Author: Joe Viechnicki, KFSK

The oversight board for Alaska’s ferry system is recommending the state add crew quarters on another ship originally built as a day boat. The board also heard this month that the state is still pursuing a new terminal in Lynn Canal to shorten the ferry run between Juneau, Haines and Skagway.

The Alaska Marine Highway System has reopened bars on two state ferries this year.

The U.S. Forest Service has a new district ranger in Petersburg, overseeing the agency’s employees and the 1.6-million-acre Petersburg Ranger District in the central part of the Tongass National Forest.

Petersburg voters this October will decide on three changes to the borough’s charter. The borough assembly Tuesday voted to advance three ballot questions on remote utility service, conflict of interest decisions and bidding on borough property by borough employees and elected officials.