Wrangell Sentinel -

Federal employees returned to work Oct. 17 after sixteen days of government shut down.

As widely reported, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives and Democrats in the Senate reached a deal Oct. 15 to return federal employees to their offices until at least Jan. 15. Budget negotiations to keep the government open longer are continuing.

The largest federal presence in Wrangell is the U.S. Forest Service, with 24 employees. Those employees were hard at work on their first day back trying to bring various systems online and return contractors — timber companies and road constructio...