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The Petersburg Emergency Operations Center reassessed the local COVID-19 risk level on Monday and lowered the community from a moderate risk to a low risk level. The decision comes as Petersburg recovers from a local outbreak. Petersburg was at a red risk level or COVID-19 transmission for 22 days. The community was at an orange risk level for just one week before the EOC lowered it down to yellow. As of Wednesday, Petersburg has gone over seven days without a new case of COVID-19 being reported...
The Borough Assembly approved the purchase of a $54,952.47 mobile vehicle lift for the Motor Pool Department at their meeting on Monday. The four-column, mobile vehicle lift system will be purchased with funds from the Public Works Department, Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department and Petersburg Municipal Power & Light motor pool balances, according to Public Work Director Chris Cotta. In the 2021 fiscal year budget, the borough had allocated $54,000 for a vehicle lift. Cotta said the additional...
Petersburg Medical Center will be holding a combination of small and large COVID-19 vaccination clinics in April as the community reaches a full vaccinated population of 33.9 percent, or 1,085 people, according to the borough's COVID-19 Dashboard. PMC Director of Nursing Jennifer Bryner said at the COVID-19 community update on March 19 that the hospital will be holding a smaller COVID-19 vaccine clinic at PMC for residents receiving their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine in early April. On Apri...
Legislators started the session in January amid a shortage of revenues and debate whether the state could even afford a dividend this fall unless it exceeded its annual limited draw from the Permanent Fund. Significantly higher oil prices and more than $1 billion from this month's federal pandemic aid package may fix both problems, though only temporarily. The Alaska Department of Revenue told legislators last week that higher oil prices could produce an additional $790 million in revenues this...
GCI, the largest telecommunications provider in the state, is planning to move all of its call-center operations out of Alaska and will contract with a third-party vendor to provide the service from the Philippines. The move will start this summer, according to a report in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner on Saturday. The company, which provides cable television, internet, cell and wired telephone services in Alaska, has had a hard time filling its call-center jobs, said Heather Handyside, vice president for corporate communications at GCI....
ANCHORAGE (AP) – A Wasilla construction worker faces federal charges in the January breach of the U.S. Capitol. Aaron James Mileur, 41, was arrested March 16 by the FBI on charges of knowingly entering a restricted building without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on U.S. Capitol grounds. The charges stemming from the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol are misdemeanors. The case had been sealed until his arrest. He made an initial appearance March 16 in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, where federal prosecutors did not ask t...
Wednesday’s aerial herring survey covered Sitka Sound from Redoubt Bay to Shoals Point and north to Krestof Sound. Weather during the flight was poor with 20-knot winds, low overcast, and occasional snow flurries. No herring or herring spawn were observed. The highest concentrations of herring predators were observed near Vitskari Rocks, Bieli Rock, and east of Middle Island. Numerous whales were seen working the deeper waters east of Vitskari Rocks and near Bieli Rock. Two whales were also observed east of Middle Island. Groups of sea lions w...
Six cases of COVID-19 were reported in Petersburg on Monday, according to a joint press release from the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center. Five of the cases were identified through PMC's symptomatic testing, and one case was identified through the asymptomatic testing at the Petersburg James A. Johnson Airport. Public Health investigation will determine if any of these cases are connected to the previous Petersburg outbreak. All positive cases have been directed to isolate by... Full story
Gov. Mike Dunleavy wants to create a new state ferry system advisory board with one state official and 10 public members to replace an existing advisory panel, similar to a separate proposal from coastal lawmakers. The difference being that the legislative proposal would protect board members from dismissal by a governor, while under Dunleavy's bill the members would "serve at the pleasure" of the governor. The governor would appoint the entire board under Dunleavy's bill, while the Legislature...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is predicting an increase to the total statewide salmon harvest this year thanks to a pink salmon run expected to bring in 63.5 million fish over last year's harvest. According to an ADF&G report, the total commercial salmon harvest in Alaska is projected to be 190.1 million fish. In 2020, 118.3 million fish were harvested statewide. The report states the increase to the state harvest is due to a larger pink salmon harvest compared to last year. ADF&G is pr...
About a week before Christmas, Joseph Tagaban, 13, started experiencing a toothache in the lower left side of this jaw. His parents, Ed and Je Tagaban, made an appointment with a local dentist after the pain continued, but a lump underneath his tooth soon began growing. Ed said he thought the dentist was just going to drain the lump and treat Joseph's toothache, but instead, the Tagaban family ended up traveling to Juneau to see an oral surgeon. The surgeon performed an operation on Joseph and...
Petersburg's COVID-19 case count remained at 10 on Wednesday, as no new cases of the virus were reported and no infected residents were released from isolation, according to a joint press release for the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center. Wednesday was the second day in a row that Petersburg had an active case count of 10. In the past week, Petersburg has reported five new cases of COVID-19, but 12 infected residents were released from isolation in that same timeframe. The drop...
State health officials held a town hall meeting via Zoom on Wednesday to give an overview of the recent COVID-19 outbreak in Petersburg and answer any questions. Since Feb. 18, Petersburg has reported new cases of COVID-19 nearly every single day, while maintaining an active case count. Since the outbreak peaked at 68 cases on March 3, Petersburg has seen a steady decrease in cases. As of Tuesday, Petersburg has recorded 94 cases of the virus since Feb. 18. State health officials were able to...
After spending almost $1.1 million to keep the vessels out of service to save money and safely tied up the past several years, the state last week sold its two fast ferries - built at a combined cost of $68 million less than 20 years ago - for just over $5 million. Mediterranean-based catamaran operator Trasmapi had offered about $4.6 million for the Fairweather and Chenega. The company serves the Spanish island of Ibiza, about 70 miles off the coast. The state was able to negotiate the final...
The Petersburg Police Department is warning the public to be on their guard as scammers look to swindle residents into sending them money. "Historically this time of year there is an increase in email and telephone scammers trying to convince the recipient to send them money, transfer funds by wire or bank to bank, or even gift cards in lieu of funds," said PPD Captain Randall Holmgrain in an email to the Pilot. "The scammers are equal opportunity but will specifically target the elderly or...
The overall 2020 salmon harvest in Southeast Alaska was down by about 56 percent compared to 2019, as all five commercially harvested salmon species runs came in below recent and long term averages. About 14.6 million salmon were harvested in Southeast Alaska last year, which was down from the 33.5 million salmon harvested in 2019, according to a season report by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Statewide, salmon harvests were down by 14.4 million from the preseason forecast, with 118.3...
Approximately 250 residents were vaccinated at Petersburg Medical Center's COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Friday, which was the hospital's second vaccination clinic this month, according to PMC Phil Hofstetter at the COVID-19 community update on Friday. A combination of first doses and second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, as well as the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, were administered. Theresa Ruzek, a public health nurse manager with the state of Alaska, said the state and...
Six people addressed the Borough Assembly at a work session on March 10 to express their support and opposition to legislation that would transfer 23,040 acres of federal land within the Petersburg Borough to an Urban Corporation. The intention of the work session was to give the public an opportunity to share their opinions with the Borough Assembly on the Unrecognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities Recognition and Compensation Act before the bill is reintroduced to the 117th United...
Each year the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) rewards all persons who return an ADF&G sablefish tag with a tag reward (e.g., hat or t-shirt). Additionally, each tag returned to the department with complete recovery information (fisherman’s name, date of recovery, and latitude and longitude) are entered into a random drawing for a cash prize. A total of 1,183 tags qualified for this year’s drawing. The following people were randomly selected from the list of qualified tags as the winners of the 2021 annual sablefish tag recovery inc...
Petersburg's COVID-19 case count continued to fall on Thursday. With three new cases identified and six infected residents released from isolation, the active case count is at 13 as of Thursday afternoon, according to a joint press release from the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical. Of the three new cases added to Petersburg's active case count, two were identified locally and one was reported outside of the community. Petersburg has seen eight straight days of its decline in active... Full story
About 400 residents received their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at Petersburg Medical Center's vaccine clinic on March 5, and 1,000 residents are expected to be fully vaccinated in the next two weeks, according to PMC CEO Phil Hofsetter at Monday's Borough Assembly Meeting. PMC will be hosting another COVID-19 vaccine clinic on Friday, March 12 at the Parks and Recreation community gym. The clinic will focus on administering the first dose of the vaccine, but some second doses will also...
About 200 patients at Petersburg Medical Center may have had their medical records viewed inappropriately in a data breach, said PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter in a prepared statement on KFSK on March 4. PMC first became aware of the data breach when an employee told the hospital's compliance officer that another employee may be committing curiosity lookups. PMC employees are only allowed to look up a patient's medical record when their job requires them to do so, said Hofstetter. The hospital...
Sixteen infected residents were released from isolation on Wednesday, while just one new active case has been added to Petersburg's active COVID-19 case count, according to a joint press release from the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center. Additionally, Petersburg is only reporting 16 active cases of COVID-19 as of 4 P.M. on Wednesday. The current case count is the lowest the town has seen since Feb. 21 when Petersburg was reporting 13 cases. The Petersburg Operations Center has...
An audit of the borough's finances for the 2020 fiscal year reveals an overall positive change in the borough's net position from July 1, 2019 through June 20, 2020, according to documents presented to the Borough Assembly at their Feb. 22 meeting. The audit was conducted by BDO and was presented to the assembly by Sam Thompson, an auditor with the accounting firm. The audit showed a positive change in the net position of $825,913 for the 2020 fiscal year. Additionally, the unassigned fund...
The Supreme Court of the State of Alaska ruled last month that Superior Court Judge William Carey acted correctly in disqualifying Petersburg Attorney Fred Triem from representing the Estate of Helen A. Lingley and upheld his order dismissing the lawsuit filed by Triem against Alaska Airlines, Inc. and its supervisor Dan Kane. Triem filed the lawsuit for the wrongful termination of Lingley, from the company in December 2012 after the woman was terminated from her customer service position in...
