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SEARHC is considering building rental housing for its employees in Wrangell. The Southeast Alaska health care provider is sketching out plans to build housing on property it owns on Zimovia Highway, about 1,000 feet down the road from TK's Mini Mart. SEARHC officials presented preliminary site layouts at a planning and zoning commission meeting on May 8, explaining the first phase would include eight rental units, with perhaps a dozen more rentals in the second phase. The lot, which stretches...
The school board voted unanimously last week to offer the superintendent job to Joshua Garrett, who is currently working in the Central Asia country of Kazakhstan, where he is director of an international school. The board announced the selection Friday afternoon, May 23, after reconvening in public session following lengthy deliberations in executive session. The board voted to offer a contract to Garrett to start work July 1, "pending negotiations." If the board and Garrett cannot come to...
It’s not the same as being 70 feet underwater, searching for the remnants of a 1908 Southeast Alaska shipwreck, but it will be drier and warmer for the public when the dive team reports on their latest efforts. The divers will share their work in a public presentation, “Exploring the History of a Shipwreck: The Star of Bengal,” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 29, at the Nolan Center. The team was on site last week, mapping the seafloor, looking for more pieces of the cannery sailing ship Star of Bengal which sank and broke apart in 1908 about 80 mi...
The Alaska Legislature adjourned its regular session on May 20, one day earlier than expected, after passing a “maintenance level” state budget that contains a $1,000 Permanent Fund dividend. “I would like to thank all of you for getting to this point: a day early, and before midnight. Pretty remarkable,” said Senate President Gary Stevens, a Kodiak Republican. Legislators adjourned hours after overriding Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a major education bill. During the time in between, they passed a series of bills, including a ban on payday le...
May 28, 1925 The plans are to include the seventh and eighth grades with the high school next year to constitute, with the ninth grade, a junior high school organization. This will mean many advantages that are impossible under the present system. It will give students longer class periods under teachers who are specialists in a particular line; it will eliminate the disturbance that comes from classes being held in a room where others must study; and it will permit an additional course not possible at present. May 26, 1950 Wrangell will have a...
STAR OF BENGAL DIVE TEAM PRESENTATION 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 29, at the Nolan Center. The team has been diving on the 1908 wreckage in Southeast waters, and will present on what they have learned. Sponsored by Friends of the Museum. Appetizers will be provided; the public is asked to bring a dish to share. JULY 4th ROYALTY KICKOFF COMMUNITY POTLUCK 5:30 p.m. Saturday, May 31, at the downtown pavilion. Bring a dish to share and welcome royalty candidate Sophie Martinsen. MUSKEG MEADOWS WCA and Team Hollywood nine-hole, scramble golf tournament...
This year's Fourth of July fundraising efforts by royalty contestant Sophia Martinsen will start with the annual kickoff at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, May 31, at the downtown pavilion, rain or shine - which is the only way to stick to a schedule in Wrangell. The free event is a community potluck; utensils and plates will be provided. Martinsen will be a junior when the new school year starts in August and is the sole contestant in the royalty contest that will end with the coronation on July 3, though...
Forget this week’s rain, clouds and evening temperatures in the 40s. There are a couple of bright spots for Wrangell. SEARHC is looking at building rental housing for its employees. The plan’s first phase is to construct eight rental units on land the regional health care provider owns uphill from Zimovia Highway, just past TK’s Mini Mart. SEARHC representatives have been working with borough officials on the site plan and to follow planning and zoning rules. They report that the nonprofit could start work on site prep and utilities befor...
Most everyone gets nervous about something or someone. Missing a connecting flight at SeaTac, forgetting the name that goes with a familiar face, suddenly spacing out on the password that you have dependably remembered for 20 years. Or maybe more financially serious stresses, like when the dentist says you need a new crown, or the contracting crew says they cannot find the source of the worsening roof leak, or the mechanic says your truck’s brake pads are thinner than your kid’s alibi for missing a homework assignment. I used to get str...
If you live in Wrangell, I don’t have to tell you how important the federal Secure Rural Schools program is. It helps ensure your schools are well staffed and that your community has the resources to maintain roads and provide emergency services. Right now, though, there’s a problem. Congress has not reauthorized the program, and we’re on the verge of a funding lapse. I’m hearing from worried city and borough managers and school administrators, and I want you to know I’m working hard to avoid any loss of federal funds. At the end of the congr...
Many of us Alaskans express frustration that our votes don’t count on the national stage. This past November they very much did, as evidenced by Rep. Nick Begich’s vote in favor of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed in the dead of night by the U.S. House. I asked Grok, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence entity, what this might mean for Alaska. I suggest you do the same. Here are some of the Musk entity’s highlights: reduced federal support for local communities, cuts to the National Park Service of $267 million might impact tourism, re...
Alaska’s public schools may see the largest permanent funding boost in well over a decade, after the Alaska Legislature voted for the first time since 2002 to override a sitting governor’s veto. With a 46-14 vote, lawmakers significantly increased the state’s per-student funding formula, overriding Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s decision to reject House Bill 57. Forty votes were needed for an override. While the legislation changes state law on school funding, whether Alaska schools actually see an increase for the coming school year depends on the out...
The borough is working with the state on a new management agreement for the Petroglyph Beach State Historic Site which would result in the municipality collecting fees from commercial users and putting the money toward improvements at the popular visitor attraction. Revisions to the 1998 management agreement between the borough and the Division of Parks are being negotiated and could be finished in early June, Preston Kroes, Southeast area superintendent for state parks, said May 21. “We are modifying the management agreement with Wrangell so t...
The Petroglyph Beach State Historic Site entitles Wrangell to a seat on the new 10-member Southeast Regional Citizens Advisory Board for state parks — but no one from town has applied. Applications for board seats were so low in Southeast that the Alaska Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation has reissued the invitation, said Preston Kroes, Southeast area superintendent for state parks. Applications closed on May 15 but have reopened for June. Wrangell wasn’t the only no-show, he said. No one from Juneau applied either. The 10 seats are all...
There’s a lot to grading a stick of dimension lumber. It’s not necessarily more than meets the eye, but it takes a trained eye to judge the grain and look for any defects. To train those eyes, a forest products specialist from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service is coming to Wrangell to lead a one-day class Wednesday, June 4, at the Nolan Center. Matthew Labrenz is in his second year teaching the program across Alaska; this is the first time the class will be offered in Wrangell. The Legislature in 2023 set up the A...
Jamie Wollman, who served the past year as principal at Evergreen Elementary School, has resigned from the job. Wollman last year replaced Ann Hillman, who had the position for two years before leaving to work as special education director for the school district in Tok, in Alaska’s Interior. Wollman is leaving Wrangell for a job closer to her children, Schools Superintendent Bill Burr said May 23. The Wrangell school board received her resignation without comment at its meeting May 21. Before taking the Wrangell job, she served as principal at...
Wrangell’s Boomchain Loucks placed first in the 800-meter race at the Southeast Alaska high school track and field championships last weekend. He missed scoring a second victory at the meet by less than a quarter second in the 1,600-meter run. His 800-meter time of 2:02.42 was almost five seconds ahead of Sitka’s Trey Demmert, who ran the race in 2:07.15. In the 1,600-meter run, Loucks had a time of 4:26.48, crossing the finish line a fraction of a second behind Sitka’s Connor Hitchcock, who clocked the winning time of 4:26.35. Wrangell’s other...
Loren Morgan, the new chiropractor at Arctic Chiropractic, is making a few adjustments to Wrangell himself. He had lived in Anchorage since 1981, driving down to his fish camp on the Kenai Peninsula as often as he could. When Omid Rahmanian left the Wrangell office due to family needs, Morgan jumped at the opportunity to relocate his practice. "I love the water, and I love to fish; the opening was a real blessing to me." Morgan's wife, Melody, is tying up loose ends in Anchorage and getting...
Facing the continued collapse of chinook salmon, officials have shut down California’s commercial salmon fishing season for an unprecedented third year in a row. Under the decision by an interstate fisheries agency, recreational salmon fishing will be allowed in California for only brief windows of time this spring. This will be the first year that any sportfishing of chinook has been allowed since 2022. Last month’s decision by the Pacific Fishery Management Council means that no salmon caught off California can be sold to retail con...
The Trump administration is ending National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration services that monitor Arctic sea ice and snow cover, leading climate scientists said. NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information has decommissioned its snow and ice data products as of May 5, the National Snow and Ice Data Center announced. The data collected by that NOAA office is critical to the daily updates provided by the Colorado-based center, which tracks one of the most obvious effects of climate change: the long-term loss of Arctic sea ice. I...
The Alaska Legislature is moving toward raising the state’s age of sexual consent to 18 next year — with exceptions — after the state House voted 39-0 to approve the bill on May 19. House Bill 101 now goes to the state Senate, which is expected to take it up in January, when lawmakers convene for the second year of the 34th Alaska State Legislature. The bill comes from Anchorage Rep. Andrew Gray, who said it is a way to fight rape and child sexual assault. Under current law, it is legal for an adult to have sex in Alaska with a 16-ye...
