Author: kfskadmin

The Petersburg City Council will wait to make any decisions about what to do with a shooting range on Mitkof Highway. The over-20-year-old outdoor range has fallen into disrepair, but this year it won a $25,000 state grant for improvements. City councilors Monday discussed ways to spend the grant money and keep vandalism at the site to a minimum. Council members agreed to wait to get input from the local rod and gun club membership before making any decisions.

Petersburg’s City Council Monday took the first step toward giving approval to the restructuring of a hydro-electric power consortium. The move would put Petersburg, Wrangell and Ketchikan in a new organization that owns two Southeast hydro-power plants. The council also voted to buy a snow blower for the city, and revised the city’s priorities for local street upgrades.

In the Alaska House race for District two, residents of Petersburg, Wrangell, Sitka and several smaller southeast communities will choose between four-term, incumbent, Republican Peggy Wilson of Wrangell, and Democratic challenger Lily Herwald from Sitka. Wilson and Herwald met in Petersburg in late October for a live, 2-hour forum on Public Radio where they answered callers questions about Alaska issues.

With less than a week to go before the election, former Alaska House Minority leader Ethan Berkowitz stands a good chance at becoming part of the democratic majority in the US house, according to statewide polls. An October 19th poll for the Anchorage Press Frontiersman, KTUU TV and KENI AM showed Berkowitz leading longtime incumbent Don Young by 8 points. An October 25th article in the Anchorage Daily News quoted Anchorage pollster Mark Hellenthal as saying young was around ten points down.
Berkowitz is an anchorage businessman and attorney who served ten years as a state representative. He spoke with KFSK radio about a variety of issues late last week by phone. Matt Lichtenstein started off by asking Berkowitz for his opinion on congress’s 700 billion dollar bailout plan for the financial industry:

Longtime Alaska Representative Don Young faces a tough re-election challenge next week. After a narrow primary win this summer, the republican incumbant has continued to trail his democratic opponent, Ethan Berkowitz, in Alaskan polls. Young’s campaign has also been under the cloud of the federal investigation into corruption in Alaska politics. National and state news outlets reported in summer 2007 that Young was a target of the federal probe. Young has declined to discuss the details, but emphasizes that he has not been charged despite the lengthy investigation.
Young continues to campaign, fundraise and meet with the public and with the press around the state. Young stopped by Petersburg earlier this month. Matt Lichtenstein spoke with him about a variety of issues…starting with his opposition to congress’s 700 billion dollar bailout plan for the financial industry: