Sorted by date Results 900 - 924 of 6799
Two proposals to open Petersburg Creek to black bear hunting failed at the Alaska Board of Game’s Southeast regional meeting in Ketchikan last month. The Petersburg Creek Closed Area, measuring 44 square miles, has been closed to black bear hunting since 1975 in order to provide a recreational bear viewing area near Petersburg and because of public safety concerns, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The area, however, is open to the hunting of other species. One of the f...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took an unusually strong step Tuesday and blocked a proposed mine heralded by backers as the most significant undeveloped copper and gold resource in the world because of concerns about its environmental impact on a rich Alaska aquatic ecosystem that supports the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. The move, cheered by Alaska Native tribes and environmentalists and condemned by some state officials and mining interests, deals a heavy blow to the proposed Pebble Mine. The int...
The state Board of Game has approved a proposal to reopen an elk hunt on Zarembo Island, though the odds that a local could nab a tag and take a bull will be low — a small number of tags will be available and the drawing will be open to hunters nationwide. The first drawing will likely take place this fall, with the hunt set for fall 2024. There hasn’t been an elk hunt on Zarembo for nearly 20 years, due to concerns about the small population’s sustainability, explained Petersburg-based state Fish and Game biologist Frank Robbins. “The last ye...
Clausen Museum Director Cindi Lagoudakis and local artist Suzanne Fuqua are both participants in the first "Portable Southeast" traveling art exhibition on display at the Clausen Museum through Saturday, February 25th. Lagoudakis was selected to be on a six member curation panel, representing diverse experiences and skill sets, to review submissions from artists around Southeast Alaska. Suzanne Fuqua's painting 'Forest Floor' was selected to be in the show and will be traveling through June for...
The federal ship has come in for the Alaska Marine Highway System, carrying more than $284 million for upgrades to old vessels, money to help pay for a new ferry, dock repairs, additional service to small communities and even a proposed electric-powered ferry for short runs. The Federal Transit Administration announced the awards last week. The grants were awarded under a competitive application process, but Alaska’s congressional delegation wrote the provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2022 with the intent of s...
Alaska’s backlog of untested sexual assault examination kits has all but disappeared after a five-year, multimillion-dollar effort, according to a report presented to the Alaska Legislature. The kits, colloquially known as “rape kits,” are used to collect physical evidence after a sexual assault. Figures published by the Alaska Department of Public Safety and dated Nov. 1 show only 75 untested kits, all at the state crime lab. In 2017, a statewide survey found almost 3,500 untested kits across the state, many held by local police depar... Full story
The Biden administration will ban new logging roads and most development in much of Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday. The decision, which repeals a 2020 USDA action under the Trump administration, continues a quarter-century of action and counter-action over development in the region, which contains the world’s largest temperate coastal rainforest and is home to more than 72,000 people. “As our nation’s largest national forest and the largest intact temperate rainforest in the... Full story
The Petersburg Police Department released its annual report last week, which includes an array of statistics that give insight into slowing local crime rates. The total dispatch center calls for service, which includes calls for police, fire, and EMS, saw its lowest activity in five years with 3,356 calls-down almost 400 from 2021. That number only includes calls for service and does not represent the total number of calls dispatchers receive, which Petersburg Police Department Chief Jim Kerr...
Washington, DC — U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, both R-Alaska, announced Wednesday that the Federal Transit Administration is awarding more than $285 million of investments to improve the reliability and service of Alaska’s ferry system, which serves more than 30 communities across 3,500 miles of coastline. The funding, all awarded to the Alaska Marine Highway System, is designated to replacing an aging vessel, upgrading ferry dock infrastructure in rural communities, modernizing four vessels, procuring an electric ferry, des...
The Alaska Rural Water Association (ARWA) has named Petersburg Alaska's Wastewater System of the Year for 2022. "Petersburg stays on top of routine maintenance and keeps their certifications up to date. Not everyone does that," said Mark Wuitschick, who nominated Petersburg and works at ARWA as the Wastewater Training and Technical Assistance Specialist. Petersburg also goes beyond the minimum requirements, and the award highlighted efforts at composting removed solids, which the Petersburg...
Other than still needing crew if it is to put the Hubbard into service for the first time since it was built a few years ago, the Alaska Marine Highway System believes it has enough staff to operate the confirmed runs of its proposed summer schedule this year. The state ferry system has been plagued by staffing shortages the past couple of years due to retirements, resignations and hiring efforts coming up short, temporarily sidelining vessels on occasion. “We’re still really pushing hard on recruitment,” Shannon McCarthy, communications direc...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Summer Myomick bundled her baby against the freezing winds whipping off the Bering Sea and stepped outside into a blur of blowing snow. It was a short walk from the school where she had visited relatives to the health clinic about 150 yards (137 meters) away, but the young mother could hardly have seen where she was going _ or the terror that was approaching. Myomick, 24, and her son, 1-year-old Clyde Ongtowasruk, made it just beyond the front of the Kingikmiut School in Wales, Alaska, just below the Arctic Circle, w...
During Tuesday's meeting, the Petersburg Borough Assembly voted 4-2 in favor of conducting a housing needs assessment with Vice Mayor Bob Lynn and Assembly Member Donna Marsh opposed. The housing needs assessment, which was recommended by the Housing Task Force, was proposed to evaluate local housing needs, provide recommendations for improving the housing situation, and help secure grant funding. The estimated cost of the assessment is $55,040 and will be paid for with funds received through...
The state ferry Matanuska will not return to service from its winter overhaul as scheduled next month and will require millions of dollars more of steel replacement work if it is ever to get back to work. In its place, the Alaska Marine Highway System plans to put the Columbia back to sea after almost 30 months in layup status to save money. The loss of the Matanuska will mean more than a month without ferry service for Petersburg. The ship had been scheduled to resume sailings the first week of February to replace the Kennicott, which was...
The Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department released its year end report last week, which shed light on the true value of community volunteers. According to the report submitted by Fire/EMS/SAR Director Aaron Hankins, having a volunteer-based fire department saves the borough between an estimated $759,200 and $1,138,800 in personnel costs per year when compared to a full-time career fire department. The estimation is based on having 8-12 employees staffing the local fire department-enough to...
The Petersburg Borough is pursuing the possibility of constructing a new float and dock at Papke's Landing with the help of the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities to keep the facility operational while the borough pursues full ownership. The Petersburg Borough Assembly has approved conceptual plans for an eventual major improvement project, but the rapidly declining state of the facility and delays to obtaining ownership have users of the facility questioning if it will...
The Local Emergency Planning Committee held its first meeting since April 2020 last Thursday where new and returning members were admitted to the committee to discuss the current state of emergency preparedness in Petersburg. According to Fire/EMS/SAR Director Aaron Hankins, the LEPC is a congressionally mandated program whose mission is to gather information on hazardous materials in the region, making them known to the public and planning for spill response, and to review and recommend local...
The Organized Village of Kake is looking into using a U.S. Forest Service facility at Portage Bay as a cultural healing and rehabilitation center. The overall goal of the program would be to reconnect people with their cultural identity, improve their mental health, and counsel those recovering from alcohol and substance abuse and other issues. The cultural healing center has been a dream of Joel Jackson's, the president of the OVK, for years. "What I had in mind was getting people to teach them...
The Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department responded to a house fire near 4.7 Mile Mitkof Highway on Wednesday, which destroyed the interior of the building. The fire was in an older two-story home constructed with logs at 471 Mitkof Highway on property owned by Michael Boggs. Though the investigation is ongoing, the fire is believed to have been caused by a wood stove according to Assistant Fire Chief Dave Berg. No persons were in the building when the fire broke out. The smoke from the building...
The Petersburg Indian Association held its annual election on Monday, which saw Tribal Council President Cris Morrison and Tribal Council Members Jaclyn Mae Eide and Joe Stewart reelected according to the unofficial results. Morrison, Eide, and Stewart all ran unopposed for the seats they will be retaining on the council. Morrison, who joined the council in 2017 and has served as council president since 2019, was reelected to a one-year term with 15 votes. "I am looking forward to working with...
During its Jan. 3 meeting, the Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved an ordinance in its first reading that would tie the service rates for self-pay residents at Mountain View Manor Assisted Living to the maximum service rates allowed for the facility under Medicaid. Medicaid raises per day services rates for Medicaid Residential Supported Living annually, but those increases have not been adopted by the borough. That is because the service rates charged for Medicaid RSL cannot...
It’s past time for the Southeast and coastal Alaska communities to be heard regarding the collapse of our ferry system. It’s time to more forcefully make our Alaska Marine Highway needs known by energizing the Southeast Conference, the Southeast Conference of Mayors, and other organizations. Southeastern and coastal Alaska are entitled to have a highway functioning just like our roaded neighbors to the north. The newly passed Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill provides the federal funding to make this happen if we don’t let it slip away The AMHS...
AP KETCHIKAN — A police chief in Alaska pleaded not guilty on Dec. 29 to charges that he assaulted an intoxicated man while he was off-duty at a resort restaurant, including allegedly shoving the man head-first into a wall and putting him in a chokehold. A grand jury returned an indictment Thursday for Ketchikan Police Chief Jeffrey Harrison Walls for felony third-degree assault. He is also charged with three counts of fourth-degree assault and two counts of reckless endangerment, which are misdemeanors. During an arraignment Friday, defense a...
Petersburg High School graduate Brooklyn Dormer was one of the singers in the third annual PBS New Year's Concert, "United in Song: Ringing in the New Year Together." A celebration of the diversity of American music, the concert was a nationwide musical journey highlighting well-known performers singing in unique and historic theaters across the country, including the Egyptian Theater in Boise, Idaho, where Dormer is a junior majoring in biochemistry with a minor in music. The PBS special...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously voted during Monday's meeting to award the construction contract for the Blind Slough Hydroelectric refurbishment project to McG/Dawson Joint Venture for an amount not to exceed $5,744,000. McG/Dawson's contract bid was evaluated by an engineering team led by Don Jarrett, P.E. with McMillen and was recommended to the assembly by both McMillen and Petersburg Municipal Power and Light. The project received four contract bids ranging from $5,744,000 up...
