Author: Joe Viechnicki, KFSK

Weather kept Governor Bill Walker from attending a signing ceremony for a pharmacy bill in Petersburg this morning. Walker was unable to fly to Petersburg for the signing of House bill 240. It’s a bill that creates tighter regulation on pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs. Those are companies hired by health insurance providers to negotiate drug prices with the companies that make the medications and the businesses that sell them.

Petersburg’s borough assembly earlier this month was split over who to nominate for a seat on the board of a regional economic development organization. On Monday, a short-handed assembly voted down a request to send their nominee to that organization’s annual meeting next month.

It’s a six-person race for two seats on the Petersburg borough assembly. Tuesday, August 21 was the deadline for candidates to file for local office.

Wild fires continue to burn near the Stikine River in British Columbia but are now partially contained. The Alkali Lake fire was discovered August 1st and is estimated to have burned an estimated 96,000 acres.

A New York film company and Petersburg’s police department have been given the green light for local police officer involvement in a reality TV show. Petersburg’s borough assembly Monday, August 20 gave their approval for the borough to sign an agreement for filming expected to start this fall.