Residents across the borough have access to city library services, but people outside city limits have to pay additional property taxes for it. That money goes to the city, which owns and operates the library. 

Some people are speaking out against paying higher property taxes for city-owned services despite living outside city limits.

The costs to run Ketchikan’s public library are higher than ever. Library Director Pat Tully said they’re asking the borough for more money than previous years because of rising costs. 

“The library’s mission has not changed,” Tully said. “But the way we fulfill that mission is changing and must continue to do so in order to meet the needs and interests of the residents of Ketchikan.”

The borough has been making annual payments to the city library for over 40 years through a funding agreement. In exchange for those payments, the library is obligated to provide library services for people across the island. 

The payment amounts change and are based on population estimates and budget appropriations. The amount of borough contribution is calculated based on the population of non-city residents.

Now, the borough would have to increase property taxes for people outside city limits in order to afford its contribution under the agreement. 

At an assembly meeting earlier this month, a handful of people spoke in favor of terminating the agreement. They prefaced that they were not against the library, but against how non-city residents are taxed to fund it. 

Eric Simon, who lives south of town, told the assembly that “everyone needs a seat at the table” when it comes to library funding. He said non-city residents have no say in the library budget, and believes a renegotiation could improve the process. 

“I am not for defunding the library, but I do want a say in how property tax money is spent, and I am asking that you use every tool available to renegotiate before increasing our taxes,” Simon said.

Simon also said the city library is operating on the assumption that they’ll receive 40% of their funding from non-city residents. Another person who spoke in favor of the agreement termination said she’s on a fixed income and is worried additional taxes will drive her out of Ketchikan. 

Nearly 20 people took to the podium during the citizen comment period of the meeting. Most of them wanted to keep the funding agreement as-is. 

“The library is not a luxury, it’s critical infrastructure,” said homeschool educator Serge Ballif. He said with two schools closing in the district, some families may resort to homeschooling options. He said the library is critical to those families. 

“Many families are struggling to afford food, rent and healthcare,” Ballif said. “But that’s precisely why the library matters so much – it’s free to those families. It’s one of the only true, free resources we offer every resident inside the city and out.” 

Ballif also said the library is part of what brought him to Ketchikan. Others who spoke against the agreement termination highlighted the library’s programming and services, array of book options and the need for taxes to fund services. 

The assembly postponed voting at that special meeting after assembly member Rodney Dial asked via email the agenda item be moved to a regular meeting.  He was concerned whether it was appropriate to discuss the item at a meeting “primarily called due to the urgent and time-sensitive school district spending authority.” Dial indicated he had travel plans prior to the special meeting’s scheduling, and was late to the meeting. 

The borough has sought to negotiate a new library funding agreement with the city for about two years. The assembly in 2024 asked borough staff for help, but they couldn’t come to an agreement. It was discussed again last fall and this spring to no avail.

At a meeting later this month, assembly member Jaimie Palmer said she doesn’t want to defund the library. She does want to take a closer look at the agreement. 

“All good things need reflection and scrutiny, and it’s time,” Palmer said. “We’re not saying we’re not funding the library, there’s nothing in their text that says that, it’s just coming to the table and reworking our agreement and giving staff the opportunity to negotiate.”

The agreement hasn’t been renegotiated since 2018. 

Most of the library budget goes toward personnel costs. Assembly member Kathy Bolling said if people are cut, services are cut, and now isn’t the time to mess with a system that works. 

So, why at a time when our schools are just bare bones that we are going to imperil another institution? I don’t see the advantage of it,” Bolling said.

Bolling also cautioned against pointing fingers at the city for needing more money, because the borough’s budget has also been steadily increasing in recent years.

The vote to renegotiate library funding comes just days after Ketchikan’s school board approved a budget with deep cuts to library services, leaving only one district librarian. Librarians across the community have argued at public meetings that neither city libraries or school libraries will be able to function without proper staff.

The assembly approved to terminate the agreement with the city with a vote of 5-2. Assembly members Kathy Bolling and Dan Ortiz voted no.

The assembly directed borough staff to research alternatives and provide analysis of the agreement before the end of the fiscal year on July 1. The agreement will be terminated at the end of this year. 

If they don’t come to an agreement, people living outside city limits may lose access to library services.

The post Borough votes to terminate library funding agreement appeared first on KRBD.

It was a typical weekday afternoon at Highliner Laundromat, near Ketchikan’s main boat harbor. A man with John Lennon style glasses folded his clothes on a table near the front door. An elderly couple was occupied by their cell phones while seated across rows of roaring washing machines. 

Longtime building owner Jack Auger was at the front desk looking at his recent utility bill. He pays around $1,000 each month for the facility’s water services. He said when he first bought the building a few decades ago, he was paying about $600 a month for water on not one, but three laundromats he owned. 

“Our increase of 10% here, another 5% there, you know, just kept getting more and more, and I couldn’t afford to have all three buildings at one time,” Auger said. “So, I finally ended up coming down here to one building.”

Across town, 89-year-old Amelia McAlpin has lived in her home near Ketchikan Creek for over 50 years. She’s a widow, and was the only person who addressed the city council in January when water and sewer utility rate increases were on the agenda. 

“And I thought, ‘Oh my god, they’re going to raise it again,’” McAlpin told KRBD. “Well, I’m going to go and talk for the widows and the widowers that are – we just have fixed income. It’s not like when my husband was here taking care of me.” 

The city council approved both utility hikes. 

Ketchikan’s water utility rates have increased almost every year for about two decades. Other utility rates stayed the same for about a decade at times. 

While that meant utility payers weren’t seeing higher bills, it also meant the city wasn’t saving for future repair and maintenance needs. Ketchikan’s city finance director Michelle Johansen said the city is now playing catch up.

“A reduction in services could be detrimental to our community,” she said. “So, if we want to keep services the same, the only way to pay for that is through rate increases.” 

The finance department at a budget meeting last year proposed to the city council an 8% increase in water, sewer and electric rates each year for the next five years. The first set of those increases were approved and went into effect in February and April. The rate hikes must be approved each year by the city council before taking effect. 

Solid waste rates also increased by 9.5% this year. That’s on top of an additional proposed 5.5% increase each year for the next five years to fund the department’s disposal contract. 

The five-year plan to raise utility rates isn’t unique to Ketchikan. The Juneau assembly adopted last year a similar rate hike structure – increasing water and wastewater rates by 5% each year through 2029. 

According to Johansen, Ketchikan contracted a rate structure study where it was recommended the city implement a 12.5% annual increase for electric to help meet its capital improvement plan. She said they’ve had to adjust the plan with the lower, 8% annual increase, but the city’s electric utility manager is looking for grant funding. Despite the rate increases, Ketchikan charges some of the lowest rates for electricity in the state. 

That same rate study suggested an additional solid waste rate increase of 3% per year for the next five years.

Johansen said the city’s utility rate hikes are needed to pay employees and keep up with inflation-related costs. She said they’ll also be used to help fund needed infrastructure projects, like the construction of a secondary water main tunnel system that brings water into town from nearby Ketchikan Lakes. The city has only one water main tunnel system, which hasn’t been inspected in nearly 70 years. 

“It’s a major project,” said Ketchikan Public Utility Water Division Manager John Kleinegger. He said if no alternative water main is built, the current one can’t be inspected without cutting off all of Ketchikan’s water supply. 

“It will take us at least five years before completion, per chance, longer than that, because it’s going to be a very expensive project,” Kleinegger said. “And we’re going to have to seek funding from any number of sources.”

That’s just the tip of the iceberg for Ketchikan’s list of needed infrastructure projects. The city is also looking to replace various water lines, modernize its electric substations, add disinfection components to its wastewater facility and more. 

Ketchikan’s utilities are paid for through grants, loans, utility rates and city reserves. But finance director Johansen said the city’s reserve pot isn’t enough to cover water or electric projects. And she said state funding for water and sewer projects disappeared years ago. 

“I wish I had better things, happier things to say,” Johansen said. “The 8% is really to try to keep us from being in a really big hole. So we’re trying to keep on top of cost increases as well as try to put a little bit away to make sure we have enough for those capital improvement replacements.” 

And while the city council has approved several utility rate increases in recent years, not all council members agree with them. Riley Gass has overwhelmingly voted against utility rate hikes. He did, however, propose in March a compromise 4% electric rate increase that ultimately failed.

Gass believes the cruise ship industry and their passengers should “pay their fair share in our utilities.”

“They’re all going to the bathroom, using water and sewer. They’re all putting garbage in the garbage cans. And they’re, mostly all of them, in some way or another, benefiting from our electricity,” Gass said.

Gass suggested at a recent Cruise Line International Association meeting that he’d like to see more financial contributions from the cruise lines. Council member Jai Mahtani suggested at that meeting an increase in the passenger head tax, a fee that is paid per cruise ship passenger. Mahtani also said he’d like to see cruise ship passengers contribute to the city’s utilities.

According to the finance director, the city collects cruise ship revenue through its port fund, which is limited in how it can be used. The city has also implemented a seasonal restroom rate to collect additional money from cruise ship passengers. There’s also CPV money, which can only be used to fund projects that benefit cruise ship passengers.

Back at the laundromat, Jack Auger led his chihuahua mix, Piper, through rows of washing machines. As he walked back to the front desk, he pointed to a large grey box with a vintage look. It was the first machine he bought when he took over the laundromat.

Auger agrees with some city council member comments that Ketchikan should collect more money from cruise ship passengers. He also disagrees with the city’s flat-rate water system; he believes the city should switch to a metered system that charges based on water usage. 

Auger said it doesn’t make sense to him that his laundromat’s electricity bill is roughly half that of his water bill. 

“We don’t have to manufacture water, water flies out of the sky for us,” he said. “So why is it $1,000, almost $1,100 a month for my water, versus only $478 a month for my electricity? Can we make electricity cheaper than we can our water in Ketchikan, Alaska, where it rains 150 inches a year?”

The city’s finance director said council members have suggested alternative revenue streams to help fund infrastructure projects, but those options haven’t been researched. 

Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.

The post Ketchikan residents struggle to keep up with much-needed utility rate increases appeared first on KRBD.

May 1 was National Decision Day, or the day that graduating Kayhi students made one of the biggest decisions of their lives: what they plan to do after high school. 

Decision Day is the deadline for students to submit enrollment deposits to their college of choice. It’s tradition for students to wear apparel representing the college or program they’re committing to. 

Some students are going to university, while others plan to go into a trade or vocational program. Some are still figuring things out. The hallways were filled with students wearing the school colors of colleges and programs all over the state and country.

Of this year’s seniors, 25% of students are staying in state for college.

Senior Gisele Noble will attend the University of Alaska Fairbanks, in part because she wanted to stay in state. 

“Mostly for financial reasons,” Noble said. “I had a few options but thought this was the best decision for me. Plus I’m going out of college with no debt.” 

About half of this year’s class will go to school on the West Coast. Senior Ahna MacManus is going to Gonzaga University on a pre-med track. She said she’s looking forward to moving to a new place.

“I’m most excited probably to meet new people and try new things because we don’t have access to a lot of stuff in Ketchikan, so I’m excited to actually go out of state,” MacManus said.

Senior Sophia Pilgrim is heading East to study public policy at Georgetown University. 

“I’m a little bit apprehensive about whether I’m gonna really fit in with how fast paced and lively DC is,” Pilgrim said. “I’m also really excited because I know there’s going to be so many cool opportunities and so many different cultures I can immerse myself in.” 

Just under 6% of this year’s Kayhi graduates will be going into a trade or apprenticeship program.

Senior Maika Olap found a passion for fixing and repairing cars during his time at Kayhi. He’s going into a diesel technician apprenticeship program after graduation.

“It is going to be a big change,” Olap said. “I am really excited because to be honest, getting into the whole mechanic program thing, it was last minute. It wasn’t until I moved here to Ketchikan, I realized I actually like fixing and repairing cars.”

Just over 5% of this year’s Kayhi seniors plan to go into the military, either through the Coast Guard, Navy, or aviation. That’s significantly higher than previous years. Last year, only 1% of the graduating class went into the military.

Senior Cayden Harney is enlisting to become a Navy Seal. This has been a lifelong plan for Harney. 

“I’m super excited,” Harney said. “Now that I’ve finally made up my mind and fully committed, it’s literally the only thing I can think about.”

Senior Counselor Natasha O’Brien has been keeping track of the plans for this year’s seniors. She recently sent out a survey to the class of 2026 to find what they will be doing after graduation. She said a little over half of this class of seniors, 52%, are planning to attend a four year college. That’s more than recent years, she said. 

O’Brien came out of retirement this year to fill the open counselor position at Kayhi. She said she’s glad she came back and was able to make a positive impact on this class.

“This class is a great group of kids and hopefully I had some impact or helped some kids with their plans and figuring out how to pay for their plans,” O’Brien said. “That’s been fulfilling for me.”

O’Brien said this will be her actual last year at the school, but she has one last message for the class of 2026.

“Just go out there and build your life and what you want it to look like.” O’Brien said. “Ask for help when needed, and know that if you make a mistake, we still love you. And there’s always, always a way back to the path that you’re looking for.”

107 Kayhi Seniors are set to graduate on May 24th in the Clarke Cochrane Gymnasium. 

This story is part of a collaboration between Kayhi’s journalism program and KRBD.

The post We asked the Kayhi class of 2026 what they plan to do after graduation. This is what they said appeared first on KRBD.

Gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins was born and raised in Sitka and spent a decade representing parts of Southeast Alaska as a state legislator. Now, the 37-year-old candidate is one of only three Democrats vying to replace Governor Dunleavy in the 2026 election — running against over a dozen other Republican and Independent candidates. 

In his most recent trip to Ketchikan, KRBD’s Sydney Dauphinais spoke with Kreiss-Tomkins about education funding, the state ferry system, and what it means to be a pro-fish governor. 

Sydney Dauphinais: To start off, why are you running for governor? 

Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins:  I’m running for governor because Alaska desperately needs new energy and new leadership in the governor’s office.

Dauphinais: Can you speak to some of your top priorities if elected?

Kreiss-Tomkins: Number one, fix our schools. Public education is on the brink in Alaska, and in so many communities. Here in Ketchikan, that’s front and center. Fawn Mountain is closing, Point Higgins is closing. Obviously, there’s enrollment decline, sort of overlaying issues, but no matter how you cut it, electives are being cut from schools, extracurriculars are being cut, teachers are being let go. Teachers are just straight up leaving the profession, and every part of Alaska has their own story about what the disinvestment in education is looking like.

Dauphinais: That was actually going to be my next question, because, as you pointed out, here in Ketchikan, the district is facing the the impacts of that disinvestment in education. So, how do you plan to address that?

Kreiss-Tomkins: Do the opposite of our current governor. Our current governor, through the veto pen, has tried to reduce funding for education, and kind of at every possible step frustrated our ability to invest in education and create a strong system of public schools in Alaska. It’s like it’s almost personal for him. It sort of defies explanation. So making sure that there’s adequate funding for schools. 

Number two, I’m a huge supporter of forward funding. What that would mean is requiring the legislature to pass education funding by February or March instead of late May or June. What that means is the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District, or any of the other 53 school districts across Alaska, when they make their annual budget, would have certainty and clarity on what level of state education funding is coming in. Right now, every school district across Alaska has made their budget for next year, and that budget is built on a guess. Nobody actually knows the level of education funding, because the legislature has not finalized it. It’s just crazy to ask school districts to try to make budgets for their local schools when you have to guess on what the revenue side of the ledger looks like. We can change that. It’s a process change. I think it makes a tremendous amount of sense, and we should get it done.

Dauphinais: How do you differ from some of the other Democratic candidates?

Kreiss-Tomkins: I’m the only candidate from Southeastern Alaska. I’m the only candidate from coastal Alaska. I’m the only candidate who’s not from Anchorage. So I definitely am running a statewide campaign, including the parts of the state that are not Southcentral Alaska. I think it is sometimes easy for other parts of the state to sort of think the entirety of Alaska revolves around Southcentral, and so all the issues here in Southeast Alaska that we know are so important, from fisheries to the ferry system to issues that are statewide, like schools, I’m deeply familiar with. I grew up here, I was born and raised in Sitka, I know the region through and through, and I understand the issues that are important to Southeast Alaska.

Dauphinais: Since you are so familiar with the issues in Southeast Alaska, can you talk a little more specifically about some region-specific issues you’re focused on that may have gone unaddressed, or in your opinion, incorrectly addressed?

Kreiss-Tomkins: The ferry system is a shell of what it used to be. I grew up taking the ferries to swim meets, to high school sports events, to drama and debate events. That’s kind of a relic of history at this point, because the system is so inefficient and dysfunctional. So I want to make sure that we rebuild the ferry system in Alaska. That means, just as we did in the ‘60s and ‘70s, making generational investment in new vessels that will last another 50, 60, 70 years, the way we did back when the ferry system was first created. 

Another priority for me with the ferry system is giving it independent management that isn’t political. Part of the reason I think the system has struggled so much is every time there’s a new governor, they have their own very different vision of what the ferry system should be. They spend a lot of money building new boats, but then the next governor doesn’t like that vision, so they don’t use the boats that we just spent $100 million building. There are many instances of this in the last few decades, and I think we need to reform the governance of the ferry system and make it independent and apolitical, similar to the Alaska Railroad or the University of Alaska. That would be a real priority for me as well. I think it would set the ferry system up for success over the coming years and decades.

Dauphinais: When listing issues you care about in Southeast, you brought up fisheries. How big of a priority is that for you? 

Kreiss-Tomkins: Fisheries is one of the areas that I focused on most as a legislator. Sitka is a fishing community, I spent a few summers deck handing on the back deck of trollers, and it’s just core to our sort of way of life and economy in Southeastern Alaska. I want to be a pro-fish and pro-fisheries governor. What I think that means is balance on the Board of Fish, so making sure that all user groups — and not just Southcentral sports fishermen — have a say when the Board of Fish is making really difficult decisions. Right now under this governor, I think we’ve lost balance on the Board of Fish. As a legislator, I worked really hard to protect and advance balance on the Board of Fish with legislative confirmation votes. 

I also really want to see reductions in bycatch from the trawl sector in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea, and I was probably more active on that issue than any other legislator in my 10 years in Juneau. As governor, I would continue to work towards reasonable reductions in bycatch and reductions in habitat impacts that happen through bottom trawling. So, those are two really high priorities. 

The last thing I would flag is that the governor makes all of Alaska’s nominations to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, and I was really active on those nominations as a legislator, and I really want to make sure as governor that our six member delegation to the North Pacific Council is going to represent Alaska’s interests. I would be very committed to making nominations and ensuring that our North Pacific Council delegation represents the best interests of our state.

Dauphinais: Anything else you’d like to add? 

Kreiss-Tomkins: One other issue that I feel really strongly about is the state is not getting a fair return on the oil resource that we as Alaskans, literally, the state of Alaska owns Prudhoe and Kuparuk. The oil fields on the North Slope are owned by the state of Alaska. We are the resource owner, and we should expect and demand a reasonable return the way some ranch owner in Texas would expect and demand a reasonable return if there was oil underneath their ranch. I think we are coming up short on that, and the most glaring example is right now one of our two major oil and gas producers, Hilcorp, does not pay corporate income tax to the state of Alaska, and it’s really because of a technicality or a loophole in our tax code. I think it is indefensible that we have not closed it, and it cost the state $150 to $200 million a year, that’s three times the ferry system budget every year, just through that loophole. As governor, I would demand that that loophole be closed and the state get its fair share from the oil resource that we, as the state of Alaska, own.

The post Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins talks education funding, fisheries and reviving the ferry system appeared first on KRBD.

Two people died in a structure fire early Saturday morning on Lincoln Street in Ketchikan. 

The Ketchikan Fire Department responded to the scene at around 2:30 a.m., after someone on the ground floor of the building evacuated and called 911, according to Fire Chief Rick Hines.

A Ketchikan police officer first arrived on scene and reported heavy smoke and flames coming from the second story of the house.

Responders found the first victim  about 15 minutes after they arrived. Multiple crews then brought the fire under control and located a second victim.

The victims have been identified as Brenda Michalsen, 65, and Bill Michalsen, 69. The family has been notified.

Officials say the fire was contained by 3:26 a.m. and most firefighters had left the scene by 5 a.m.

One South Tongass firefighter was sent to Ketchikan Medical Center emergency room after reporting cardiac complaints leaving the scene. Officials say the firefighter was released later Saturday morning. 

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The Ketchikan Police Department and the Ketchikan Fire Department are working with the State Fire Marshall to determine what caused it.

This story has been updated to include the names of the victims.

The post 2 dead in Saturday morning structure fire appeared first on KRBD.

The Alaska Supreme Court heard oral argument Thursday for a lawsuit against Cape Fox Corporation, a Ketchikan-based Alaska Native Corporation. Bryan Perez, a Cape Fox director and shareholder, filed the suit in 2024. Superior Court Judge Katherine Lybrand dismissed Perez’s claims last year.

Perez filed the suit claiming Cape Fox directors failed to follow bylaws and election rules. He claims that bylaws were violated when the corporation failed to disqualify director candidates in a 2022 election for containing false or incomplete information.

Perez completed and submitted a shareholder petition to recount election results. The shareholders Perez called into question were not elected, but he wants the board of directors to be held accountable for failing to disqualify them — specifically one who he says lied in his nomination packet by failing to disclose criminal history.

“They should have disqualified him at that time, but they failed,” Perez said. “If they had disqualified him, it’s possible that those other votes that he got could have went to somebody else. So it’s still not mute for the mere fact of we’re holding the board of directors liable.”

Perez also claims that the Board of Directors failed to act on submitted shareholder petitions. Those petitions had over ten percent support, which is required to warrant a shareholder meeting, according to both parties.

Matt Findley, an attorney representing Cape Fox, said that Perez has a fundamental misunderstanding of Cape Fox’s governance structure. He asserted that his main complaint is that he didn’t get what he was asking for.

“There is no guarantee that a shareholder meeting will go the way you want to go, and there is no guarantee that you get a vote. It just simply means you get to have a meeting. And he got that meeting,” Findley said.

The Supreme Court will issue a written decision on the case at a later date.

The post Alaska Supreme Court hears oral argument in suit against Cape Fox Corp. appeared first on KRBD.

A Ketchikan man was sentenced Wednesday to 60 years in prison with 20 years suspended for attempted sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree. 53-year-old Kevin Jordan was sentenced in Ketchikan Superior Court by Judge Daniel Doty. Doty said that when considering the seriousness of the offense, there’s not much — short of murder — that is as bad.

“Obviously, revulsion is not a sentencing factor, but it is revolting,” Doty said. “It is serious conduct. It is appalling conduct. It is tragic conduct. It is conduct that no one is going to be able to undo, and it is among the most serious offenses, and among the most serious of this particular category of offense.”

It is KRBD policy not to identify victims of sexual abuse. For that reason, some details are left out of this report to maintain anonymity.

The sentence was what the state asked for. During the hearing, Jordan read a letter apologizing to the victim. He had multiple character witnesses, including his own children, testify about his positive influence on kids in the community.

The defense also argued that because of Jordan’s age, the sentence is excessive because he will likely spend the rest of his life in jail.

In December, Jordan pled guilty to attempted sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree. He was initially charged with eight felonies. One of those, a first degree sexual abuse of a minor count, was dismissed in July 2024. The other charges were dropped as part of a plea deal.

In the hearing, Doty considered aggravating factors like age difference and prior criminal history. The conviction is not appealable because Jordan pled guilty, but the defense has 30 days to file a notice of appeal for the sentencing. Jordan will have to register as a sex offender for life.

The post Ketchikan man sentenced to 60 years for sexual abuse of a minor appeared first on KRBD.

The City of Thorne Bay’s unofficial special mayoral election results are in. The small community of about 500 people on Prince of Wales Island held the election Tuesday. 

Timber Pesterfield, who has served as the city’s acting mayor since February, received 75 votes at the polls. City council member Anthony Lovell received 12 votes. 

The city will tally election results from about 40 absentee ballots on Friday. They’ll also canvass questioned and defective ballots. 

The special election comes after former Thorne Bay mayor Shane Nyquest resigned, following a recall petition against him. Nyquest now serves on the city council. 

The winning mayoral candidate will assume his role on Monday and will serve through November. 

Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.

The post Thorne Bay unofficial mayoral election results are in appeared first on KRBD.

The State of Alaska is charging a Prince of Wales Island man with over 40 felony and misdemeanor counts following an Alaska State Trooper drug distribution investigation.

The charges include felony sexual abuse of a minor, sexual assault, and witness tampering. They also include murder of an unborn child from an alleged assault that resulted in a miscarriage. 

According to Troopers, 24-year-old Payton Brewer allegedly distributed drugs and alcohol to minors on Prince of Wales Island. 

Troopers say that during their investigation, multiple juveniles and adults “independently and consistently reported sexual offenses, domestic violence, controlled substance distribution, witness tampering, and endangerment of minors.” Some of the charges allege that Brewer provided alcohol to minors and then sexually abused them. 

Troopers say Brewer admitted to most of the alleged offenses, which occurred in numerous Prince of Wales communities between 2023 and 2026. 

Ketchikan District Court Judge Kristian Pickrell set bail at $1.1 million cash during Brewer’s arraignment hearing on Tuesday. The judge said the court would appoint him a public defender. If convicted on all charges, Brewer could spend the rest of his life in jail. An attorney at the hearing entered not guilty pleas for Brewer on the misdemeanor charges, like assault in the presence of a child.

Brewer’s next court appearance is scheduled for May 22 at the Prince of Wales Courthouse in Klawock. 

Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.

The post Prince of Wales man charged with drug distribution, sexual abuse of a minor appeared first on KRBD.

The Ketchikan school board held a special emergency meeting Thursday night to address a newly uncovered, additional deficit of over $4.5 million. The board approved next year’s district budget late last month, but it didn’t account for overspending in this fiscal year. It did include the closure of two schools and over 50 staffing cuts. That’s all in an effort to meet other existing debt — including more than $5 million owed to the Ketchikan Gateway Borough.

Interim Superintendent Sheri Boehlert said if the newly uncovered shortfall isn’t accounted for by the end of this month, the district will immediately start their next fiscal year over 4.5 million dollars in the hole. She said the overstaffing and overspending that has been happening for years has caught up to them. 

“We, to a fault, make it work for kids, and the fault of that is that it’s not working for us anymore,” Boehlert said.

Boehlert also recommends the board work quickly in order to get a budget that is approved by both the state and borough. She said they don’t have the luxury of time to take feedback and input like they did while drafting their budget, and the budget that the board approved is solid in terms of compliance. Cuts will be deep and will likely completely cut programming like library services.

The budget shortfall was pointed out to the district in a letter late last month from the borough. The board then canceled a school board meeting where they were expected to approve about a dozen teacher contracts. In-stead, district staff met with the school board, borough staff, and staff from the state Department of Education and Early Development multiple times to discuss and review district finances.

Assistant Borough Manager Cynna Smith said at the meeting that they aren’t able to cover the shortfall for the district. They’ve done that too many times, she said, and the snowballing debt is financially impacting the borough. They’re still paying off expenses like cleanup from last summer’s diesel spill at the borough-owned Point Higgins Elementary, and it’s left them short on cash.

“The borough stands behind you, and we are obligated to pay your debts. But what’s happened now is the debts are getting so big, it threatens our ability to do that,” Smith said.

If nothing changes, the district is expected to run out of money by the end of the school year. That means the district will likely ask the borough for more money. To do so, the borough would need to dip into a $2 million reserve in its education fund. If the borough assembly agrees to do that, it would also exceed the maximum amount of funding it’s allowed to give to the district. That would trigger a penalty from the state and increase the district’s debt by an additional $8 million. In order for the Borough Assembly to approve to pay above the legal maximum amount allotted, it would require a supermajority vote and proof of extenuating circumstances.

The school board discussed cutting travel for activities or up to 20 staff positions on top of the over 50 cuts already made this year. There was discussion of cutting more staff from Revilla, the district’s only alternative school.

Board member Jordan Tabb said he doesn’t know the best way to proceed, but he has a hard time imagining making 20 more cuts while maintaining safe and functional programming.

“That’s a whole major school in our program, right? We can’t function with those kind of cuts,” Tabb said. “and so I’m, “I’m really concerned to look at and approve a budget that we don’t feel like can educate our children and to do even the most minimal standard, let alone the standard of excellence that we want to set.”

The board directed district staff to go through next year’s budget and make additional revisions.

Going forward, the board directed staff to request an early payment from the state Department of Education and Early Development, as well as more money from the borough. It also wants district staff to discuss extensions for a 3-year debt repayment plan set with the borough, and to look for alternate funding sources. The district office is short-staffed, and Boehlert said the responsibility of fulfilling the board’s requests lies almost entirely on her.

The district’s new superintendent, Kara Four Bear, starts July 1.

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