Joe Viechnicki, KFSK, Author at KFSK

WAVE launches teal campaign for sexual assault awareness month

Alaska governor Bill Walker has signed proclamations designating April as sexual assault awareness month and also child abuse awareness and prevention month.
State officials say the Office of Children’s Services received more than 20,000 reports of child maltreatment in Alaska last year alone. They also highlight a 2015 survey in which 40 percent of women reported experiencing intimate partner violence and one out of every three women reported experiencing sexual violence at some time in their lives.

Southeast dam expansion cuts diesel use in first year

An expanded hydro-electric dam in southern Southeast Alaska has meant more money for the agency that owns the plant and less need for costly diesel power generation. That was one of the messages from Trey Acteson, CEO of the Southeast Alaska Power Agency, or SEAPA. That agency owns two hydro plants, along with transmission lines, and sells wholesale electricity to utilities in Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg. SEAPA expanded the capacity of its facility at Swan Lake near Ketchikan in 2016.

Weekly newspapers raise rates in Southeast

The price for weekly newspapers in Petersburg and Wrangell is going up this week, with the April 5th edition. The newsstand price for the Pilot and Sentinel goes from a dollar to a dollar 50. Subscriptions increase from $47 a year to $52. Advertisements in the papers and signs at the news stand have alerted customers to the upcoming change.

King salmon sport fishing shut down on Southeast’s inside waters

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is shutting down sport fishing for king salmon this weekend on most of the inside waters of Southeast Alaska due to conservation concerns. Anglers can’t keep king salmon in many parts of the region, except the outer coast, starting April 1st.

Volunteers finishing up repainting “Our Town” mural

A 40-foot long mural in Petersburg has at least three news coats of paint and should be re-hung on a downtown building later this spring. It’s 15 years after the artwork first went up on the downtown building that houses Hammer and Wikan Hardware and other businesses.