Sorted by date Results 3202 - 3226 of 6972
WRANGELL - Renovations to Shoemaker Bay Harbor missed the substantial completion deadline last Friday, on May 17. Capital Facilities Director Amber Al-Haddad said that contractors were expected to have the renovations far enough along that boats could be docked in the harbor once again, while the rest of the project was completed. This did not happen, she said, and the whole project has been thrown off schedule "Their whole schedule has been pushed back," Al-Hadd said. "Everyone's really...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska's unemployment rate remained steady at 6.5 percent last month. Federal labor statistics show that rate has held since August. Unemployment stood at 6.7 percent in April 2018. The state labor department says employment was up an estimated 0.9 percent from April 2018, with construction adding the largest number of jobs at 1,800. Health care and oil and gas each added 500 jobs over the period while manufacturing had the biggest decline. The department says manufacturing in Alaska is mostly seafood processing. The s...
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — A hiker and his dog ate berries and moss while they were lost for days in Alaska, he said. Logan Holmer, 26, of Missouri, and his dog started hiking the Far Mountain Trail May 7 and became separated from their group the next day, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Monday. Holmer brought two days’ worth of food and ate the last of it on the fourth day, supplementing his diet with the plants he found, he said in a social media post quoted by the newspaper. “I was laying in a huge bed of these plants and I pulle...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska will pay armed Canadian police to provide protection to U.S. personnel at a ferry terminal in British Columbia, state transportation officials said. The Alaska Marine Highway System was notified in March that unarmed U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents checking ferries leaving Prince Rupert, British Columbia, will require assistance from Royal Canadian Mounted Police, CoastAlaska reported Friday. Without armed police at inspections, the port faces closure, officials said. The Canadian officers will be c...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A lawsuit has been filed against a retired University of Alaska Anchorage anthropology professor who is banned from campus over sexual misconduct allegations by multiple women. David Yesner is named in the federal lawsuit filed Wednesday along with The University of Alaska system and the University of Alaska Board of Regents, Anchorage television station KTVA reported. Plaintiffs maintain Yesner was allowed to use the UAA campus as his own personal “hunting ground” while the university shielded its reputation inste...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska air carrier involved in two deadly floatplane crashes in a week has voluntarily suspended operations, federal officials said Tuesday. The halt of flightseeing and commuter flights is in place indefinitely, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The action comes after the passenger and the pilot of a Beaver floatplane operated by Taquan Air were killed when the single-engine aircraft crashed in Metlakatla Harbor on Monday afternoon during a 22-mile (35-kilometer) commuter flight from Ketchikan. T...
Don Spigelmyre was overcome with panic as the ocean's current pulled him out and water filled his mouth. He managed to yell for help, and his son sprang into action. Sean Spigelmyre swam out to his father, grabbed his arm and began side stroking back to shore. "I wouldn't be here today," said Don Spigelmyre. "There is no way." On Friday, Sean was awarded the Boy Scout's Honor Medal for the heroic rescue of his father in January of 2017 in Kauai, Hawaii. Sean has been with the Boy Scouts since...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly passed an ordinance adopting the borough's fiscal year 2020 operating budget after making several amendments to it at an assembly meeting last week. The proposed budget was first presented to the assembly in mid-April. Expenditures in the general fund total $9,567,149 for the 2020 budget, but it is balanced out by $9,571,545 in revenues. The total amount of excess of revenues over expenditures is $4,396. The current 2019 fiscal year budget has a total of...
The Petersburg Medical Center held its third Community Cafe on Thursday in the assembly chambers to discuss changes in funding for healthcare at the state level. Each Community Cafe typically follows a theme, with the first Cafe revolving around trends affecting healthcare in rural Alaska and the second forum demonstrating PMC's telehealth capabilities. Jeanie Monk, with the Alaska State Hospital & Nursing Home Association, gave an overview of how Gov. Mike Dunleavy's proposed 2020 fiscal year b...
The borough assembly passed an online sales tax ordinance that adds language to the current tax code in its third reading at an assembly meeting last week. The borough's current tax code does not mention internet sales tax, nor does it forbid it. Ordinance #2019-02 will broaden the language in the current sales tax code to include internet venders not located in Petersburg or Alaska. Some online vendors, such as Amazon, have voluntarily been collecting and remitting online sales taxes on...
Salmon Beyond Borders Campaign Coordinator Breanna Walker will be in Petersburg during the Little Norway Festival to show the film "Chasing Wild: Journey Into the Sacred Headwaters" and to provide a short update on the Stikine and other transboundary rivers. "Chasing Wild" follows three friends on a 250-mile bicycling and packrafting trip into the sacred headwaters of the Stikine River. More than 12 British Columbian large-scale open-pit mines are abandoned, in development or in operation near...
The Petersburg High School eSsports team competed in the state competition on Thursday and came in first place. Seven schools throughout the state have been competing against each other in League of Legends for the entire spring season. League of Legends is a video game where two teams of five players spawn onto a map and must destroy the other teams' base. The games are hosted and coordinated through PlayVs, which is a high school eSsports league. This spring season was PHS' first year...
Erin Kandoll, of Twisted Ginger Designs, unveiled her Mayfest and Game of Thrones inspired collection of handmade earrings and necklaces last night at FireLight Gallery & Framing. The collection featured approximately 100 pairs of sterling silver earrings and 60 necklaces that had a bit of copper sprinkled in from her fall show. Kandoll has been working on the jewelry since last month. Some earrings form a Nordic rune or symbol, while the sword and shield collection flaunts a sword on one ear...
Bruno Henrique Caetano is about half way through his yearlong student exchange program in Petersburg, and he said that he has made plenty of new friends and new memories. Caetano, 16, first arrived in Petersburg from Unaí, Brazil in January of this year as part of theyouth exchange program through the Petersburg Rotary Club. Each year, the Alaska District Rotary Club sends about 25 students to 20 different countries, while receiving 25 students, according to coordinator Dave Berg. There is a lon...
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) — Alaska’s seafood industry is exploring strategies to reduce damage from the Trump administration’s trade dispute with China, officials said. The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute plans to explore how Alaska can enter additional markets to expand the state’s seafood brand, The Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Thursday. The U.S. plans to raise tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports from 10% to 25% Friday. China is the largest export market and re-processor of Alaska seafood, with about $989 million worth of sales to Chin...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - State officials are documenting air quality in Juneau to determine if harmful pollutants are showing up from cruise ships or other sources. The Juneau Empire reports the state in late April installed 21 monitors around downtown Juneau. They're part of the first ambient air quality study in the capital in more than a decade. Monitors measuring sulfur dioxide also were installed. The monitors use lasers to measure fine particulate. The inhalable particles can cause...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — It’s crunch time for Alaska lawmakers, who face a looming deadline to complete their session and decide some of its thorniest issues. Wednesday will mark the 121st day of the regular session, the constitutional limit though a 10-day extension is allowable. Lawmakers last month blew past a 90-day voter-approved session limit, which wasn’t seen as realistic given Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget hadn’t been released until a month into session and the House didn’t organize until around the same time. Legislative...
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — The University of Alaska has issued lay-off notices to 48 employees as part of an overhaul of its human resources department. UA President Jim Johnsen announced the changes, which will include downsizing, on Monday. He called the changes a redesign. “This is not a merger — it is a complete redesign based on best practices in higher education, which will lead to increased efficiencies that ultimately serve you better,” Johnsen wrote in an email to employees. “We want to make our search for new talent more efficient...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Dive teams plunged into the icy cold waters of a southeast Alaska inlet Tuesday, searching an area the size of 24 football fields for two cruise ship passengers missing after two sightseeing planes collided. The Coast Guard has confirmed four fatalities in the collision Monday afternoon near Ketchikan, a popular destination for cruise ships in Alaska. Ten people, all Americans, were injured. The missing passengers were from Canada and Australia, Princess Cruises said. The Royal Princess, which can carry up to 3,600 p...
WRANGELL - With the recent resignation of Principal Virginia Tulley, Evergreen Elementary School has found itself in need of new leadership. However, the school district itself is also facing tight finances, with the recent passage of a "no fat" budget. This budget does not allow for the hiring of a new principal, according to Superintendent Debbe Lancaster. In response, the school board determined that a new leadership position was required. The board met in a special meeting last Friday, May...
WRANGELL — Members of the Wrangell School District and the borough assembly came together for a joint workshop on the school district’s recently adopted budget. As Superintendent Debbe Lancaster said in the past, and repeated in Monday evening’s meeting, this was a “no fat” budget that was operating very close to the district’s bare minimum. The FY 2020 budget is assuming $6.34 million in revenue, and almost the same in expenses. In comparison, this is a decrease from the FY 2019 budget whic...
Assembly member Taylor Norheim requested a discussion item on Monday's borough assembly agenda that looked at privatizing the Petersburg Public Library. The wording of the discussion item was amended by Norheim at the start of the meeting to read as, "discussion of possible alternative funding for the public library." Norheim said that the wording of the discussion item was confusing to the public and changed the language to more accurately reflect his meaning. Although he clarified the wording...
The borough assembly amended and passed an ordinance in its first reading that would allow police officers to issue fines to individuals lighting off fireworks in service area one. If ordinance #2019-04 were to pass in all three readings, then residents could face a fine of up to $500 for lighting fireworks in service area one. The ordinance originally included language that allowed fireworks to be lit legally in service area one during three dates out of the year, July 4 and 5 and December 31,...
The bid for a new baler was awarded to Recycle Systems by the borough assembly at an assembly meeting on Monday for an amount not to exceed $535,327. The bid came in under the $600,000 that was allocated for a new borough baler by the assembly. All the bids that were placed came under the allocated $600,000, but public works director Chris Cotta recommended the bid be awarded to Recycle Systems. "The proposal offered by Recycle Systems was found to be outstanding in every regard, as well as...
The Petersburg Medical Center board of directors attempted to pass a resolution at their board meeting last month granting authority to specific board members to work with one of the hospital's financial institutions, but the motion was tabled until this month's meeting. The resolution would have allowed the president, vice president and treasurer of the board to perform such actions with Hilltop Securities as opening a brokerage account and transferring and purchasing stocks and bonds. The...
