Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 3111
The Petersburg Lady Vikings looked to claim their first victory of the season when the Haines Glacier Lady Bears came to town this past weekend. The Lady Vikings left no doubt in game one as they took a 27-7 halftime lead. After the Glacier Lady Bears scored their seventh point with 5:16 left in the second quarter, they didn't score again until the 2:16 mark in the fourth quarter. "Any time you hold a high school team to that few points, you have to be happy with the defensive effort," head...
Petersburg is one big step closer to receiving $8 million in federal funding to engineer the disinfection upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant. The funding was included in a spending bill that passed the Senate on Jan. 15 and the House a week earlier, according to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s office. The bill now awaits President Donald Trump’s signature. The $8 million will fund a disinfectant study, engineering work and plant design for the facility, which discharges into Frederick Sound. The total project was initially estimated to cos...
The Wild Fish Conservancy’s use of the Equal Access to Justice Act is alarming the small-boat fishermen who fought the conservancy’s lawsuit that sought to close the Southeast Alaska Chinook troll fishery to preserve migratory Chinook as prey for the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales that feed in waters near Puget Sound. WFC, a membership-based nonprofit with offices in Duvall, Washington, filed that lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service in U.S. District Court in Washington in 2020. For months in 2023, a District Cou...
Petersburg utility customers will see a small surcharge on their January bills to cover the cost of running diesel generators during December’s extreme cold snap, following a 6-1 vote by the Borough Assembly at its Jan. 20 meeting. The diesel generation adjustment charge of 0.32 cents per kilowatt will apply to all electricity used in December and is expected to recover about $24,000 in unbudgeted expenses for fuel, lubricating oil and overtime, according to Utility Director Karl Hagerman. “The extreme cold temperatures experienced in Dec...
On Holocaust Remembrance Day To the Editor: Today, Tuesday, January 27, is Holocaust Remembrance Day. My good friend George, a youth in Poland at the time, rode his bicycle across two countries, eating scraps of food, hiding and sleeping in deserted barns – eventually immigrating to the United States. My dad, a descendent of immigrants, helped defend the world as a Marine who also earned a Purple Heart – despite his great prejudice against most minorities. Holocaust Remembrance Day is about “Never Again.” Never Again ignoring the warning...
Seeing their first wins of the season, the Petersburg Lady Vikings got off to a 6-4 start against the Craig Lady Panthers. Early in the second quarter, the Vikings had a 8-4 lead. After that, the Lady Panthers went on a 11-0 run, to take a 17-8 lead and hold the Lady Vikings scoreless in the final 6:35 of the half. The Vikings remained scoreless until about the six minute mark of the third quarter. “We were right in it for the first quarter and then half of the second. We were holding [the Panthers] off for a little bit but our shots w...
Meeting in Wrangell’s Nolan Center over the weekend, the seven-member Alaska Board of Game heard testimony from Southeast Alaska hunters and trappers, and made decisions on proposed changes to state regulations that govern the harvest of deer, bears, mountain goats, birds and other animals in Southeast Alaska. On Monday, the seven-member board voted 5-2 to reject Proposal 23, which would have increased the bag limit for non-Alaska residents hunting deer in the greater Sitka-area Game Management Unit 4, which includes Baranof, Admiralty and C...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted Tuesday to schedule two work sessions about the Tidal Network communication towers. The assembly approved a January 28, 6 p.m. work session where community members can voice concerns to the assembly about communication towers, in addition to the Monday, February 2 evening work session where Tidal Network representatives will be present and available to answer questions. Both meetings will be held in the Assembly Chambers. These meetings are in addition to a virtual community outreach event on January 27 at...
Alaska lawmakers opened the second year of their regular legislative session on Tuesday with an ambitious agenda but low expectations amid a tight budget that appears likely to draw the lion’s share of legislators’ attention. “It’s one big log jam,” said Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka. The Alaska Legislature operates on a two-year cycle between elections; bills are carried over from the first year to the second, but if they don’t pass the Legislature by the end of the second year, they expire and must start all over again. Speaking Tuesday, me... Full story
The annual Project Connect resource fair returns to Petersburg on Tuesday, Jan. 27 to provide resources to community members experiencing housing insecurity, including free clothing and winter gear, cleaning supplies and hygiene products, medical resources, and a warm meal. The event will run from 2 to 6 p.m. at the John Hanson Sr. Hall, with the first three hours intended for those who identify as housing insecure. From 5 to 6 p.m., the fair opens to the entire community. “I don’t want anyone to be hung up on not knowing if they’re housi...
WRANGELL - The borough has officially partnered with a growing cruise line to bring a new dock to the community. The borough assembly voted unanimously on Jan. 7 to approve a 40-year tidelands lease for American Cruise Lines (ACL), which will build the dock. The decision followed months of negotiations and a public work session. The lease allows the company to build and operate a floating dock on the downtown waterfront. Borough Manager Mason Villarma described the deal as a "custom fit" for...
The Petersburg High School Boys Basketball team arrived in Wrangell for last weekend's homecoming, unbeaten in conference play. In the first of two games, the Vikings got out to a 10-7 lead early in the second quarter. They proceeded to go on a 10-2 run to take a 20-9 halftime lead. By the end of the third quarter the Vikings led 37-16 over their rivals, allowing only eight points in the third. The Vikings led this game wire to wire, winning 51-25. A key factor in this game was the Vikings...
The Lady Vikings aimed to get their first wins of the season this past weekend against their rival, the Lady Wolves, during their Homecoming weekend in Wrangell. In game one, the Vikings had good flow offensively and were applying pressure on the Lady Wolves ball handlers to take a 10-6 lead after the first quarter. "[The Wolves] were in a 3-2 zone against us at the start of the game – I felt like we got good looks off of that. The kids were well prepared to go against a defense like that," h...
A comment period is open until Feb. 13 as part of a program review that could change the way subsistence hunting and fishing is managed on federal lands in Alaska. On May 5, 2025, Safari Club International filed a petition with the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) asking for significant changes to the Federal Subsistence Management Program — including the removal of all six public members from the Federal Subsistence Board, changes to how members of the Regional Advisory Councils are selected, and elimination of the board’s authority to ta... Full story
Living in a small town like Petersburg often means traveling to Anchorage or Juneau for specialized healthcare. Medical travel can be inconvenient and costly, which means some people delay seeking important preventative care, like colonoscopies. For years, colonoscopy clinics were few and far between in Petersburg. But the cancer-spotting procedure will be returning in February on what's expected to be a quarterly basis. During a colonoscopy, a doctor uses a camera on a flexible tube to look... Full story
Wrangell’s economic development board, which advises the assembly, has raised several questions about a possible borough land lease for a California-based company to build and operate a small-scale data center. The board voted 5-0 on Jan. 5 to recommend the assembly move forward with the lease for one or two acres at the former 6-Mile Mill property, but not until board members added several issues that they believe the assembly needs to consider. Those include any water discharge from the data center, the potential for noise and light p...
January 8, 1926 – As it happened, it did not require a real eruption to start outsiders talking about Alaska and her prize mountain. No sooner had apparition appeared on the distant slopes than wires were going thick and fast to various news associations in the states. It required several verbose messages to the Associated Press to convince that great news dispensing organization that the mountain had not joined forces with Congressman Free to wipe the Territory off the map. January 12, 1951 – Petersburg came through splendidly in coo...
December 30 - An officer issued a warning for taillight requirements on Sing Lee Alley. Authorities responded to a parking complaint. An officer assisted a citizen with snow chains on N 3rd Street. It was reported that a deer had been struck on Mitkof Hwy. Alaska State Troopers (AST) were notified and responded. December 31 - Suspicious activity was reported on S 2nd Street. No criminal activity was found to be happening. January 1 - There was a report of fireworks on 3rd Street. An officer found no one shooting off fireworks upon his arrival....
So far this season, the Petersburg Boys Basketball team have played all road games, six games in total. They've won four of their first six road games. In game one, the Vikings beat the Chiefs 44-26, a wire to wire victory. “From the beginning of the game, I felt like we really tried to push the tempo against them. I think that might’ve caught them a little off guard,” head coach Rick Brock said. “We had a little bit more confidence than they did and we were able to set the temp from the beginning.” Prior to Metlakatla, the Vikings played mu...
Petersburg area mountain snowpack has rebounded dramatically from near-record lows in early December to above-average depths at lower elevations, according to the last two months of snow surveys conducted by the U.S. Forest Service. The City Reservoir site at 550 feet elevation measured 19.1 inches of snow in early January, about 148% of the long-term average for this time of year. In early December, the same site had no snow at all. At the higher elevation Raven’s Ridge site at 1,650 feet, snow depth measured 28 inches in January — still onl...
January 2025 The Petersburg Borough Assembly agreed to transfer seven parcels of borough-owned land in the Airport Addition Subdivision to Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority (THRHA) in exchange for the developing road and utilities for 11 residential lots. The snowpack at the Raven's Ridge snow survey site at 1,650 ft elevation measured zero inches. One of only two years on record without snowpack in January. Rock-N-Road Construction was awarded the contract for the borough's Pump Station...
To all Hammer & Wikan employees and staff To the Editor: Thank you for the many years of your generous 10 per cent discount for seniors on Tuesdays. You have made life in Petersburg a little nicer for seniors. John Murgas Don’t Accept This New Normal To the Editor: As we head into a new year, I urge people to not allow insults, cruelty, hatred, and bullying to be the New Normal. We cannot normalize or tolerate these behaviors in our nation. Our country is better than that. We are better than that. We cannot allow a handful of billionaires to s...
Alaska Timber and Truss is expanding its operation at Falls Creek with a 71-acre land purchase from the Mental Health Land Trust. Brett Martin, who owns the mill with partner Mike Duman, said the acquisition will provide crucial space for sorting logs and expanding milling operations as demand increases for locally sourced lumber across the state. "We really needed somehow to be able to expand our mill operation," Martin told the Pilot last week. "When we purchased the mill, the sort yard...
After a six year hiatus, Petersburg's wearable art tradition returns this February as a fundraiser for KFSK community radio. The two-night event, scheduled for Feb. 6-7 at Sons of Norway Hall, aims to transform the venue into an immersive, glow-in-the-dark experience under the theme "Weird Core". "I want you to step out of Petersburg for a night," said Bennett McGrath, the event's organizer and a KFSK board member. "It's a night to transform, a night to not be yourself." McGrath's inspiration...
Wrangell borough assembly took a step toward attracting private investment in building and operating a shipyard at the 6-Mile mill property, which the borough purchased for $2.5 million more than three years ago. During its Dec. 16 meeting, the assembly voted to approve a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Seattle-based JAG Marine Group. The agreement sets the stage for a long-term public-private partnership at the 6-Mile property, which Wrangell officials want to develop as a deepwater port. If JAG, which runs shipyards in Ketchikan and...
