Week of December 4, 2025

  • Subscribers can click here to view the full PDF of this week's edition

    Subscribers can use the link below to access this week's PDF Edition, or use the E-Editions button on the homepage for all of our current and archived PDFs. Click here to view this week's PDF. Thanks for... Full story

  • Tidal Network embarks on 'listening tour' of Southeast communities

    Larry Persily, Wrangell Sentinel

    Tlingit & Haida’s Tidal Network is embarking on a seven-city tour of Southeast communities this month to update people on the organization’s plans for wireless internet service in the region and listen to community concerns. The Petersburg session is planned for 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15, at the John Hanson Sr. Community Hall. The session also will be on Zoom: www.tinyurl.com/TidalPetersburgListening. Tidal Network has encountered differing levels of opposition to its plans to put up telecommunications towers in Wrangell, Sitka,...

  • Board of Game to consider hunting proposals affecting Petersburg area

    Orin Pierson, Pilot writer

    The Alaska Board of Game will consider nearly 70 proposals affecting Southeast Alaska during its January 23-27, 2026 meeting in Wrangell, including several that would directly impact hunting regulations around Petersburg and on Mitkof Island. The meeting will be held at the Nolan Center in Wrangell, with remote participation available via Zoom. Written comments are due by January 9 to be included in the board’s meeting materials. The Petersburg Fish and Game Advisory Committee is reviewing the proposals ahead of the January meeting. The...

  • No ferry service until Dec. 21 due to Kennicott's delayed return

    Larry Persily, Wrangell Sentinel

    Petersburg will go without state ferry service between Nov. 26, when the Columbia stopped in town before heading into winter overhaul, and Dec. 21, when the delayed Kennicott is scheduled to take up the route. The Kennicott had been scheduled to start work the first week of December but the state reported last week that the ship will be delayed at least two more weeks coming out of the Puget Sound shipyard where it has been most of the year for a new generator and other repairs. The Alaska Marine Highway System considered keeping the Columbia...

  • Petersburg school board seat to be filled after nearly 2-month vacancy

    Taylor Heckart, KFSK Radio

    Marc Taylor will be sworn into the Petersburg school board next month, filling a seat that has been vacant for nearly two months. Taylor has lived in Petersburg since 2022 and works for Trident Seafoods. He said he applied for the board’s remaining empty seat because he wanted to give back to Petersburg. “I just kind of want to do my part for our community,” Taylor said. He said education has been a big part of his family, which also contributed to his desire to serve on the board. “My whole family, outside of me, were teachers or... Full story

  • Petersburg Indian Association president and council seats up for election on Jan. 5

    Taylor Heckart, KFSK Radio

    Tribal members will decide who will serve as the Petersburg Indian Association’s council president and who will fill three seats on the tribal council when the tribal government holds its election on Jan. 5. The president serves a one-year term, while tribal council members serve two-year terms. Current council members Heather Conn and Nathan Lopez and Heather Conn will not be seeking reelection. Conn will be taking time to care for herself and her family, and Lopez is moving out of Petersburg. Conn has held a seat on the tribal council for... Full story

  • Local voices mount opposition to communication tower project

    Orin Pierson, Pilot writer

    A 150-foot communications tower under construction on Mill Road and two other proposed towers have drawn numerous Petersburg residents to three recent borough assembly meetings to voice concerns about Tidal Network’s broadband infrastructure project. What began as scattered questions in September has grown into organized opposition, with residents collecting signatures, forming a Facebook group, consulting lawyers, and pressing the assembly to address a project many say they learned about only after construction began. “I was shocked. I...

  • Alaska state utility regulators approve secrecy orders for billionaire's takeover of GCI

    James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

    The Regulatory Commission of Alaska has unanimously approved a series of requests for financial secrecy filed by attorneys representing John Malone, the telecom billionaire seeking to take a controlling interest in Alaska’s largest internet firm. The approval means Malone will not be required to publish his personal finances and that the financial condition of three GCI-related subsidiaries will also remain secret. The finances of GCI Liberty, the parent company, are already public due to required filings with the U.S. Securities and... Full story

Conquering the Emerald City:

Aiden Luhr, Pilot writer

Only a month after the Portland Marathon, 27-year-old marathoner Kayleigh Lenhard embarked on another competition - this time, in the Emerald City. Originally, Lenhard wasn't planning on competing in the Seattle Marathon, but her success in Portland, finishing 84th overall (fifth for women) and a time of 3 hours and 1 minute, earned her a spot for Seattle. "My time for that race was enough to get a free entry in the Seattle Marathon and run with an elite bib and I was like, 'I get to run as an...

  • Guest Editorial:

    Larry Persily, Wrangell Sentinel writer

    Most people have seen news reports, social media posts and business charts that show a line moving up in good times, pointing down when business or employment numbers are bad, or bouncing back and forth between the two when the economy is confused. Economists, commentators and politicians can look at the charts and declare life is good and getting better, or bad and getting worse. Those easy-to-read graphs generally track an economic statistic from a single perspective, making no distinction between people doing well and people doing poorly....

  • Commentary

    Censorship is rising in this country. Newspapers, the watchdog of the government, are closing at an alarming rate, and government agencies gag their employees, demanding all communications flow through PR departments. Studies have shown that closing local newspapers leads to higher levels of partisanship, decreased voting and increased government corruption. Without local news, all we hear is what the government wants us to hear. The situation reflects a fear expressed by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Douglas. Douglas believed...

  • Police report

    November 26 - An officer assisted Emergency Medical Services (EMS) on Mitkof Hwy. A welfare check was requested on an individual on Harbor Way. Papers were served. Officers responded to a disturbance on S 2nd Street. The parties involved were separated. A speeding driver was reported on S 4th Street. The vehicle could not be located. Graffiti was reported on N Nordic Drive. The graffiti could not be located. November 27 - An officer assisted an individual with concerns over items left on their property. An officer assisted a citizen with...

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