Sorted by date Results 926 - 950 of 1040
The Wrangell Parks and Rec Department hosted a workshop last Wednesday, May 27, to discuss their plans to reopen. The main Parks and Rec facility, housing the gym and swimming pool, closed on March 13 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that the state has been moving to reopen, the department is putting plans in place to do the same. Parks and Rec Director Kate Thomas explained in a presentation that they would be doing a soft opening, in line with state guidelines from phases three and...
Prior to their budget workshop on Tuesday evening the Wrangell Borough Assembly held an emergency meeting to pass an ordinance establishing quarantine requirements for out of state travelers. Emergency Ordinance No. 978, according to the agenda packet for the meeting, requires that travelers from outside of Alaska, or outside of the United States, quarantine for two weeks when they come to Wrangell. However, this quarantine can be bypassed if the traveler in question has proof of a negative...
On Wednesday, May 27, members of the Wrangell Unified Command met via videoconference to consolidate pandemic information and response from respective local organizations. Wrangell Medical Center (WMC) leadership commented on expansion of testing for select community organizations, while the City and Borough of Wrangell (CBW) Manager announced new cleaning supply stock and the potential purchase of an ambulance with CARES Act funding. Representatives from Emergency Medical Services (EMS),...
The COVID-19 pandemic has dominated our lives, and it has been the focus of Alaska leaders in an effort to slow the spread. However, I also want to begin focusing on what we will face once the pandemic subsides. Alaska has challenges different and greater than other states, such as the following declines in: the financial markets tied to the Permanent Fund, demand for seafood, the visitor industry, the rural healthcare system, and the oil industry. The Alaska economy cannot be rebuilt unless we...
Recycled fishing nets from Cordova will soon help launch a new clothing line by Grundens, the maker of the iconic foul weather gear “built by fishermen for fishermen for over a century.” The Copper River Watershed Project is “refreshing” its net recycling program underway for a decade that’s been backed by the Pacific Marine States Commission. Now, the program wants to broaden its base and stand on its own, said Shae Bowman, Watershed operations manager. “The vision with a new program is to create a self-sustaining recycling program tha...
In an effort to help local businesses stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, the City and Borough of Wrangell recently made a bulk order of hand sanitizer to distribute around town. Borough Clerk Kim Lane said they purchased 48 gallons of hand sanitizer from WESCO, a supply chains solutions company. Business owners were invited to stop by city hall last Thursday afternoon, May 28, to receive 16 oz. of hand sanitizer for their stores. Pictured here are city employees Lane (right) and Aleisha...
The Wrangell Borough assembly metTuesday evening, May 26, to host a workshop on the drawing-near Fourth of July. This was an initial discussion to talk about how Wrangell's famous Independence Day celebration might look this year, with the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing. "This is obviously a fairly important topic to Wrangell, our community is known for our fantastic Fourth of July, we all look forward to it every year," Mayor Steve Prysunka said. Prysunka and Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly, between their weekly COVID-19 update and a budget workshop last Thursday, met to discuss the possibility of small cruise ships visiting town this summer. Cruise season has been a topic of some concern amongst the community. Many ships have delayed or cancelled their planned stops in Wrangell in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A smaller cruise season means fewer tourists and will have a negative impact on Wrangell's economy. On the other hand, there are concerns...
To the Editor: To date, 100,000 Americans have succumbed to the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic. So far, Wrangell has been spared, largely due to our remote location and precautions taken by the town fathers and our governor, conscientious individuals devoted to the well-being of our town. How blessed we are to have them. Talk, talk, talk: meetings, broadcasts, work-sessions, notices posted on store fronts, newspaper articles, mandates, brainstorming, continually. It's all we hear. After a while, we...
Earlier this week, the Alaska Legislature met to appropriate COVID-19 relief funds. The State of Alaska received over $1 billion from the Federal Government through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Governor Dunleavy sent multiple revised proposals for how to spend that money within our current budget, and the Legislature approved that spending. Some specific allocations include: $290 million in grants to small businesses, $100 million for fishing industry relief, $45 million for K-12 education (with an additional...
As the COVID-19 pandemic has gone on, people have turned to technology to help stay in touch from a safe distance. The schools have been hosting lessons online, the borough assembly has been meeting via Zoom, and this coming Saturday the public is invited to see the winners of the virtual "Wrangell's Got Talent" show. The talent show has been put together by Wrangell's parks and recreation department. Lucy Robinson, with the department, said it was an idea they had to stay engaged with the...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly met Tuesday evening, May 26, for their regularly scheduled meeting. In the meeting, the assembly accepted the resignation of one of their members, Drew Larrabee. Larrabee turned in his resignation at the meeting, effective at the end of the evening, and will leave open an unexpired term on the borough assembly that lasts until this October. In his letter, he wrote that he regrets leaving his position in the middle of the budget season. However, he and his family...
Though it lacked the in-person fanfare of a typical graduation, the Wrangell High School Class of 2020 officially graduated last Friday evening, May 15. A small graduation ceremony was held on May 12, with seniors receiving their diplomas. A video stream was shown publicly on the 15th including slideshows of students, speeches from the faculty and student body. A parade through town was also organized after the video aired, where people could drive by the homes of the graduating students to...
The Reopen Wrangell Task Force hosted a roundtable discussion for local businesses last Friday afternoon, May 15, in regards to state mandates and how businesses will need to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the meeting, members of the task force gave brief presentations on state health mandates and safety mitigation plans. "I've been working with the local Emergency Operations Center for the last couple of months," said Jamie Roberts. "One of the duties I've been tasked with is staying...
The Wrangell Economic Development Committee met Tuesday afternoon, May 19, to workshop several financial assistance ideas they will be bringing before the borough assembly in the near future. With the COVID-19 pandemic ongoing, and the city expecting to receive money via the CARES Act to help with economic recovery, the committee has spent the past few meetings workshopping ways to assist people and businesses around the community. The committee had an extensive list of categories of financial a...
Graduating students of Wrangell High School, school staff, and other community members came together via web conference last week for senior awards night. During the web conference, graduating seniors were informed of scholarships they had won. "I'm excited to see who wins the awards today, and I want to remind you guys that even if you haven't applied for any scholarships yet there's still millions of dollars out there," Interim Principal Jack Carney said. "So if you don't win anything tonight...
The Wrangell School Board met via web conference last Monday, May 18 and heard of several unethical and potentially illegal things happening in the district. Another person said the district had a hostile work environment. David Macri was one of the speakers that evening. Macri was the district's former secondary school principal, before his resignation and being put on administrative leave in March of this year. Macri spoke in the meeting to say that there were several problems in the school...
Giving COVID relief funds to the seafood industry and stepping on the gas for offshore fish farming are two big takeaways from the executive orders and congressional packages coming out of the nation’s capital. Recent news that Alaska would receive $50 million from the $300 million fisheries relief funds in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was well received by industry stakeholders and it’s likely to be followed by more. A May 15 hearing called “COVID 19 impacts to American Fisheries and the Seafood Supply Chain...
As a way of saying "thank you" to medical professionals, first responders, and teachers for all their work during the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Guard flew over several Alaskan communities on Friday, May 15. Pictured here is one of two C-17's that flew past Wrangell's city dock that afternoon....
Construction of Wrangell's new hospital is continuing, despite some impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. According to an update supplied by Sondra Forrester, with SEARHC, the project has suffered from some small delays due to state and local travel mandates. Dawson Construction and SEARHC have worked with the city government to implement a "Coronavirus Site Response Plan" to help address community concerns. The plan was approved on April 3, and work crews began traveling back to Wrangell on April...
It was a relatively light meeting of the Wrangell Port Commission last Thursday evening, May 7. There was only one agenda item for the commission to consider, a request by GCI to relocate the landing for a submarine cable. The telecommunication company currently has a submarine cable come onto the beach next to the community garden area, near City Park. From there, according to the meeting's agenda packet, the cable hits aerial lines and goes to its hub building, and also leaves the beach area a...
Wrangell's Unified Command participated in their weekly conference call on Wednesday, May 6, to provide organizational updates on COVID-19 developments and changes in respective protocols. The City and Borough of Wrangell (CBW) mayor and manager were joined by Wrangell Medical Center (WMC) and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) leadership, as well as Tribal and Public Health representatives, to discuss Borough Assembly allocations, testing initiatives, and available community resources. Borough...
The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) recently administered COVID-19 tests on all staff at Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center (MEMC) and Wrangell Medical Center (WMC). Both hospitals utilized Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS) tents outside the respective facilities to safely conduct staff tests off-site. SEARHC recently received additional COVID-19 testing supply kits from the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage. Along with the recent addition of rapid test kits...
The Reopen Wrangell Task Force met last Monday afternoon to discuss ways the group can help local businesses make it through the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the first "in person" meeting of the task force, held out in the lawn by City Hall. Participants stayed socially distanced and wore face masks, while other members of the group participated via web conference. During the meeting, Jamie Roberts led a discussion about current state guidelines for reopening Alaska. The state announced "Phase...
Sales of Alaska’s most popular seafoods are being hit hard by markets upended by the coronavirus, but perhaps none is getting battered worse than halibut. Along with the big losses in the lucrative restaurant trade, Pacific halibut also is facing headwinds from increasing foreign imports. Starting three years ago, sales of fresh Pacific halibut to established markets on the east coast were toppled by a flood of less expensive fish flowing in primarily from eastern Canada. Trade data show that for 2019 through February 2020, total Canadian h...