Trial Court hours cut to save agency money

The office at the Petersburg Trial Court will no longer operate on Friday afternoons due to cutbacks the Alaska Court System is imposing to help save money during tight financial times. As of July 1, Magistrate Judge Desiree Burrell and her staff will be closing the office at noon, but she says the changes shouldn’t have a great impact on the community.

With difficult financial times on the horizon the court system began experimenting with different ways to lower operating costs to allow employees to keep their jobs including furlough through times that would typically be paid vacation. Then f...