Sorted by date Results 3177 - 3201 of 6972
Helen Olson was found guilty, and Carlos Sandoval was found not guilty on single counts of Misconduct Involving a Controlled Substance in the 2nd degree. The jury delivered their verdict following a 4-day trial on May 24. Charges against Sandoval were dismissed and Judge Carey set August 27 as the sentencing date for Olson. Olson was released on bail. The prosecution alleged that Olson received a package containing 51 grams of methamphetamine that had a street value of $200/gram in Petersburg,...
Doug Welde joined the Petersburg Fire Department in 1969 as a fire fighter and over the years he rose through the ranks and became fire chief in 2013. In February, Welde retired from the department at the age of 75 after 50 years of service, and was replaced by Jim Stolpe. When he got out of the United States Air Force in 1969, he joined the department at their next meeting. His father, Ken Welde, was chief at the time, and back then, Welde said that everyone volunteered at the fire department....
Construction on the Raven Trail has begun and residents may have noticed the sound of a helicopter flying near the Reid Brothers Construction rock pit. Throughout the day, a helicopter flies back and forth from the Raven Trail and the rock pit with a hopper that holds about three-fourths of a cubic yard of gravel. The helicopter then uses the hopper to spread gravel over a prepared surface of the trail, according to Paul Olson with the United States Forest Service. Oregon Woods Inc., a construct...
In her 100 years on the water, the Charles T has only had three owners: Earl Ohmer with Alaskan Glacier Seafoods, Chuck Harris and James Eastwood. The Charles T was built in Bellingham, Washington in 1919 and was purchased by Earl Ohmer as a shrimper and a tender for his Alaskan Glacier Seafoods fleet. He purchased the Charles T in the early 1920s and brought her to Petersburg. He named her Charles T after his father Charles Thomas Ohmer. She stayed with Alaskan Glacier Seafoods until the 1980s...
WRANGELL - The City and Borough of Wrangell went on a water watch for a few weeks back in March. Due to a forecast of insufficient rainfall, and ongoing drought conditions across Southeast Alaska, a water watch has been declared once again. As part of the water watch, there will be a town hall meeting to discuss conservation efforts at the Nolan Center on June 12, at 6 p.m. This is a Stage I water watch, the lowest that city officials can declare. In a statement on the borough's website, city...
WRANGELL - A brown bear has been killed by Wildlife Troopers and Forest Service personnel after a run-in with a group of Alaska Crossings campers just north of Berg Bay, across the narrows on the mainland near Wrangell. According to information provided by Public Information Officer Ken Marsh, with the Alaska State Troopers, the encounter occurred on Sunday, May 26, around 3 a.m. A brown bear wandered into the Crossings camp and began rummaging through the group's food. The group had a bear...
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska senator has written to the U.S. trade representative asking for Alaska fish species to be removed from a list of goods facing tariffs, a report said. Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer last week, The Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Tuesday. As part of an ongoing trade dispute with China, earlier this month the Trump Administration announced an increase in tariffs from 10% to 25% on $200 billion worth of products and tariffs on an additional $300 billion worth o...
SITKA - Aaron Phillips of Petersburg was the $1,000 Sablefish tag recovery drawing winner. Other drawing winners of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game 2019 annual tag recovery incentive drawing for stable fish tag returns are: 1. Dick Curran, Sitka, $500 2. Stephen Rhoads, Sitka, $500 3. Jason Hammer, Port Townsend, WA, $250 4. James Hubbard, Seward, $250 5. Frank Balovich, Sitka, $250 6. Michael Erb, Anchorage, $250 All persons who return an ADF&G sablefish tag receive a tag reward (i.e....
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) —The Alaska Senate on Tuesday narrowly voted down a full dividend payout from the state’s oil-wealth fund this year, with a prominent supporter of the proposal absent. The 10-8 vote came after the Senate, by the same tally, adopted an amendment calling for a full payout with checks to qualified residents estimated to be around $3,000. The initial bill proposed $1,600 checks. At least 11 votes were needed for the bill to pass. Sen. Mike Shower, a Wasilla Republican who has supported a full payout, posted on Facebook Sat...
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Supreme Court has ruled against a military couple seeking permanent fund dividends because they were out of state during required periods, a report said. The court denied an appeal by Donald Jones and Annette Gwalthney-Jones, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Monday. The couple sought permanent fund dividends for 2014 and 2015 even though they were not physically present in Alaska for several years prior due to Donald Jones’ Air Force assignment. In the ruling released Friday, the court upheld an adm...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Legislature, locked in a fight with Gov. Mike Dunleavy over education funding, moved one step closer Tuesday to a lawsuit over the issue. The House and Senate voted to give the committee that handles legislative business, the Legislative Council, authority to sue. Sen. Gary Stevens, the Legislative Council chair, told reporters a lawsuit could be filed if the money for K-12 schools is not released. Stevens, a Kodiak Republican, said the council composed of House and Senate members would have to vote to move f...
The Class of 2019 completed their high school careers in a commencement ceremony on Tuesday that saw 30 seniors from Petersburg High School receive their diplomas. Of the 30 graduating seniors, 17 have definitive plans on attending college. Two students plan on joining the military. Two students have plans to attend a trade school. George Skeek will be moving to Sitka to begin a wood carving career, and Koren Sperl plans on attending flight school to obtain his commercial pilot license. Fifty sc...
The borough assembly passed the borough's proposed budget for the 2020 fiscal year at an assembly meeting last week after making two more amendments to the budget. The assembly voted on four amendments, but only two were passed. As approved in its second reading, the budget will allocate $4,000 to the City of Kupreanof and will include the health insurance savings of $200,000 for using the same insurance provider as the Petersburg Medical Center. Both amendments were proposed by Vice Mayor...
A motion to rescind the assembly's previous approval of the purchase of a $179,250 excavator failed in a 6-1 vote during an assembly meeting last week. At their May 6 meeting, the borough assembly approved the award of a request for proposals to NC Machinery for a used Caterpillar 320 excavator. According to Public Works Director Chris Cotta in an email to Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht, the borough's fiscal year 2019 motor pool budget included $182,000 for the purchase of an excavator to...
The borough assembly amended Ordinance #2019-04 to allow fireworks in service area one during two days of the year in the ordinance's second reading last week. The ordinance, which would fine individuals up to $500 for lighting fireworks in service area one, originally included language that allowed fireworks to be lit legally in service area one on July 3 and 4 and December 31, and during a certain time of the day; however, a motion to amend the ordinance to not allow fireworks in service area...
Petersburg Medical Center's board of directors will be holding a special meeting this evening to approve or deny NAC Architecture's phase one master plan proposal for the construction of a new facility or remodel of the current building not to exceed $220,000. The PMC board discussed the awarding of the RFP to NAC Architecture on Thursday at their regular board meeting, but the proposal had only been received earlier that day. The board members said they wanted time to look over the proposal...
The Petersburg Medical Center board of directors passed a resolution that grants authority to specific board members to work with one of the hospital's financial institutions after the resolution was tabled at last month's meeting. The resolution was originally tabled because of its ambiguous wording. Under the resolution, the president, vice president and treasurer of the board are allowed to perform such actions with Hilltop Securities, as opening a brokerage account and transferring and...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced May 23, sport fishing regulations for Alaska hatchery-produced king salmon in areas near Petersburg and Wrangell. Wrangell Narrows/Blind Slough Terminal Harvest Area Described as that portion of Wrangell Narrows south of 56° 46' N. latitude (Martinsens's dock) and north and east of the northern tip of Woewodski Island and includes the freshwaters of Blind Slough upstream of a line between Blind Point and Anchor Point. The following regulations...
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — The wettest region in Alaska is experiencing the first extreme drought recorded by the U.S. Drought Monitor, officials said. Scientists say the southernmost portion of Southeast Alaska has been in a drought for the last two years, The Anchorage Daily News reported Sunday. The drought was upgraded last week to an extreme, or D3, drought, according to climatologists at the Fairbanks-based Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy. The designation is the second-highest category measured by the U.S. Drought Monitor ...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A fishing boat captain who dumped sandblast waste into southeast Alaska waters was ordered to pay $10,000 and perform 40 hours of community service. Federal prosecutors say 32-year-old Brannon Finney of Bellingham, Washington, dumped waste to avoid a $1,460 disposal fee. U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Scoble on Wednesday also ordered 18 months of probation for Finney and a public apology. Prosecutors say Finney’s boat had been sandblasted for repainting. On June 15, 2017, she and crewmembers left Wrangell for Pet...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska House has endorsed a tribe’s effort to change the name of Saginaw Bay to Skanax Bay. Tribal leaders are pushing the change because the body of water off Kuiu Island was named for a U.S. warship that destroyed three Tlingit villages in 1869 that are near present-day Kake in southeast Alaska, CoastAlaska reported Monday. The House passed a resolution 37-0 endorsing the name change to Skanax, the Tlingit word for security. The Tlingit villages east of Sitka destroyed by the U.S.S. Saginaw were deserted in adv...
The Petersburg Borough assembly voted in favor of directing Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht to move forward in the next four steps of the land swap between the borough and Petro 49, Inc. at an assembly meeting on Monday. A recent appraisal of the Petro 49, Inc. warehouse and vacant lots located at 703 S. Nordic Dr. valued the building and property at $365,000. Borough land at 902 S. Nordic Dr. and 100 Dock St. were valued at $285,000. If the borough were to engage in a land swap with Petro 49,...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly received a response from Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen after sending three letters requesting information about a possible review of the Tonka and Big Thorne Integrated Resource timber contracts. "I share your interest in a consistent, sustainable timber sale program on the Tongass National Forest that supports the local economy while adhering to strong policy, management and financial controls," wrote Christiansen in her letter to the assembly....
The Petersburg School Board approved the hiring of Heidi Cabral as Rae C. Stedman Elementary School's newest fourth grade teacher at their board meeting last week. Cabral has been an instructional aide with the district for the past year, but has experience teaching sixth grade and English as a Second Language in Kansas. There is a large class of about 44 students coming into the fourth grade next year, so the district had to hire a second fourth grade teacher. Cabral said there will likely be...
The Petersburg School Board approved changes to 11 board policies in its first reading as aligned by the Association of Alaska School Boards to current changes in law. According to Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter the changes to the board policies are minor. Some of the policy changes add language related to culturally responsive education and cultural and tribal consulting, which was the case in the changes to board policy regarding philosophy, school-based management/site councils and...
