Sorted by date Results 3227 - 3251 of 6972
Petersburg Medical Center Controller Rocio Tejera delivered her first financial report to the board of directors on April 25 explaining the hospital's financial standing during the month of March and the fiscal year-to-date. PMC's gross operating revenue was just about on target for March, but the net operating revenue was $1,362,274, which was five percent over the $1,292,686 target for the month. Both the gross and operating revenues from the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1, 2018...
Four students in a nursing program through University of Alaska Anchorage graduated with an associate's degree in applied science in nursing and received their nursing pins in a pinning ceremony on Thursday at the Elk's Lodge. Valaree Nilsen, Audrey Morton, Adam Axmaker and Carolyn Kvernvik had completed most of the two year program at the Petersburg Medical Center. The four graduates are the first to go through the program in Petersburg. Nichole Mattingly and Rosa Niemi led the program as UAA...
The Public Safety Advisory Board supported filling the vacant EMS coordinator position and replacing two fire engines at their meeting last Friday. While the EMS coordinator position does exist, it has not been funded or filled in about six to eight years, according to Fire Marshal Ryan Welde. The position has an annual salary of $96,147. The EMT coordinator duties, include responding to calls and splitting the day-to-day duties with Welde and fire/EMS director Sandy Dixson. Additionally, an...
WRANGELL — Lean times are ahead for the Wrangell School District, according to the budget that was adopted on April 30. Funding for the district has been a topic of much concern ever since Governor Mike Dunleavy released his proposals for the state budget. One of his proposals was a major cut to the Base Student Allocation, a program that gives schools money for every student in their district. It has been very challenging to prepare a budget for the new school year without knowing for sure w...
WRANGELL - The Wrangell Borough Assembly held an emergency meeting last Thursday night to adopt a "surplus property agreement" with the Nome Joint Utility System. The surplus property in question is a pair of diesel generators currently sitting in storage in Nome. Power has been a topic of concern around Wrangell, and amongst the assembly, thanks in part to the recent hydropower shortages at Tyee and Swan Lake. Wrangell currently has four diesel generators which it can use for power in the event...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska court system is working to switch to electronic filing, with goals of reducing workloads for clerks, eliminating delays and improving access to records. The change has been years in the making, with one targeted completion date missed and another in jeopardy. Employees at Kenai Peninsula courthouses have been part of a pilot program for electronic filing and document management systems involving limited case types. The court system plans to expand the pilot effort to include criminal cases and bring on c... Full story
A special meeting was held on April 17 by the borough assembly to discuss the proposed fiscal year 2020 Petersburg Borough budget before it goes before the assembly for its first reading on May 6. Finance director Jody Tow presented a slideshow detailing the general and enterprise funds for the proposed budget. Expenditures in the general fund total $9,567,149 for the 2020 budget, but it's balanced out by $9,571,545 in revenues. The total amount of excess of revenues over expenditures is...
Superior Court Judge William Carey ordered the release of $100,099.46 to Davis Wright Tremaine LLP in trust for Alaska Airlines and Dan Kane on Wednesday, April 24. The court held the funds in escrow while Petersburg Attorney Fred Triem filed an appeal of the case Estate of Helen Lingley vs. Alaska Airlines, Inc. and Dan Kane. The court issued final judgment in the matter in March 2018 and ordered Triem to pay costs, attorney fees and a $10,000 fine to Alaska Airlines counsel for the costs...
The Visitor Industry Working Group will continue their discussions on economic growth in Petersburg through tourism in September it was announced at their meeting on Monday. The group of 20 members was pulled together by the Petersburg Economic Development Council and Liz Cabrera, borough community and economic development director, to locate potential ideas for economic growth in Petersburg, while maintaining a balance between Petersburg's quality of life and tourism economy. Members are...
At their monthly meeting on Thursday, the board of directors for the Petersburg Medical Center discussed the idea of holding their meetings in the borough assembly chambers to better receive the community. "It's more to do with community engagement," said PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter. "It just seems like a more centralized location." Hospital board meetings are currently held in the Dorothy Ingle Conference Room in PMC on the fourth Thursday of every month. If the monthly board meetings were to be...
On Monday, the Southeast Alaska Power Agency board of directors postponed a reimbursement plan that would repay Petersburg and Wrangell for their additional power costs over the past few months, but agreed to distribute the funds by June 30. According to Bob Lynn, Petersburg’s representative on the SEAPA board, there was a motion to approve the reimbursement at Monday’s meeting, but the board was uncertain about how to report the reduction in SEAPA’s revenue for tax purposes. Lynn said SEAPA wan...
The editorial staff of the Petersburg Pilot and Wrangell Sentinel earned ten awards at this years Alaska Press Club contest. The awards were announced at the APC awards banquet in Anchorage on Saturday night. Work published in 2018 was judged. First place awards went to Brian Varela for a culture story about PIA and Sealaska teaching Sea Otter skin sewing, and Caleb Vierkant for a business story about the close of the cruise ship season in Wrangell. A second place award went to Caleb Vierkant...
Seafood industry researchers to casual history buffs will use and enjoy Tin Can Country - Southeast Alaska's Historic Salmon Canneries. This copiously illustrated edition is filled with stories, essays, historic photographs, custom made maps and colorful salmon can labels that together tell the story of S.E. Alaska's seafood industry from the time of tidewater Tlingit fish traps to today's highly mechanized, competitive corporate-conglomerated industry. It's a perfect coffee table book, because...
Life in a small fishing village, filled with opinionated fishermen and fisherwomen comes to life in this well-written story that was released last December by author and retired schoolteacher Christi Slaven. By the time you reach the final page of Home is Where the Fish Are, you'll have ridden out a night long storm that slammed, "a hundred tons of green water onto the deck," followed by a second monster that broke windows and sent green water and glass into the engine room. Equally descriptive...
WRANGELL - Starting April 1, according to a document from the City and Borough of Wrangell, the cap on sales taxes for single purchases has been increased from $1,500 to $3,000 or above. According to Finance Director Lee Burgess, this means that the sales tax for single purchases of $3,000 or more are capped at seven percent of $3,000, or $210. Any large purchases made after the beginning of April will have the new cap, while purchases before that date still have the old cap applied to them. Bur... 
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WRANGELL - Virginia Tulley moved to Wrangell in late July of 2018, ready to take on her new position as principal of Evergreen Elementary School. Coming from Arizona, Tulley has worked in a variety of teaching positions before the move to Alaska. Coming here was a bit of an adventure for her. "I always wanted to live in Alaska," Tulley said to the Sentinel, back in July. "I don't know my specific reason other than I wanted to explore." After one school year as principal, however, Tulley decided... Website
The borough assembly approved a second follow-up letter at last week's assembly meeting regarding a letter sent to Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen in November requesting information about a possible review of the Tonka and Big Thorne Integrated Resource timber contracts. "It feels like we've been stonewalled for the last six months on that," said vice mayor Jeigh Stanton Gregor at a borough assembly meeting on April 15. "Frankly, I want to put this issue to bed." The letter is the third...
Those at Alaska Marine Lines, including President Kevin Anderson, always closely watch salmon forecasts in Southeast Alaska. In recent years, salmon runs in the region have been lower than average, and the shipping company has felt it. "We had a bad year last year here in Southeast Alaska," Anderson told a crowd at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon Thursday. "If we were just in Southeast Alaska, we would not have been profitable." Fortunately for AML, the company isn't solely dependent on Southea...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency, representing the communities of Wrangell, Petersburg, and Ketchikan, decided to postpone a reimbursement plan to its two northern communities in their last meeting. Petersburg and Wrangell took on additional costs to keep the lights on in their towns over the past months, which they felt SEAPA should compensate them for. In a brief summary of recent events, Wrangell and Petersburg both receive hydropower from Tyee Lake. Due to dry weather last year, however,...
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) — A former high school teacher and pastor in southeast Alaska will be going to prison for sexually abusing a teenage girl at a school, a church and his home. Douglas Edwards, 60, was sentenced last week to 18 years in prison with 12 years suspended after pleading guilty in February to one count of sexual abuse of a minor, the Ketchikan Daily News reported. The former Ketchikan High School teacher placed his hand inside the victim’s “shirt, underneath her bra, and rubbed or touched her bare breast” multiple times between...
The Petersburg School Board held a work session on Thursday with district staff in which board members heard presentations on three new classes coming to Petersburg High School. Beginning in the fall, the Petersburg School District will be offering a food science class, a computer science principles class and a class that prepares high school students for a career in teaching; however, if enough students don't register for the classes, they won't be offered. Students will get the opportunity to...
At a school board meeting last week, Petersburg School District Director of Activities Jaime Cabral said that a recent research project revealed that school districts within Southeast Alaska spent $1.9 million in one year traveling with Alaska Airlines. The figure only takes into account the amount of money the region spends on travel for activities, like basketball games at other schools or regional and state competitions. Cabral said that Alaska Airlines is looking at possible solutions to...
SITKA, Alaska (AP) — A city government in Alaska has approved agreements allowing a regional health consortium to take over operation of its community hospital, officials said. The City and Borough of Sitka Assembly voted 5-2 Monday to approve asset purchase and facilities lease agreements so Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium can operate Sitka Community Hospital, The Daily Sitka Sentinel reported Tuesday. The consortium’s board will consider approval of the agreements April 26, with a likely June 30 closing date, the newspaper rep...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The biggest issues heading into this year’s legislative session remain unresolved in the session’s final weeks, with Gov. Mike Dunleavy facing resistance to pieces of his agenda. Lawmakers have yet to finalize a budget. The size of the check residents will get this year from the state’s oil-wealth fund, the Alaska Permanent Fund, is unsettled, as is the debate over the program’s future. The Republican governor wants lawmakers to pass his package of bills related to crime and act on proposed constitutional amendment...
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska city is facing a shortage of police officers that is raising concerns about the department’s operations. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Sunday that the Fairbanks Police Department has seven unfilled positions, a deficit expected to grow this spring and summer following scheduled retirements. The department says four of its 46 officers plan to retire in the coming months. Officials say four of the expected 11 vacancies will remain unfunded through at least 2019 under the terms of a three-year con...
