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The U.S. Forest Service has received approval to resume aviation operations in Southeast Alaska after a flight moratorium that halted much of the forest management work across the region's remote federal lands. "The Tongass National Forest has recently received approval to move forward with securing aviation support for its work," Paul Robbins Jr., Public Affairs Officer for the Tongass National Forest told the Petersburg Pilot on Friday. "Due to the geographic layout of Southeast Alaska and...
In a photo caption published on 7/10/25 a Petersburg youth playing the Pick My Nose game at the KFSK Kids Carnival was misidentified as Nathan Buotte, but in fact his name is Ethan Buotte. In the photo caption accompanying the story “Stronger than ever” published on 7/10/25 it was misstated that Corl was the first to summit the mountain in her age group. The runners were sent up the mountain in three waves; Corl was the first in her wave to reach the summit, but not her whole age group. And in a photo caption on the cover on 7/3/25, the Pil...
When Petersburg School District switched to science-based reading instruction three years ago, the results were nothing short of remarkable. At Stedman Elementary, kindergarten reading proficiency soared from 10% to 89% in a single year. First grade jumped from 24% to 74% proficient, while second grade improved from 38% to 61%. These dramatic gains – which significantly outperformed state and national averages – caught the attention of education researchers nationwide. Petersburg is now being fe...
Petersburg's police chief sued his employer, the Petersburg Borough, and the two parties have officially resolved the matter with an out-of-court settlement. That means the remaining claim about the chief's First Amendment rights will not go to trial this summer. Police Chief James Kerr testified against enforcing a masking mandate during a fall 2021 borough assembly meeting. He said he was speaking as a private citizen. This ultimately snowballed into a multi-year legal battle between Kerr and...
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday night moved one step closer to canceling $9 billion in previously approved funding for several foreign aid programs and public broadcasting after GOP leaders addressed some objections. Nearly all the chamber’s Republicans voted to begin debate on the bill, though Maine’s Susan Collins, Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski opposed the procedural step along with every Democrat. The 51-50 vote marked a significant moment for President Donald Trump’s rescissions request, which faced more... Full story
The recently passed budget reconciliation bill, signed into law by President Donald Trump last week, does not include U.S. Senator Mike Lee's (R-Utah) withdrawn proposal that could have potentially sold off areas of the Tongass and Chugach National Forests and parts of the Interior in Alaska. But even so, the Petersburg Borough is going on the record against selling public lands. At a meeting on Monday, assembly members and community members voiced support for the borough resolution that formall...
Rikki McKay is the new executive of Petersburg non-profit Working Against Violence for Everyone. Since its inception in 1982, WAVE has worked to provide compassionate advocacy, empower survivors and prevent violence within our communities. Like many non-profits the pandemic was hard on WAVE. Since Executive Director Everett Bennett left their position in May 2024, keeping the doors open has been a challenge. "With the transition between Everett leaving and then hiring someone and losing them,...
WRANGELL – For the first time in 38 years, the Wrangell Native community will raise new totem poles in town, with four days of events planned for Thursday through Sunday, July 17-20. Unveiling the five new poles marks a significant revival of a centuries-old Tlingit tradition. The event honors the carvers and apprentices who transformed logs into cultural masterpieces, continuing a legacy nearly lost to time. By the early 1900s, most of the town's 30 to 40 totem poles had decayed or fallen, and...
On July 1, Alaska’s new sick-leave and minimum wage increase law took effect. Approved by voters in November, it states that someone working at a business with 15 or more employees will earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 56 per year, unless the employer voluntarily increases that limit. Someone working at a business with fewer than 15 employees earns sick leave at the same rate, but the maximum per year is 40 hours. The law also raised the state’s minimum wage to $13 per hour. The minimum wage ris... Full story
After years of planning and months of craftsmanship, Petersburg Indian Association has installed a traditional dugout canoe at Sandy Beach Park, marking the completion of the Hutli Plaza portion of their broader cultural and recreational project. The 10-foot children's canoe, carved by Juneau-based artists Herb Sheakley Jr. and his brother Samuel Sheakley, now sits on a sandy foundation near the 3,000-year-old fish traps that mark the site as a historic fish camp. The canoe, called a "yaakw" i...
For years now, Organized Village of Kake President Joel Jackson has had a dream: a cultural healing center that can reintroduce people looking to heal from alcohol and drug addictions and intergenerational trauma to their culture. For the last couple of years, that dream has been moving toward reality. Fifty-two miles from Kake and twelve miles from Petersburg, in Portage Bay, is an old Forest Service administration bunkhouse. For decades, it has sat empty. The first time he saw it, Jackson...
Significant cuts to Medicaid alongside impacts to Medicare are included in the budget reconciliation bill signed into law by President Donald Trump last week. Alaska is second only to New Mexico in the highest rate of people using Medicaid. About 38% of Alaskans are on it, according to the state's Department of Health. Medicaid is a health insurance option for low-income people, and Medicare is a federal program providing health insurance for eligible seniors and people with disabilities. Much...
For the past few years, the Petersburg Borough has been working to bolster its fleet of diesel generators to be better prepared for power outages when the hydropower system fails. On Monday, the Borough Assembly took one step closer by awarding a contract to GD Partners to manufacture a new generator part for up to $274,000. The part is crucial for Petersburg’s in-progress Scow Bay diesel generation project. The borough already bought the new diesel generator and is storing it in Texas right now. But for the generator to work properly, it n...
Petersburg welcomes two new Salvation Army officers this month. Lieutenant Joe Duran and Captain Ashley Duran, married just weeks ago, have taken up residence above the Salvation Army Petersburg Corps Center at First and Fram Streets and are eager to get to know the community. The newlywed couple's love story began in an unexpected way-through a homework assignment. While Joe was in training at the Salvation Army's college program, he wrote a mock press release that featured himself as "Major...
After five weeks of theater games, character development, and intensive rehearsals, 26 young performers are ready to take flight in two back-to-back performances of Peter Pan this Friday evening at the Sons of Norway Hall. The PMC Youth Program's Theater Camp, now in its third year under the direction of Brad Younts, has grown to accommodate its most participants yet - splitting into two groups of 15 and 11 students, ranging in age from 7 to 13 years old. Connected to the Kinder Skog Nature...
Friends, family and community members gathered near the Petersburg Indian Association's Hallingstad-Peratrovich Building on June 28 to celebrate the town's first annual Amy Hallingstad Day, honoring a Tlingit woman who shaped Petersburg's history in the 20th century. Nicole Hallingstad, Amy Hallingstad's granddaughter, flew in from Anchorage to welcome attendees to the event, which was organized with PIA. She said her grandmother's decades of activism for Alaska Native rights inspired her to...
Nonresident anglers fishing in state and federal waters can’t retain any Chinook salmon that they catch in Southeast Alaska between July 7 and when the season ends Sept. 30, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Monday. The department projects that the sport sector, including both residents and nonresidents, would exceed this year’s sport harvest target by about 5,000 Chinook if no action were taken to curb the nonresident catch, ADF&G Sitka area management biologist Troy Tydingco said in a phone call with the Sentinel on Tue...
Two hatchery release sites near Petersburg will continue allowing nonresident anglers to harvest king salmon even after a broader regional closure takes effect July 7. The statewide closure announced this week prohibits nonresident anglers from retaining king salmon in most Southeast Alaska waters starting July 7. However, the restriction does not apply to the two terminal harvest areas near Petersburg. City Creek will remain open to nonresident king salmon fishing until July 14, when special regulations for that area expire. The Blind Slough...
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a proclamation for a special session on Wednesday, calling Legislators back to Juneau in August to pass legislation on education reform and his executive order creating a new Department of Agriculture. The special session also means that lawmakers cannot wait until January to vote on overrides to the governor’s budget vetoes and his vetoes on several policy bills. They must vote in the first five days of the special session. That’s significant, because 45 votes are needed to override a budget veto, and whi... Full story
Rick Brock has opened the Petersburg High School gymnasium doors before dawn for 35 years, offering students a quiet place to work on their basketball skills before the school day begins. "I'm an early riser, so I've had the gym open in the mornings pretty much since I started coaching - hour to 45 minutes before the day begins," Brock said. It's a routine that reflects his belief about what can drive student athletes to succeed: "The ones that show up every morning and shoot baskets," he said,...
Middle school students will have the chance to test water samples under microscopes, hike creek beds with a hydrologist, and learn forest management techniques from a U.S. Forest Service forester through a new science education program launching this summer. The Petersburg Public Library has partnered with Alaska Sea Grant to offer “Wonder Camp,” a series of five separate day-long programs designed to introduce students entering sixth, seventh, or eighth grade to real-world science careers in...
Two men arrested by law enforcement during a sting operation last month in Petersburg have pleaded not guilty. A third suspect remains at large. Petersburg police arrested Shubaum Patel, 24, and Harshilkumar Patel, 22, on June 9 with assistance from the FBI, as suspects allegedly connected to an elaborate phone scam that stole over $100,000 from an elderly resident. A grand jury indicted the suspects on June 18 in Juneau. Both men face federal charges for theft and scheme to defraud - along...
U.S. Sen. Mike Lee says he will revamp his controversial proposal to require the sales of vast acres of federal lands in the West so it can be included in Senate Republicans' sweeping tax and spending cut package. Lee will be seeking approval for his revised plan from the Senate parliamentarian, who will decide if the provision complies with the chamber's strict rules for the fast-track procedure Republicans are using to pass their bill. An earlier version of Lee's plan was dropped from the... Full story
The U.S. Forest Service will seek to repeal a rule that has effectively blocked the logging of almost a third of America's national forests, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins told a meeting of Western governors on Monday in New Mexico. The "Roadless Rule" has blocked the construction of new roads in wild areas of most states' national forests since 2001, when it was imposed in the closing days of President Bill Clinton's presidency. "In this administration, we are taking a look under the... Full story
