Sorted by date Results 851 - 875 of 999
About 160 residents showed up for a vigil on Sunday outside of the Petersburg Courthouse for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, who allegedly died during encounters with police, to show their solidarity with protests and movements across the country. Both Floyd and Taylor are African-American. Chelsea Tremblay, one of the organizers of the vigil, said she wanted to create a safe space for people to come and reflect on their thoughts. During the vigil, those in attendance stood in a circle around...
An updated version of Gov. Dunleavy's state health mandate #10 took effect early Saturday morning and set new guidelines for residents and visitors who are entering Alaska from the lower 48 or another country. According to the revised mandate, travelers into the state will have to meet one of four requirements upon arrival to avoid having to self quarantine for 14 days. They can be tested for COVID-19 before traveling, or they can be tested in Alaska when they arrive. If the individual has...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved an ordinance in its third reading at a special meeting last week that creates a new special revenue fund for the first distribution of Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funding to the borough in the amount of $2,216,502. The borough received the first distribution of CARES Act funding on May 1, with two more distributions expected on July 1 and on October 1. The borough will receive a total of $3,978,894 in CARES Act funding. The third...
Outdoor activities will possibly resume at Mitkof Middle School and Petersburg High School on July 13, said Activities Director Jaime Cabral at the Petersburg School Board meeting on Tuesday. School districts throughout Southeast Alaska put together a document with guidelines from the Alaska School Activities Association and the state on how activities can safely resume. While some schools throughout the region have already resumed activities, others haven't, said Cabral. The reason the Petersbu...
Precautions being taken To the Editor: The Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department is continuing to enforce its protection measures for its members and the public at the Fire Station. This is to maintain a safe working environment during the current health concern caused by Covid-19. The public and department members have been encouraged to minimize their visitation to the station to lessen the potential spread of this virus to department employees and volunteers. An infection of a member could... Full story
Surveys of Alaska's fish, crab and halibut stocks in the Bering Sea have been called off or reduced due to constraints and dangers posed by the coronavirus. In what they called an "unprecedented" move, NOAA Fisheries announced in late May that five Alaska surveys will be cancelled this summer "due to the uncertainties created by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the unique challenges those are creating for the agency." NOAA said in a statement that they found "no way to move forward with a survey plan...
WRANGELL - On Sunday evening, June 7, the first positive case of COVID-19 was announced in the community of Wrangell. A joint press release from the city and SEARHC reports that the patient is an unnamed female. She is a resident of Wrangell, according to the press release, and is asymptomatic. Contact tracing, trying to determine who might have come into contact with the patient and may potentially be at risk, is currently ongoing. "SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC)...
WRANGELL - The Wrangell Borough Assembly met last Wednesday evening, June 3, for a special meeting. City administration was wanting to enter a Memorandum of Understanding with SEARHC to provide COVID-19 testing for Sea Level Seafood employees. The total cost for the proposed memorandum, according to the meeting's agenda packet, comes out to $60,000. This amount provides some padding in case of emergency, the actual cost of the memorandum is anticipated to be $52,500. "In order to ensure an...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Forty-one crew members and passengers of an Alaska state ferry will undergo testing for COVID-19 before disembarking the Tustumena in Homer later Monday after another crew member tested positive over the weekend. The crew member on the 198-foot ferry began exhibiting symptom and tested positive Saturday in Dutch Harbor. The ferry set sail for Homer that night after 21 passengers who boarded in Dutch Harbor were put back ashore. No other tests on crew members or passengers were conducted on Saturday. In all, 35 crew m...
Since the mid-80s, Pacific Wings has been offering air taxi service for tourists and locals alike throughout Southeast Alaska, but economic hardships that the company has been facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the business to shut its doors. "This COVID thing hit us pretty hard," said owner Tyler Robinson. "Between the COVID thing and all the travel mandates, we pretty much lost all our springtime visits." Pacific Wings had been anticipating a busy spring and summer this yea...
For 33 years, Cole Rhoden has been flying for Pacific Wings, but due to a loss in business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company is shutting down. After his last flight on Friday, Rhoden said he was forced into retirement. About 30 people gathered at the Petersburg Airport Friday afternoon to greet Rhoden as he completed his last flight with Pacific Wings. While those in attendance cheered as Rhoden got off the Cessna 185 aircraft, for Rhoden, the moment was a bittersweet end to his...
The borough assembly approved the Emergency Operations Center to answer a survey from the Alaska Municipal League regarding the presence of cruise ships in Alaska and also heard concerns over cruise ships arriving in port. The assembly had the option to hold a special meeting to provide input on the survey, but the assembly members felt comfortable with the EOC answering the questions. Borough Incident Commander Karl Hagerman said the communities at a recent AML meeting were cautious and showed...
With the upcoming expiration of the state's health mandate that requires anyone arriving in the state to quarantine for 14 days, Borough Incident Commander Karl Hagerman said at the COVID-19 community update Wednesday that the borough hasn't received much information from the state on what will happen next. Last Friday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced plans to change state health mandate #10 in a press conference. He mentioned that the Petersburg and Wrangell airports would be supported by state...
WRANGELL — The local Resource Advisory Committee, which covers the areas of Wrangell, Petersburg, and Kake, held a series of meetings last week. The RAC, for those who are unaware, is a committee of residents of these three areas that advise the Forest Service on what projects to pursue. There were a variety of interesting and pertinent projects covered in the recent RAC meetings. In their meeting on May 27, the RAC elected committee co-chairs Kim Powell and Patrick Fowler. They also approved of a proposal to spend $40,000 on dock repairs in t...
The borough assembly passed the borough's fiscal year 2021 operating budget in its third reading on Monday, which has $9,702,871 in both total revenues and total expenditures. The first draft of the budget showed expenditures for the general fund totaling $9,838,846, but was balanced out equally by $9,838,846 in revenues. The total amount of revenues and expenditures change throughout the three readings of the budget as a result of the seven amendments made to it. The most recent amendment was...
Petersburg Medical Center has spent about $430,000 in costs related to COVID-19, as of Friday's Board of Directors' meeting, according to PMC Controller Rocio Tejera. Tejera said much of April was spent dealing with COVID-19 related activities and searching for financial aid. In April alone, PMC spent $321,000 in COVID-19 related expenses, such as overtime, supplies and equipment. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to cover 75 percent of the hospital's COVID-19 related costs,...
Petersburg Medical Center has begun operating under a red, yellow and green format that correlates to the risk of COVID-19 in the community and state which guides the hospital in its operations, according to PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter in his report to the PMC Board of Directors at their meeting last Thursday. "It does allow us to be more dynamic and flexible based on what we see in the community," said Jennifer Hyer, chief of staff at PMC. On Thursday, May 28, PMC was operating under a green state...
Recycled fishing nets from Cordova will soon help launch a new clothing line by Grundens, the maker of the iconic foul weather gear “built by fishermen for fishermen for over a century.” The Copper River Watershed Project is “refreshing” its net recycling program underway for a decade that’s been backed by the Pacific Marine States Commission. Now, the program wants to broaden its base and stand on its own, said Shae Bowman, Watershed operations manager. “The vision with a new program is to create a self-sustaining recycling program tha...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An annual extreme mountain race in Alaska has been postponed until next year over coronavirus concerns, organizers said. The committee that oversees the Mount Marathon Race in Seward announced Sunday that the 93rd running of the Fourth of July event would be postponed until July 2021 after failing to find another appropriate date this year. The race of about 3 miles (5 kilometers) up and back down Mount Marathon to the finish line in Seward began in 1915 and was last canceled in 1942 because of World War II. No races w...
On April 20, Stacey Dahl left Petersburg and arrived in New York City. She was there to help in the COVID-19 pandemic. Dahl would spend the next three weeks working in "the hot zone" of a lower Manhattan hospital on a designated COVID-19 floor as a nurse. Dahl's journey started three years ago when with some time on her hands she registered to be part of the International Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) with Samaritan's Purse (SP) organization to do some volunteer work. She had...
In an unorthodox graduation ceremony that began with a parade throughout town and ended with the viewing of a video of Petersburg High School seniors wearing their graduation garb and giving speeches, the Class of 2020 completed their high school careers on Tuesday. Thirty-six seniors graduated Monday, and of those seniors, 24 have plans to attend college in the fall or near future. Four students will be learning a trade. Kole Sperl, like his brother before him, plans on attending flight school...
Petersburg Public Health Nurse Erin Michael warned the public that as people's lives change and adapt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they can begin to feel depressed and suicidal. At the COVID-19 community update on Wednesday, May 27, Micheal said the state reported an increase in emergency room visits related to suicide. She said it's not uncommon for people to feel anxious or depressed as they deal with the pandemic. Some specific causes of depression brought on by the pandemic can be a lack...
Since Gov. Mike Dunleavy's phase two and three of his Reopen Alaska Responsibly Plan went into effect Friday, businesses have been able to operate without mandated restrictions. Some businesses, however, are still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic and the state health mandates that followed. One of the first state health mandates that affected businesses restricted restaurants to take out orders only. Papa Bear's Pizza complied and only allowed customers to enter the building to pick up their...
State health officials held a virtual work session with the borough on May 27 that updated the community on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in Alaska. Joe McLaughlin, chief of epidemiology in the state, opened the work session with a brief presentation on the virus. He said the state isn't entirely sure what the total number of COVID-19 cases are in Alaska because not everyone has been tested for the virus. It is possible that there might be double or even triple the amount of cases than...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has announced that checks from the state’s oil-wealth fund will begin going out to residents three months early because of “extraordinary times” brought on by the economic hardships caused by the coronavirus. “We need to make sure that people of Alaska have cash in their hands to help with this economy,” Dunleavy, a Republican, said Wednesday evening. This year’s check is expected to be about $1,000 and Dunleavy’s office said the Permanent Fund Dividend Division, which determines annual eligibil...
