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The Anchorage Assembly voted last Friday to immediately revoke the city’s mask mandate. On the same day, legislative leaders voted to make mask-wearing optional at the state Capitol — and then shed their own face coverings after the vote. The decision by the Legislative Council followed new guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The new legislative policy recommends weekly testing for those who are not fully vaccinated and for those with COVID-19 symptoms or who...
Petersburg High School seniors will again be sitting in the back of trucks and hanging out of car windows while the public cheers them on as they make their way through town as part of this year's graduation parade, which will follow an in-person graduation event on Monday, May 24. The graduation festivities will begin on Thursday, May 20, with the virtual, local scholarship awards ceremony. Residents and businesses will record videos of themselves presenting the scholarships to the recipients...
When Lydia Martin got her admission letter from Columbia University, she didn't open it right away. She had just been turned down by two other universities and couldn't take anymore disappointment. Then the following day during first period, she decided to read the university's response which told her she got in. "It was really surprising," said Martin, who will be entering the Ivy League university in New York as an earth science major. "I had been holding out a bit of hope to get in obviously....
The Petersburg High School Class of 2021 will be receiving their diplomas in a ceremony similar to years past. Although this class of graduating seniors is made up of just 28 students, PHS Principal Rick Dormer said they're a class that is bound to do great things in the future. In 2020, 36 seniors graduated from PHS, and about 40 graduated the year before that. The larger classes easily made their presence known in the high school. But the 2021 class is different. Dormer said this year's...
Many students believe that the next natural step after graduating from high school is to go off to college. Secondary education has become such a common transition that many parents begin saving for college tuition as soon as their children are born. Although college can be the next chapter in a student’s education, many teenagers still choose to attend trade school. Television personality Mike Rowe says the country is in the midst of a skilled labor shortage because workers lack the necessary training to fill the hundreds of thousands of a...
Technology is essential in the daily lives of students. Whether it’s kids learning their ABC’s or graduate students pursuing advanced degrees, technology has transformed the way lessons are taught and learned. Statistics support the notion that technology in the classroom is irreplaceable. According to data from the tutoring resource PracTutor, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and various colleges, 98 percent of schools have one or more computers in the classroom. In addition, 77 percent of teachers use the internet for instruction, while 40 per...
Graduates, especially college graduates, wear some unique and impressive duds for their graduation ceremonies. Caps, gowns, tassels, and hoods all can be seen parading down the center aisle before making proud appearances at diploma presentations. Graduation clothing, also known as academic dress, dates back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Clerical garb was standard dress for professors and scholars, as many students during medieval times made certain religious vows in addition to pursuing their educations. Today, faculty, graduates...
The Borough Assembly and Petersburg Medical Center Board of Directors held a work session on May 5 to discuss the next steps in the hospital's goal of building a new facility. Following the completion of a master plan document, PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter said the project would move forward in phases as the hospital works to secure funding in the form of grants. The immediate next steps include conducting a geotechnical study, selecting a location to build the hospital and creating a shovel-ready...
Due to faulty postmark equipment at the Petersburg Post Office, local mail is now being processed in Juneau before reaching their in-town destinations, according to James Boxrud, a spokesperson with the United States Postal Service. Because the postmark equipment is so outdated, parts are no longer available to make it operational again. Boxrud said the current equipment will not be replaced, so from now on, all mail, including packages, will be postmarked in Juneau before being processed for...
One new positive case COVID-19 was identified by the Petersburg Medical Center on Tuesday, bringing the local active case count to four, according to a joint press release from the Petersburg Borough and PMC. The positive case was travel related and was the only confirmed case identified in the last week. On May 4 and 5, three individuals within a single household tested positive for COVID-19. Incident Commander Karl Hagerman said all four currently active cases of the virus were related to out...
A local resident anonymously reported to the Pilot on Wednesday having experienced a gastrointestinal bug that was affecting at least four other people. The individual said the illness began with severe vomiting, but soon progressed to diarrhea, gas, fever and muscle aches. According to the individual, they had tested negative for COVID-19, but was made aware by Petersburg Medical Center they were likely experiencing a gastrointestinal bug. Liz Bacom, PMC's infection prevention and quality...
Cannery workers at Trident Seafoods are asked to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to work this season, while Tonka Seafoods is leaving that decision up to their employees. "Like last year, we are making the health and safety of our employees, fishermen, and community members our top priority," said Shannon Carroll, a representative of Trident Seafoods, in an email to the Pilot. He said both resident and non-resident employees will have to be fully vaccinated to work at the plant. Through...
In the story about Little Norway Festival in the May 6 edition of the Pilot, it was stated that Alaska Department of Fish and Game would be present to teach fundamentals of fishing at the Lil’ Fisk Derby. ADF&G will not be in attendance at the derby....
The Petersburg School Board approved a two percent salary increase over the 2020-2021 school year for classified staff returning for the 2021-2022 school year at their meeting on Tuesday. "It's been a hard year I'm sure for some of them, and we're appreciative of the hard work that they've done this year and as well as the anticipation of them returning in the fall, " said School Board President Sarah Holmgrain. Talks between the Petersburg School District and the Petersburg District Support...
"Ephemeral," an award winning documentary by local filmmaker Kelly Bakos, will be making its television debut on KTOO 360TV over a four day period next week. The film will first air on May 20 at 8:22 P.M., then on May 22 at 10:22 P.M. and on May 23 at 9:22 P.M., according to a press release. KTOO 360TV, which can be viewed on GCI's PBS channel 15, can reach over one million viewers in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and beyond. Bakos' film, "Ephemeral," documents the creation and lifespan of natural ar...
Walkers, runners and bikers now have a new bench to stop and catch their breath on as they make their way along the 1.7 mile long Scow Bay Bike Path. The original blue bench was set up in 2007 by Mel Stockton in remembrance of his son, Sam, and his mother, Helen. The bench had been aged quite a bit by the weather of Southeast, but when Stockton decided to have it repainted, he realized the bench would have to be sent to Washington due to the specialized paint used. So instead, he commissioned...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska public health officials hope to begin vaccinating children 12 and up against COVID-19 as early as Wednesday. Parents were permitted Monday to sign up their children for appointments after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted an emergency use authorization to drug company Pfizer to provide its COVID-19 vaccine for people 12 through 15. Prior to the emergency authorization, the vaccine was approved for people 16 and older. The state was still awaiting final recommendations from the CDC, which are e...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A COVID-19 outbreak at a high school wrestling tournament held in April is linked to more than 20 infections in five communities across southeast Alaska, according to health officials. Ketchikan High School hosted the regional wrestling tournament, an annual event that this year attracted athletes from seven different schools, Anchorage Daily News reported. Officials from the regional school activities association issued a warning to the school last week on accusations of failing to test competitors and enforce mask o...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska public health officials hope to begin vaccinating children 12 and up against COVID-19 as early as Wednesday. Parents were permitted Monday to sign up their children for appointments after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted an emergency use authorization to drug company Pfizer to provide its COVID-19 vaccine for people 12 through 15. Prior to the emergency authorization, the vaccine was approved for people 16 and older. The state was still awaiting final recommendations from the CDC, which are e...
The Borough Assembly approved an ordinance in its second reading that would let voters decide whether or not to remove the Frederick Point East Subdivision from the boundaries of service area one. Should ordinance #2021-08 pass in all three readings, it would put proposition #1 on the municipal election ballot in October, and the voters would have to decide whether the subdivision should be removed from service area one. According to the ordinance, a majority of voters within service area one...
A cracked, porcelain insulator on a utility pole in the Scow Bay Turnaround area caused two power outages on May 1, which left parts of the community in the dark for a total of about 4 hours. Petersburg Municipal Power & Light first responded to a power outage on circuit 62, which powers most of the downtown area, at 10:23 A.M. on Saturday, said Utility Director Karl Hagerman in a press release. A PMP&L line crew patrolled the line on circuit 62 for damage that would have caused a fault, but no damage was found; however, the crew did find that...
The Borough Assembly passed an ordinance in its first reading on Monday that would adopt the borough's proposed fiscal year 2022 operating budget. The General Fund's revenues and expenditures equal $9,741,364 and is an overall increase of .39 percent from the 2021 fiscal year adopted budget. The assembly unanimously passed two amendments to the proposed budget that prevents a millage rate increase and honors KFSK's full community service funding request. The millage rate is the amount per...
An ordinance that would ask the voters in the next municipal election whether term limits should be placed on the Borough Assembly will go before the assembly at their meeting on May 17. At the request of Assembly Member Taylor Norheim, the assembly discussed instituting term limits at the end of their meeting on Monday. He said he will be adding an ordinance to the agenda of their next assembly meeting that would let the voters decide whether to place term limits on the assembly. According to...
The Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department donated a total of 987 person hours during the first quarter of 2021, according to the Fire Chief Jim Stolpe at the Borough Assembly meeting on Monday. "As always, we stand ready to help the citizens in their hour of need," said Stolpe. "Whether their issue is big or small, we're still here." Between Jan. and March 31, the fire branch of PVFD donated 516 person hours, the EMS branch donated 355 person hours and the search and rescue branch donated 116...
After last year's festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 62nd annual Little Norway Festival is slated to begin May 13. "I think everyone can't wait for it to happen," said Petersburg Chamber of Commerce Administrator Mindy Lopez. "There's some excitement in the air." Prior to the festival, free transportation across the Wrangell Narrows will be provided on May 8 for the City of Kupreanof Celebration Day from 8 A.M. to 4 P.M. The United States Forest Service is also hosting a...
