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ANCHORAGE, (AP) – Alaska state officials will study a federal plan to lower carbon pollutant emissions before weighing in on its effects, according to a Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner spokesman. The Obama administration on Monday unveiled an initiative aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. power plants by 30 percent from 2005 levels. Emissions cuts vary by state. In Alaska, the plan calls for a cut of carbon pollutants by nearly 26 percent over the next 15 years. The draft rule is more than 600 pages l...
Scouts from Wrangell Boy Scout Troop 40 spent part of this week cleaning up trash along a one-and-a-quarter mile stretch of beach on Zarembo Island between Brown Point and Nesbitt Point. They off-loaded the garbage Friday. Assistant Scoutmaster Brennon Eagle, scouts Curtis Wimberley, Jonah Comstock and Kellan Eagle, and Scoutmaster Shirley Wimberly participated in the clean-up efforts, part of a $5,000 environmental grant to remove invasive species from Twin Lakes and maintenance near Roosevelt...
The Federal Subsistence Board has closed the May 15-June 20, 2014 subsistence Chinook salmon fishery on the Stikine River and delegated authority to the Wrangell District Ranger to reopen the fishery if the in-season Chinook salmon terminal area abundance estimate allows a directed fishery.The 2014 pre-season return estimate for the Stikine River is 26,000 Chinook salmon. The U.S./Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty stipulates that a directed Chinook salmon subsistence fishery is not authorized if the pre-season run estimate is less than 28,100 Chinoo...
Eight Wrangell nurses recently completed a course aimed at certifying them to better assist local trauma victims. The training is part of the ongoing hospital push to seek a level IV trauma certification for the Medical Center. Nursing Director Denise McPherson said the hospital is almost two-thirds of the way through the process of obtaining the certification, and the final review in preparation to receive the designation could happen in February 2015. Officials started the drive late last...
FAIRBANKS (AP) – State wildlife biologists have again killed dozens of bears in an effort to increase the number of available moose for subsistence hunters in part of the western Interior. The Department of Fish and Game said it's too early to draw firm conclusions about whether the Board of Game-endorsed predator-control effort is having the desired effect. But the department said data gathered this spring show a higher rate of moose-calf survival during the past year. More information is expected following surveys later this year. This was t...
JUNEAU (AP) – This year's U.S. Senate race in Alaska is the first major race here in the super PAC era. Independent expenditure groups, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, and other outside groups are running ads or reserving air time ahead of the Aug. 19 primary. In the lead-up to this year's elections, The Associated Press will publish an occasional list featuring the positions of the highest-profile Alaska U.S. Senate candidates on different issues. The subject this time is the outside money being spent on the race. All t...
ANCHORAGE (AP) – An Alaska state senator says she's withdrawing from the race for lieutenant governor, a move that appears to leave Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan alone in the Republican primary. The Anchorage Daily News reports that Sen. Lesil McGuire on Monday cited concerns about how the race would interfere with her family life. McGuire also said she thought she could be more effective in the Senate. McGuire and Sullivan had been vying to be Gov. Sean Parnell's running mate later this year. Parnell is not expected to face any real pr...
KENAI, Alaska (AP) – The cost of battling the 300-square mile Funny River wildfire has climbed to $6.1 million. Fire operations cost $1.13 million and $1.05 million a day at its peak last Saturday and Sunday, according to financial data from the Alaska Interagency Incident Management team. That figure has since fallen to about $750,000 a day by Tuesday. Nearly one-quarter of operational costs have been spent on air support for the ground crews, including the costs of fire retardant, helicopter support, water-scooping planes and fixed-wing a...
Sentinel writer The first boat to come out of the water was named for the patron saint of lost causes. The new $1.3-million giant red boat lift pulled the Ketchikan-ported fishing tender St. Jude out of the water Saturday. Estimates of the 100-foot by 24-foot boat's weight range between 121 tons and 189 tons. The lower end of that range would have put the boat within the lifting capacity of the other machine, however, a weight reading of 198 tons meant harbor officials put the ASCOM lift in play...
Teachers and school board members gathered at the Elks Lodge May 22 to honor four retiring teachers, an administrator, and a middle school secretary. While the retirement banquet punctuates the end of an accumulated century of teaching experience, many of the schools personnel honored, like 30-year veteran teacher Dan Roope, said reality hadn't yet – and wouldn't yet – set in. "It doesn't seem real right now," he said. "One of the nice things about teaching is that you get to go to some oth...
The perennial Brian Gilbert Memorial Golf Tournament and accompanying auction took in $49,000 over the weekend. The tournament and awards banquet held Friday and Saturday, is the Wrangell Medical Center Foundation's largest single annual fundraiser. That amount doesn't include expenses, according to Kris Reed, who tracks the fundraiser's figures. Of money raised, 28 sponsors pledged $25,825, or more than half. While the number of sponsors was the largest number ever, their contributions missed b...
Authorities charged Chloe “Coco” Massin in connection with a February vehicle-pedestrian collision that landed a Wrangell man in the hospital, according to court documents. Massin, 55, of Wrangell, faces one count of assault in the first degree, leaving the scene of an accident without assisting the injured, driving under the influence, failing to provide immediate notice of an accident, and failure to carry proof of auto insurance. Massin pled not guilty to all charges April 23 before Judge Trevor Stevens, according to court documents. Acc...
According to news reports, a Tlingit hat sold for $365,000 on the auction block at Sotheby’s of New York May 21. The hat’s sale had been opposed by local Alaskan Natives and board members of the SEALAKSA corporation on the grounds that as a sacred at.óow object, it never should have left possession of the Wrangell Kiks.áadi clan in the first place. The hat was in the style of an Aleut hunting cap with Tlingit embossments and accents and was carved by master carver Wiliam Ukas, who carved the basis for the post office totem pole. An onlin...
How much land does a borough need? The answer may be a surprisingly large number. Wrangell is in the process of selecting 849 additional acres of land from a bevvy of local sites on Wrangell island, other nearby islands, and the mainland to complete a special issuance of 9,006 acres issued by the state legislature, according to Economic Development Officer Carol Rushmore. The borough had originally requested approximately 18,000 acres on legislative appeal after borough officials deemed the original selection amount inadequate, Rushmore said....
A shortage of workers willing to take on part time jobs has temporarily slowed plans for a spring cemetery cleanup. Officials had planned the cleanup in response to public criticism about the condition and size of graves, as well as standing borough ordinances preventing grave adornment outside of certain standards. However, city officials soon discovered how difficult it was to find the regular complement of two seasonal workers, much less the one or two additional workers officials had planned, according to borough manager Jeff Jabusch. The...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — A wildfire chewing through the forest in an Alaskan wildlife refuge has expanded in size, prompting authorities to order the evacuation of 1,000 structures, officials said. The massive fire in Alaska's Kenai Peninsula covered nearly 243 square miles (629 square kilometers) and was 30 percent contained, according to a posting Sunday night on the Alaska Interagency Incident Management Team's Facebook page. It was burning in the 1.9 million-acre (770,000 hectares) Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. The number of people told to f...
If you've ever looked in the mirror and idly thought you could be a star, this summer will give you an opportunity to put your money where your mouth is. Haley Reed, studying screenwriting at the University of Loyola-Marymount in Los Angeles, will use Wrangellites and Wrangell for the characters and setting of a short film shooting this summer. Prospective Clooneys or Blanchetts will need to commit to a four-day shooting schedule in late July, with between four and six hours spent on set each da...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — A wildfire in Alaska's Kenai Peninsula has grown to cover more than 193 square miles, but was only 20 percent contained as of Sunday morning, fire officials said. The Funny River Fire threatens about 150 cabins, vacation homes and year-round residences in three communities. Authorities have told people in those areas to be ready to leave but had not issued an evacuation order. The Funny River Fire burning in the 1.9-million-acre Kenai National Wildlife Refuge grew by about 42 square miles on Saturday. The size of the fire is n...
In the coming months, members of the hospital board’s building committee will start a push to update city officials and the public in detail about plans for a new hospital. The medical center’s nine-person building committee has spent the last several months reviewing existing plans for the hospital, and aims to bring those plans, as well as information about potential changes, to the borough assembly and staff, medical center CEO Marla Sanger told the hospital’s board of directors at their regular Wednesday meeting. Committee members inclu...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. June 4, 1914: Foreman S.S. Swening of the Stikine Trail was in town last Wednesday on business. When interviewed by the Sentinel man, he stated that the trail was complete to the lower end of Cottonwood Island, which makes some two miles of trail built. Mr. Swening states that they are now on one of the worst places along the entire route, as for the next mile the trail will have to be blasted through solid rock. Mr. Swening has changed his original plans somewhat and will bridge the first slough th...
The 17 graduates of the 2014 class of Wrangell High School will be headed as far away as Florida. In the coming years, they will study mathematics, combination welding, physics, art, and film. They will attend institutions as diverse as the Alaska Vocational Technical Center, Gonzaga University, and the Academy of Art University. Others will head out into the world to spread faith and good works. Regardless of academic direction, scholarship or not, they were all in the house Friday night for...
Preliminary budget figures show a looming $64,000 reduction in funding for the Nolan Center. The draft budget, released publicly for the first time May 13, and discussed in a budget workshop before the regular borough assembly meeting, also shows a possible five percent rate hike for electricity consumers in the borough, as well as two other looming concerns. The Nolan Trust board has told the borough that a reduction of $64,000 will be required to allow interest from the $2 million funding to continue at sustainable levels, according to a draf...
