Sorted by date Results 201 - 225 of 911
Thank you, thank you, thank you To the Editor: Mike and I are so incredibly humbled by and grateful for the outpouring of support, generosity, thoughts, and prayers after our house fire. It has been said many times that this community rises to the occasion to help each other, but to be the recipient of such support and generosity—there are not enough words to express how much we appreciate everyone and everything that has been done for us. Although our home and possessions are a total loss, we are extremely lucky to live in such an amazing c...
Earlier this month, the 117th Congress formally adjourned, marking the close of a remarkably productive legislative stretch for Alaska. The last Congress was one of the best for our state in recent memory, and the bipartisan bills we passed during it will produce lasting benefits for Petersburg and across Southeast. Most significant is the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which I played a lead role on. In just over a year, roughly $3 billion from it has already been announced for Alaska. Those dollars are helping us build, expand, and...
For the 10th year in a row, more Alaskans moved out last year than new residents moved in. That’s a draining fact, with no real plan to plug the leak. To confirm the Alaska Department of Labor’s statistics about population and persistent out-migration, drive no farther than U-Haul. America’s do-it-yourself movers reported this month on its annual numbers for traffic into states and one-way rentals leaving each state. The traffic count for Alaska is not good. The state fell 25 spots in the nationwide ranking of growth states, from 16th place...
Vikings: take a closer look To the Editor: I enjoy living in a community with a strong sense of tradition and heritage, sadly lacking in many places today. I find the culture of this “Little Norway” largely wholesome and endearing, from krumkake to rosemaling. When the furs and horned helmets come out at Mayfest, I’m glad to see that someone remembers that there once existed people who went a-Viking, long, long ago. But I think that pop culture imagery of the Vikings falls far short of what we now actually know about these people, who were...
Community Emergency Response Team in the works To the Editor: The Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department (PVFD) Auxiliary committee has been looking for training to further assist the PVFD in its mission of Public Safety. After some careful digging, Chief Stolpe found a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program through FEMA. Through the PVFD Auxiliary, Chief Stolpe and I hope to establish a Community Emergency Response Team. This team’s mission would be to provide lay responder support to first responders in the event of a large-scale e...
Starting this week, a new locally-drawn strip will be showing up with the comics here on page 4. Gus Petersen - a Petersburg resident attending The Kubert School, which is an art school in New Jersey that concentrates on cartoon and graphic art - approached the Pilot this fall with an offer to contribute something new. Growing up in Petersburg, Petersen remembers wishing there were comics in the Pilot. In some of the daily papers from around the area he would see the classic comic strips, "Fox...
Small publishers all across the country got some tough news this fall when Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced a substantial postage rate increase set to arrive in January. While postage is increasing for everybody, the class of postage facing the highest increase is the in-county periodical postage rate newspapers pay to distribute local papers to subscribers through post offices. That rate will jump by 7.6% next month, and the increase is coming hot on the heels of a 7% hike in July of...
This is why I love this town so much To the Editor: On December 23 I was leaving Petro Marine when I slipped on the icy road and fell. I am 69 years old and a fall like that isn’t the same as when I was 25. I mean, I didn’t jump right back to my feet. As I was trying to get back to my feet I heard a voice asking me if I was ok. That really got me going. Embarrassed, I started gathering the things I had dropped. He asked me if I was hurt. I told him my ribs were hurting. I looked up at him and assured him I was ok. Don’t know where this kind...
The case of the purloined judgeship To the Editor: In 1982 our former Representative, Ernie Haugen, persuaded the Alaska Legislature to create a new judgeship and designated its vicinage in the Petersburg-Wrangell region to serve our neck of the woods, but there was a catch. Before passage of the bill, the Senate added a rider to the bill, a Letter of Intent stating that the new Superior judgeship could be authorized only on the condition that Petersburg’s old District Court judgeship be decommissioned. The deal was like giving up an old F...
Newly reelected Gov. Mike Dunleavy last week unveiled his proposed state spending plan for the next budget year. By far, the largest single expense in the entire state budget is the Permanent Fund dividend. The governor’s budget proposes no increase in state funding for public schools and a reduction in funding for the university system. No significant increases for road repairs, snow removal, mental health services, or more staff to help the backlog of food stamp applications which has created hours-long hold times for callers needing help. L...
The world will continue to need liquid fuels refined from crude oil for decades. But it likely will need less in the decades ahead as it transitions to renewable energy sources in hopes of stemming the damages caused by a warming planet. Which means oil companies generally are looking for the least risky projects, the environmentally smartest ones, the ones with the quickest payback to recover their investment. No producer wants to sink billions into a new development, only to find that delays, cost overruns and political or permitting...
Thank you! To the Editor: Mitkof Dance Troupe (MDT) is eternally grateful for the many students, families, teachers, volunteers, and community members who were involved with the winter dance recital. And, thank you to those who expressed interest in joining the board! Seeing the hard work and dedication come to life on the dance stage is truly heartwarming. Sincerely, Carin Christensen, MDT Board President...
This October, I was provided the opportunity to serve as the Executive Director of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation. As a lifelong Alaskan, leading APFC is my childhood dream come true. From meeting with Governor Hammond with my third-grade class in 1976, to receiving the benefits of the Fund’s existence throughout my life, to now having the experience to manage the Corporation is truly special. To tell a little about myself, I was born in Cordova and raised in Yakutat and Juneau, where my wife Erin and I reside and raised our two sons. F...
I had the distinct pleasure to catch the final performance of “Dorothy in Wonderland’’ staged by the Mitkof Mummers Theater Company. I must admit, my expectations were not high having seen enough bad community theater to reluctantly attend one more. But I was wrong. The show was delightful and presented exactly what good community theater is all about, for young and old alike. Let’s start with the director, Irene Littleton. Ms. Littleton’s adept direction was particularly noteworthy in two respects. Firstly, community theater, especiall...
Gloria Family memories To the Editor: Way back in the late 1930s and the World War II era, at the top of Lumber Street, in what was then called the “Gulley”, there lived a family known as the Glorias. Lewis Gloria, an immigrant from the Philippines, worked for Earl Ohmer at Alaskan Glacier Seafoods. He was married to a native of Kake and together they had four boys and two girls. I remember two of the children, Fred Gloria and Isabel Gloria as classmates in the third grade class of 1938 and as members of the Lumber Street Gang, which inc...
Dear Petersburg To the Editor: About three years ago we decided to move our family back to Petersburg after both being away since graduating from high school. We made the decision to come home for many reasons — great schools, a small close-knit community, a simpler lifestyle, and the chance to share more time with our family and friends. It’s been amazing to watch our children grow up so close to family and to follow in our footsteps, playing on the same playgrounds and fishing the same dolly hotspots in the harbor as we did thirty years ago...
More people moved out of Alaska than moved in every year between 2015 and 2021. If not for a healthy birth rate, the state population would have shrunk even more than it did. Wrangell has steadily lost population over the past 20 years, with the decline projected to continue. These are not good statistics. Even worse, these are self-fulfilling projections of future economic troubles. Fewer residents means fewer available workers, which means labor shortages for the goods and services people need. Business across the state already suffer from a...
Thank You To the Editor: We would like to express a heartfelt THANK YOU to the community of Petersburg and all the volunteers that made November Rain possible this past weekend! The three day swim meet hosted teams from Petersburg, Ketchikan, Craig, Wrangell, Juneau and Sitka with a total of 114 swimmers participating in over 100 events. Without our dedicated volunteers and their many hours of work, this meet would not have been possible. The Board of Directors and over sixty Viking Swim Club swimmers want to say Thank You to each person that...
It was nearly 30 years ago that Ed Rasmuson recruited me to be his partner in the creation of what is now the largest philanthropy in Alaska. "It's yours if you want it," is how he put his offer that I become the only employee of his small family foundation - a foundation that now is approaching a billion-dollar responsibility to use his father's fortune - and much of his own - to repay his beloved Alaska for the opportunities it offered his family. I believe that we - and our dedicated,...
November 8th is our State Election; don’t forget to Vote! To the Editor: Mark and I are supporting Rebecca Himshoot for State House representing our district. She is a strong supporter of education, teachers and stabilizing school funding. She will work for accessible housing, invest in infrastructure, work to improve our Alaska Marine Highway, and will safeguard our Permanent Fund for future generations. Rebecca will stand up for women’s reproductive rights in our State. She is committed to fishing issues and creating more jobs that will hel...
Thank you — to the Petersburg Police and PVFD first responders who ensured no one was hurt and the scene was safe enough for work to commence, Petersburg Municipal Power and Light who restored power faster than expected which made it possible for so many kids to be out trick or treating on Halloween, Public Works who with Power and Light and Alaska Department of Transportation worked through the night alongside the teams from Rock-n-Road and Reid Brothers to clear the landslide from the highway by Tuesday morning, the emergency line crew f...
Alaska’s midterm general election is underway. Early and absentee voting has begun, and election day is less than two weeks away. There are many important decisions on the ballot, and perhaps most important of all is the ballot measure question: Shall there be a constitutional convention? This question was asked last month of Petersburg’s candidates for assembly, and it was the one and only topic that everyone agreed on. Regardless of political leaning the resounding answer was “No.” Donna M... Full story
HIP to be Kind To the Editor: Humanity in Progress would like to give a huge thank you not only to all of the amazing humans who joined us Saturday night for our Empty Bowls fundraiser and were so incredibly generous but also to all the wonderful volunteers and donors who helped us to make the event possible. We were able to reach our fundraising goal and our hearts are overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness of the community. These funds will go directly to those experiencing food and housing insecurity in the community and will be...
Dear Petersburg To the Editor: Early Childhood Education needs the community to engage in developing pragmatic solutions: usable space, workforce development, and summer programming to name a few. Please be present at a screening of “Voices for a Better Future” at the Wright Auditorium and join in the discussion with panelists, Saturday, October 1st, 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. “Voices for a Better Future” provides a Petersburg-centric view of early childhood education and the challenges facing the children, the families, the businesses, and the commu...
Workers, families and retirees are not the only Alaskans squeezed by inflation, rising interest rates and tumbling investments. The state is in the same tight spot. And it could get worse. The price for Alaska North Slope crude oil was down to $86.57 a barrel as of last Friday, dropping a third from almost $128 in early June. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate was even lower, at $78.74. The stock market, where the Alaska Permanent Fund invests much of its money, as of Friday was down 20% from the start of the year. Bond and real estate...
