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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The Alaska Legislature has approved a $66.7 million budget appropriation that lawmakers said should keep the Alaska Marine Highway System running for the year. Legislators increased the operating budget for the state’s ferry service by around $20 million over the previous year, CoastAlaska reported Monday. An estimated 42% of the overall $122 million ferry budget is expected to come from ticket sales for passengers, vehicles and freight. The appropriation should guarantee at least one ferry is available as relief if ano...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska lawmakers fell short of a self-imposed goal of completing their most pressing work Friday, with key measures, including a state spending package and bills related to the coronavirus, yet to be finalized. Friday marked Day 67 of a legislative session that, under the constitution, can run up to 121 days, with an option to extend further. But many lawmakers are eager to get home amid concerns with the coronavirus, and Friday was targeted by legislative leaders as a goal for completing work seen as more critical. Senate...
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
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The Alaska Senate approved a budget provision Monday that would give residents a $1,000 payment as a way to blunt economic impacts from the coronavirus. The provision, an amendment to a larger state spending package, passed 12-7 after the Senate rejected a proposed $1,300 stimulus payment. The underlying budget passed 17-1 later in the day, with Republican Sen. Lora Reinbold voting in opposition. The House will have to decide whether to agree to what passed the Senate. If theHouse does not agree, differences typically a...
The borough assembly failed to pass a letter to Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities Commissioner John MacKinnon requesting DOT revise their plans for the Kake Access Road project to end the road directly across from Petersburg on Kupreanof Island instead of at Twelvemile Creek. Mayor Mark Jensen, who requested the letter be put on the agenda, said ending the road at Twelvemile Creek was not a good plan and it should end closer to Petersburg in the Wrangell Narrows. "I...
Members of the Local Emergency Planning Committee, as well as community leaders and local business representatives, got together last Thursday to discuss the COVID-19 virus and how entities throughout the community have been taking precautions against it. "There's a bunch of information going around," said Sandy Dixson, chairperson of the Local Emergency Planning Committee. "We just want to make sure we're all on the same page ... It's not if, it's when it gets to our community, and we do not...
The Petersburg School Board adopted a policy on Tuesday in its second and final reading that addresses the Petersburg School District's pandemic and epidemic emergency readiness. Board policy 6114.4 was recommended to the school board by the Association of Alaska School Boards. Since its first reading in February, School Board Vice President Sarah Holmgrain said parents have had some concerns over the extent that the district would be able to quarantine students; as a result, language within...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, seeking to assert calm concerning the new coronavirus threat, said Monday he sees the fall in oil prices as a “momentary issue’’ that with the stock market will work itself out. The virus has affected global energy prices, with North Slope oil prices around $45 a barrel at the end of last week. The state, which has struggled with a long-running deficit, relies on oil revenue and earnings from its oil-wealth fund, the Alaska Permanent Fund, to help pay for government. Alaska Permanent Fund Co...
A resolution that would have opposed the Kake Access Road project and asked state legislators to reappropriate the remaining balance of the $40 million in funding for the project was voted down by the borough assembly at their meeting on Monday. Most assembly members were in support of a road connecting Kake to Petersburg, though they did not agree with the road ending at Twelvemile Creek. They had hoped the road would stretch closer to Petersburg. Assembly Member Jeff Meucci suggested the road...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly recently considered a resolution urging the Legislature to re-appropriate money from a critical $40 million Kake-Petersburg road project to the Alaska Marine Highway System. This engages in an unnecessary ferry versus road debate at a time when we're pursuing all avenues of transportation for Southeast Alaska: ferries, airports and roads. Some points to consider: • Road funding from the 2012 capital appropriation for the road cannot be used for ferries. • It can...
Sen. Bert Stedman told the community while attending the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce banquet on Saturday that the future of the Alaska Marine Highway System depends on how negotiations go with Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Stedman said that legislators will discuss the AMHS and present possible scenarios to the governor when Dunleavy releases his operating budget; however, without enough votes to override the governor's anticipated vetoes, negotiations won't be too aggressive. "If you don't have the...
Second-graders at Rae C Stedman Elementary School heard a story on the Greensboro sit-ins and were given a dictionary on Friday as part of two programs through Wells Fargo and the Petersburg Elks Lodge. For ten weeks this school year, Shannon Howard will be reading a book each Friday to Mary Midkiff's second grade class as a part of a nationwide Wells Fargo program that promotes literacy. After Howard finishes reading the book, it is donated to the class. "I read the book, the book stays in the...
Kake/Kupreanof road To the Editor: The assembly will be considering a resolution on the Kake/Kupreanof road next week. No matter what happens some people will be upset at the final vote. Either way, I hope the public sends their thoughts on the Kake project to the State House Finance Committee, housefinance@akleg.gov. (Or visit the LIO for assistance submitting comments!) Considering the project was initially funded with no public hearing at the state level, a project with murky purpose and a...
A resolution opposing the Kake Access Road project was discussed at an assembly meeting Tuesday, but assembly members won't vote on the resolution until their March 2 meeting. Vice Mayor Jeigh Stanton Gregor requested that resolution #2020-01 be discussed at Tuesday's meeting to allow residents time to become aware of the resolution and to give their feedback to the assembly before they vote on it in March. The resolution cites the state's current "fiscal crisis" and the "99 percent shut down"...
Discussed by the Petersburg School Board at their meeting last week was a senate bill being put forth by Alaska legislators that would mandate school districts offer a preschool program and ensure students are reading proficiently by third grade. "We have heard that this is a fast moving bill," said School Board President Mara Lutomski. "Both sides, the House and the Senate, expect that it will probably most likely make it through and arrive at the governors' desk in some form. It doesn't mean...
With the M/V Matanuska going out of service last week, ferry service via the Alaska Marine Highway has completely shut down. According to a press release from the Alaska Department of Transportation, new issues have been found with the ferry's reduction gear system. The Matanuska, at the time of writing, is being towed to Ketchikan for repairs. "AMHS is aware of travel needs for upcoming school and community tournaments in March and is exploring options for alternative service in the event...
Stedman should put ferries first To the Editor: As residents of the towns near the proposed Kake Road, we firmly oppose it. The $40 million raised for this "road to nowhere" should instead support the return of the Alaska Marine Highway System to our coastal Alaskan communities struggling without ferry service. It is one thing to waste taxpayer money on a project no one is asking for, and another to do so while claiming funding for vitally needed and popular ferry services doesn't exist. This...
A letter to Sen. Bert Stedman and Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins requesting information on the proposed Kake Access Road project was approved by the borough assembly at their meeting Monday after amending the letter to remove a paragraph suggesting the road was a waste of funding. The letter follows a similar correspondence between the borough and the Department of Transportation's project manager, Greg Lockwood. In a letter to Lockwood, the assembly requested a public meeting with DOT officials...
During these times of limited capital project spending around the state, the proposed Kake to Petersburg road should not be a priority. Funding for the project was allocated in 2012 by Senator Bert Stedman (R-Sitka) under a "Roads to Resources" program. Ignoring the fact that the project has taken nearly 8 years to develop, much has changed since the project was funded. Biggest among them is the state's realization that they have to live within their means. Next is the fact that the...
Thank you To the Editor: To whomever maintains the Bill Musson trail it’s greatly appreciated. Andrew Greinier Road to nowhere To the Editor: Assembly Members please support sending a letter to Senator Stedman to not support the road being built from Kake to 12 mile. This is a total and complete waste of $40 million dollars and no one in Petersburg or Kake are in favor of this road and wasting $40 million, it makes us all look bad. It’s a “Road to Nowhere”. Who in Petersburg or Kake is going to leave a vehicle or boat at 12 mile to access...
The Petersburg School Board approved an updated math curriculum for the district and the purchase of related materials totaling approximately $42,000 at the board's meeting on Tuesday. A whole new math curriculum is being adopted at Rae C. Stedman Elementary School that was constructed last year by second grade teachers Becky Martin and Mary Midkiff, according to Elementary Principal Heather Conn. The curriculum teaches math to students in a spiral manner. "We will see the same information...
The community lap pool is closed this week due to an above average amount of water being pumped into the pool to maintain regular water levels. Parks and Recreation Facilities Supervisor Stephanie Payne said the cause of the phenomenon is unknown at this time. A pool dye kit has been ordered that may help staff determine what has been causing the pool to need extra water to keep it at capacity. Payne said she first noticed the problem late last week. Parks and Recreation made the decision to...
A patchwork of logging roads already exists, and the project would connect those roads to make a 35-mile, single-lane road between Kake and 12-mile Creek north of the city of Kupreanof. The money was allocated in 2012 by State Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, as part of a program called "Roads to Resources" meant to help access to natural resources. "We need to have a transportation system in Southeast," Stedman said in a phone interview. "This road is part of a bigger drive to help stabilize and exp...
January Following the shutdown of the U.S. government on Dec. 22, 2018, the U.S. Coast Guard stated it would continue offering essential services. The borough assembly approved $600,000 for a new baler. The USCG located debris from an overdue medivac aircraft that had three people onboard that was due to land in Kake several nights before. A decrease in air cargo coming into Petersburg affected the timely arrival of residents' packages after the retirement of Alaska Airlines' combi 737-400...
With the increasing presence of cell phones in the district, the Petersburg School Board held a discussion on the district's cell phone policy at a school board meeting last week. At Rae C. Stedman Elementary School, cell phones are not allowed to be seen during school hours, and must be kept in students' backpacks. Principal Heather Conn said she hasn't seen any cell phones this year so far, though she has seen them in past years. When a student is caught with their cell phone out, they must dr...
