Sorted by date Results 3001 - 3025 of 5678
WRANGELL - A Wrangell café is raising funds for disaster relief, following the hurricane and deadly floods affecting Texas last month. Zak's Cafe owners James George and Katherine George-Byrd plan to send all earnings from their Tuesday and Wednesday sales this week to a response fund benefitting Hurricane Harvey victims. On August 24 the storm system became the first category 4 hurricane to make landfall in the United States in over a decade, and the biggest in Texas since Hurricane Carla in...
WRANGELL — Last week, Alaska’s lawmakers received word from the governor’s office another session may be called for October. On August 31 emails were sent to members of the Alaska Legislature, letting them know a special session – the fourth of the year – will likely be called to discuss revenue. During the second special session in July an operating budget was passed, with a capital budget approved the following month in another session. The spending bills came with cuts and an overhaul of the state’s oil tax credit system, but without new...
A story in last week’s paper said a nursing program was the first of its kind in Petersburg. There was actually a similar program over a decade ago coordinated through Weber State University, but it was a one-time opportunity. Due to a production error, that was not reflected in the article. The site coordinator, Nichole Mattingly, also noted that Rosa Mergenthal is another instructor currently leading the program in Petersburg....
Delays to line maintenance prompted by a public employee strike in Wrangell this June will cost a regional power utility an extra $103,000. Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA) chief executive Trey Acteson presented board members with a change order for the project, which would among other maintenance tasks replace marker balls along the transmission lines connecting Tyee Lake to the grid. Work had been set to start the latter half of June, during which time Wrangell would have had to run on its diesel backups. But an unrelated strike by two...
Lynn Ewing and Liv Husvik-Perschon of Petersburg and Robin and Gary Paul of Juneau, announce the wedding and reception of Sonja Ewing and Carson Paul. The couple are residents of Petersburg with Ewing working at Petersburg Medical Center and Paul working at Rocky's Marine. The wedding will take place at the Petersburg Lutheran Church on Saturday, September 9, with a reception to follow at the Sons of Norway Hall....
The body of 24-year-old Jase Payne was found late Monday near a dock at Rocky Point Resort in Petersburg, Alaska ending what had been a four-hour search by family members, state troopers and local police. Alaska Wildlife Troopers were notified at 6:52 p.m. on Monday that Payne was missing, last seen on the dock of Rocky Point Resort about 10 miles south of town. “Family members had been conducting hasty searches of the nearby Wrangell Narrows with no results,” wrote a press release. “[A] Petersburg Alaska Wildlife Trooper and Petersburg Polic... Full story
The Petersburg Medical Center and three of its physicians are being sued over a wrongful death claim being brought by Mary Katasse Miller. Superior Court Judge William Carey set the trial date for November 20, 2018 at a scheduling conference on August 21. Also named in the suit are PMC physicians Courtney Hess, M.D., Kris Sargeant, M.D. and Jennifer Hyer, M.D. Hess has been employed at PMC since July 2014, Sargeant since Aug. 2012 and Hyer since Aug. 2011. Miller represents the Estate of Malcom Miller and herself. Her late husband died on June...
A humpback whale near Tracy Arm became entangled in a cruise vessel’s anchor line for almost 12 hours Sunday morning, but was freed by a team of marine mammal entanglement experts Sunday afternoon. The humpback struck the Uncruise Adventures cruise vessel Wilderness Explorer at about 2:15 a.m. Sunday, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association said in a Monday press release. A responding team of marine mammal entanglement specialists believe they freed the whale by cutting an anchor chain at about 2 p.m. Sunday. “We are grateful to the cre...
The rain in Petersburg came in consistent droves this summer, and temperatures were cooler than normal, leaving climatologists fixed on explaining sporadic weather patterns in the past and surely in the future. Petersburg experienced its seventh wettest summer since reports began at the National Weather Service in 1924 — yet there are two days left, said Rick Fritsch, the climate program leader with the department in Juneau. “You had an extraordinarily wet summer,” Fritsch said. “It’d be better if I reported how many days you didn’t ha...
A Rambler Street resident caught two bucks that became snared in a gillnet in their yard on Thursday August 24. According to the Petersburg Police Department an officer responded to the incident at 5:48 in the morning and was able to cut the gillnet from the antlers of the two deer. Gardeners often use gillnet to keep wildlife out of their gardens and flower beds....
August 31, 1917 – The Petersburg public schools open for the new term next Tuesday morning. Miss Burke, of Seattle to set to fill the vacancy left by Miss Murphy, of Montana. She is expected to arrive on the City of Seattle, together with Miss Kirchiem, from Tacoma. Miss Edna Miller, who has been attending the State Normal School at Bellingham for the summer term, has arrived back home on the Al-Ki. Miss Taylor, who has been here since early summer is the fourth member of the teaching corps. Arrangements as to grades to be taught by each w...
The hospital in Petersburg is an independent operation that makes its own decisions, despite being owned by the Borough. It makes finance decisions on its own with no proviso that the Borough oversee those moves. But one condition in the Borough Charter says the Petersburg Medical Center Board and the Assembly should meet annually. And they did last week — the first joint meeting since March 2015, confirmed by Borough Clerk Debbie Thompson. “There hasn’t been any dialogue between the Borough and the hospital,” said George Doyle, a hospita...
There will be no school for Elementary School students on September 1. Labor Day will be observed on September 4 with no school district wide....
WRANGELL — The Wrangell Tribe’s environmental program office announced last week that most species of shellfish have been cleared for consumption at a pair of local beaches. On August 24 results from the week’s sampling had indicated levels of saxitoxin – the root cause of paralytic shellfish poisoning – evident in mussels at Pats Creek and Shoemaker Bay beaches had dropped below federal safety guidelines. Conducting the site testing, the Indian Environmental General Assistance Program had previously issued a warning for Pats in January a...
Demand for nurses is growing in Alaska enough for Petersburg to open its first student-degree program with online lectures and on-island lab training. The program, sponsored by the University of Anchorage Alaska, started on Monday. The program is a two-year associate's degree with four students from Petersburg seeking to become a registered nurse with little travel off-island, said Nichole Mattingly, the local site coordinator. "In small communities like this we want to invest in nurses who are...
The hospital in Petersburg is a Band-aid station that’s aging in sections invisible to the vast majority of the community. That is according to its consultant, Monica Gross, the author of a long term planning report for the Petersburg Medical Center that was released last week. In it, she outlines a range of surveys she conducted with hospital staff and community members with regard to remodeling or replacing the hospital. In a Hospital Board meeting last week, she first addressed an apparent misconception of the Medical Center, which is its f...
Richard Lowell of Alaska Department of Fish and Game said he received a text message on Tuesday that read "this is why we have bears in town." Along with the text was a photograph of salmon carcasses sprawled across the center of Mill Slough in Petersburg. Reports of discarded salmon bodies near the city are common, unfortunately, and a significant driver of increased bear activity in residential areas, said Lowell. Those who get rid of fish on public or private land and along roads can see...
There are new species of squid near Petersburg, and determining their population is like measuring fog, according to one researcher who has defied Alaska squid assumptions for years. In a presentation at the Public Library on Tuesday, Stephanie Hayes, a PhD student in Marine Biology, which she has refined to squid research, described the Armhook species. New to the Petersburg area, the Armhook Squid has increased in prevalence, despite being told that it hadn't been the case, Hayes said....
WRANGELL - Women from the local American Legion Auxiliary took part in the national organization's 97th annual convention last week. Three members from Merlin Elmer Palmer, Auxiliary Unit 6, joined 1,500 other delegates, as well as alternates and guests from around the United States in Reno, Nevada. Accompanied by Barbara Hommel and Zona Gregg, respectively the chapter's vice president and treasurer, president Marilyn Mork was recognized as Alaska's Woman of the Year. "I was kind of surprised...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) _ The Alaska Supreme Court has ruled that Gov. Bill Walker acted within his authority last year in reducing the amount set aside for checks from Alaska’s oil-wealth fund to state residents. The decision released Friday sided with the state, as a lower court had, in the dispute over Alaska Permanent Fund dividends. The case was brought by Democratic state Sen. Bill Wielechowski and two former legislators, who argued that the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. last year was required by law to make available nearly $1.4 billion f...
WRANGELL - Improvements to the observatory at Anan Creek are complete, improving access and security for one of Wrangell's top visitor attractions. Managed by the Forest Service, Anan Wildlife Observatory is best known for its bear population, one of the few where brown and black bears can be observed feeding together nonconfrontationally. Along with LeConte Glacier and the Stikine River, the sites brought in half of Wrangell's total tourism earnings in 2014, or $2 million, according to a study...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A federal bankruptcy judge has approved a $1 million loan for the Alaska Dispatch News to keep it operating as negotiations continue with potential buyers. The newspaper will use the loan from potential buyers approved Monday to continue paying insurance premiums and employees, KTUU-TV reported. Without the loan, Alaska Dispatch News could not afford its ongoing expenses and would have to fold, said Cabot Christianson, the newspaper’s lawyer. The Anchorage-based newspaper filed for bankruptcy on Aug. 12. Last week, a j...
SEATTLE (AP) — Investigators are weighing icy conditions and heavy crab pots as they probe what caused a Seattle-based crab boat with six people aboard to sink in the Bering Sea. The U.S. Coast Guard Marine board heard testimony from more than 30 people this month in Seattle as it determines a probable cause of the Feb. 11 sinking. The Seattle Times says it will eventually develop a report including recommendations to reduce the risks of such accidents. The vessel Destination went missing off a remote Alaska island. Searchers found the s...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska master hunting guide has been charged with using assistants on snowmobiles to herd grizzly bears toward clients, making it easier for hunters to shoot the animals. Brian Simpson, 55, of Fairbanks, also is charged with guiding on a national preserve without a permit. Simpson’s company is Wittrock Outfitters-Alaska. Messages left with the business Thursday and Friday were not returned. Online court documents do not list his attorney. Simpson is charged with two counts of aiding in the commission of a state gam...
PETERSBURG, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Mental Health Trust and federal government have a bunch of work that needs to be done before a land swap approved last year can happen_ work that has to be completed within the next two years. KFSK-FM reported Thursday that the legislation set a two-year deadline on completing surveys, appraisals and other studies of the land. The federal government is giving the mental health trust about 31.3 square miles (81 square kilometers) of the Tongass National Forest near Ketchikan on Prince of Wales Island. W...
