, and content according to Hofstetter's report. The top five priorities in... Full story
The construction of a new public use bike track is on the horizon following the passage of a resolution by the Petersburg Borough Assembly. On Monday, the assembly voted 6-0, with Assembly Member Scott Newman excused, to approve the use of a small portion of a borough-owned parcel across the street from Sandy Beach for a non-motorized bike park. Parks and Recreation Director Stephanie Payne said Pat Blair of Wheelhouse Bikes and Sig Burrell of Rock-N-Road came to her with the idea of developing...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly is expected to take a look at adopting a trial program to support local child care providers in Petersburg at its next meeting. The Education Incentive Program, modeled after the Hiring, Educating, and Retaining Teaching Staff (HEARTS) Program implemented in Juneau, aims to increase retention, encourage child care professionals to continue their educations, and improve quality of care. The program would award tiered bonuses every six months to child care educators...
Petersburg Parks and Recreation is keeping spirits high during the holiday season with the completion of the ice skate pond lighting project and their upcoming winter wonderland. People are already enjoying the lights up at the ice skate pond, which became fully functional last week according to Parks and Recreation Director Stephanie Payne. The project was made possible by a donation from Fred Haltner and the borough later received additional funding for that project and the ballfield lights...
Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon the Mitkof Dance Troupe will perform "Lost in a Dream" and, for the first time since December 2019, they will dance to a full-house. Recital tickets are on sale at Lee's Clothing and Bridget Wittstock reports, "Ticket sales are going well. People are excited!" A few years ago the Mitkof Dance Troupe was thriving. They had five teachers, a hundred and eighty students, and owned a building they planned to turn into their dream studio. Life changes led to the...
The South Harbor dredging project is set to ramp up in the coming weeks as people and equipment begin arriving in Petersburg according to Harbormaster Glo Wollen. The project will see the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and contractor Western Marine work in collaboration with the borough to help make the harbor more accessible by dredging an estimated 83,000 cubic yards of material. They had previously hoped to start the work in October beginning with the inside area of the 400 row, but have been...
Volunteers rallied at the Community Cold Storage on Nov. 21 to distribute 1,748 pounds of moose burger meat to local organizations. According to Desi Burrell, recipients of the meat included the Petersburg Indian Association, Alaska Native Brotherhood/Alaska Native Sisterhood, Petersburg School District, the Catholic Church soup kitchen, the Baptist Church Wednesday night meals, Monday night meals, Humanity In Progress, Petersburg Children's Center, Mountain View Manor Assisted Living, Mountain...
Petersburg Police Department Chief Jim Kerr has filed a lawsuit against the Petersburg Borough. The suit, filed Nov. 3 with the Juneau Civil Superior Court, alleges that the borough defamed Kerr and portrayed him in a false light, according to court records obtained by the Pilot. On June 27, 2022 the borough responded to a public records request filed by KFSK with a statement saying the borough's HR department had received a complaint in the form of a timeline from Kerr alleging that he had... Full story
Alaska Power & Telephone Wireless completed the installation of the 214-mile SEALink submarine fiber optic cable system on Oct. 31, providing Prince of Wales Island with its first ever fiber optic link to continental North America and the world according to a press release from the company. The SEALink cable runs from Coffman Cove to Mitkof Island where it makes landfall at the South Ferry Terminal and connects to a newly constructed terrestrial transport fiber installed alongside Mitkof...
Mitkof Dance Troupe teacher Kelsey Lambe realized a long held dream this fall when she created a new opportunity for high school athletes: the High School Performance Team. "I love teaching dance at MDT, but I was on a dance team all through high school and I've really missed that unique dance team culture. I've wanted to provide that for our kids, so I approached the board about it and they were super supportive," she says. This year five dancers auditioned for and made the team: Lakell...
The Salvation Army Petersburg Corps is getting into the season of giving this year with multiple charitable opportunities coming up on the calendar. They kicked things off last week with their annual Thanksgiving food box distribution where 126 people, including 55 families, were served according to Capt. KV Saengthasy. The Lutheran Church donated 69 turkeys and St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church donated 10 turkeys along with other food items and baskets. The U.S. Forest Service also...
Commercial fisherman and artist Tom Crestodina will be signing copies of his new book, "Working Boats: An Inside Look at Ten Amazing Watercraft," tomorrow night at Sing Lee Alley Books from 5 - 7 p.m. The book is filled with detailed and whimsical "cut-away" drawings of working boats – from a little log bronc with a wheelhouse the size of a phonebooth to a Puget Sound double-ended ferry, with many of the familiar working boats of the Pacific Northwest in between. Descriptions of how each boat an...
The Petersburg School District board voted 4-0 to accept the draft of the FY22 audit during its meeting on Nov. 8 with Board Member Jay Lister excused. Bikky Shrestha of BDO USA, LLP, the district's accounting firm, presented the draft of the financial statements to the board and said that though it is still being reviewed, they do not expect the information in the draft to drastically change. Shrestha reported that there were no corrected or uncorrected misstatements related to accounts or...
"When I first met him, his bumper sticker was, 'Beam me up, Scotty! There's no intelligent life down here,'" laughs Ingrid Murray, remembering her husband Pat Murray. Murray's obituary in the Pilot in February 2021 describes his growing up in Maryland, his service in the Army as a helicopter pilot, and his passion for volunteering in the later years of his life after settling in Petersburg, but it doesn't reveal his passion for science fiction, fantasy, and outer space. "He has watched every...
During its meeting on Monday, the Petersburg Borough Assembly voted in favor of sending a letter supporting an Alaska Airlines proposal to continue providing Essential Air Service to Southeast communities through April 2025. The vote was 6-0 with Assembly Member Dave Kensinger excused. The assembly's letter highlights Alaska Airlines' ability to connect Petersburg with major hubs like Seattle and Anchorage, the reliability of flights during inclement weather, and the service's economic...
