Articles written by Larry Persily
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 610
Russia's loss could be Alaska's financial gain
Even in winter, there are hot opportunities. And since the state’s prospects for economic well-being are in short supply these days — like being short of buyers for Alaska salmon, running short of energy for Southcentral residents and...
Developer wants to build housing on former hospital property
A Georgia-based developer who has taken a liking to Wrangell has offered the borough $200,000 for the former hospital property, with plans to tear down the building and construct as many as 48 new housing units. Wayne Johnson’s offer on the 2-acre...
State looks at possible Earl West Cove timber sale in 2025 or 2026
The state is working toward a possible timber sale at Earl West Cove in 2025 or 2026, with the borough hoping it could piggyback on the effort and put up its own acreage in the area to increase the logging work and generate revenue for the...
State reminds tour operators they need permits for Petroglyph Beach
While it’s uncertain if the state could transfer funds to the borough for maintenance work at Petroglyph Beach, the more immediate concern is that neither the borough nor the state have any idea how many visitors commercial tour operators bring to...
Federal grant will help pay for new roof at middle school
The state, which administers the federally funded Community Development Block Grant program, has awarded Wrangell $695,000 toward a new roof at the middle school. The borough assembly designated the school roof — most of which is almost 30 years ol...
Alaska needs to control its PFD politics
It was a perplexing week in the Legislature. While the Senate Finance Committee was reviewing honest numbers about real budget needs hitting up against the limit of available state revenues, the House was debating whether the exalted Permanent Fund...
Trident expects to double last year's hiring for summer season
After a scaled-back reopening last summer following a three-year closure of its Wrangell processing facilities, Trident Seafoods anticipates having 200 to 240 workers on the job during the peak salmon months this summer. That would be about double...
Wrangell loses three cruise ship stops to Klawock
Wrangell has lost three cruise ship stopovers this summer to Klawock, where a partnership of three Native corporations is developing a tourist destination with facilities, shore excursions and other activities for passengers. The 746-passenger Seven...
State, tribe and borough wait on federal disaster funding
The borough is waiting on a federal disaster declaration to cover the expense of power line repairs and other immediate and near-term costs from the Nov. 20 landslide at 11.2-Mile Zimovia Highway. The Wrangell Cooperative Association is seeking...
Borough looks to short-term use of 6-Mile mill property
The borough has been looking for a developer or long-term tenant after paying $2.5 million for the former 6-Mile sawmill property in June 2022, but now is turning its attention to short-term leases to generate income and jobs until something bigger...
Make all schools better, not just some
The governor’s growing obsession with charter schools is frightening for the future of public education in Alaska. He talks as if charter schools are by far the best answer to the state’s low student test scores. He has told Alaskans he would...
Financial Reality program teaches students to handle curveballs
The Get REAL Financial Reality Fair for high school students isn’t just about learning to balance a checkbook, manage money and handle credit cards. It’s also about learning what their parents deal with in managing the family’s finances, said...
Borough officials concerned about ongoing population decline
Borough officials are concerned that Wrangell continues to lose population, while those who stay in town grow older and leave the workforce. As a whole, the state has lost more residents than it has gained in new arrivals every year since 2013, with...
Ballot measure would be needed to pay assembly, mayor for their work
A majority of the borough assembly supports changing municipal law to pay the mayor and assembly a few thousand dollars a year for their work, but it would require a change in the municipal charter to adopt such a compensation plan. “If this would...
Assembly votes to proceed with $25 million harbor grant application
The borough assembly has voted to proceed with an application for $25 million in federal funding to rebuild the Inner Harbor, Reliance and Standard Oil floats, including a commitment that Wrangell would come up with $5 million needed to fully fund...
Assembly decides mandatory boat insurance ordinance needs more work
Assembly members agreed that a port commission proposal to require boat owners to carry marine insurance — or pay a monthly fee in addition to their stall rental — needs a lot more work. The port commission has been discussing since 2022 the...
Too risky for the state
The advice for Las Vegas gamblers is don’t bet more than you can afford to lose. It’s generally the same advice for investors: Don’t take more risk than you can afford, even when the riskier bets look like they could pay off the same as 21 at...
Concrete work underway for new water treatment plant
Site prep work is finished and concrete foundation work has started on a new multimillion-dollar treatment plant to improve water quality and quantity for Wrangell. “We’re actually pouring our first footings,” Amber Al-Haddad, the borough’s...
Seafood industry expects another year of weak markets
I’ve never seen market conditions as bad as they are now,” Doug Vincent-Lang, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, told a conference of Southeast business, community and municipal government leaders last week. “Last year we...
State ferry system in 3rd year of crew shortages
Crew shortages continue to plague the Alaska Marine Highway, the ferry system’s director told a gathering of Southeast officials last week. “Our biggest shortage is in the engineering department,” where the 54 ship engineers on the payroll as...
State issues preliminary report on Nov. 20 landslides
State geologists were able to more accurately measure the movement and damage from massive landslides that poured across roads in the middle of the island in November because just a few months earlier the state and U.S. Forest Service had collected...
Home buying, building, owning information fair a week away
“At least once a week I get a call from someone who is interested” in the upcoming borough subdivision land sale of 20 lots, said Kate Thomas, Wrangell’s economic development director. To help those callers, and everyone else who might be inter...
Don't empty the pocket that feeds us
Think of the state’s Constitutional Budget Reserve Fund as the rich uncle or rich aunt you can go to when you’re short of cash to pay bills and need a loan. But even that wealthy relative has a bottom to their pocket. Take too much out and that...
Proposed ordinances take aim at illegal dumping in harbor trash bins
The dumpsters at Wrangell’s public harbors are for boat owners only and for their household trash only — but that hasn’t stopped people from tossing in waste oil, fishing nets, appliances and even a Volkswagen Beetle cut into pieces. “It’s...
Peratrovich Day event planned for Feb. 16 at Nolan Center
The Tlingit & Haida Community Council and Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp No. 1 are co-hosting an event to commemorate Elizabeth Peratrovich Day on Friday, Feb. 16, at the Nolan Center. It’s been several years since a communitywide event was held in...