Week of April 2, 2026
Week of April 2, 2026
Stephanie Pfundt has spent the better part of a decade building a career in classical music far from Petersburg - graduate school in Boston, performing across the East Coast, a produced opera in Massachusetts, a growing network of colleagues at some of the country's top music institutions. And now the award-winning Petersburg-born soprano is bringing a long-dreamed-of project to life and bringing chamber music home to Alaska. "This has been a project I've dreamt of for six years," Pfundt said....
As the Alaska Marine Highway System moves around its limited fleet of operational vessels, Petersburg, Wrangell and the other communities served by the Southeast mainline route will see a gap in service from April 15 to May 3. The Kennicott, which has been serving Southeast this winter, is being pulled from the run mid-April to provide a couple of weeks of service on the cross-gulf route to Yakutat, Whittier, Kodiak and other communities that have been without any service while their usual ferry, the Tustumena, has been in winter overhaul...
A Petersburg man indicted in 2024 on felony charges related to child sexual abuse material will spend two years in prison. Alejandro “Alex” Melendez Aguilar, 46, pleaded guilty in January to one count of possession as part of a plea deal between state prosecutors and the defense that dismissed most of the charges. Aguilar was indicted on 10 felony counts for possession and distribution of the material, which he initially pleaded not guilty to over a year ago before changing his plea. He was sentenced at the Juneau Courthouse on March 27.... Full story
Tickets to ride the Alaska Marine Highway System will go up a little more than 2% effective May 1, the first fare increase since 2019. That 2019 increase instituted “dynamic pricing” of higher fares on popular routes, much like airlines and hotels price their rates to maximize revenues. But dynamic pricing was not popular among ferry riders and the state rescinded the fare structure in 2022, leaving tickets unchanged since then. Craig Tornga, marine director for the state ferry system, told legislators last month that it’s important for...
WRANGELL — Brian Herman, owner of Canoe Lagoon Oysters, didn’t attend last month’s Mariculture Conference of Alaska in Anchorage. He was busy at work. Last year, he shipped out about 110,000 oysters raised at his farm 30 miles south of Wrangell on the Blashke Islands. This year he expects to more than double that volume. “There is a ton of growth potential,” Herman said. While the in-state market “is fairly well tapped … shipping to the Lower 48 is a completely untapped market.” And that’s where he focuses his efforts. “I...
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Thorin Stolpe shows Rader Evens how it is done during Spring Break Camp with Kinder...
1926 – There are no issues in the archive until May 19, 1926. Thank you for your patience. March 16, 1951 – At the Petersburg Health Council’s Monday meeting the health nurse reported a well attended well-baby clinic and, though there are many cases of flu and croupy coughs, there are no contagious diseases reported at the school. The town council is asking to install in the grade school this summer the juvenile plumbing currently in storage. Several complaints of rats in the Coliseum theater have been reported and it was decided to...
aClausen Museum hosted an open mic for local musicians on Friday and announced that the event will be ongoing, on the last Friday of every month. The room was full music lovers, and so was the lineup of performers who represented a broad range of styles and experience levels. Pictured above, local jazz ensemble Pendulum, wowed the crowd with their precise, toe tapping...
This handtinted photograph by H.A. Ives depicts an Alaska Steamship Company's steamship sailing north through the Wrangell Narrows. Heath Arlo Ives, 1890 – 1972, was a commercial photographer and an engineer working in Alaska and Canada from approximately 1910 through the 1940s. As the primary photographer for the ASC, Ives' photographs capturing the beautiful scenery and charming towns along ASC routes were used in the company's promotional materials. In the bottom left corner of this photo,...
In Petersburg, on March 28, around 100 protestors took part in the local No Kings rally. Approximately 3,300 similar rallies took place in all 50 states with an estimated 8 million Americans gathering in nonviolent protest of the Trump administration's overreaching policies regarding immigration and the war of aggression against Iran and the resulting rapidly rising cost of...
The 2026 regionwide harvest limits for Chinook salmon announced Tuesday by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game represent a rebound from the rock bottom limits set in 2025. This year, all fishermen in Southeast Alaska can catch a total 205,300 treaty Chinook salmon – fish that didn’t originate in Alaska hatcheries – the department said in the announcement. State fishery managers use their harvest target for treaty Chinook to set catch limits for treaty Chinook in the sport and commercial fisheries. This year's harvest target for...
With a focus of getting better before the state championship meets, several Viking Swim Club swimmers competed in high level age group competitions, competing against a plethora of west region teams such as Arizona, Oregon, Idaho, New Mexico and more. There were three competitions all going on at the same time this past weekend. Swimmers Audrey Boggs, Trygve Marohl and Ryder Diehl competed at the Mountain West Age Groups in Boise. Jackson Zweifel also traveled to this meet but was unable to...
My wife was in a meeting with a few lobbyists talking about attending a legislative fly-in in Juneau, and someone mentioned sneaking off to Eaglecrest while they were there. "Eaglecrest is the ski resort in Juneau, right?" someone else asked. A few others laughed, and said, "Ski resort? No. Eaglecrest is a ski area." And that about sums it up. Eaglecrest is the ski hill for a southeast Alaskan's soul. Lots of people wearing xtratufs around the lodge. No spa. No condos. No trouble finding a...
Longtime Alaskan Geneva Margaret Ann Bishop, 79, passed away Tuesday, March 31, 2026, at her daughter's home near Soldotna. Geneva was born June 16, 1946, in Roseburg, Oregon. She moved to Alaska in 1976, living in Anchorage for a short time before moving to Petersburg. She lived in Petersburg until moving to her daughter's home in 2022. Geneva was preceded in death by her husband, Ben Bishop and a brother, Alan Wooden. Those left to cherish her memory include her son, Tim Bishop and his wife,... Full story
March 25 – An officer conducted extra patrols. An officer responded to a parking complaint on S 3rd St., contacted the owner and the vehicle was moved. March 26 – An officer assisted a citizen on S 3rd St. with a dog complaint. There was a report of a missing package on Excel St. An officer completed a welfare check on S 2nd St. March 27 – An officer responded to a report of loud individuals behind a local business and found they’d left the area. There was a report of a vehicle losing part of its load on Haugen Dr. The owner was...
Petersburg Pilot... Full story
Notices published in the Petersburg Pilot and all of Alaska's... Full story
