The Alaska Senate has taken the first formal steps needed to reject some or all of the 12 executive orders Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued at the start of this year’s legislative session, including the order that would take away the Legislature’s aut... Full story

After coming up with no viable candidates in the first round of applications, the borough assembly has decided to readvertise to fill the manager job. The borough received seven applications after posting the job last fall, but the only applicant...

Alaska’s industrial development agency has sued the Biden administration in an attempt to revive its Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil and gas leases. The lawsuit filed Oct. 18 by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority alleges that... Full story

First-time candidate John DeRuyter won a three-year term on the school board in the only contested race in the Oct. 3 municipal election, which drew the fewest number of voters to the polls in years. The turnout was down 64% from last year’s e...

First-time candidate John DeRuyter defeated incumbent school board member Esther Aaltséen Reese in Tuesday’s municipal election. DeRuyter was ahead 115-76 after election-day ballots were counted. Borough officials will tally absentee and early vo... Full story

WASHINGTON — More than 50 years after the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act passed Congress, proposed legislation again seeks to resolve claims with so-called “landless” Alaska Natives from five Southeast Alaska communities that were left out o...

The borough’s Economic Development Board needs a new member to fill an open seat, and Kate Thomas, economic development director, hopes for “a creative, innovative type.” The board’s job is to come up with and review ideas to improve the town’s econo...

June 7, 1923 A much needed improvement at the school house is the storeroom that has been built in the basement, at the front of the building, by Supt. Gross. Since the re-arrangement of the interior of the building about five years ago, the school...

Alaska’s nurse shortage is widely acknowledged but there’s less consensus on how to manage solutions. A bill that aims to get nurses licensed and working faster by Alaska joining a 40-state nurse licensure coalition is mired in pushback. Hos... Full story

In light of the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce’s operating deficit over the past six years, it has sought to cut costs and find added revenues to continue the popular Fourth of July celebration. To that end, the chamber board of directors will be a...

Three-term Nikiski Rep. Ben Carpenter is right, the state needs a sustainable, long-term fiscal plan. Give him credit for raising the issue. Talk of a balanced fiscal plan has lingered since 1990 — before several of today’s legislators were even born...

Last Wednesday afternoon, Alaska’s junior U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan visited Wrangell to learn more about the community’s priorities and concerns. After meeting with municipal and tribal leadership and touring the island, Sullivan held a public for...

Alaskans will no longer need college degrees for most state jobs, under an administrative order issued Feb. 14 by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. The action is needed because of the labor shortage that affects Alaska and the nation, Dunleavy said in a... Full story

Gov. Mike Dunleavy made a smart decision last week when he issued an administrative order directing state personnel officials to review and change job requirements where appropriate so that applicants could more easily substitute “practical e...

Organizers are creating programs to start using a $49 million federal grant and $15 million in matching funds to grow Alaska’s shellfish and seaweed farming industry. The money will go toward a statewide effort, though more permit applications w...

The borough has been trying to get the old hospital property off its hands for the better part of a year. After a $360,000 price cut and months of languishing on a public surplus website, the property has attracted its first potential investors. Jim...

The borough assembly is moving toward lowering the asking price for the former Wrangell hospital by almost half and hiring a real estate agent to sell the property. The assembly at its Nov. 22 meeting accepted an ordinance to reduce the asking price...

In the Oct. 4 municipal election, Wrangell voters authorized the borough to sell or lease the 6-Mile mill site, a 39-acre parcel of land on Zimovia Highway. As they explore options for developing the land, borough officials will seek community...

Tourists often have fraught relationships with the communities they visit. In Costa Rica, tourists may swell the country’s gross domestic product, but when beaches are covered in suntanned travelers, sea turtles can’t access their nesting grounds. In...

Patty Gilbert was sworn in as mayor last Thursday, and in her first days in office plans to “(continue) the heavy work.” She hopes to revitalize the borough’s economic development committee, support local businesses and promote new ones. “It’l...

Sept. 7, 1922 A seaplane arrived here last night piloted by Roy Jones of Ketchikan. It alighted beautifully near the dock of the Alaska Sanitary Packing Co. Mr. Jones has made several flights today, taking up local people. Among those who have enjoye...

ANCHORAGE (AP) — An Alaska state corporation is the only remaining oil-and-gas leaseholder in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge after a second private company gave up its lease in the controversial area. Other than the state putting down m...

The Petersburg Borough Assembly has voted to write a letter opposing federal legislation that would transfer federal land to new Native corporations proposed for Petersburg, Wrangell, Haines, Ketchikan and Tenakee Springs. The assembly action was...