Author: Joe Viechnicki, KFSK

There’s a free concert Thursday May 3rd in Petersburg of classical singing and piano. Soprano Katharine Dain will perform with Jeffrey Grossman on piano. The tour also has stops this month in Sitka, Skagway, Haines and Juneau.

The United Fishermen of Alaska have honored Mike Bangs of Petersburg, who died in February, as the organization’s fisherman of the year for 2018. Bangs, a commercial diver and fisherman, was 62. The UFA noted that he was an industry leader in the development of the herring roe-on-kelp fisheries and dive fisheries in Southeast.

The Petersburg borough has filled one top job due to be vacant this summer and is screening applicants for another. The municipality is seeking a new police chief and has filled the deputy clerk’s job.

An environmental advocacy organization says the U.S. Forest Service doesn’t appear to be taking steps to correct costly problems in Tongass timber contracts. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility says the federal agency has released thousands of pages in response to its Freedom of Information Act lawsuits. But those documents don’t describe any significant changes.