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Snacks that are good for people and the planet now come in the form of crispy chips that are made from Bristol Bay sockeye salmon skins. The new, flash fried snack was spawned by a Los Angeles-based company called Goodfish, which aims to “propel sustainable seafood into our mass-market consumer culture.” It is the second venture for partners Justin Guilbert and Douglas Riboud, a well-financed duo who are committed to trailblazing brands that have “higher standards of sourcing, manufacturing, and social ethos.” A decade ago they co-foun...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska’s contact tracing program is working well despite undergoing a strain in recent months during the effort to track coronavirus infections, public health officials said. The state recently increased the size of its team of contact tracers as the number of new cases went on a downward trajectory, The Anchorage Daily News reported. Public health experts believe the investigative process of tracking how a virus moves through a population is key to slowing the spread of COVID-19. The continued efficiency of con...
The Petersburg High School cross country team is about three weeks into their season, and Coach Tom Thompson said this season's young team is showing great potential. The team, which is made up of 16 runners, has spent six days of each week getting in shape for the season. On Saturday, they will be doing time trials and comparing their times to runners across the state. Thompson said he anticipates low times for this team. "Over the first three weeks, we've seen some really great improvements,"...
The M/V Matanuska's sailings were cancelled through Aug. 20 after five passengers on board the vessel on Aug. 10 tested positive for COVID-19, according to a press release from the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. The ferry is expected to resume service on Aug. 21 out of Bellingham. On Aug. 10, while sailing from Kake to Juneau, the crew of the M/V Matanuska was notified that some passengers were in close contact with a COVID-19 positive person in Kake. Those...
The test result for a non-resident traveler came back positive on Friday, Aug. 14, according to a joint press release from the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center. The individual has been in isolation in town and close contacts have been informed. The Petersburg Emergency Operations Center believes the COVID-19 risk to the community is low due to the individual having limited contact with others in the community, according to the press release. As of Wednesday, Aug. 19, the number o...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly chose Sarah F. Fine at their meeting on Monday as the moderator for the Sept. 10 community meeting to discuss the civil emergency provisions ordinance. The third reading of the borough's civil emergency provision ordinance was postponed at an assembly meeting last month until Sept. 21 to allow the public more time to inform themselves about the ordinance and offer feedback. As part of the deferment, the assembly agreed to hold a public meeting sometime before...
The borough assembly passed a resolution at their meeting on Monday that puts a parcel of borough land on Ira II St. up for a competitive bid after two parties expressed interest in the property. The Petersburg Indian Association wants to buy the lot at 705 Ira II St. for the site of their low income housing duplex; however, Kathy Holtzinger, who lives next door at 701 Ira II St. also wants to build a duplex on the property. A 2020 assessment of the 10,000 sq. ft. lot valued it at $36,000. The...
Although the Petersburg Parks and Recreation community pool has reopened on a limited basis, Petersburg High School students will have to wait until Sept. 2 for the swim and dive season to start. According to Activities Director Jaime Cabral at the Petersburg School Board meeting last week, the Alaska School Activities Association held a special meeting earlier this month, and found that several schools throughout the state did not have access to a pool until Sept. 1 due to COVID-19 concerns;...
WRANGELL - In March, when the COVID-19 pandemic first began to impact Alaska, many local businesses and organizations in Wrangell shut down. While many groups saw the time as an opportunity to wait and see how the pandemic would change things in the community, the Wrangell Salvation Army took the opportunity to renovate and upgrade. Now that they and other local groups are as close to business-as-usual as they can be in this time, the Salvation Army wanted to remind people struggling through...
The Petersburg School Board approved schedules for Mitkof Middle School and Petersburg High school at their meeting on Tuesday that includes alternate days of in-person instruction at the start of the school year beginning Aug. 31. The students at both secondary schools will be split into two groups, the blue group and the white group. The blue group will have in-person class time on Mondays and Wednesdays and the white group will be in class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. During a day when a...
A traveler tested positive for COVID-19 on Aug. 4 after previously testing negative for the virus, according to a press release from the Petersburg Operations Center. The traveler arrived in town at the Petersburg Airport on July 20, but tested negative upon their arrival, according to the release. A test that was taken on Aug. 4, the day the individual left town, recently returned positive for the virus. According to the press release, the person is no longer in Petersburg and is considered...
Starting Aug. 31, students will return to Rae C. Stedman Elementary School under a schedule that splits the student body into two groups to avoid the possible spread of COVID-19 among students and staff. The Petersburg School Board approved the new schedule at their regular school board meeting on Tuesday in a 4-1 vote. The schedule follows recommendations from the state's Smart Start plan. Discussion on the school district's schedule began at a special school board meeting on Thursday, Aug. 6,...
The Petersburg Medical Center Board of Directors agreed to request $1,004,638.50 at a special board meeting on Friday from the Petersburg Borough's COVID-19 fund should grants from the state fall through. About $800,000 of the requested funds can be covered by grants the hospital has applied for from the state for COVID-19 relief, said PMC Controller Rocio Tejera. The hospital should be notified in the coming weeks on whether or not the state will release the grants. "This is in case we don't...
Unless you fished for salmon this summer at Bristol Bay, it’s been slim pickings for fishermen in other Alaska regions. Salmon returns have been so poor that communities already are claiming fishery disasters. Cordova’s City Council last week unanimously passed a resolution asking the state to declare disasters for both the 2018 Copper River sockeye and Chinook salmon runs and the 2020 sockeye, chum and Chinook runs at the Copper River and Prince William Sound. The resolution also urges the state and federal governments to declare a “condition...
Starting Aug. 11, non-residents entering the state of Alaska will have to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test result that was received within 72 hours prior to departure or proof that test results are pending. Pending test results that were taken within 72 hours prior to departure, will require the traveler to quarantine until receiving the results, according to Alaska's COVID-19 website. In addition to a negative or pending test result, non-residents can also pay $250 for a COVID-19 test upo...
The Petersburg Borough assembly passed a resolution at their meeting on Monday that transfers $778,000 from the borough's Coronavirus Aid, Revenue, and Economic Security Act special revenue fund to the Petersburg School District. As the school district prepares to reopen under a split in person and distance learning education schedule, the funding will go towards COVID-19 related expenditures, such as personnel costs, personal protection equipment and technology. "Implementing both the systems a...
Petersburg Medical Center may receive a second cepheid testing unit that would increase the hospital's capacity to test for COVID-19 onsite from two tests per hour to six tests per hour, according to PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter at the PMC Board of Directors Meeting on Thursday, July 30. Because the rapid testing machine had yet to arrive at the hospital as of last week's board meeting, Hofstetter declined to go into detail about the machine or say definitively PMC would receive the machine. The...
Petersburg Medical Center ended its 2020 fiscal year with a gross operating revenue of $20,325,510, which is one percent over what the hospital had anticipated at the start of the fiscal year, according to PMC Controller Rocio Tejera at the PMC Board of Directors meeting on July 30. When deductions from revenue adjustments and allowances are made to the gross revenue, PMC still has a net operating revenue of $17,072,677 for the fiscal year. That number was two percent higher than what PMC had or...
The borough assembly agreed at their regular meeting on Monday to hold a remote town hall meeting on Thursday, Sept. 10 at 4 P.M. to inform the public on the details of the civil emergency provisions ordinance and allow members of the community to ask questions about the ordinance and suggest changes to it. The assembly was expected to pass ordinance #2020-19 at their regular meeting on Monday, July 20, which would have made the temporary civil emergency provisions a permanent part of borough...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska health officials reported that there were 159 new COVID-19 cases in the state Sunday, including 111 within the Municipality of Anchorage. The new cases included 145 Alaska residents and 14 non-residents, The Anchorage Daily News reported. Data from the state Department of Health and Social Services showed there was one new hospitalization reported, while there were no additional deaths on Sunday. The health department reported that 27 people with COVID-19 were hospitalized as of Sunday and 12 people were h...
With the retirement of one long time postal employee and the resignation of another, the Petersburg Post Office has been left short staffed, causing shorter window hours and longer wait times, according to James Boxrud, a spokesperson with the United States Postal Service. The local post office is normally staffed with four employees, including Postmaster Kim Aulbach. Recently, all the postal duties have fallen on Aulbach and one other employee while USPS prepares to send two employees from...
Two positive cases of COVID-19 have been identified among non-residents who arrived in the community on July 20, according to a joint-statement between the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center on July 23. As of Wednesday morning, the borough was still reporting both positive cases of the virus as active. Borough Incident Commander Karl Hagerman said on Friday, July 24 that the two individuals submitted test samples upon arrival at the James A. Johnson Airport and immediately got onto...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly extended the borough's temporary civil emergency provisions emergency ordinance for a third time at a special meeting on Friday, July 24 after three amendments were made to the document. The temporary civil emergency provisions ordinance lays out how the borough would respond to an emergency and the authority that the borough manager and incident commander have in an emergency situation. "I hope everybody on the assembly and the community can see the pandemic is...
The Southeast Conference released the results of a business survey the organization conducted in June that shows all responding businesses, including those in Petersburg, reporting significant financial losses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. "It's basically a snapshot where businesses in the region think the economy is going," said Petersburg Chamber of Commerce Board Vice President Dave Kensinger. "We see the survey, and it's pretty grim." A total of 460 businesses from 23 communities in...
Beth Flor has been accepted in the 85th Cooperstown National Juried Exhibition. The oil painting Pie Day was selected by juror Emma Golden. The exhibit will be online this year due to Covid 19, running from July 10 - Aug. 13. The painting Red Door, Light-play was also chosen for inclusion this spring in The International Guild of Realisms Exhibit. It was Flor's first acceptance from the organization....
