Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 28
City officials reported a new COVID-19 case Monday afternoon, bringing to 18 the number of positive cases since April 8. Of those, 16 are reported as having recovered, the city's 4:30 p.m. announcement said. "No additional information is known at this time," the city said of the latest case. Most of the previous 17 cases this month were reported as community spread. "Wrangell currently has a face-covering requirement in place through April 30 for certain indoor public and communal spaces," the city's statement said. "Please mask up to help stop...
The school district assumes more students will return to classrooms in the fall — though the count would still be down 25% from its pre-pandemic level — with the enrollment drop and tight budget leading to the loss of one teacher and a couple of early morning classes at the high school. The school board on Monday unanimously adopted the budget, the fifth draft of the spending plan for the 2021-2022 school year. The budget uses federal pandemic relief funding to help avoid deeper spending cut...
"The idea is to reclaim, repurpose and recycle," Andrew Hoyt said. "That's where R&R Glassworks got its name, 'reclaimed' and 'repurpose.'" Wrangell residents may be familiar with R&R Glassworks, a relatively new business that has made itself known at community markets and online. Hoyt's art features antique glass bottles filled with water and shards of colored beach glass or clear automotive glass. They show vibrant colors and reflections when put against a light or on a windowsill. "We...
The community is under a face mask order for all indoor public spaces until 11:59 p.m. April 30, though the borough assembly removed any penalties from the ordinance. The April 8-16 outbreak of 16 COVID-19 cases in Wrangell prompted an emergency assembly meeting Saturday to consider the public health ordinance bringing back mandatory face masks for a couple of weeks. Assembly members, however, voted near unanimously to eliminate any penalties for failure to wear a face mask. Mayor Steve...
April 21, 1921 A business deal for which negotiations have been pending for some time and which is of great interest to the community was closed this week with the sale of the St. Michael Trading Co. store by P.C. McCormack to two well-known young men of Wrangell, Ernest and Leonard Campbell. While the transaction was not entirely completed, Mr. McCormack retired from the business at the end of last week. The St. Michael Trading Co. store is one of the oldest here, Mr. McCormack having been one of the four men who established the business in 18...
A quarter-century ago, Congress appropriated $110 million explicitly to help Southeast communities get through the loss of the timber industry, the region's big economic driver. This year, federal money is coming to the aid of the new dominant industry, tourism. However, Sitka Sen. Bert Stedman said, there is a key difference between the loss of the timber industry and today's struggles in the tourist industry: Tourism will come back one day. But it will take time. Federal pandemic relief funds...
I wrote my first news story 52 years ago last week for my college paper. That year and every year since, I was taught, reminded, practiced and adhered to Associated Press style and always identified elected officials by their political party. Put a D after their name, or an R. It was automatic, a blank space that reporters had to fill in. An elected official's name without a party affiliation was incomplete. It was as if the party initial told readers all they needed to know, and our reporting...
States and cities have tried a lot of creative slogans over the years to entice people to come visit. "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." The iconic "I Love NY" slogan and logo. And there's the romantic "Virginia is for lovers." Now we have the newest entrant among tourism marketing campaigns. We could call it: "Get stuck in Alaska." The state of Alaska will offer free COVID-19 vaccinations for travelers who come to the 49th state this summer. If the fishing and scenery, the long summer nigh...
College student looks at ethics of gene editing Is it morally right to gene edit? There are people with various ideas on both ends of the spectrum; some believe by having the power to gene edit you are playing the role of God, while others believe it's OK in certain situations. I am here to tell you why in some cases I believe gene editing is the right thing to do. My premises are: If gene editing can better the outlook of someone's life, then in some cases it is right. In some cases, gene...
The annual Stikine River Birding Festival starts Friday and includes movies, a morning walk to identify birds, video presentations, virtual storytelling from the library, a session on how to build a bird feeder, a community cleanup and a nature trail scavenger hunt. Activities run through May 8. Organizers are spreading out the events this year, rather than squeezing everything into four days as was the schedule in 2019. The pandemic forced cancellation of last year's activities. "We have been m...
Jamie Early (left) and Adeline Andrews (with the hose) were among the crew at the Wrangell Lady Wolves high school basketball team car wash fundraiser Saturday morning. Coach Christy Good said that they were trying to get a head start for next year and raise money to help cover travel costs. The team raised $1,577. "I can't even tell you how many cars we washed," she said. The team would likely have another fundraiser event sometime this summer, Good said....
The Wrangell Convention and Visitor Bureau has decided it's almost time to get business input on its draft proposal for how the tourism industry should operate in the community, called "tourism best management practices." Putting together the guidelines has been an ongoing project for the bureau. Wrangell Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore said it is time to reach out to businesses for their comments. The visitor bureau met last Thursday. Under the latest draft, tour operators leading...
Wrangell is getting a machine to cut, mash and bundle up its trash into compact bales for the ride out of town. The borough assembly on April 13 approved spending more than $600,000 to buy and install a solid waste baler so that the garbage will no longer head south as loose trash, which presents a fire risk. Public Works Director Tom Wetor told the assembly that Republic Services, which collects trash for Wrangell, reported in 2018 that the city had until 2023 to begin shipping its trash in...
The Wrangell Community Cleanup, a longtime tradition, is set for Saturday. Volunteers are invited to meet at the covered basketball court by Evergreen Elementary at 8:30 a.m. to help clean up Wrangell. The cleanup occurs every spring, except last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the public spending half the day picking up as much trash around the city as possible. The Wrangell Cooperative Association has been assisting with the cleanup organization for about four years, said Kim Wickman,...
The Nolan Center, Wrangell's movie theater, museum and community center, is understaffed. Leaving the facility manager position vacant this fiscal year has been too much of a strain on the remaining staff, the administration told borough assembly members, who unanimously approved a full-time coordinator position at the center. The change, however, still will be a money-saver for the city, as the coordinator will be at a lower pay scale than the facility manager position. The Nolan Center general...
“Insatiable” is the word being used to describe the demand for snow crab as the world’s largest fishery got underway on April 5 in eastern Canada. And while more snow crab will be available this year, buyers expect a tight supply. Global seafood supplier Tradex said snow crab and other premium crab saw huge growth at retail in 2020 and demand is even higher this year. Seafoods like crab and lobster are now perceived as being affordable to buy and cook at home compared to the cost in restaurants. Tradex spokesperson Tasha Cadence said the shift...
Monday, April 12 No reports. Tuesday, April 13 Drug information. Agency assist: Ambulance. Traffic stop. Wednesday, April 14 Agency assist: Fire alarm. Thursday, April 15 Welfare check: All was good. Agency assist: Court. Friday, April 16 Found property. Agency assist: Behavioral Health. Dog at large. Noise complaint. Agency assist. Traffic stop. Traffic stop: Citation for failure to provide proof of insurance. Saturday, April 17 Traffic stop. Assault. Citizen assist. Parking complaint. Citizen assist. Noise complaint. Traffic stop. Sunday,...
The northern lights were out over Wrangell on Friday night, viewed here from the Airport Loop Road....
JUNEAU (AP) - Juneau residents have filed paperwork for citizens initiatives that would impose limits on cruise ships in Alaska’s capital city. The proposed measures submitted April 12 would ban large cruise ships at certain times and over a specific size from Juneau. Filing paperwork is the first step in getting on the ballot. The city clerk has until May 3 to certify or deny the paperwork. If supporters are allowed to go forward, they would need to collect signatures from nearly 3,000 registered Juneau voters for each of the three measures t...
Free COVID-19 vaccinations will be made available at four airports in the state starting June 1, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said April 16 as he unveiled plans aimed at bolstering the state’s pandemic-battered tourist industry. Dunleavy also outlined plans for a national marketing campaign aimed at luring tourists using federal aid money and said the airport vaccination offering is “probably another good reason to come to the state of Alaska in the summer.” The state plans to offer vaccines at airports in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Ketchikan, the...
Alaska’s economy isn’t getting worse, but it could also be a long way from substantial improvement. University of Alaska Anchorage Institute for Social and Economic Research economist Mouchine Guettabi said many of the indicators showing improvements in recent months are more tied to the normal seasonality of the state’s economy and less about a recovery from the forces of the pandemic. “Our losses ballooned over the summer and then shrunk back down in fall and the winter. That doesn’t mean things are getting better; it just means that we’r...
JUNEAU (AP) - Alaska state Sen. Lora Reinbold was removed as Senate Judiciary Committee chair on April 19, the 91st day of a legislative session in which she has often clashed with fellow Republicans, including other Senate majority members and Gov. Mike Dunleavy, and frequently ignored and protested legislative rules to wear a face mask and undergo regular testing for COVID-19. The committee change was approved by the Senate 17-1, with Reinbold the lone no. The Eagle River Republican, in her ninth year in the Legislature, was replaced as...
John Waghiyi remembers rushing his cousin to the clinic in the Bering Sea city of Savoonga in December, worried he was having a possible heart attack while out butchering a bowhead whale. Waghiyi arrived to see elders waiting in the lobby for a COVID-19 vaccine. Waghiyi, 66, said he joined them and got a shot before returning to the coast to help finish the whale harvest. Elders, he said, have set the tone in the Alaska Native community of 735 on the coast of isolated St. Lawrence Island....
Alaska discriminated against some same-sex spouses for years in wrongfully denying them benefits by claiming their unions were not recognized even after courts struck down same-sex marriage bans, court documents obtained by The Associated Press show. The agency that determines eligibility for the annual Alaska Permanent Fund dividend denied payments for same-sex spouses or dependents of military members stationed in other states for five years after a federal court invalidated Alaska’s ban on same-sex marriage in 2014 and the U.S. Supreme Court...
BETHEL (AP) - A coastal village about 70 miles southwest of Bethel has mandated that only fully vaccinated people will be allowed into the community’s stores and businesses. Kongiganak, with a population of less than 500, had 50% of its eligible residents vaccinated against COVID-19 with at least one dose as of April 9, KYUK-AM reported April 14, citing the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. Sheila Phillip, the Kongiganak Traditional Council secretary, said that people who are fully vaccinated can go inside the village’s two stores if they wear mas...
