Sorted by date Results 651 - 675 of 1040
Tax season is not commonly thought of as an enjoyable experience. There is complicated paperwork, the stress of reviewing personal finances, the headache of doing math. Fortunately for Wrangell residents, there are people who not only are willing to help with tax preparation, but also enjoy it. "I like helping people," said Paula Rak. "It's fun for me." Rak, and Nancy McQueen are volunteer tax counselors with the American Association of Retired Persons' tax aide program. McQueen said this is...
It’s likely that no other fishing regions of the world reach out for stakeholder input as much as Alaska does to gather policy-shaping ground truth by state and federal managers and organizations. That’s demonstrated by two new surveys — one which aims to quantify how much Alaska fishermen and processors paid out over the past year to lessen COVID-19 impacts and how much relief they got from government programs; the other to learn what technology needs are tops with harvesters. The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute is collecting infor...
JUNEAU (AP) – In a move intended in part to encourage a COVID-conscious visitors to Juneau, city leaders have approved changes to local testing requirements for travelers. Those include waiving a $250 COVID-19 testing fee for non-resident travelers who are tested at the airport and exempting “fully vaccinated” individuals from strict social distancing after testing. The City and Borough of Juneau Assembly approved the changes March 1. The rules define fully vaccinated as people who have gone more than two weeks since receiving a second dose...
In response to new COVID-19 cases in town, and with 85 reported cases in Petersburg in the past two weeks, the Wrangell Borough Assembly adopted three emergency ordinances by wide margins Tuesday night, including reinstating a community mask mandate. The ordinances also require COVID-19 testing for interstate and intrastate travelers to Wrangell. The community had two active cases as of Tuesday, Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen told the assembly. Petersburg had 65 active cases as of Tuesday eveni...
The deadline is 11:59 p.m. Friday to apply for assistance with rent and/or utilities under a federally funded pandemic aid program in Alaska. As of last Friday, 65 Wrangell residents submitted applications for assistance under the state-operated program for Alaskans who have lost jobs or income due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. An additional 16 completed their online eligibility check but had not yet submitted an application, said Stacy Barnes, director of governmental relations and public a...
Petersburg remained in its red high-risk level as of Tuesday after 85 COVID-19 cases were reported in the community over the past 13 days. As of Tuesday evening, 65 coronavirus cases were still active, according to the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center. The spike in cases started Feb. 18, with the high point of 37 infections reported Feb. 23-26. There were 11 news cases reported on Tuesday. Results from 212 coronavirus tests were pending as of Tuesday evening. The joint...
More than 600 people in Wrangell have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium. SEARHC's COVID-19 website reported Tuesday morning that 886 Wrangell residents had received their first vaccination shot. Of these, 612 had received both doses, almost one-quarter of the community's population. Aaron Angerman, with SEARHC, said they have started to share data online about how many vaccines have been administered in their communities....
The Jehovah's Witnesses, which has a congregation in Wrangell and meets via Zoom twice a week during the pandemic, has posted a short video on its international website, "Virus Outbreaks - What You Can Do." "Few events in modern history have harmed the emotional well-being of people around the world as has the COVID-19 pandemic," the denomination says. "To help address this situation ... the three-minute whiteboard animation offers families practical methods to cope emotionally and spiritually...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - A highly transmissible coronavirus variant originally traced to Brazil has been discovered in Alaska, as have 10 cases of a strain first identified in California. The first case of the California variant was identified in Alaska in January, and has since been discovered in nine more infected people. The report came Feb. 24 from a team of scientists assembled by the state to investigate new strains of the virus. Researchers say the California variant is more contagious and potentially more effective at evading vaccines. The...
Wrangell’s 34th case of COVID-19 was reported Tuesday afternoon. The City and Borough of Wrangell reported this latest case is a Wrangell local, who has not recently traveled. The person is not exhibiting any symptoms, the city said, and is in isolation. The city also reported that Public Health has completed its initial contact tracing interview with this individual. The case is the only one active of the 34 infections reported since the pandemic started. Of those, 24 cases were identified as Wrangell residents and eight as non-residents. T...
The Wrangell School Board has narrowed down the list to four superintendent applicants to succeed Debbie Lancaster, who plans to leave the job June 30. Three of the four candidates work in Alaska, and one is from California. The board met in executive session Saturday to review applications, and announced in a Sunday press release the four finalists who will be interviewed: Joseph Aldridge, of California; Tim Bauer, of Juneau; Bill Burr, of Delta Junction; and Ralph Watkins, of Hoonah. A...
The Borough Assembly will hold in-person meetings in the near future, with limits on people in the room to account for the COVID-19 pandemic. During their meeting Tuesday night, the assembly adopted a resolution repealing and replacing a temporary amendment to municipal code that allows city business to be conducted through virtual meetings. The item was adopted unanimously. Under the new provisions, six members of the public or city staff at a time, in addition to assembly members, will be...
The city has rejected an application to begin the recall process against Mayor Steve Prysunka. Borough Clerk Kim Lane, in a Feb. 17 letter, said the petitioners' list of grievances against the mayor does not rise to the legal threshold required for a recall. Recall organizers have 30 days from the date of the letter to appeal the decision to state Superior Court. The petition, signed by 10 members of the community, alleged that Prysunka broke state and municipal laws several months ago, when an...
Schools ready to help students in need Due to COVID-19, the level of depression and anxiety our teens are experiencing has skyrocketed. Hospitals across the country - including Juneau - are seeing huge increases in youth attempting suicide and other types of self-destructive behavior. Social services are being overwhelmed. For instance, the state Office of Children's Services supervisor for all of Southeast Alaska recently told me that the number of child-welfare referrals they are receiving...
With a growing number of COVID-19 cases in the community - 36 between Thursday and Wednesday morning - Petersburg officials have elevated the community risk level to red. The number of active cases are the most in Petersburg since the pandemic started a year ago. "The cumulative total of cases is growing larger by the day," the Petersburg emergency operation center said in a statement at 4 p.m. Tuesday. "Many of these cases are still under investigation and contract tracing is difficult." The...
Reagan Smith enjoys her time in the pool at open swim Monday evening. Parks and Rec offers open swim Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Due to COVID-19, the limit is 20 people in the pool at a time, said Lucy Moline-Robinson, with the Parks and Rec Department....
Radio station KSTK, instead of its traditional cooking competition, will hold a chili feed at 11 a.m. Saturday at the downtown pavilion. Winners of KSTK's past cook-offs will serve bowls of their winning chili for the fundraising event. The chili cook-off is a longstanding tradition in Wrangell, said Lucy Moline-Robinson, with the radio station. It started back in 2000, she said, when the station invited several residents to prepare a pot of chili and compete to see who could make the best....
There is a backlog at the driver's license and vehicle registration office in Wrangell, said Police Chief Tom Radke, but they are working their way down the list and hope to have things running smoothly in the near future. The office in the Public Safety Building on Zimovia Highway has been closed or otherwise inaccessible for several months, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and retirement of the only employee. The Division of Motor Vehicles office, a function of the state, is working its way through a backlog of appointments. Radke said there...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy said his administration will no longer respond to or participate in hearings led by Sen. Lora Reinbold, telling the fellow Republican in a withering letter Feb. 18 that she has used her position to “misrepresent” the state’s COVID-19 response and that her demands for information are “not based in fact.” Reinbold has criticized the governor’s pandemic disaster declarations and taken aim at health restrictions imposed by local governments, airlines and the Legislature, including mask requirements. She has used social medi...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Alaska public health officials said 58% of residents 65 and older have received at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination since distribution efforts began. State Epidemiologist Dr. Joe McLaughlin said the state hopes to move the process along faster as more contagious and potentially deadly strains of the coronavirus emerge. “Right now, it’s sort of a race against the variants to get people vaccinated,” McLaughlin said Feb. 17. Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink said the state wants more Alaskans 65 and olde...
Free asymptomatic COVID-19 testing will be available to all community members at Wrangell airport this weekend, starting Friday afternoon. In a Facebook post, the city announced that from 2 to 4:30 p.m. today, and from 10 a.m. to noon this Saturday and Sunday, the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium will offer free COVID-19 asymptomatic tests during Alaska Airlines arrivals and departures. The free testing is open to everybody, according to the city’s post, not just travelers. “People who have mild symptoms or who believe they may hav...
Independent travelers and passengers aboard small cruise ships are vital to Wrangell's tourism season, and they're exactly what the community is focusing on - regardless of Canada's decision to keep its waters closed to the larger cruise ships that come to Alaska. "We're moving forward with marketing to independent travelers ... it's huge for us," said Carol Rushmore, the borough's economic development director and head of the Wrangell Convention and Visitor Bureau. "The fact that we don't rely...
Wrangell is one of four school districts in the state to remain open all year through the COVID-19 pandemic, according to school officials. On top of providing a quality education, Alaska's more than 50 school districts have been tasked with keeping their students healthy during the pandemic. Wrangell is one of the few to accomplish this without any pandemic-forced closures, said Special Education Teacher and Teacher's Association President Ryan Howe. "Just about all the other schools, they...
Just shy of 20 months after the groundbreaking ceremony, the new $30 million Wrangell Medical Center is fully operational. The final department to relocate from the old quarters - emergency services - moved in last Friday. Long-term care residents moved in Sunday, said Hospital Administrator Leatha Merculieff. Departments began a staggered move from the old hospital, next to Evergreen Elementary School, to the new building on Wood Street in late January. There was a slight delay in moving he...
Up to $200 million in federal funding is available to help Alaskans who are having trouble paying their rent due to a loss of income during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Alaska Housing Finance Corp., a state agency, is running the assistance program. The corporation is using Alaska's share of federal aid for renters, as allocated under December's congressional pandemic relief legislation. The application period opened Tuesday and will close at 11:59 p.m. March 5. More than 15,000 Alaskans had...
