Sorted by date Results 847 - 871 of 5549
Petersburg Medical Center CEO Phil Hofstetter spoke to the PMC Board about staff turnover and vaccinations during Thursday's meeting. The healthcare industry has seen turnover across the country according to Hofstetter's report and PMC is seeing its own ups and downs with staffing. Hofstetter said some departments in the hospital have faced challenges whenever departures occur, but PMC has been fortunate in retaining staff compared to national data. According to Hofstetter, in the past seven...
The Petersburg Medical Center discussed the delta variant's impact on Petersburg and the future of COVID-19 testing and vaccinations during Thursday's board meeting. According to Infection Prevention and Quality Manager Liz Bacom, all of the positive cases in Petersburg in August were travel related and there have not been any cases linked to community spread. Bacom said that an outbreak is not a matter of if, but when, and the earlier cases are identified through asymptomatic testing, the...
Residents of Petersburg and Wrangell with an AT&T or GCI cellphone can now send text messages to 911 in emergency situations. Though citizens should still call 911 if possible, this new service will allow for increased accessibility to emergency services. Petersburg and Wrangell are the first boroughs to offer Text-to-911 in Alaska thanks to Chief of Police James Kerr, of Petersburg and Chief of Police Tom Radke, of Wrangell. To send a message, type 911 in the recipient field and be sure to...
The Petersburg Borough released its updated website Monday, designed for easier access and a modern look. The website now greets users with a selection of accessible tabs including community information, borough departments, and other services. The clean style and colorful images contrast with the outdated design of the old website. Borough Librarian Tara Alcock was tasked with creating the new website after she saw the need for an update while she acted as the public information officer for...
The Petersburg School District started its new school year on Tuesday amid regulations brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. On that foggy morning, many parents chose to come in person to drop off their children on the first day of school. As the kids gathered around the school, they played on swing sets and shot hoops on the basketball court before being grouped up by their classes. Though this may have resembled an ordinary start to the school year, the impacts and challenges brought on by the...
Breakthrough COVID-19 cases found in Alaska April 30 Between Feb. 1 and March 31, Alaska Department of Health and Social Services identified 152 positive cases of COVID-19 among people in the state who were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a report from DHSS. About 74 percent of the vaccine breakthrough cases, or 112 individuals, were among people who had received the Pfizer vaccine, according to the report. Thirty-eight percent of the breakthrough cases had received the Moderna... Full story
The candidate filings for the 2021 Municipal Election to be held on October 5 have been released. Two three-year seats on the Borough Assembly will be on the ballot. There are eight candidates running including incumbent Bob Lynn, Paul Anderson, Lars Christensen, Thomas Fine-Walsh, Marc Martinsen, Brandi Thynes, Dana Thynes, and Jim Vick. Assembly Member Taylor Norheim has previously stated that he will not seek reelection. The School Board has two available seats, each for a three-year term....
Sealed bids for three parcels offered in a public land auction were opened Monday. The first parcel, numbered 01-003-521, is located at 306 Sandy Beach Road. It is zoned as single family, residential, and is 18,002 sq. ft. Water and wastewater utilities are available along with electricity being available at the front of the lot. It's assessed value is $56,800 and any bids on the property were required to be at least $60,220. The highest bid was submitted by Chad Villamor and was $71,099. The...
OBI Seafoods celebrated 200,000 cases of salmon packed by sounding their steam whistle at noon on Wednesday. It was the first time since 2013 that OBI has canned 200,000 cases according to OBI Fleet Manager Don Spigelmyre. "It's basically a celebration to let the town know that there's still salmon coming through," Spigelmyre said. This was the second time that OBI sounded the steam whistle this year. They previously marked 100,000 cases of salmon canned on August 9. The whistle also serves to...
The Kake Access road is expected to be completed by mid-October according to Project Manager Garrett Paul. The estimated $40 million project forms a 37 mile long road from Kake to a new boat launch near Twelvemile Creek. Paul, who works with the Alaska Department of Transportation, said that approximately seven miles of new roads have been completed and between 15 and 20 miles of existing roads have been improved. "Overall our goal is to make this route an easily traversable one, so to do that...
The U.S. Census Bureau has released population data from the 2020 Census. The census is conducted every 10 years and is used by the local, state, and federal governments to allot seats in legislatures across the country and allocate funding based on population. The Petersburg Borough census area recorded 3,398 residents. This was an increase of 6.1% from 2010 census which recorded 3,203 residents. In 2010, 2,948 people were listed as specifically being from the city of Petersburg which was...
The Petersburg Medical Center reported seven active cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, all of which are travel related. Three active cases are residents and four active cases are non residents according to PMC. The cases have not been linked to community spread. Hospitals across Southeast Alaska are seeing limited hospital capacity as the number of positive cases increases across the state. The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services reported 593 new cases, 121 hospitalizations, and 13 deaths...
A kayaker was rescued Sunday by a good Samaritan and the Coast Guard near Keene Island. A good Samaritan found the man approximately 14 nautical miles south of Petersburg after his kayak overturned and brought him aboard a vessel. The man was then transferred to a Coast Guard Station Ketchikan 45-foot Response Boat-Medium crew. The Response Boat was diverted by Sector Juneau watchstanders after receiving a report of the kayaker from the Petersburg Police Department at 11:30 a.m. The man was...
The Vakker Sted affordable housing complex on Excel Street will be ready to accommodate residents by January 1, 2022 according to Glenn Gellert of Swell, LLC. The building will house 15 units with 2 one-bedroom units and 13 two-bedroom units that will mainly be leased to low-income residents. Though the framing of the building was slow, the plumbing job has gone faster than expected so the construction schedule has evened out. The roof was recently put on, so not even the rain will slow down con...
Photography and art pieces submitted by Petersburg residents to the 52nd Annual Southeast Alaska State Fair are being featured at the library until the end of the month. The fair was held July 29 - August 1 in Haines, Alaska and saw many exhibits from Petersburg win awards. "It's fun to see what people create around the region and see people from different towns," said local artist Josef Quitslund. "It's a good way to connect with the greater region." The fair was cancelled last year due to the...
Ray Wesebaum became the new building official and code enforcement officer in May for the Petersburg Borough. "It's just something different, just a new experience," Wesebaum said. Wesebaum has been in construction for most of his life and though his new role does not entail working outdoors around trucks and ditches all day, he said it has been a pretty easy transition. "Just a lot of paperwork now," Wesebaum said. "I did pass my first certification for the residential inspector, but I've...
The Petersburg School District has hired seven new teachers for this upcoming school year as the schools seek in person instruction under the new COVID-19 protocols. Dustin Crump will be teaching Spanish and PE at Petersburg High School and Computer Science at Mitkof Middle School. He is originally from North Carolina and attended the University of North Carolina at Wilmington where he earned a bachelor of arts in Spanish. His wife is from Petersburg and after their wedding, they moved to...
The last Outdoor Recreation Creation Adventure (ORCA) camp of the summer finished at Sandy Beach on Friday, focusing on educating kids about eating healthy foods and staying active. The camp was a collaboration between Kinder Skog and the Petersburg Medical Center along with help from many local businesses and organizations. "It's all focused on super foods, super activities, super kids and just trying to get them out and being healthy, moving their bodies, eating the right kinds of foods,"...
The Borough Assembly discussed the Petersburg School District's reopening plan during Monday's meeting. PSD released their moderate risk reopening plan Friday which includes a two week universal mask mandate and quarantine protocols for the upcoming school year. The discussion item was requested by Assembly Member Jeff Meucci who wanted to see what the assembly thought of it. Meucci said that he thought that masking up for the first two weeks was a good plan and that it is important to get the...
Construction on a new cabin along the Raven Trail is currently in progress according to Cabin and Trails Program Manager Paul Olsen. The 16' by 20' cabin is about 1.2 miles closer to the start of the trail than the old cabin and is being built by local contractor Rainforest Contracting. The cabin has a covered deck which faces the small pond below it and an outhouse nearby. "It's more family oriented, you know, it's got a lot of space down low and then it's got sort of a loft area for...
The Petersburg School District released its reopening plan Friday which outlines COVID-19 guidelines for the upcoming school year. The school district formed a moderate risk plan that includes a universal masking policy in school until the next school board meeting on September 14. A local Health Advisory Committee including a representative from the school board, Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter, Principals Heather Conn and Rick Dormer, Activity Director Jaime Cabral, a Public Health nurse,...
The Petersburg School District has hired seven new teachers for this upcoming school year as the schools seek in person instruction under the new COVID-19 protocols. A few of the new teachers are returning to their roots in Petersburg including Hannah Smith who will be teaching science at Mitkof Middle School. Smith went to Gonzaga University before receiving her masters at Montana State in science education. "I grew up here actually, graduated from Petersburg High School. My parents and my...
The Petersburg Medical Center reported three new active cases of COVID-19 Tuesday, all of whom are non-residents. One non-resident case was identified on Sunday and two non-resident cases were identified on Monday according to PMC. A total of 14 non-resident positive cases have been linked to travel since August 1 and PMC is advising everyone who comes to town to get tested both when they arrive and seven days later regardless of vaccination status. Free travel testing is available at the...
The Borough Assembly conducted their third and final reading of Ordinance #2021-12 during Monday's meeting. The assembly voted unanimously 7-0 to adopt the ordinance which added the Electric Utility Bond Issuance matter to the ballot for the election on October 5, 2021. There was no discussion by the assembly prior to the vote. "We had a very good explanation at the last meeting from Mr. Hagerman, so I think we're all up to speed on it," Mayor Mark Jensen said. The revenue bonds, not to exceed...
The Borough Assembly voted 4-3 to empower Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht to create a committee to serve as a COVID information response system during Monday's meeting. The discussion of the action item centered on the creation of the committee and the inclusion of a COVID dashboard on the borough's website. The item was requested by Assembly Member Jeff Meucci who said that the assembly needed to have more communication about COVID available to be prepared if the school system or the hospital...
