Sorted by date Results 4813 - 4837 of 5553
The topic of PERS and the strain it puts on State and local funding continues to crop up as news stories develop. The Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) and Teacher Retirement System (TRS) are the State’s public employee pension and healthcare plans. The State has underfunded and, in the past, not funded at all these benefit systems which has resulted in a more than $11 billion “unfunded liability”—the difference between the expected availability of money for retirees and the anticipated costs for the many years of upcoming State retirem...
The Seas Masons—Petersburg High School’s Alaska Tsunami Science Bowl team—placed 4th out of the 18 teams from across Alaska that competed in the science bowl in Seward two weeks ago. The competition consisted of three categories: a research paper, a presentation and a quiz bowl. In those categories, the Petersburg team placed 9th in the research paper, 2nd in the presentation and 3rd in the quiz bowl. The Sea Mason’s spent the past seven months researching the effects of ocean freshening through the air-sea interface. Sea Mason’s team capt...
Petersburg Mental Health Services (PMHS) is looking for volunteers to sign up for its bystander training class that will be held next week as part of it’s community wide ‘Green Dot Campaign.’ The campaign, launched in early February, is part of a larger PMHS state grant and the outcome of a community wide assessment survey on alcohol related risks, which cited domestic violence as the number one perceived problem caused by alcohol abuse in Petersburg. Green Dot, etc. is an organization that aims to measurably and systematically reduce power-bas...
Gov. Sean Parnell visited Petersburg last week and spoke with Petersburg Pilot staff about regional issues as well as the future of Alaska’s economy. Parnell said, because of oil tax changes, oil companies are increasing investment in production. “What that means in real life is that money is going into wells where there is known oil which means new state revenue which means not only jobs for Alaskans but more revenue for communities that depend on that revenue,” Parnell said. But it will take time for the revenue to become real. A slim state...
WRANGELL — Two prominent local taverns will join the ranks of the smoke-free in the coming weeks. Totem Bar & Liquor Store will go smoke-free tomorrow, according to signs posted inside the bar over the weekend. Elks Lodge members also voted this week to go smoke-free, though Elks leadership has not yet set a date for the transition. Both bars follow in the footsteps of Rayme’s Bar, which went smoke-free in January. The bar owner cited changing demographics among his clientele as the primary reason for the change. The moves by the Elks and the...
WRANGELL — A highly contagious and potentially fatal canine virus has been reported in Wrangell. Two cases of Parvovirus, symptoms of which include lethargy, severe vomiting, loss of appetite and bloody diarrhea, have been reported in Wrangell, said Judge Conniff, a local vet. “I had two cases, both of them doing very well, both of them discharged,” he said. Several dog deaths earlier in the year could be tied to this outbreak, but there’s no way to know for sure, Conniff said. “No way to know the answer to that question for sure,” he said. “W...
Western Marine Construction was the solitary bidder for the Crane Dock approach-widening project. The construction company bid the construction costs at $611,500—more than $50,000 under the engineer’s estimates. The bid includes an additive to the project that will remove old access ladders and add new ones. Harbor Master Glo Wollen said the project is set to begin mid-September in order to allow the fleet to transition from Salmon to other fisheries. “We should be done and back in action about the 25th of January,” Wollen said. “We purposely...
The incubation building and the generator shed at the Crystal Lake Hatchery were both destroyed in an early morning fire Tuesday. Petersburg firefighters responded and fought the blaze in 9 degree temperatures. Hatchery Manager Loren Thompson said 1.2 million incubating fish were killed. It took out about one half to two-thirds of the production and included 200,000 Coho and one million Kings. An alarm went off at about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to Thompson. "I walked out the door, saw the... Full story
A Petersburg jury convicted Tore Lenz, 19, of one count of Sexual Abuse of a Minor in the 2nd degree last Friday. Lenz was charged with two counts of Sexual Abuse of a Minor after having intercourse with Josie Prus, 15, last July after a party because Prus was under 16 years old and at least four years younger than Lenz. During the trial’s closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Nick Polasky summarized his arguments and said the most important piece of evidence was that Lenz knowingly engaged in sexual relations with a minor and that h... Full story
Gov. Sean Parnell came to town last Monday and heard from Petersburg School District teachers and administrators about his education reform bill along with other issues in the education arena. Sue Hardin, district teacher, was concerned about Senate Joint Resolution 9-a proposed constitutional amendment that would increase state funding for private and religious schools. "Because in our way of looking at it, all it's doing is taking public money and putting into schools that don't take all... Full story
The Petersburg Borough assessor’s taxable value of property that was formerly outside city limits is nearly one and a half times the original estimate. The assessor’s early estimation of taxable value of property outside service area 1 was $46,000,000—a 4-mill levy that would yield $184,000. The actual taxable value amounts to $65,459,425—a 4-mill levy that would yield $261,837—but that could change, too. Borough Finance Director Jody Tow said assessor Mike Renfro is spending most of this month in Petersburg to discuss individual appeals b...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly gave final approval to an ordinance that offers police officers more discretion in their decision to charge individuals with minor crimes or write borough ordinance violations. Crimes such as Driving while License is Suspended, Revoked or Canceled, Trespassing and Minor Theft are now up to the officer involved in the case as to whether or not a suspect is arrested. “If we get a young person, for instance, shoplifting at one of the stores we can write them a ticket and it doesn’t become part of their criminal rec...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly tabled a Harbor Advisory Board request to construct 120 feet of bulkhead as part of the Drive Down Dock project. The harbor board’s request comes after a lower than expected project bid left the harbor with $1.9 million in surplus state grant funds and a desire to build bulkhead which has existed in conceptual designs of the project since the early 1990s. In a memo for the assembly, Harbormaster Glo Wollen writes, “In the late 90's when discussion of placement of a community cold storage facility occurred, the...
A Juneau Superior Court Judge ruled in favor of the Local Boundary Commission's (LBC) decision to include the newly incorporated Petersburg Borough land along its northern boundary-a portion of which the City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ) had sought to annex. After several hearings where CBJ and Petersburg petitioners were heard, the LBC approved the Petersburg Borough's northern boundary request that extends to Juneau's southern boundary with the exception of the Tracy Arm and Whiting River...
WRANGELL — Lavina “Lovey” Brock, 68, of Wrangell, pleaded not guilty to four counts of promoting illegal gambling Tuesday before Wrangell First District Magistrate Chris Ellis. Brock, a prominent member of the local community, had been charged with promoting Texas Hold ‘em games for cash prizes at American Legion Post #6. The charges are Class A misdemeanors, punishable by up to one year in prison for each upon conviction, according to Alaska statutes. The offense dates listed on the criminal complaint range from Feb. 18, 2009 to Feb. 10, 201...
A borough committee may organize to further investigate the merits of instituting an excise tax on tobacco after it was brought up for discussion during several sales tax ordinance committee meetings. While an excise tax on tobacco doesn’t fall under the purview of the sales tax committee’s mission—which is to review and recommend changes to the sales tax code so the borough can generate an equal or greater amount of revenue—it did unofficially make a recommendation to the borough assembly that it consider a tax on tobacco. Committee member... Full story
Petersburg Mayor Mark Jensen and Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht spent time in Juneau with legislators last week lobbying for state funding for the municipal building remodel. “We got a pretty unified message,” Giesbrecht said. “There’s just not a lot of money this year.” The borough has around $4 million of the $9.7 million required to renovate the municipal building comprised of the police station and municipal offices. Borough staff and officials will find out in April if the legislature includes the remodel in its capital project l... Full story
JUNEAU (AP) — State officials say Alaska's record pink salmon harvest in 2013 could create a market glut that will drive prices down for several years. The state Division of Economic Development sees a glut in supply after the 2013 harvest, bringing downward pressure on prices, KFSK-radio reported. “The 2013 pink harvest was the largest on record,” said division director Joe Jacobson before the House Fisheries Committee this month. “It's led to a glut of supply and it will probably, there will be downward pressure on prices because of it. And...
The Petersburg School District brought home major accolades from Anchorage last weekend after it swept student, teacher and administrator awards at the Alaska Society for Technology in Education (ASTE)-an organization dedicated to promoting access to technology and connectivity to information resources. Petersburg Senior PK Bunyi won Alaska Technology Student of the Year. Teacher and Technology Coordinator Jon Kludt-Painter won Alaska Technology Support Teacher of the Year and PSD... Full story
Stedman Elementary school students are participating in a statewide program aimed at increasing physical activity. The Healthy Futures Challenge encourages students to engage in 30 minutes of physical activity three times a week for four consecutive weeks outside of gym classes. The three-month contest is part of a larger program called the Healthy Living Grant or the Obesity Control and Prevention Grant from Alaska Department of Health and Human Services—a $600,000 grant program that provides funding in installments for four years. A...
The sales tax ordinance committee will recommend to the borough assembly an increase of the sales tax cap from $1200 to $1500 and to limit senior exemptions to full-time Petersburg residents. The mission of the committee is to simplify the sales tax code and collection procedures and to generate an equal or greater amount of revenue so the borough doesn’t have to decrease services or increase property taxes. It’s been meeting since last year and its members have discussed many of the exemptions outlined in the code—including the change or el...
Superior Court Judge William Carey last Monday sentenced Joshua Franklin, 26, and Brandon Estes, 20, to four years in jail with two and a half years to serve after the pair plead guilty in December to five counts of felony burglaries and several other misdemeanor charges. Estes and Franklin broke into five local businesses around Petersburg last August including Petersburg Motors, Wikan Enterprises, the Petersburg Parks and Recreation building and the Hammer and Wikan grocery store. During his sentencing hearing, Franklin took responsibility...
Petersburg School District Superintendent Robert Thomason released additional information regarding former school Maintenance Director Tye Petersen’s possession of non-pornographic images of local children. Petersen was arrested last fall and local police and the FBI searched school facilities for signs he had taken images of students. At that time, no evidence of access points had been found. But since then, the FBI has confirmed images of local and visiting students among photos confiscated from Petersen. “Some photos were of visiting stu...
JUNEAU (AP) — House Democrats have confirmed Sam Kito III as the newest member of the state Legislature. He was sworn into office on Wednesday, Feb. 26. Gov. Sean Parnell last week chose Kito from among three candidates forwarded by the Tongass Democrats to fill the House seat vacated when Juneau Democrat Beth Kerttula resigned for a fellowship at Stanford University. Kerttula resigned Jan. 24. Under the law, the appointment must be confirmed by members in the same chamber and of the same political party as the person who previously held the s...
