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Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon the Mitkof Dance Troupe will perform "Lost in a Dream" and, for the first time since December 2019, they will dance to a full-house. Recital tickets are on sale at Lee's Clothing and Bridget Wittstock reports, "Ticket sales are going well. People are excited!" A few years ago the Mitkof Dance Troupe was thriving. They had five teachers, a hundred and eighty students, and owned a building they planned to turn into their dream studio. Life changes led to the...
WRANGELL – Wrangell vessel owners who already shuttle passengers and freight around southern Southeast said they would be willing to contract with Wrangell Borough for service to Petersburg and Coffman Cove, rather than see the borough subsidize a return of the more expensive Inter-Island Ferry Authority. Zach Taylor, who operates the 38-foot catamaran Island Cat, and Eric Yancey, who operates the 75-foot landing craft Rainforest Islander, have expressed their willingness to contract with the borough to provide regular service between the c...
WASHINGTON — The Department of Education announced last month it is extending the pandemic-era pause on federal student loan repayments until June 30 while legal challenges to the administration’s student debt relief program are fought over in the courts. The agency said if the student debt relief program has not been put in place by June 30, and if litigation is still tied up in the courts, student loan payments will begin 60 days after that. “Payments will resume 60 days after the Department is permitted to implement the program or the litig...
The South Harbor dredging project is set to ramp up in the coming weeks as people and equipment begin arriving in Petersburg according to Harbormaster Glo Wollen. The project will see the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and contractor Western Marine work in collaboration with the borough to help make the harbor more accessible by dredging an estimated 83,000 cubic yards of material. They had previously hoped to start the work in October beginning with the inside area of the 400 row, but have been...
Volunteers rallied at the Community Cold Storage on Nov. 21 to distribute 1,748 pounds of moose burger meat to local organizations. According to Desi Burrell, recipients of the meat included the Petersburg Indian Association, Alaska Native Brotherhood/Alaska Native Sisterhood, Petersburg School District, the Catholic Church soup kitchen, the Baptist Church Wednesday night meals, Monday night meals, Humanity In Progress, Petersburg Children's Center, Mountain View Manor Assisted Living, Mountain...
Petersburg Police Department Chief Jim Kerr has filed a lawsuit against the Petersburg Borough. The suit, filed Nov. 3 with the Juneau Civil Superior Court, alleges that the borough defamed Kerr and portrayed him in a false light, according to court records obtained by the Pilot. On June 27, 2022 the borough responded to a public records request filed by KFSK with a statement saying the borough's HR department had received a complaint in the form of a timeline from Kerr alleging that he had... Full story
Alaska Power & Telephone Wireless completed the installation of the 214-mile SEALink submarine fiber optic cable system on Oct. 31, providing Prince of Wales Island with its first ever fiber optic link to continental North America and the world according to a press release from the company. The SEALink cable runs from Coffman Cove to Mitkof Island where it makes landfall at the South Ferry Terminal and connects to a newly constructed terrestrial transport fiber installed alongside Mitkof...
Mitkof Dance Troupe teacher Kelsey Lambe realized a long held dream this fall when she created a new opportunity for high school athletes: the High School Performance Team. "I love teaching dance at MDT, but I was on a dance team all through high school and I've really missed that unique dance team culture. I've wanted to provide that for our kids, so I approached the board about it and they were super supportive," she says. This year five dancers auditioned for and made the team: Lakell...
The Salvation Army Petersburg Corps is getting into the season of giving this year with multiple charitable opportunities coming up on the calendar. They kicked things off last week with their annual Thanksgiving food box distribution where 126 people, including 55 families, were served according to Capt. KV Saengthasy. The Lutheran Church donated 69 turkeys and St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church donated 10 turkeys along with other food items and baskets. The U.S. Forest Service also...
Commercial fisherman and artist Tom Crestodina will be signing copies of his new book, "Working Boats: An Inside Look at Ten Amazing Watercraft," tomorrow night at Sing Lee Alley Books from 5 - 7 p.m. The book is filled with detailed and whimsical "cut-away" drawings of working boats – from a little log bronc with a wheelhouse the size of a phonebooth to a Puget Sound double-ended ferry, with many of the familiar working boats of the Pacific Northwest in between. Descriptions of how each boat an...
WRANGELL — School districts statewide be looking to the Legislature next year for an increase in state funding, but any boost in the state’s per-pupil formula likely will depend in large part on oil revenues and also Permanent Fund earnings. And neither looks good this month, less than seven weeks before lawmakers are scheduled to convene in Juneau. The state funding formula for K-12 education hadn’t moved in about five years before this year’s 0.5% mini-nudge upward. Meanwhile, districts statewide are facing budget deficits and program...
Former Wrangell residents Kelsey Leak and Arne Dahl were involved in a boating accident late Sunday afternoon. By mid- afternoon Monday, Leak had been picked up by a nearby fishing vessel. As of Tuesday morning, Dahl had not been found. The couple was boating near Point Baker and Point Protection, roughly 40 nautical miles west of Wrangell. Leak, who survived the accident, spent Sunday night on one of the West Rocks, in the area around Point Baker and Point Protection. “That was a feat by itself,” said Wrangell Fire Department Chief Tim Bun...
The Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska announced last Thursday that it has been awarded a nearly $50 million grant to expand broadband deployment in the region. The grant is one of 18 awarded recently awarded to tribal entities in 11 states as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP)-a nearly $3 billion grant program, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, and part of the Biden-Harris...
All three incumbents likely clinched final victory in Alaska's statewide elections Friday, as the Alaska Division of Elections updated results with thousands of additional absentee, questioned and early ballots from this fall's general election. Final unofficial results will not be available until 4 p.m. Wednesday, November 23, when the division implements the state's new ranked choice sorting system, but voting trends have made the results clear in most races. With 264,994 votes counted,... Full story
The Petersburg School District board voted 4-0 to accept the draft of the FY22 audit during its meeting on Nov. 8 with Board Member Jay Lister excused. Bikky Shrestha of BDO USA, LLP, the district's accounting firm, presented the draft of the financial statements to the board and said that though it is still being reviewed, they do not expect the information in the draft to drastically change. Shrestha reported that there were no corrected or uncorrected misstatements related to accounts or...
"When I first met him, his bumper sticker was, 'Beam me up, Scotty! There's no intelligent life down here,'" laughs Ingrid Murray, remembering her husband Pat Murray. Murray's obituary in the Pilot in February 2021 describes his growing up in Maryland, his service in the Army as a helicopter pilot, and his passion for volunteering in the later years of his life after settling in Petersburg, but it doesn't reveal his passion for science fiction, fantasy, and outer space. "He has watched every...
During its meeting on Monday, the Petersburg Borough Assembly voted in favor of sending a letter supporting an Alaska Airlines proposal to continue providing Essential Air Service to Southeast communities through April 2025. The vote was 6-0 with Assembly Member Dave Kensinger excused. The assembly's letter highlights Alaska Airlines' ability to connect Petersburg with major hubs like Seattle and Anchorage, the reliability of flights during inclement weather, and the service's economic...
During a special meeting on Nov. 11 the Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously in favor of appointing the law firm of Jermain, Dunnagan & Owens to serve as the special legal counsel in a lawsuit brought against the borough and Borough Clerk Debbie Thompson in her official capacity. The decision to appoint the law firm, which was chosen by the borough's insurance provider, was initially discussed during the regular assembly meeting on Nov. 7. The assembly, wanting to hear advice and...
Democratic candidate Donna Mears overtook Republican candidate Forrest Wolfe in a closely watched Alaska House race as the Alaska Division of Elections counted 27,178 early, absentee and questioned ballots, about three-fifths of the number outstanding from the Nov. 8 general election. Additional absentee ballots are expected to arrive in the coming days, and the Division of Elections’ next scheduled count is Friday. With Mears taking a lead, the 40-seat Alaska House is split exactly in half. In 20 seats, Republicans lead. In the other 20, D...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously passed an ordinance adjusting the borough's FY23 budget in its third and final reading during its meeting on Nov. 7. No amendments to Ordinance #2022-15 were made during its final reading. The supplemental budget lists 18 revisions to the budget including accepting $123,158 in state legislative grants for lighting projects at the ballfield and the ice skate pond, rebuilding the EMD-16 Generator and the Caterpillar 398 Generator, and increasing the...
The Housing Task Force held their second meeting on Nov. 2 where they fleshed out their ideas for what the borough could do to address local housing challenges. Before the meeting, Assembly Member Dave Kensinger, the task force's facilitator, categorized their ideas into three groups-what could be done now, what could be done soon, and big ideas that would take time. In addition to reviewing their ideas, the task force also discussed creating two subcommittees that could work between now and...
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Monday issued a nationwide injunction indefinitely blocking the Biden administration’s student debt relief program in response to a challenge by six GOP-led states. The unanimous ruling by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis came after the six states — Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina — argued that the loan relief program threatens those states’ future tax revenues and that the plan by the Biden administration overrode congressional authority. “The injunction...
The 2022 general election polls closed Tuesday night, putting an end to the campaign season and kicking off a two-week waiting game as ballots are counted until the final results tabulation on Nov. 23. As of Wednesday evening, 80% of the ballots cast statewide have been reported according to the Associated Press. With Alaska now using ranked choice voting in statewide elections, those ballots are only reporting votes for candidates whom voters ranked as their first choice. So far in Petersburg...
In votes counted through early Wednesday morning, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy appeared on pace for re-election to a second four-year term. Dunleavy, a Republican, built a substantial lead over challengers Democrat Les Gara, independent Bill Walker and Republican Charlie Pierce, holding 52% of Tuesday's 216,364 first-choice votes. If Dunleavy's vote share stays above 50%, he will win the election outright without going through Alaska's new ranked choice counting process. Gara and Walker had less... Full story
The nation's eyes are on the U.S. Senate and House races in Alaska, but anyone wanting to know the outcome will have to be patient. Defending their seats are two high-profile women. In the Senate is Lisa Murkowski, a Republican who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump – and who has been the target of ire from Trump and from hard-liner conservatives. She trailed Republican challenger Kelly Tshibaka by a small margin, 42.7% to 44.4% of the first 216,000 votes counted. But Murkowski w... Full story
