Wrangell Sentinel -

“Let me take you to one of my favorite places in Alaska that you’ve probably never heard of,” Danielle Marie Lister says in a recent Instagram video. Lister wears black bibs, a purple down jacket and thick white boots as she skips along the Haine...

The Alaska Marine Highway System’s ongoing crew shortage has eased up for entry-level steward positions but remains a significant problem in the wheelhouse and for engineers, likely keeping the Kennicott out of service again this summer. As of M...

Alaska Department of Public Safety Commissioner James Cockrell told lawmakers on Feb. 6 that he doesn’t know how the state can justify the relative lack of resources it has provided to rural Alaska. “Since statehood, the state has followed a fal... Full story

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...

Numerous challenges are stopping the resumption of Alaska Marine Highway service to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, the ferry system’s director said at a conference of Southeast officials last week. During a Southeast Conference transportation s...

A new Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly resolution urges residents to own weapons and ammunition to compensate for limited local law enforcement in Alaska’s fastest-growing region. The action, which doesn’t have the power of law, reflects ong...

The borough assembly has declared as “hazardous” and assigned a property value of zero to the two lots owned by victims of the deadly Nov. 20 landslide at 11-Mile Zimovia Highway, making the owners eligible to possibly receive state land as rep...

What if prized rare earth elements could be extracted from seaweed, avoiding the need to dig into the ground for the materials used in technology and renewable-energy equipment? That question will be addressed by a new project to examine whether... Full story

Partisan politics itself is not evil. Disruptive, yes. Phony, certainly. Shortsighted, no doubt about it. On its own, partisanship is a childish game played by adults who care more about headlines, fundraising and winning elections than anything...

With the rusty Matanuska out of service pending repairs, the Kennicott scheduled for tie-up due to lack of crew and the Tazlina in the shipyard to add crew quarters, the state ferry system’s draft summer 2024 schedule is limited by the number of v...

The state ferry system has hired more crew members than have left the agency over the past four months, Marine Director Craig Tornga told a public advisory board on Friday, Dec. 1, a rarity for the system which has been plagued by a net outflow of...

The 50-year-old state ferry Columbia has been pulled from service, with the Alaska Marine Highway System reporting repairs is expected to take a week. The problem is in the steering system, Sam Dapcevich, spokesman for the Alaska Department of...

For the next week, Alaskans have a chance to register their opinions on the future of the state ferry system through an online survey that will be used to help create a long-range plan. The survey responses will be used over the next year to craft...

We’re all happy to have the administration’s winter schedule for the Southeast ferry system. However, there are a few downsides. The first is the exception noted in the Columbia’s schedule, which leaves several communities without service in Novem...

The state wants to send the Matanuska, the oldest vessel in the Alaska Marine Highway System fleet, into a shipyard for the equivalent of a full-body scan. Management wants to find out just how much of the ship’s steel has rusted, and how far the r...

A board appointed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy has decided in favor of a new state regulation that would ban transgender girls from participation in high school girls sports. The decision by the state board of education on Thursday, Aug. 31, came less than...

Age is a major issue behind the Alaska Marine Highway System’s pending master plan, which will go to state legislators this month. The state ferry Columbia, which turns 50 next year, had been sidelined at the Ketchikan ferry dock for about three y...

The state needs a new mainline ferry more than ever. The Alaska Marine Highway System is running out of operable ships, further driving away travelers. The scarcity of service makes it hard on locals and even harder on summer visitors, who find the...

Alaska’s state school board has unexpectedly delayed a vote on a proposed regulation that would prohibit transgender girls from playing on girls high school sports teams. Board chairman James Fields said the delay was warranted by “hard que... Full story

Wrangell will go without any southbound ferry service in alternating weeks from Oct. 1 to mid-November under the Alaska Marine Highway System’s draft fall/winter schedule. The town is on the schedule for its usual weekly northbound stop during t...

The Alaska Marine Highway System, which five months ago embarked on improving its hiring process to address chronic crew shortages, is unable to say how many new employees it has hired since then. The push started after a consultant’s report in J...

A federal grant of nearly $3 million over five years will enable Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage to vastly expand its nursing-education programs, the university announced. The grant, from the U.S. Department of Labor, was one of 25 given to... Full story

The Hubbard pulled away from the dock at the Ketchikan Shipyard on May 18, headed for its first passenger sailing — more than four years after it was built at a cost of about $60 million. Carrying a crew of 24 — with newly installed sleeping qua...