Author: kfskadmin

Petersburg Power and Light will go back to the drawing board for its new diesel generator. The City Council last night agreed to re-evaluate the project and reject the contractors bids, which came in substantially higher than expected.
Also Monday, the Mayor and councilors finalized a rent increase at the new wing of Mountain View Manor. They also approved extra lobbying efforts for harbor improvement funding and they discussed pollution insurance requirements for city lease holders.
Matt Lichtenstein has a summary of these issues and other business from the City Council’s first meeting of 2011.

Local residents celebrated the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the city of Petersburg and also voted to prohibit smoking in most public buildings, including bars and restaurants. The city also continued with efforts to form a new borough government and heard from employees frustrated over the lack of a new collective bargaining agreement.

Preparedness, quick thinking and a fast Coast Guard response helped prevent a tragedy earlier this month, when the cabin cruiser Sandy M went down north of Petersburg. The flooded vessel eventually broke apart and sank, but all five people on board escaped without serious injury and were lifted to safety by a coast guard helicopter. Several of those involved later shared their story with KFSK’S Matt Lichtenstein, who filed this report.

Scientists will conduct field experiments on juvenile red king crab this summer in Southeast Alaska. It’s part of a larger study that could someday lead to a king crab hatchery program.

Scientists studying sea otter populations in Southeast Alaska hope to have a new estimate of the number of animals in the region out by this time next year. Aerial surveys of otters in the southern Panhandle this past summer show a 13 percent annual growth rate for the reintroduced mammals and researchers say otter numbers there have doubled since the last survey was completed seven years ago. Meanwhile, other research continues on the otters’ diet and how that may be impacting shellfish species caught by commercial fishermen.