Author: kfskadmin

The education funding bill state lawmakers passed this month will mean some significant boosts for k to 12 education in Alaska over the next five years. However, educators say it will mean a relatively small increase for schools this coming year. Matt Lichtenstein has a look at what it will mean for Petersburg:

Lilly Herwald made her first campaign stop in Petersburg last week. The Sitka democrat is running for the district two house seat now held by Wrangell republican Peggy Wilson.
Herwald grew up in green bay Wisconsin and moved to Sitka in 1985 where she’s lived ever since. She currently works as a grant and program writer for the southeast Alaska health consortium or search. Prior to that, Herwald spent 16 years working for k-c-a-w public radio in Sitka including six years as manager. Matt Lichtenstein spoke with Herwald over the weekend about why she decided to run for the house seat representing Petersburg, Wrangell and Sitka.

Longtime friends and colleagues gathered to build a casket for Glen Ith in Petersburg this week. Ith was a Forest Service Wildlife Biologist who became prominent in recent years for successfully challenging some of his agency's timber-sale work on the Tongass. Those close to Ith knew him as a quiet, family man whose love and respect for the outdoors guided his personal and professional life. He passed away unexpectedly this week of Sudden Cardiac Death, which is when the heart abruptly stops. Ith was 48 years old.

Of the one-point-seven million acres of land within the Petersburg ranger district, 200 thousand acres are congressionally-designated wilderness. The forest service manager who oversees that wilderness along with the cabin, trail and recreation programs on the district is Brad Hunter, who has served in Petersburg since 1985.The Alaska region of the forest service recently recognized Hunter for his part in a ten year effort to improve the agency’s stewardship of wilderness at a district, Tongass-wide and national level. Matt Lichtenstein sat down with Brad Hunter to talk about the challenges of wilderness management in Alaska:

A local performance of “The Vagina Monologues” played to a full house over the weekend in Petersburg. The production and accompanying art auction raised over 5 thousand dollars, mainly from ticket receipts. Most of the money will benefit Women's Aid in Violent Emergencies. Wave is a local, a non-profit group dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence in Petersburg. Ten percent of the proceeds will go towards the v-day campaign, an international movement to stop violence against women. The movement was prompted by the monologues, a collection of interviews playwright Eve Ensler collected from hundreds of women. It’s the tenth anniversary of the play which is performed in towns large and small around the world. Matt Lichtenstein stopped by during a Petersburg rehearsal and produced this audio postcard: