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As the old saying goes, “Variety is the spice of life,” and Wrangell must have made a good impression for Holland America to change its menu for 2024. The cruise line made a late-scheduled stop near the end of the 2022 season, bringing more than 2,300 passengers and crew members to town aboard the Noordam. Now, Holland America has added two stops in Wrangell for the 2024 season for a more “diverse itinerary.” It’s the first time the company has included Wrangell in its pre-season advertising. The cruise line runs six ships on its Alaska to...
The halibut charter boat fleet in Southeast and the Gulf of Alaska will be able to collectively buy quota shares from commercial fishermen under a provision in the federal omnibus budget bill passed at the end of December. The program would be funded by a fee charged for every angler aboard a halibut charter. Seward’s Andy Mezirow is on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and has been a champion of the program for a while. He said it’s a long time coming. The program was vetoed by President Donald Trump in his final weeks in office and...
Whether you want to incubate a godlike physique during the winter months, brush up on your weightlifting form or just enjoy an early morning sweat session with friends, the community gym's new structured workouts are available to encourage you, regardless of your fitness goals. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6 to 7 a.m., Chadd and Sabrina Yoder have volunteered to guide patrons through a series of lifts and other workouts that they and Recreation Coordinator Lucy Robinson designed...
From impressive athletic successes and community celebrations to business closures and painful losses, Wrangell's 2022 was full of engaging stories, both triumphant and tragic. Last January was a month of new beginnings. Issabella and Tawney Crowley welcomed Wrangell's first baby of the year, Ryleigh Rowan Crowley, into the world on Jan. 4 at the Ketchikan Medical Center. The Decker family established a memorial scholarship fund to honor Sig and Helen Decker, two former Wrangell residents who di...
Jan. 11, 1923 M. O. Johnson has ordered a small roadster, which he will convert upon its arrival into a delivery car for his laundry. The car was bought from J.O. Gross, who has an automobile business in Tacoma and who is a brother of W. L. Gross. Jan. 9, 1948 A short but severe windstorm here Wednesday, in which gusts up to 55 miles an hour were recorded, damaged the City Float in the small boat harbor and scattered fishing boats helter-skelter for a while. No severe damage was reported to any boat. Campbell-House Shipyard suffered the worst...
As part of its ongoing review and update of the schools’ mitigation plan, the Wrangell School District has dropped the COVID-19 testing requirement for athletes traveling for games. The requirement was dropped at the start of the year. Schools Superintendent Bill Burr announced the decision at the December school board meeting, during review of the plan. Though student-athletes no longer need to test before going out of town for games, the district still encourages it. “We are still doing optional testing at all schools on a request bas...
Juneau saw record-breaking levels of rainfall in 2022, but National Weather Service measurements and the observations of local amateur meteorologist Bill Messmer suggest that Wrangell was spared the worst of the deluge. Juneau's 2022 precipitation totaled 88.31 inches according to measurements taken at the airport. This was three inches wetter than the previous record set in 1991. The National Weather Service hasn't recorded official stats for Wrangell precipitation in years, leaving the measuri...
Shoppers who have items shipped via FedEx can probably assume higher charges come the end of the month. On Jan. 30, a surcharge of $13.25 per package will be added to any delivery the company has deemed “remote.” The fee applies to FedEx Express and FedEx Ground services and covers Wrangell and most of Alaska outside of Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Ketchikan. Rival delivery company UPS last year instituted its own remote-area surcharge, which increased to $13.05 per package in the Lower 48 on Dec. 27, up from $12 last year, and as much as...
There is more to state government in Alaska than just the amount of the annual Permanent Fund dividend. Though voters certainly might think otherwise, judging from the campaigns of many candidates in recent years. But the campaigns are over — at least officially — and it’s time for Alaska’s 60 legislators to start work in Juneau. The session opens Tuesday. No doubt one of the final negotiated compromises before adjournment will be to set the amount of this year’s PFD. It’s become an annual tradition, almost a ritual for lawmakers to politically...
For the 10th year in a row, more Alaskans moved out last year than new residents moved in. That’s a draining fact, with no real plan to plug the leak. To confirm the Alaska Department of Labor’s statistics about population and persistent out-migration, drive no farther than U-Haul. America’s do-it-yourself movers reported this month on its annual numbers for traffic into states and one-way rentals leaving each state. The traffic count for Alaska is not good. The state fell 25 spots in the nationwide ranking of growth states, from 16th place...
It's an ambitious senior project that doesn't involve building something, volunteering, painting or reading to the sick or elderly. But it could help make Wrangell a better place to live. Will Ashton, 18, wants to gather the community's thoughts on the economic and social well-being of the town and use the collected data to help borough leaders improve the quality of life. He hopes to survey as many residents as possible covering the areas of subsistence economy, cash economy and the social...
Whether locals or visitors, newbies or experienced sportsmen, recreational fishers who cast their lines in the Petersburg-Wrangell management area have a new resource for all things sportfishing. After spending the past 18 years working in the commercial fisheries division, Jeff Rice has accepted a new position as the Alaska Department of Fish and Game area management biologist for sportfishing in Petersburg and Wrangell. Despite his considerable experience with Fish and Game in Petersburg, Rice has found his new role “very interesting” sin...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA) has approved an electricity rate hike of a quarter of a cent per kilowatt hour. The additional charge went into effect for its three municipalities — Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg — on Jan. 1, but Wrangell Borough Manager Jeff Good will not consider increasing retail electricity rates until spring, during the annual rate revaluation period. “I don’t plan on bringing it before the assembly until we do our normal rate evaluations coming up,” he said. “When we do our other rate adjustments...
Health care services for Native Americans and Alaska Natives will be bolstered by a provision included in the government spending bill approved by Congress in the final hours of the 2022 session. The measure provides more certainty for a federal agency that delivers health care to more than 2.5 million people. A coalition of lawmakers from Kansas, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Alaska and elsewhere fought to include advance appropriations for the Indian Health Service in the bill, marking a first for the chronically underfunded agency as a...
A demonstration project wood-pellet mill is scheduled to be built on Gravina Island, across the Tongass Narrows from Ketchikan, in mid to late 2023 by the region’s economic development organization, the Southeast Conference. The nonprofit organization, which holds $1.8 million in grant funding from various sources for the project, is in the planning process toward constructing the mill. More than half the money is from a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant. Southeast Conference will own and operate the mill. However, it may partner with a p...
Keely Good excitedly showed her friend Carter Hammer around the thrift store, pointing out where various items could be found. After that, she showed him how to ring up customers with the cash register. For the past semester, Keely and Carter have both worked at different businesses around town as part of Wrangell High School's special education class on-the-job training program to help them gain work and life skills for after they graduate. The schools have always had some form of job training...
As the Alaska Legislature’s 2023 session approaches, a state Senate leader last Thursday highlighted the potential benefits of that body’s newly formed bipartisan majority coalition. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Cathy Giessel said the nine Democrats and eight Republicans in the coalition have shared values. “This coalition formed with a goal, and that is working together to keep Alaska a producing state – not a consuming state, but a producing state,” the Anchorage Republican told the Resource Development Council for Alaska at a breakfast... Full story
As Americans watched the U.S. House struggle to elect a leader, Alaskans may soon see a similar situation develop in the state House of Representatives. “These proceedings back east, it’s a stark reminder to a lot of us that we could be going through the same thing,” said Independent Rep. Bryce Edgmon, of Dillingham. With just a week before the Legislature convenes in Juneau, the state House has yet to organize, with both the House’s existing mostly Democratic-led coalition majority and the Republican caucus short of the required 21-vote... Full story
Alaska’s population rose in 2022 according to new estimates released Jan. 5 by the Alaska Department of Labor, marking a second consecutive year of increases after four years of declines. The new Alaska population estimate, 736,556, is the highest since 2018, but the state continues to see more people moving out than moving in, and 2022 marked the 10th consecutive year of negative net migration, said state demographer David Howell. The state gained about 450 people despite that migration loss because the number of births was greater than the n... Full story
Southeast Alaska saw a “stronger than expected” 6.5% increase in jobs in 2022 compared to the previous year, due to ongoing recovery from being one of the state’s hardest-hit regions during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Alaska Department of Labor. A slower 2.5% increase in jobs is forecast for 2023, with a record cruise ship season plus growth in several industries including construction and a partial rebound of seafood processing. Tourism-related industries and transportation had the highest rates of growth in Southeast Alaska as the r...
Alaska has violated state and federal law by failing to process Medicaid applications in a timely manner, according to an Anchorage-based civil rights law firm that settled a class-action lawsuit in federal court with the state three years ago. The Alaska Department of Health’s figures last week showed that there are 8,987 outstanding Medicaid recertifications and applications to be processed by the state Division of Public Assistance, which is contending with a major backlog in application processing that officials attributed to a staffing sho...
Aid to Alaska fishermen, seafood processors and marketers and communities was included in the year-end congressional appropriations package that won final passage last month. The $300 million in aid follows official disaster declarations issued by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo for Alaska salmon and crab fishery failures dating back to 2020, as well as some salmon failures in Washington state dating back to 2019. “This will be relief for commercial, recreational, subsistence harvesters, all those who were directly impacted by the f... Full story
Ketchikan Police Chief Jeffrey Walls has been placed on paid administrative leave after being indicted for felony third-degree assault and five lesser charges related to an incident Sept. 10 at Salmon Falls Resort. “Chief Walls is currently on administrative leave while we complete our internal review,” Ketchikan City Manager Delilah Walsh wrote in a Jan. 4 email. “Deputy Chief Eric Mattson has assumed the role of acting chief.” “We will do an internal investigation,” City Manager Delilah Walsh said in a telephone interview with the Ketchik...
Monday, Jan. 2 Agency assist: Bank. Found property. Agency assist: Ambulance. Agency assist: Ambulance. Paper service. Tuesday, Jan. 3 Missing person. Abandoned vehicle. Traffic stop: Failure to stop at stop sign. Traffic stop: Expired registration. Arrest: Violating conditions of release. Wednesday, Jan. 4 Agency assist: Hoonah Police Department. Agency assist: Ambulance. Civil matter. Thursday, Jan. 5 Citizen assist. Citizen assist. Courtesy transport. Friday, Jan. 6 Dog at large. Noise complaint. Citizen assist. Traffic stop: Warning for...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a memorandum last Friday prohibiting the use of social media platform TikTok on state-owned devices. In doing so, Alaska follows in the footsteps of more than a dozen other states. Several predominantly Republican-led states have banned the Chinese-owned social media platform on publicly owned computers, tablets and smartphones, citing national security concerns. Former President Donald Trump first attempted, unsuccessfully, to ban TikTok in 2020. Several states began banning the use of the app on state-owned devices...
