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Back in May, National Marine Fisheries Enforcement Officer Jerod Cook responded to a call from Petersburg's police department about a stranded baby seal at the Libby Straits south of town. "He was just hanging on to the beach there," Cook said. "We never did see a mother for it." He moved the seal to a safer location, then came back to check on it the next day. "It was obvious that something, a decision, needed to be made," Cook said. After several months of treatment at the Alaska SeaLife...
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The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted 6-0 last week to sell seven parcels of borough-owned land to Skylark Park LLC at half their appraised value. The reduced price reflects the project's public benefit purpose: creating at least 20 new residential lots in a community facing a dire housing shortage. The assembly authorized the sale of the lots for $55,500 - 50% of their $111,000 appraised value and well below their $188,300 assessed value. The sale includes Lots 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 in Block A of...
Two men arrested for scamming a Petersburg resident this summer have pleaded guilty to federal theft charges. One man has been released from jail and the other man awaits a sentencing hearing scheduled for November. On June 9, the FBI and Petersburg police arrested Shubaum Patel, 24, and Harshilkumar Patel, who was 22 at the time, as suspects connected to an elaborate phone scam that defrauded an elderly resident of over $100,000. The victim, who has asked not to be named, told investigators...
After years of planning and development, Petersburg's Scow Bay Boat Haulout project is nearly ready for construction. PND Engineer Dick Somerville presented a progress report on the 65% design completion at a joint work session with harbor board, assembly and economic development officials on Wednesday morning. Somerville highlighted that all the necessary funding has been secured for the $15.07 million project, the permitting is in progress, and as long as the federal government eventually...
The final piece of funding is in place for replacement of the deteriorating breakwater system at Banana Point, with construction expected to begin next spring. The Petersburg Borough Assembly accepted a $78,000 contribution last week from the Petersburg Indian Association to close a gap between the project's existing budget and the lowest construction bid. The borough has issued a notice to award to bidders and plans to present a contract for assembly authorization at its next meeting,...
The state had received close to 1,100 applications for individual assistance from residents of Western Alaska affected by storm damage from ex-Typhoon Halong, according to the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management on Oct. 25. Applications are open on the state’s website through Dec. 9. As many storm evacuees left behind or lost identification or essential documents, the Alaska Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Health have booths at emergency evacuation shelters in Anchorage to assist with r... Full story
Alaska’s largest residential internet provider may soon come under the control of billionaire businessman John Malone, one of America’s biggest private landowners and wealthiest people. On Oct. 3, Malone filed paperwork with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska asking for permission to take majority ownership of GCI Liberty Inc., the parent company of GCI Communications, Alaska’s largest internet company. Malone already owns a majority of GCI Liberty’s voting shares, according to RCA filings, but until now has been limited by agreements that ho... Full story
The 2025 moose season closed with record-breaking numbers for Game Management Unit 3, as hunters checked in 145 moose - exceeding the previous record of 141 set in 2023, according to Petersburg's office of Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The season started relatively slow, due largely to wind storms during the first two weeks. Hunters extended their hunts, slogged through miles of muskeg, and a record number were eventually rewarded for their patience, with at least one bull so...
If the federal government shutdown continues, more than 66,000 Alaskans will lose federal food aid within weeks, the state of Alaska is warning. On Monday, the Division of Public Assistance within the Alaska Department of Health said that the federal government “has directed states to stop the issuance of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for the month of November due to insufficient federal funds. This means that Alaskans may not receive SNAP benefits for November, even if they are authorized to receive them.” The div... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly has reversed its previous decision about an application to buy borough-owned land. Dave Ohmer is a local developer who wants to purchase two lots on Haugen Drive to build housing rentals. When the borough assembly initially considered his application in July, Ohmer stressed the need for more housing in town. "It's endless, the people that need homes in Petersburg," Ohmer told the assembly on July 21. "For a young family, it's virtually impossible to get into a... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved the appointment of Michelle Lopez to lead both the elderly housing and assisted living operations at Mountain View Manor, consolidating two director positions that had been separate for the past three years. Lopez, who has served as the Elderly Housing Director, will assume the combined role of Assisted Living and Elderly Housing Director at an annual salary of $100,000. The assembly voted 6-0 to approve the hire at its Oct. 21 meeting. "I'm...
At the start of Monday's Petersburg Borough Assembly meeting newly elected assembly members Bob Martin and Jeff Meucci were sworn into office by Borough Clerk Becky Regula. The swearing-in was followed moments later by newly elected Petersburg Mayor Bob Lynn offering remarks of appreciation and gratitude and presenting a commemorative gavel to outgoing, long-serving Petersburg Mayor Mark Jensen....
Around 140 demonstrators gathered for one hour on Saturday, Oct. 18 in front of the Federal Building in Petersburg. The rally was one of at least 25 similar demonstrations in Alaska and thousands of simultaneous events nationwide which brought together millions of Americans in condemnation of President Donald Trump's deployment of U.S. military forces into American cities and the ICE racial profiling raids which have swept up hundreds of U.S. citizens....
Jaime Cabral, Petersburg High School and Mitkof Middle School Assistant Principal and Activities Director, was named the 2026 Assistant Principal of the Year by the Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals (AASSP) at a ceremony in Anchorage last weekend. The recognition came while Cabral was already in Anchorage, in the middle of coaching his volleyball team at a tournament. Cabral's wife Heidi picked him up between games, drove him across town to accept the award, and rushed him back...
Though the federal government shutdown jeopardizes the program that subsidizes scheduled air service to more than 170 cities nationwide - including Wrangell and Petersburg - Alaska Airlines has said it will continue uninterrupted service to its contract communities in the state. The U.S. Department of Transportation, which manages the almost 50-year-old Essential Air Service program, had notified participating carriers that funding would run out on Oct. 12. But the department later sent out a...
Petersburg's municipal election received the highest number of ballots this year in over a decade. A total of 1,280 ballots were cast and canvassed, including one outstanding ballot. It was the highest turnout since Petersburg voted to become a borough in December 2012, which saw just over a hundred more ballots than this year. There were a couple of contested races for local office this year, namely for mayor and for Petersburg's Borough Assembly. It was Bob Martin's first time running for an a...
The engine of a small plane failed on Oct. 7 near Petersburg with two occupants on board. The pilot emergency landed on a remote road on northern Kupreanof Island. But the plane - a Cessna 172 wheeled general aircraft, with small tires - hit a rock when landing and flipped over in the muskeg; both occupants were able to get out and walk away uninjured. That's according to two people from Petersburg's volunteer fire department, the pilot from Petersburg who picked them up from Kupreanof, and...
Construction is underway on an open-sided equipment storage shed adjacent to the Petersburg harbormaster's office, a project designed to protect the harbor's maintenance equipment from winter weather. The steel structure, being built on an existing timber dock at the intersection of Excel Street and Harbor Way, features a 10-foot interior clearance that slopes to 13 feet. The roof-only design, with open sides, will shelter harbor equipment including a telehandler, four-wheelers for snowplowing,...
This Saturday, the Petersburg Public Library is hosting the opening reception for TalisWoman, this year’s iteration of Petersburg’s long-running Women’s Art Show. While the library regularly features art displays and maintains a permanent art collection, hosting a curated exhibition complete with an opening reception is a rare occasion. The last time the library hosted a curated art show was the touring exhibition “Decolonizing Alaska” back in 2018, which spanned the library and the Clausen M...
"I wanted to do something different, challenge myself as a director and challenge the students," says Elsa Wintersteen, director of Petersburg High School's drama program. "Doing something scary... that can actually evoke feelings of discomfort in people is a really hard thing to do." For this fall's production of Dracula, that challenge includes scaring the hometown audience, then, next summer, taking their show on the road to the largest theater festival in the world - Edinburgh Scotland's Fri...
Los Angeles multi-instrumentalist/singer-songwriter Abby Posner will perform in Petersburg on Saturday, Oct. 18 and will lead a morning workshop on music theory and songwriting. Posner, who won the 28th Annual USA Songwriting Contest in 2023, is making a special stop in Petersburg during a weeklong Alaska tour centered around Parlor in the Round, an Anchorage-based songwriter showcase. Though Petersburg is not hosting the full Parlor event this year, the Petersburg Arts Council made special...
Search and rescue efforts continue in the Kuskokwim River delta in the aftermath of devastating storm surge and hurricane-force winds brought by the remnants of Typhoon Halong. The storm tore homes from their foundations and sent them floating away. One woman was found dead in Kwigillingok on Monday, according to Alaska State Troopers. The search for two more people unaccounted for in that community will continue, by boat and air, the state troopers said on a Facebook post. Search and rescue is... Full story
Officials with the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development have walked back a proposal to limit local governments’ funding for public schools, instead asking the State Board of Education to take no action on the item last week. The State Board of Education was set to vote on a controversial measure that many school officials and education advocates say would bar local municipalities from providing much-needed funding and support services to local schools. Instead the board voted unanimously on Thursday, at a DEED official’s req... Full story
As Alaska’s population of working-age adults shrinks, according to economists, other demographic groups have become bigger segments of the labor force: seniors and teenagers. Residents who are 65 and older made up 6.2% of the Alaska worker population in 2023 after steadily increasing over two decades, according to an analysis by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. In 2003, that age group made up just 1.8% of all working Alaskans, according to the data. For teenagers, the two-decade trend has been different. In 2003, t... Full story
