Author: Joe Viechnicki, KFSK

A former Petersburg borough employee Wednesday pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter in the van wreck that killed two people and injured a third on July 4th, 2016. Sentencing is scheduled for December.

With a few exceptions, Southeast Alaska’s commercial salmon trolling shuts down this week but trollers will have another shot at king salmon next week.
The fishery shuts down just before midnight Thursday, August 9 and will re-open on August 15th. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game closes the fishery at this time of year to allow enough coho salmon to return to spawning streams on the inside waters of Southeast.

The conversation is underway on reducing the use of light-weight plastic shopping bags in Petersburg. Members of Petersburg’s borough assembly Monday had mixed feelings about a local bag ban or extra charge for their use but they’re hoping to hear more input from the community.

Petersburg’s recycling program is no longer saving the borough money on the cost of shipping solid waste out of town. That’s because of a drop in the value of recyclable materials and an increase in the cost of processing that material. Now borough staff are recommending the assembly start a discussion about whether to continue it, or make changes.

Ocean Beauty Seafoods has told the Petersburg borough it will permanently close the company’s cannery in Petersburg. An August 2nd letter from the company’s president and CEO Mark Palmer says Ocean Beauty’s facilities at Excursion Inlet, Cordova and Kodiak provide it with adequate canning capacity to meet customer demand.