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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
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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
Last month, after nearly 25 years of running Glacier Laundry, Carrie Peterson handed the laundromat keys to new owner Laura "Lu" Holder – who has renamed the business Viking Laundry. Holder realizes that she is taking on more than just a place to do laundry – Peterson is passing along relationships, routines, and a community institution that has served Petersburg well. "Today I helped somebody, and I was telling her like, where to put the soap," said Holder, "she turned to me and said, 'I'...
The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on June 18 to resume the federal Secure Rural Schools program, which sent millions of dollars to small Alaska schools each year until Congress failed to reauthorize it in 2023. Congress passed the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act in 2000, which launched the program as a way to help logging towns cope with the loss of revenue caused by a slowdown in logging on nearby federal land. In 2023, it directed more than $250 million to... Full story
The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development has opened public comment on a proposal that would reduce municipal governments' ability to assist local public schools. The draft regulation, published Friday, would state that services - such as parking-lot plowing, or the use of public pools or libraries for school functions - would count toward the maximum limit of local aid that school districts may receive from the local government. The education department said it proposed the... Full story
This Saturday marks a historic milestone for Petersburg as the community celebrates the first-ever Amy Hallingstad Day, honoring the Tlingit civil rights pioneer who transformed education and social justice for Alaska Natives. "This is the first year we are having Amy Hallingstad Day. We had it formally proclaimed by the borough as an annual holiday now, and it's to commemorate Amy Hallingstad, who lived in Petersburg most of her life and was a huge proponent in a lot of civil rights matters,...
Petersburg’s school district approved a budget last week that will draw down nearly $700,000 dollars from its reserves to make up for school funding vetoed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Dunleavy reduced education funding for school districts statewide with a line-item veto on June 12, just weeks before districts start their next fiscal years. The Legislature originally approved a $700 increase in per-student funding, known as the base student allocation (BSA). It was the first substantial increase since 2017. Dunleavy didn’t approve enough money to fu...
Southeast Alaska broke records for rainfall this spring. And for the Blind Slough hydroelectric plant near Petersburg, more rain means more power. Sometimes, however, there is such a thing as too much rain, according to Petersburg Borough Utility Director Karl Hagerman. "This year, there was just too much water to deal with," he said. The hydro plant uses water from a dam at Crystal Lake to generate power. But the record-breaking precipitation Mitkof Island got in May caused Crystal Lake to...
Three teachers from the Petersburg School District are state finalists for awards in excellence – Hannah Smith and Alice Cumps, math and science teachers at the middle and high schools respectively, are two of the finalists for a Presidential Excellence Award, and Becky Martin, a third grade teacher, for the Alaska Teacher of the Year Award. The Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) is the highest honor a K – 12 math or science teacher in the U.S. can...
A U.S. Senate committee has proposed selling more than 3 million acres of public lands in Alaska and several other Western states to support new housing development. The idea has alarmed conservation groups and others in Alaska who fear portions of, say, the Chugach or Tongass national forests, and other treasured areas would be auctioned off to developers. The proposed language in the budget reconciliation bill was released last week by the Republican leader of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. The...
