Sorted by date Results 951 - 975 of 1007
Four Petersburg High School basketball players were named to Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches all-state teams. Thomas Durkin made the first team, and Brayden Larson made the second team among the boys 2A schools throughout the state. On the girls side, Ines Larson made the second team, and Kaili Simbahon made the third team. The Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches is an organization that formally connects all the basketball coaches in the state, said Coach Rick Brock, head coach...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)– Alaska government officials and fishing industry professionals are making plans to ensure the state can have a strong summer salmon season amid changes forced by the outbreak of the coronavirus. Alaska’s chief medical officer says the state has a fisheries work group looking at how small communities can handle influxes of fishermen and processing workers while adhering to health guidelines, The Alaska Journal of Commerce reported Wednesday. “We know the fish are coming regardless of COVID-19 or not and we can’t ask the...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)–An Alaska official trying to promote participation in the national census has urged residents to file their forms online and by phone as the state falls behind the national response average. The push for remote filing comes as efforts by the U.S. Census Bureau to collect residency data have been been hampered by the cornoavirus pandemic, Alaska Public Media reported Monday. The outbreak prompted the agency to close field offices and delay door-to-door interviews. The national response rate stands at nearly 43%, but l...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced wide-ranging budget vetoes Tuesday amid a collapse in oil prices, citing expectations that many of the larger cuts, including aid for schools and local governments, would be offset through use of federal funds tied to COVID-19 relief. Some legislators questioned whether the money can be used that way. “There is no guarantee that the federal government will pick up the tab. This approach is incredibly troubling to me,”House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, a Dillingham independent, said in a state...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration has launched a new virtual school for Alaska students in partnership with a Florida program, garnering some criticism from educators adjusting their lessons to online teaching amid the coronavirus pandemic. The state of Alaska signed a $525,000 contract through February 2021 with the Florida Virtual School, which had enrolled about 80 Alaska students by Friday, Alaska’s Energy Desk reported. “The ‘fourth-quarter solution’ that is suggested through the purchase of this Flo...
Don't feel helpless To the Editor: In this sci-fi "reality" we are immersed in currently, I want to encourage my fellow Alaskans not to feel helpless. There is more we can do to help ourselves stay healthy than just isolate, wash hands, wear masks, and hunker down. My apologies if my comments seem obvious. This is not medical advice, just common sense and deductions from reading peer-reviewed studies found at PubMed and other sites, the same sources our doctors can access if they choose....
The online world has been using humor to deal with the anxiety around COVID-19. Psychologists say it's a healthy response....
The State of Alaska wants input on plans to distribute nearly $24.5 million in federal disaster relief funds for stakeholders and communities hurt by the 2018 Gulf of Alaska cod crash. Better make it quick – the deadline to comment is April 10. Cod is Alaska’s second largest groundfish harvest (after pollock), but the Gulf stock dropped by 80% in 2018 following a three year heatwave that disrupted food webs, fish metabolism and egg survival on the ocean floor. It combined to push down cod catches to just 28.8 million pounds, compared to nea...
As of Wednesday afternoon, Petersburg Medical Center has submitted 39 COVID-19 testing samples to state and commercial laboratories, 26 of which have come back negative and the remaining 13 tests are still pending, according to PMC's Laurie Miller at Wednesday's daily COVID-19 community update. "We're relieved everyday that we don't have a positive test, but we know they are coming," said PMC Chief Nursing Officer Jennifer Bryner. On Wednesday evening, the Alaska Department of Health and Social...
The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) vessels, M/V Columbia, M/V Kennicott, and M/V Tustumena were scheduled to leave the Ketchikan Shipyard and resume service in mid-April and early May 2020. For the safety of AMHS employees and to reduce the potential spread of COVID-19 at the Ketchikan Shipyard, AMHS reduced shipboard crew levels on March 25, to the minimum necessary to safely care for assets. Vigor Ketchikan Shipyard expects to complete overhaul work for the Columbia, Kennicott and...
The Local Emergency Planning Committee held its third meeting last Friday as a weekly effort to update local businesses and borough officials on how the community is reacting to and taking precautions against COVID-19. Since the previous week's LEPC meeting, Petersburg Public Health Nurse Erin Michael said she has begun conducting contact investigations for people in the state who have been exposed to COVID-19. Some of her investigations have also included local residents who have potentially...
The United States Census Bureau has suspended all field operations until April 15 amid the growing COVID-19 pandemic, according to a statement made by the Census Bureau on Saturday. While some Petersburg residents may have already found a questionnaire left on their doorstep with instructions on how to complete the 2020 census, others have not. According to Desi Burrell, a local enumerator with the Census Bureau, residents who received a questionnaire were also given a 12-digit census ID that...
Activities at the Petersburg School District and other school districts across the state have been cancelled for the rest of the academic year as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. PSD Activities Director Jaime Cabral said the decision to cancel activities came from the state. On March 20, Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a health mandate that closed public and private schools through May 1 to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Following the announcement, the Alaska School Activities Association...
For the month of February, Petersburg Medical Center saw its net operating revenue and total operating expenses come in over what was budgeted, according to PMC financial statements presented at the PMC Board of Directors meeting last Thursday. The net operating revenue was at $1,571,660 at the end of February, which was 12 percent above the budgeted $1,391,250 for the month. While the total operating expenses also came in over budget, February's revenue was able to offset the difference. PMC...
It took Maura Sullivan about a week to return to Petersburg when the United States Peace Corps began pulling its volunteers out of Zambia on March 16 as COVID-19 was spreading around the world. In the weeks leading up to her forced departure, Sullivan and the other Peace Corps volunteers in Zambia were keeping up with the news on COVID-19, but they weren't aware of how serious the virus was getting. "When you're living abroad, it's kind of hard to grasp the severity of the situation when you're...
Sunday, March 29, started out with a blanket of snow on the ground with more falling from the sky. It wasn't ideal weather but that didn't stop the residents of Petersburg from getting outdoors and going on a "bear hunt." "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" is not only the title of a beloved children's story book by Micheal Rosen and Helen Oxenbury, but also a song that kids are often taught in elementary school and the inspiration for this social media idea. With kids at home from school for over two...
WRANGELL – The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, according to several members of Wrangell's local government, has been doing a very good job of communicating with them during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Assembly Member David Powell said that communications between SEARHC, Mayor Steve Prysunka, and Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen have been taking place almost daily. Prysunka and Von Bargen are really on top of things, he said. Assembly Member Drew Larrabee added that, in his opinion...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Alaska lawmakers early Sunday approved a budget that set this October’s oil wealth fund check to nearly every single Alaskan at about $1,000, but did not approve a second dividend intended to help residents struggling with the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus. Lawmakers worked into the early morning hours to approve the budget, and then took an extended recess to allow members to go to their homes in response to the coronavirus. The Senate in its budget plan had included a $1,000 economic stimulus pay...
The U.S. seafood industry received a $300 million assist from the $2 trillion COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress on March 27, and a wide coalition of industry stakeholders is hoping for more. Fishery recipients in the relief bill include tribes, persons, communities, processors, aquaculture and other related businesses. SeafoodNews.com reports that those eligible for relief must have “revenue losses greater than 35 percent as compared to the prior 5-year average revenue, or any negative impacts to subsistence, cultural, or ceremonial f...
Sen. Bert Stedman has been serving Southeast communities for 17 years. He is the Senate Finance Committee co-chair. It did not take a positive test for the Alaska State Legislature to begin addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and treat it with an urgency the virus deserves. Rather, the Senate acted swiftly on March 11 – one day before the state announced its first confirmed case in Alaska– when it passed the first of five bills in a three-week period. As we communicated with our respective com... Full story
While we applaud the work of Wrangell's health care providers as they prepare for the uncertain times before us, it's important to remember that they need us as much as we need them. Every citizen has a part to play in flattening the curve so small hospitals like Wrangell's aren't overwhelmed with stricken patients from COVID-19 infections. Key to flattening the curve is testing symptomatic patients, proper hand washing and social distancing or isolation. Presently SEARHC does not release... Full story
Incident Commander Karl Hagerman signed public health mandate #3 Friday afternoon to temporarily suspend in-person participation during borough assembly meetings or any other public meeting of a borough board and commission effective immediately. “Due to the ongoing public health emergency caused by the COVID-19 crisis, it is in the best interest of public safety and health that public gatherings be avoided,” wrote Hagerman in the health mandate. Hagerman notes in the mandate that the con... Full story
The borough assembly unanimously passed public health mandate #1 at a special meeting on Wednesday that orders residents to shelter in place amid the increasing number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state. The mandate goes into effect at 11:59 P.M. on Thursday, March 26. The health mandate comes three days after the assembly passed a public health alert at another special meeting on Sunday that urged the public to shelter in place. Following an outpour of community support for a mandate...
Longtime Petersburg resident Delbert (Pete) Erickson, 77, died on March 16 in Federal Way, Washington. His is the first recorded death caused by the COVID-19 virus in the State of Alaska. Even though he died in Washington, his death is recorded in Alaska, his place of residency. According to his family, Erickson was being treated for congestive heart failure, COPD and poor kidney function at a hospital in Everett, Washington. His son Pete wrote in an email, "If he had not contracted the virus, w...
As the first cruise ships are expected to arrive in town on May 12, it is still too early to tell how COVID-19 will affect the cruise ship industry in Southeast Alaska, according to Dave Berg, co-founder of Viking Travel. One issue affecting large, foreign cruise ships is the closure of the Vancouver cruise ship port, said Berg. The closure was a result of COVID-19, and the cruise ship port isn't expected to reopen until June 30. While most of the ships that port in Petersburg are small,...
