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People who have been shoveling snow in central Southeast Alaska might feel a bit like Sisyphus, rolling his boulder uphill. But the heavy snowfall that buried many panhandle communities this past week is no myth. Over 40 inches of snow has fallen on Petersburg since Monday, Dec. 8. Edward Liske, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Juneau, said that's already more than the town got all of last winter. Sixteen inches of snow fell in Petersburg on Sunday, Dec. 14, breaking the... Full story
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Southeast Alaska’s red king crab fishery delivered its most economically successful season on record this fall, with 205,607 pounds harvested worth more than $5.3 million in ex-vessel value through early December. The fishery, which opened November 1 across multiple management areas in northern Southeast, marked the region’s first opening since 2017 and saw 52 permit holders participate. “I think overall, it went well,” said Adam Messmer, ADF&G’s Region I shellfish biologist, following last week’s Southeast King and Tanner Task Force meeti...
Almost six months after the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to pay out the money, the U.S. House last week finally got around to saying yes and restoring the Secure Rural Schools program, which had paid about $120 million a year to communities hurt by cutbacks in the timber industry. The legislation authorizes funding to cover the past two years of missed payments. The program had ended when the House failed to take any action on a Senate bill a year ago. Petersburg will receive about $1.2 million for the two years of lost funding, essentially...
When New Jersey-based director Brian Bill was working on the documentary “Tide and Table,” he knew the film needed to premiere in Petersburg. His company, Two Doors Down Productions, visited Petersburg several times this year to document the town’s vibrant food and close-knit community. Bill said it felt important to have the community’s approval before the film hit a broader audience. The production reached out to Petersburg’s only movie theater, the Northern Nights Theater, which partners with the local school district to provide job train... Full story
The Federal Bureau of Investigations’ office in Anchorage issued an alert warning Alaskans of scams impersonating law enforcement or government officials demanding payment. Alaskans lost an estimated $1.3 million due to this type of government impersonation scam in 2024 — more than five times the previous year’s losses. Officials say Alaskans should not respond to calls claiming they have missed jury duty or have warrants out for their arrest. Officials say anyone targeted by such calls should not provide personal information or payment to th... Full story
When Matt Gerrits spotted a brilliant white bird wading through the shallows at Blind Slough on a December 5, he initially thought it might be a rare white heron. A closer look revealed something equally surprising: a great egret, thousands of miles from its usual range. Gerrits, knowing Petersburg birder Brad Hunter's passion for birds, immediately sent him a message about the unusual sighting. "Lucky for me, there is now cell coverage at the swan observatory," Hunter said he rushed out the...
Petersburg set a daily snowfall record Monday with 7.8 inches, but the early snowfall appears to be an outlier from expectations of a drier and colder winter to come, according to the National Weather Service in Juneau. The snowstorm continued through Tuesday, accumulating 15 inches of snow across the two days. No flights landed at the airport on Tuesday, and roads in town were somewhat treacherous until snow abated and plowing caught up by Wednesday morning. Tuesday would have been a snowfall...
The Alaska Marine Highway System has put the Columbia back to work through Dec. 17 to cover for the Kennicott, which is delayed leaving a Puget Sound shipyard. The Kennicott was scheduled to start running the first week of December between Bellingham, Washington, and Southeast Alaska, but the state reported last month that the ship would be delayed two weeks coming out of the shipyard where it has been for a new generator and other repairs. The Kennicott is now scheduled to leave Ketchikan on...
The Petersburg Rotary Club will distribute over 200 pounds of moose burger to the community on Saturday morning, through a unique local program that turns hunting violations into a food security resource. Petersburg's Moose Burger Bank, now in its eighth year, processes meat from illegally harvested moose and distributes it to local nonprofits and community organizations and, when supplies allow, directly to community members. A public distribution will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday outside...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved a handful of changes to the borough's budget earlier this month, including spending $11,000 to repair damage at the town's ball field. An intense wind storm in September caused one dugout to completely collapse and the adjacent structure covering the bleachers to lean significantly. At the Dec. 1 Borough Assembly meeting, Little League President Becky Turland said the ball field is important to many in the community. "Little League uses the ball fields. T... Full story
A program run by a pair of Alaska nonprofits has started paying out grants for new electric heat pump installations in homes from Metlakatla to Kodiak. The grants range from $4,000 to $8,500 per household, depending on income, and are intended to reduce home heating costs while also reducing pollution from burning fossil fuels. The coastal Alaska program is just starting up, with funds paid out or pending for about 15 installations as of Dec. 2, said Jessie Huff, energy program manager for the Southeast Conference. "We have at least 300...
Tlingit & Haida’s Tidal Network is embarking on a seven-city tour of Southeast communities this month to update people on the organization’s plans for wireless internet service in the region and listen to community concerns. The Petersburg session is planned for 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15, at the John Hanson Sr. Community Hall. The session also will be on Zoom: www.tinyurl.com/TidalPetersburgListening. Tidal Network has encountered differing levels of opposition to its plans to put up telecommunications towers in Wrangell, Sitka, Petersburg a...
The Alaska Board of Game will consider nearly 70 proposals affecting Southeast Alaska during its January 23-27, 2026 meeting in Wrangell, including several that would directly impact hunting regulations around Petersburg and on Mitkof Island. The meeting will be held at the Nolan Center in Wrangell, with remote participation available via Zoom. Written comments are due by January 9 to be included in the board’s meeting materials. The Petersburg Fish and Game Advisory Committee is reviewing the proposals ahead of the January meeting. The c...
Marc Taylor will be sworn into the Petersburg school board next month, filling a seat that has been vacant for nearly two months. Taylor has lived in Petersburg since 2022 and works for Trident Seafoods. He said he applied for the board’s remaining empty seat because he wanted to give back to Petersburg. “I just kind of want to do my part for our community,” Taylor said. He said education has been a big part of his family, which also contributed to his desire to serve on the board. “My whole family, outside of me, were teachers or worked... Full story
Tribal members will decide who will serve as the Petersburg Indian Association’s council president and who will fill three seats on the tribal council when the tribal government holds its election on Jan. 5. The president serves a one-year term, while tribal council members serve two-year terms. Current council members Heather Conn and Nathan Lopez and Heather Conn will not be seeking reelection. Conn will be taking time to care for herself and her family, and Lopez is moving out of Petersburg. Conn has held a seat on the tribal council for s... Full story
A 150-foot communications tower under construction on Mill Road and two other proposed towers have drawn numerous Petersburg residents to three recent borough assembly meetings to voice concerns about Tidal Network’s broadband infrastructure project. What began as scattered questions in September has grown into organized opposition, with residents collecting signatures, forming a Facebook group, consulting lawyers, and pressing the assembly to address a project many say they learned about only after construction began. “I was shocked. I had...
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska has unanimously approved a series of requests for financial secrecy filed by attorneys representing John Malone, the telecom billionaire seeking to take a controlling interest in Alaska’s largest internet firm. The approval means Malone will not be required to publish his personal finances and that the financial condition of three GCI-related subsidiaries will also remain secret. The finances of GCI Liberty, the parent company, are already public due to required filings with the U.S. Securities and E... Full story
When clients aboard the charter vessel Dauntless suggested helping chef Alisa Jestel create her long-dreamed-of cookbook two years ago, she didn't imagine it would lead to cameras, a film crew, and a documentary premiering at Petersburg's Wright Auditorium next week. "Tide and Table," a short documentary from Two Doors Down Productions, began as a modest 8-10 minute film concept. But after Emmy-winning director Brian Bill and his crew arrived in Petersburg last May, they realized they'd... Full story
Inside a workshop tucked behind Charles Davis's legendary junkyard, Jordan Reid stands beside a nearly completed aluminum 17-foot jet sled which has taken shape over the prior three days, its pre-cut panels fitting together with the precision of a high-end puzzle. "Everything is self-jigging," Reid explains. "It took years of math and design engineering, CAD drawing, trial and error to get to this point, to be able to have everything click together like this." After 20 years of running jet...
State ferry officials on Monday were trying to work out a new early-December schedule after learning that the Kennicott will be delayed coming out of a yearlong layup at a Puget Sound shipyard for new generators and maintenance work. The Columbia had been scheduled to leave service to go into its winter maintenance layup starting Wednesday, Nov. 26, when it pulls into Ketchikan on its southbound run. The Kennicott had been scheduled to pick up the route, replacing the Columbia, between Bellingham, Washington, and Southeast Alaska starting Dec....
"Just get it out of me. I don't want to play games," this is what 68-year-old Jim Stolpe said when he got diagnosed with prostate cancer. His choice lead him to needing several types of therapy: radiation, drugs, etc. in hopes of slowing down the testosterone, one of the things that makes prostate cancer worse. Since his diagnosis in 2005, Stolpe has, as he would describe, "gone up and down the chemo ladder," which has resulted in the loss of several things for Stolpe. "Get in the shower and...
Though several industries in Alaska are shedding jobs, the ones that are hiring share a common problem: Not enough applicants. “Our working-age population has had a pretty significant and consistent decline over the past decade,” said Dan Robinson, chief of research and analysis at the Alaska Department of Labor. The working-age population (ages 15 to 64) dropped from 478,00 in 2015 to 449,200 in 2024, he reported at the Resource Development Council’s annual conference in Anchorage on Nov. 12. He attributed the loss of working-age Alask...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved the hiring of Steve Harbour as the borough's next utility director at their early November meeting. Harbour, currently an electrician-operator at the borough's power plant, will begin his new role on December 30, 2025, at an annual salary of $160,000. Current Utility Director Karl Hagerman will remain in the position until July 2026, providing a six-month overlap period that borough officials praised. "This doesn't happen very often where we...
