Week of May 7, 2026
Week of May 7, 2026
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Construction on a long-planned sewer line repair project at the Petersburg Community Aquatic Center will begin May 18, and the pool will close for at least the first month of work as contractors cut through concrete slab floors to access blocked and disconnected drain lines beneath the locker rooms. Parks and Recreation Director Stephanie Payne told the Petersburg Borough Assembly on Monday that the project, carried out by Ketchikan Mechanical Inc. and Rainforest Contracting, will run through...
Petersburg’s street sweeper is back on the job after a weeks-long breakdown, as the borough and the Alaska Department of Transportation race to clear months of accumulated safety sand from local roads ahead of Little Norway Festival week — and ahead of the annual repainting of lines on the state’s highways. The heavy sand load is evidence of the region’s punishing winter. Relentless snowfall through the season required repeated applications of sand and grit to keep roads safe, leaving more material on the ground than a typical year....
Petersburg juniors and seniors will get a crash course in adult financial life Friday morning when Tongass Federal Credit Union hosts its biennial Get Real Financial Reality Fair at the Parks and Recreation gym. The fair works like a high-stakes simulation game. Each student arrives at a registration table, picks a career and receives a corresponding income, then works their way around a circuit of staffed tables — buying a home, choosing transportation, selecting health insurance, setting up a phone plan and managing daily expenses — all...
Petersburg Medical Center Youth Programs is heading into summer with roughly 1,300 hours of programming planned, a slate of new and redesigned camps, and a message for families who might think the cost puts it out of reach: help is available. “If your kid wants to participate in a program, we’ll get them in a program,” said Katie Holmlund, who directs the PMC Youth Programs. Several successful former summer programs are returning, as are many of the mentors who run them. Holmlund said 75 percent of this summer’s staff are returning...
The Petersburg Public Library and the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program are offering two youth programs this summer, backed by a new grant that will help cover the cost of both — part of a broader menu of learning and outdoor opportunities available to Petersburg kids in the coming months. The library’s annual reading program is returning in a new form this summer, rebranded as the Great Summer Challenge and running from June 5 through July 19. Program Coordinator Kari Petersen said the six-week initiative is open to children ages...
The U.S. Forest Service is organizing a push to clear invasive plants from the lower Raven Trail this month, with volunteer opportunities open to the public. Forest Service invasive species coordinator Joni Johnson told the Petersburg Borough Assembly on Monday that two maintenance problems have been building along the lower trail: the spread of invasive non-native plants, and sod-forming vegetation encroaching on the trail tread itself and contributing to erosion. Reed canarygrass, she said,...
SEARHC cut the ceremonial ribbon on its new $300 million Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center in Sitka on April 23. The event for the five-story, 234,528-square-foot facility featured a traditional blessing, a welcome and addresses by leaders of SEARHC and the Sitka community. Charles Clement, SEARHC president and CEO of 14 years, said in his remarks, “This has been a real challenging project to pull together, beginning to end.” “It has come to represent much more than a building for me,” said Clement, of Metlakatla. “It represents our...
A free Tai Chi program at Petersburg Medical Center has quietly been building a following since fall 2023, and this month it's opening the door to new participants with a beginner class starting May 13. The program is part of a substantial four-year federal grant focused on fall prevention, administered through the Administration for Community Living under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The grant funds two evidence-based programs in Petersburg: Bingo Size, an exercise and...
On a Friday afternoon in Jill Lenhard's class, the sound of crying babies filled the room – crying robot babies, that is. The babies were new, and the class, including Lenhard, was still figuring out how to use them. "I took one baby home to see how it all worked, and I took it home in a grocery sack because I didn't want to walk down the street carrying a baby," Lenhard told the class. "But then when I got home and I laid it on the counter my husband was like, 'What is this?!'" These robot... Full story
The state ferry Columbia, the largest vessel in the fleet, has been delayed a second time coming back to work on the busy summer route between Bellingham, Washington, and Southeast Alaska. The ship is now scheduled to make its first northbound run from Bellingham on June 5, according to the Alaska Marine Highway System’s online reservations site. The state will keep the Kennicott on the route until the Columbia is ready to go back into service. When the Columbia returns, the Kennicott will tie up at the dock in Ketchikan. The Marine Highway...
WRANGELL - They had lived in the same house at 8.5-Mile Zimovia Highway since 2019, with Tim and Shei Gillen renting the downstairs apartment from homeowner Bruce Levine. All three lost their home and just about everything they owned in a fire Monday afternoon, April 27. Levine also lost his two dogs, and the Gillens lost two cats in the fire but were able to save their three dogs. They buried the cats last week. Levine suffered burns on his hands and face and was hospitalized a couple of days;...
KETCHIKAN – At 2:22 a.m. Monday, May 4, Ketchikan Public Utilities Telecommunications Division engineers became aware of a drop in local internet service and immediately contacted their downstream provider CityWest, located in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. By 6:30 a.m., KPU knew that the internet had been cut by vandals northwest of Prince George, British Columbia, resulting in an internet blackout in Ketchikan. Acting KPU Telecom Division Manager Dan White, in a phone call with the Daily News on Monday, explained what happened and how...
On Thursday, May 7, the Alaska Judicial Council will hold a public hearing to solicit public comment on 21 Alaska District and Superior Court judges, plus one Alaska Supreme Court Justice, who will be on the ballot in this year’s judicial retention election. A retention election determines whether each judge will spend another term in office via voters’ decisions to vote “yes” or “no” on their retention. Retention elections are nonpartisan and they occur in evenly numbered years. The Alaska Judicial Council invites community...
This wolf swimming across Duncan Canal was seen last weekend by a passing vessel. The sea wolves of Alexander Archipelago are a distinct, smaller subspecies of gray wolves that have adapted to a coastal, marine-based lifestyle in the Tongass National...
1926 – There are no issues in the archive until May 19, 1926. Thank you for your patience. May 4, 1951 – With both a full hold and a deck load, the Zarembo was the first of Petersburg’s big halibut boats to come in, arriving in port on the evening of the third day. When the boat docked here Thursday evening she had 30,000 pounds aboard. She had 15,000 on deck the first day of the season. Per Sather is the owner of the Zarembo and Eiler and Olaf Wikan, Chris Olson, Ragner Stokke and Skipper Sather make up the crew. At press time the...
After Petersburg's annual Blessing of the Fleet at Bojer Wikan Fisherman's Memorial Park on Sunday April 26, Kurt Wohlhueter and Lloyd Thynes completed the ceremony by throwing the wreath of flowers into Wrangell Narrows from the Drive Down...
Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department's EMS and Search and Rescue branches took to the sea for last week's rescue drill when they practiced used the harbor security vessel to respond to an emergency that would require the use of a stokes basket to immobilize and transfer a patient from a boat into the...
On Missing Murdered Indigenous Peoples Day, Tuesday, May 5, Petersburg Indian Association organized a noise parade to raise awareness of the high rates of violence against Indigenous peoples in the United States and Canada, and to urge advocacy in Alaska which has the country's highest rate of MMIP and where Alaska Native women experience violence at a rate nearly ten times higher than the national average. During the parade (pictured right) Leann Marie Johnston and Priscilla Brusell displayed...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Sport Fish, announced the sport fishing regulations for Alaska hatchery-produced king salmon in the areas near Petersburg and Wrangell. Anita Bay Terminal Harvest Area, described as the waters of Anita Bay south and west of a line from Anita Point to 56° 14.26' N. lat., 132° 23.92' W. long. The following regulations will be in effect Monday, June 1, through Sunday, June 14, 2026: Residents: Bag and possession limit of two king salmon greater than 28 inches in length; Nonresident: Bag and...
Steller sea lions are an everyday sight on "the red can" navigation buoy at the north end of the Wrangell Narrows, but seeing a newborn sea lion pup on the can, like this one observed around a week ago, is very unusual. Typically sea lions whelp their pups on land at rugged remote sites known as rookeries where they can more easily avoid predators and human...
The Boston Marathon, the world's oldest and one of the most prestigious annual 26.2 mile marathon, held on Patriots Day. This event has been around since 1897. This year, according to NBC Boston, over 30,000 runners competed in this event. One of those runners, marathoner and Petersburg local Uriah Lucas, ran Boston for his very first time. Lucas, 22, had been training for this event since December 2025. "My training was a mixed bag of good and bad. The bad was that I rolled an ankle in the...
After a postponement due to field conditions, the Petersburg Vikings Baseball team finally hit the mound to play their season and home opening series. The Vikings decimated the Hutchison Hawks, winning game one 20-0 and game two 28-0. The Vikings showcased the offensive firepower they possess, scoring 15 runs in the first inning during game one, with Tucker Gibson, Scotty Newman, Nathan Kerr and Camden Johnson all driving in at least one run. In the bottom of the third, the Vikings added five...
To the Editor: Monday’s assembly meeting brought apprehensiveness to the discussion about data centers in Petersburg. I think that this is largely because the discussion comes on the shirttail of large corporations plopping steel towers in our backyard. People find themselves leery about an investor wanting to build something big at the old Kayler-Dahl facility; they shouldn’t be. Towers and data centers are two separate and unrelated issues. We’ve been asking ourselves for decades: without fishing, what are we left with? Petersburg is...
To the Editor: These outstanding students have demonstrated respect, responsibility, leadership, and a love of learning. Each will be recognized with a school announcement, a Viking Bus Noise Parade, a yard sign, a certificate and recognition in our community. April Students of the Month are: Rory Volk, a responsible and respectful student whose confidence continues to grow; Dawsyn Jabusch, a thoughtful and caring student who always looks out for others; Carmella Ford, a strong leader who consistently sets a positive example; Abigail Martin,...
I don’t believe the proposed multi-multibillion-dollar Alaska North Slope gas project will be built. It’s too expensive. The risk of construction delays and overruns are too much for investors to accept. The prospects of sufficient long-term demand growth for liquefied natural gas delivered by tanker to Asia are too uncertain. The competition from less risky gas projects is too much to overcome. Other than that, sure, it could be great for Alaska. Think of the jobs, the state tax and royalty revenues, and the profitable fact that selling...
He was known by Johnny until he had a son, and then John. John lived in Petersburg until 1997 when he moved to Juneau until his death. John was a fisherman for 35 years, then he worked for the State of Alaska for 7 years, then drove trucks for various Teamster companies till he retired. He grew up a Catholic in Petersburg with his parents, Francis John Richmond II (Frank) and Phyllis, both deceased, and his older sister, Cherie, also deceased. In 1976 he met Barbara Fraser at the Beachcomber... Full story
March 29 – An officer conducted foot patrols on N Nordic Dr. There was a post-event report of a traffic hazard at Lumber St. and N Nordic Dr. An officer spoke with a citizen about a non-criminal matter. An officer spoke with an individual concerning suspicious activity. March 30 – John Teter was issued a citation for an expired vehicle registration on N 3rd St. An officer conducted a welfare check on N Nordic Dr. An officer responded to a report of an alarm activation on S 2nd St. and determined it was unfounded. May 1 – An officer...
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