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The U.S. Forest Service is seeking public input on proposed cabin projects in Alaska made possible through funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). Of the $18 million allocated to the Forest Service for recreation cabins and historic buildings, $14.4 million will go toward cabin projects on the Tongass and Chugach National Forests. Over 50 cabin projects have been proposed across Alaska. And though only a handful will be funded, projects in the Petersburg and Wrangell Ranger...
The Petersburg School District board unanimously voted to revise its FY23 budget during its Oct. 11 meeting to account for $262,000 in one-time funding allocated to the district by the Alaska Legislature. The one-time funding will make up for cuts to activities, instruction, and support line items made when the budget was first adopted in June-before the legislature approved the funding. The initial budget did not include the $262,000 in one-time funding and was also based on a district student...
Stedman Elementary School students got an education in fire safety last week from members of the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department who visited the school to give demonstrations and show instructional videos. The Learn Not to Burn program has been on hiatus for the last couple of years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Students were able to visit the fire station for some instruction last year, but this was the first time since the pandemic that PVFD members have been back in the school as...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted 6-1 to approve an ordinance adjusting the borough's FY23 budget in its second reading during Monday's meeting with Assembly Member Thomas Fine-Walsh opposed. The assembly unanimously approved of two amendments during the second reading of Ordinance #2022-15. The first, proposed by Assembly Member Bob Lynn, would create a new special revenue fund to account for $1,006,800 million allocated to the borough in new American Rescue Plan Act funding. Finance...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously during its Oct. 17 meeting to nominate Assembly Member Dave Kensinger and Chelsea Tremblay to a new housing task force formed by the Alaska Municipal League (AML). The task force is seeking nominations from member communities and it will also have a child care subgroup. According to a Nils Andreassen, the executive director of AML, the goal of the task force is to gather information from members about their housing challenges and collaborate on...
This year’s Alaska general election absentee ballot is a hefty document, weighing in between 1.1 and 1.2 ounces. If it were an ordinary letter, that’s weighty enough to need two stamps. But if voters forget, officials at the Alaska Division of Elections and the U.S. Postal Service say this year’s absentee ballots will still be carried — and counted — with just one stamp. “If a return ballot is nevertheless entered into the mailstream with insufficient or unpaid postage, it is the Postal Service’s policy not to delay the delivery of completed... Full story
Aleutian Airways has announced that it will be launching a scheduled flight service between Dutch Harbor and Anchorage beginning Nov. 16 according to a release from the airline. The new air service will initially offer daily roundtrip flights Monday through Friday. Flights from Anchorage to Dutch Harbor are scheduled to depart at 7:15 a.m. and arrive at 9:45 a.m. while return flights are scheduled to depart Dutch Harbor at 10:45 a.m. and arrive in Anchorage at 1 p.m. Aleutian Airways, powered...
The results of this year's municipal election were certified by the Petersburg Borough Assembly at a special meeting last Friday. Three ballots-two of which had been postmarked by election day and received by the borough and one questioned ballot-were counted during the meeting which brought the total number of ballots cast to 1,194. After the ballots were counted, the assembly voted 5-0 to certify the election with Mayor Mark Jensen and Vice Mayor Jeigh Stanton Gregor excused. This year's...
The ice skate pond is expected to be brightly lit during the dark winter months as the lighting project there nears completion according to Parks and Recreation Director Stephanie Payne. "We want all of that installed and the lights functioning up there around the ice skate pond this year... hopefully in another month or so all of that will be done and ready to go," Payne said. The project began last year after Fred Haltiner donated $10,000 to go toward installing permanent lights at the pond...
In many places the Welcome Wagon Potluck at Sandy Beach last Sunday would have been called off due to inclement weather. But organizer Chelsea Tremblay had put up her homemade posters around town inviting one and all to come meet new neighbors and share their local knowledge-rain or shine. So, despite heavy rainfall and the wind blowing in off Frederick Sound, she got a big blaze going in the fireplace, and about fifty people showed up: some new to Petersburg, some who've recently moved back,...
WRANGELL – The U.S. Forest Service spent last week showing that the wildlife at Anan Creek aren't your average bears. From the chilliest to the chunkiest, the inaugural Anan Bear Awards were posted via Facebook from Oct. 3 to Oct. 7, honoring nine bears for their unique personalities. Paul Robbins, public affairs officer for the Tongass National Forest, said the awards are modeled after the Katmai National Park and Preserve's Fat Bear Week held at the same time. In that event, National Park Serv...
The long-awaited unofficial results of the 2022 municipal election were released Wednesday evening after early and absentee ballots were counted throughout the day. According to the unofficial results, Mark Jensen won the mayoral race with 642 votes and will retain his seat. He was followed by Bob Lynn with 363 votes and Jeff Meucci with 177 votes Incumbents Jeigh Stanton Gregor and Chelsea Tremblay both lost their seats on the Petersburg Borough Assembly to newcomers Scott Newman and Donna...
Saturday morning a group of concerned Petersburg residents met at the Wright Auditorium to participate in the second Childcare Community Café to address the childcare crisis affecting the local workforce, businesses, families, and economy. The meeting, hosted by the SHARE (Supporting Health Awareness, Resilience, and Education) Coalition, began with a viewing of a 23-minute video entitled "Voices for a Better Future: Community Impacts of Childcare in Petersburg," followed by a community... Full story
The Petersburg Medical Center Board unanimously voted to select architecture firm Bettisworth North to design the new PMC facility project during its Sept. 29 meeting. Bettisworth North, a firm with offices in Anchorage and Fairbanks, names the YKHC Paul John Calricaraq Clinic and Hospital renovation, the North Pole Veterinary Hospital, and the ANTHC Healthy Communities Building among some of its previous healthcare facility projects. According to PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter's report, the hospital... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously voted to appoint 14 people to the Housing Task Force during Monday's meeting. Members of the task force include Gary Aulbach, Jay Barnard, Annette Bennett, Joyce Cummings, Darcie Ewert, Larry Hofstad, Sarah Holmgrain, Ashley Kawashima, David Kensinger, Malena Marvin, Jeff Meucci, Erin Michael, Jalyn Pomrenke, and Jeigh Stanton Gregor. The assembly also chose Stanton Gregor to act as the group's facilitator after a unanimous vote. The group was...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved an ordinance which would adjust the FY23 budget for known changes in its first reading Monday. The assembly voted 6-1 in favor of Ordinance #2022-15 with Assembly Member Thomas Fine-Walsh opposed. The supplemental budget accounts for some funding received from state grants, items that could be purchased, and repair work that was not included in the original FY23 budget. The adjustments to the budget are as follows: • Accept $123,158 in state l...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously to send a letter to the Wrangell Borough Assembly seeking to open a discussion on the possible expansion of the Inter-Island Ferry Authority (IFA) to serve the two communities. The IFA currently runs between Hollis and Ketchikan daily and is composed of two ships-the M/V Stikine and the M/V Prince of Wales. The letter comes after former Gov. Frank Murkowski visited Petersburg on Sept. 22 to discuss the current state of transportation in Southeast...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted to spend $20,000 to find out the estimated costs to develop multiple subdivisions during its Sept. 19 meeting as it looks to open up more lots to address the housing crisis. The total expenditure was approved in two parts and the estimations will be completed by PND Engineers. Both expenditures passed in 5-1 votes with Assembly Member Bob Lynn opposed. First the assembly approved spending $4,000 to revise the estimated costs of the Fram Street and Hungry Point subdivisions, which was also completed by PND...
This Saturday evening Humanity In Progress (HIP) is hosting Empty Bowls, a fundraiser working to end hunger one bowl at a time. From 6 - 8:30 p.m. a donation of ten dollars per person will get supporters into the warmth of Sons of Norway Hall, where they’ll be given a bowl of soup and a roll, and invited to listen to live music while they browse the temptations of the silent dessert auction. If they’d like to take a bowl home, a beautiful selection of handmade and donated bowls will be ava...
Dr. Mark Tuccillo has practiced family medicine in Petersburg since 1993 and soon plans to taper toward retirement starting at the end of October 2022. Growing up in New Jersey, his grandfather glorified Alaska, where he had crash-landed as an aviator with the Army Air Core, forcing him to walk over a week to the nearest village. "He had us all hooked talking about dogsledding and polar bears," Tuccillo remembers. "It was sensationalism, but it stuck with me." Certain he would become a doctor, t...
WRANGELL—“Not happy” was how Borough Manager Jeff Good described his mood last week when he received word that Wrangell was left off the list of Alaska communities sharing in $27 million in the final round of federal pandemic assistance funding. Wrangell was not alone in receiving nothing. Juneau, Sitka and Anchorage also came up empty. The funding formula was based on federal acreage within each borough, with population and economic conditions, such as poverty levels and unemployment, factoring into the formula. “I think Treasury got it wron...
WRANGELL — It is tempting to imagine that toilets, shower drains and kitchen sinks are domesticated black holes, transporting our waste to some mysterious nether region outside space and time, where it ceases to exist the moment it is out of sight. However, Public Works Director Tom Wetor knows better than anyone in Wrangell that the spoiled milk, blackened cooking oil and remnants of last night’s dinner that are flushed into the sewer do not disappear. Pouring oil, grease and fat down the drain can damage essential infrastructure, strain the...
Haines—A couple armed with bug nets wading through roadside fireweed were searching for bumblebees in the Chilkat Valley north of Haines last month as part of a research effort to see if the Western Bumblebee’s range includes Alaska. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists are considering proposing that the species be added to the endangered species list. “It’s disappeared over a big chunk of its former range which stretched from California out to some of the western states and all the way up into British Columbia at about 55 degrees north,...
A Sitka assemblymember and a former Hoonah mayor are competing for the Alaska House of Representatives seat being vacated by five-term Sitka Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins. Though nonpartisan candidate Rebecca Himschoot had an edge over Republican Kenny Skaflestad in last month’s open primary – about 54% to roughly 46% – it’s a difference of 373 votes. Voters in Sitka overwhelmingly favored their assemblymember – 1,059 votes for Himschoot to 552 for Skaflestad. Voters in Hoonah cast more votes for their former mayor and city council m... Full story
At a forum on fishery issues held in the seaport town of Kodiak, two of the leading gubernatorial contenders spent time focusing on a man who was not there: incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy. After about an hour of in-depth discussions of fishery issues that included climate change and its effects in the oceans, the role of hatchery fish in the ecosystem and economy, the infrastructure and workforce development needs of the fishing industry and state fiscal policies, former state Rep. Les Gara and former Gov. Bill Walker turned their fire directly... Full story
