(1159) stories found containing 'covid'
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Wrangell team places 2nd in middle school volleyball tournament
One of Wrangell's two teams placed second in the Stikine Middle School Invitational Volleyball Tournament, losing to Klawock in the final, while a Petersburg team took first place in the other...
Project works to compile glossary of Indigenous environmental terms
In the language of the Gwich’in people of northeastern Alaska, the word for month known in English as July is Łuk choo zhrii, meaning “the month of king salmon,” said Rochelle Adams, an Indigenous advocate who grew up in Beaver and Fort Yukon.... Full story
Ferry ridership still not back to pre-pandemic numbers
The state ferry system carried 181,000 passengers in 2023, still short of the pre-COVID numbers in 2019 and down substantially from almost 340,000 in 2012 and more than 420,000 in 1992. Overall vehicle traffic also is down, from more than 115,000 in...
After cancellations, cruise season may not exceed last summer's numbers
With the loss of several cruise ship stops this summer, Wrangell may not exceed last year’s cruise visitor count as had been originally projected. Wrangell recently lost 14 stops from the cruise line American Queen Voyages, which filed for b...
KSTK soliciting donated artwork for fundraising auction
KSTK is accepting donations of artwork for its annual fundraising auction, set for Friday evening, March 22, at the Nolan Center. “We have artwork from all kinds of different artists from around Alaska,” said KSTK Development Director Kimberly Ott...
Klukwan church given to tribe after century of Presbyterian ownership
The church, originally known as the Klukwan Presbyterian, has been holding regular Sunday services for nearly a century. But one thing about the church has changed: its owner. More than a year ago, a...
New ministry aims to bring back roller rink this spring
After five years, a once-popular community gathering place may finally make a comeback. Georgianna and Richard Buhler, founders of the nondenominational TouchPoint Alaska Ministries, recently...
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 of Ja...
SEARHC raises minimum wage to $25 an hour for its employees
A minimum wage of $25 an hour for direct-hire employees is being implemented by the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, the Native-run health care organization announced Feb. 7. The change applies to about 85% of SEARHC’s total workforce a...
Alaska courts still dealing with backlog of cases from COVID shutdown
Alaska’s courts have had a backlog of cases since courts shut down for months during the COVID-19 pandemic. The backlog has persisted, in part because of attorney shortages. The court typically carries many pending cases, but the number of pending c... Full story
Employee takes over gift shop business from owner
Described on their website as "a small, woman-owned gift shop and handmade bath and body store," ownership of River's Mouth Trading Co. recently changed hands. One of its employees, Elizabeth...
Gifts from past year provide a good start for this year
This time of year, we reflect on the past year and look forward to a new year. We look at these moments and events as gifts, mostly because time is a gift, relationships are gifts, being here in... Full story
Schools face next year without any more federal pandemic aid
The Wrangell school district will have to do without federal pandemic-era grants for the next school year, creating a sizable gap in revenues and requiring spending cuts and/or pulling money out of savings to balance the budget. At a work session Jan...
Advocates of higher Alaska minimum wage close to winning spot on ballot
Supporters of a ballot initiative that would increase Alaska’s minimum wage, mandate paid sick leave and provide other worker protections submitted more than 40,000 petition signatures to the Alaska Division of Elections on Jan. 9, bringing their c...
Outer Coast educational program pulls in former Wrangell residents
When Lillian "Jing" O'Brien graduated from Wrangell High School in 2020, COVID-19 had taken over the nation and she had enrolled in Loyola University in Chicago with tentative plans to study pre-law...
Juneau schools discover $9.5 million deficit; 10% of total budget
Juneau school administrators are facing a severe budget shortfall partly related to flat state funding and declining enrollment. But much of the crisis comes from accounting errors that “drastically” undercounted staffing costs. The city’s schoo...
Alaska lacks workers to meet jobs forecast
It’s certainly welcome news that analysts at the state Department of Labor forecast strong job growth in Alaska this year. They expect to see about 5,400 new jobs, a solid increase of almost 2% over last year. If the numbers come true, it would f...
State appeals judge's ruling that allowed Kake subsistence hunt
In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, the leader of Kake’s tribal government asked federal managers to open an emergency hunt, citing the community’s fears about having enough food. The request was approved by a federal management agency, the Fed... Full story
Job gains forecast in Alaska, but working-age population decline a problem
Alaska is expected to gain 5,400 jobs in 2024, an increase of 1.7% over the past year and enough to nudge total state employment above 2019 levels for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, according to the newly published annual... Full story
School district counts on state funding increase
It’s been eight years since the state last increased its per-student funding formula for public schools — a 0.5% nudge that year — and years of stagnant funding have caught up with districts statewide, including Wrangell. “We have to count on fund...
Girls basketball team ready for season opener this weekend
After missing out on a chance to compete at last year’s state tournament by a two-point loss at regionals, Wrangell Lady Wolves basketball coach Christina Good is ready for her team to try again this season. “We’re due again, so we’ll see how it...
School board offers to extend Superintendent Burr's contract
The school board has offered a three-year contract extension to Schools Superintendent Bill Burr, effective July 1, 2024, pending further negotiations. “We just wanted him to know that we want him to stay,” said David Wilson, school board pre...
State domestic violence services running short of federal funding
A major source of funding for Alaska’s domestic violence response has decreased significantly the past five years, leaving a multimillion-dollar hole in the budget for services. That reduction, paired with the end of federal pandemic relief money a... Full story
Haines shares what it learned from deadly 2020 landslide
More than 140 miles away in Juneau, Sylvia Heinz picked up her phone and read the news of the fatal landslide in Wrangell. "I put my phone down. I couldn't read it. I couldn't think about it. I felt s...
Students gather with their favorite adults for Friendsgiving lunch
Tables and seats were organized for students and guests along the walls of the elementary school gym, with "Happy Friendsgiving 2023" coloring pages scattered on the tables, ready for crayons. The...
