Week of April 16, 2025
Week of April 16, 2025
Bill Burr has submitted his resignation as Wrangell schools superintendent, effective June 30. The school board was scheduled to accept his resignation at its monthly meeting Monday, April 14, and then move into executive session to discuss its options for the job. Burr started with the Wrangell schools in the summer of 2021, coming to work from the Delta/Greely School District in Alaska’s Interior, where he had been assistant superintendent since 2014. He had also served as director of technology and as a fill-in principal in the district....
The Alaska Legislature last week passed a major increase in the state’s per-pupil base funding formula for schools, but Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he will veto the measure because it lacks any of the provisions he wants such as more state support for homeschooling. The formula change passed the Senate and the House with no votes to spare — 11 votes in the 20-member Senate and 21 votes in the 40-member House. Assuming the governor makes good on his veto pledge — he called the legislation “a joke” last week — it would take a...
There are two sounds I can never seem to forget. One is the snow shovel scraping along the concrete basketball court I cleared in the Petersburg winters of my youth, basketball in hand. The second is the chain-link basketball net clanging on a Wrangell playground. One is the reason for the other. My future teammates and friends loved the game and knew what awaited us in the high school gyms across Southeast Alaska. And in Wrangell, one of the best awaited: Fred Angerman Jr. As a fifth grader,...
It’s sort of like spring cleaning — but on a much larger scale. The Parks and Recreation Department will close the pool, community center, exercise room and all recreation programming starting Monday, May 5, so that workers can complete a long list of maintenance projects and equipment upgrades. “This closure allows us to take care of necessary work that supports the safety, longevity and function of our community spaces — especially the pool and surrounding amenities,” Parks and Rec Director Lucy Robinson said in an online update...
When cruise ship passengers disembark, a frequent question is: "Where can I get some local seafood for lunch?" Wrangell hasn't had a lot of options, because local residents typically don't go out for seafood, they just pull something out of the fridge or freezer. Brian and Madison Schwartz saw this as an opportunity and are launching Alaska Legacy Seafood, a 24-foot-long food trailer with a menu specializing in locally sourced seafood. They were excited to find a fully equipped food truck...
The borough assembly has taken the first step in setting up a new monofill site for the public and contractors to dump organic material, such as root wads, tree limbs, clean wood, dirt, rocks and other debris. The community’s existing site is full and closed to any new material. The assembly’s unanimous vote on March 25 started the permitting process of the new site, just across the driveway from the current dump site on Ishiyama Drive next to the outdoor shooting range. The current site has reached its maximum capacity and borough...
Cultural institutions all over Alaska are scrambling to figure out what a wave of cuts to federal grants means for their programs and staffing. Over the past few weeks, museums, libraries and cultural organizations across Alaska have received notice that federal funds are being terminated. The federal government is making the cuts to align spending with a recent Trump administration order and the Department of Government Efficiency’s goals. Wrangell’s Irene Ingle Public Library has for at least the past 10 years received an annual federal...
Forest Service plans to clear and rebuild road to Middle Ridge cabin By Larry Persily Sentinel writer Progress is underway toward reopening the full length of Middle Ridge Road. Sections of the old logging road were overrun in a November 2023 landslide. The U.S. Forest Service is working to complete repairs to the road and reopen access to the Middle Ridge public-use cabin. "We were able to secure some emergency relief funding for work on the Middle Ridge Road," Wrangell District Ranger Tory...
Vanessa Barnes is comfortable letting go. Since she was 5 years old, the high school senior called the wrestling mat home. For her senior project, Barnes was able to share that sense of home with wrestlers on the middle school team and in the peewee program. For the project, she teamed up with fellow high school senior standout Della Churchill. "I planned it before," Barnes said, standing in the back room of the high school art department as she painted a handmade ceramic cup. "I've always done...
The annual Stikine River Birding Festival returns for a weekend of avian adventures April 26-27. Evolving from what was once known as the annual Garnet Festival in 1997, Birdfest will begin at 7 a.m. Saturday, April 26, with people invited to bring their binoculars to a two-hour bird walk on the Muskeg Meadows Golf Course, led by local birding expert Bonnie Demerjian and wildlife expert and special guest speaker Chadd Drott. Drott, a Colorado resident, has been studying wildlife for more than 25 years. He operates Chadd’s Walking With...
Sitka voters will cast their ballots May 28 on a citizens initiative to limit the number — and days — of cruise ship passengers in town. If approved, the limits would take effect next year. The Sitka assembly approved the special election March 27. Advocates of limits on cruise ship visitors to town, Small Town SOUL, collected almost 700 petition signatures, more than enough to earn a spot on the ballot. The yes-or-no question on the ballot will determine whether or not Sitka limits cruise ship port calls May through September; sets aside...
The Alaska Department of Health is at risk of losing federal funding because of an ongoing backlog in reviewing food assistance applications, federal officials told the state last month. The state has repeatedly failed to comply with deadlines to process applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, leaving thousands of Alaskans waiting months for help. The processing backlog has persisted despite the state spending tens of millions of dollars to address it, and despite orders from state and federal judges for the...
Some shareholders with one of Alaska’s largest Native corporations are speaking out about the company’s involvement in immigration detention centers overseen by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, including at the Guantánamo Bay naval base in Cuba. NANA, the Alaska regional Native corporation for Northwest Alaska, gets most of its revenue from its Akima subsidiary. Akima owns dozens of companies which provide a variety of contracting services to the federal government. Some of the contracts include running migrant detention...
Visitors to the state Capitol in Juneau will have to go through a metal detector under a new policy adopted last month. The visitor screening policy was approved in a 9-4 vote by the Legislative Council, a committee comprised of members from both the House and Senate that sets the rules for the Capitol complex. Lawmakers did not publicly discuss or debate the policy change. Before the vote, they met in a session closed to the public for more than an hour and a half for a security briefing and to discuss the policy proposal. The screening is...
The Alaska Legislature has voted to allow teenagers as young as 18 to serve alcohol in the state. The Alaska House of Representatives voted 32-8 on April 2 to pass Senate Bill 15, which lowers the minimum alcohol-serving age in restaurants, breweries, wineries, distilleries, resorts and similar businesses. The minimum age to serve alcohol at a bar or sell it at a package store remains 21. A separate provision of the bill requires alcohol-serving businesses to post a sign stating that alcohol causes cancer. The House’s vote follows a 19-0...
A Mt. Edgecumbe High School student tried on his new basketball shoes in the gym - a pair of Nikes originally intended for NBA legend LeBron James. The student was Rashawn Stone, a freshman who already plays on the Braves' varsity basketball team. In addition to their shared affinity for basketball, Stone and the NBA star have something else in common: feet that fit a size 16 shoe. Stone's new shoes are a donation from a Portland nonprofit. They ended up on Rashawn's feet in large part because...
Scrambling to replace their health insurance and to find new jobs, some laid-off federal workers are running into another unexpected unpleasantry: Relatives cheering their firing. The country’s bitterly tribal politics are spilling into text chains, social media posts and heated conversations as Americans absorb the reality of the government’s cost-cutting measures. Expecting sympathy, some axed workers are finding family and friends who instead are steadfast in their support of what they see as a bloated government’s waste. “I’ve...
Midway through the decade, Alaskans have failed to make significant progress toward the 2030 health targets in numerous categories, according to an annual tracking report issued by state and tribal officials. The latest Healthy Alaskans update, compiled as of December, shows a lack of progress in reducing rates of drug- and alcohol-related deaths, continued sedentary behavior among adolescents, failure to improve inadequate rates of prenatal care for pregnant women and well-child care for young children, and continued high rates of death from...
April 16, 1925 The regular monthly meeting of the executive board of the local chapter of the Red Cross was held at the City Hall on Tuesday evening with Chairman J. G. Grant presiding. Red Cross nurse Mrs. S. D. Grant reported that some time ago G. E. Diemart had placed his taxi at the disposal of the nursing service, free of charge, and that he had taken patients she was accompanying to the boat for travel to a hospital, regardless of the time of day or night. A vote of thanks was extended to Mr. Diemart for his cooperation. April 14, 1950...
Monday, April 7 Violating conditions of release. Citizen assist. Tuesday, April 8 Paper service. Wednesday, April 9 Dog at large. Thursday, April 10 Parking violation. Friday, April 11 Agency assist: Line crew. Agency assist: Ambulance. Agency assist: Fire. Paper service: Domestic violence order. Found property. Suspicious circumstance. Assist: Petro Marine. Hit and run. Saturday, April 12 Traffic stop. Assault. Assault. Sunday, April 13 Disturbance. Threats. Traffic stop: Verbal warning for failure to dim headlights; concealed handgun in...
Wrangell is big on annual traditions. The Fourth of July, salmon fishing, high school homecoming basketball games, Christmas tree lighting, tax-free shopping days and putting away the snow shovels and ice melt. Of course, there are the less welcome yearly traditions, such as paying property taxes, getting an annual physical and digging through the final packages of last year’s frozen fish. The annual spring cleanup is sort of a mix of the eagerly awaited and the yearly event that feels good even if it requires some manual labor. Kind of...
I figured all terrorism was equally bad. No distinctions allowed. Aiding in the murder — stealing of life, liberty or property — from innocent people deserved strong punishment. Terrorism by the far-left or far-right, foreign-born or U.S.-born, religious zealots or atheists, rich or poor, people wearing burkas, balaclavas or Brooks Brothers suits are all equally punishable under the law. Anyone and everyone who encourages or helps terrorists belongs in prison for the public’s protection. Except in the Trump administration, where who you...
There is growing concern among Alaskans that oil and gas revenues to the state general fund will be insufficient to satisfy programs such as education, law enforcement and transportation, as well as to continue to pay a reasonable Permanent Fund dividend. The Alaska Department of Revenue Spring 2025 Forecast projects oil and gas revenues declining over the next decade, dwindling from 37% of general fund revenues for fiscal year 2024 to 25% by fiscal year 2035. The primary components of oil and gas revenues are royalties, production taxes and...
