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It happens every year, but that doesn't make it any less special. This year's graduation ceremony will start at 7 p.m. Friday, May 16, at the high school gym. Though seating on the gym floor is reserved for graduates and their special guests, there should be plenty of bleacher seating available for anyone who wants to attend, said Kaelene Harrison, one of the organizers with the parents committee. The 15 high school seniors selected Jennifer Ludwigsen, the mom of graduating senior Trevyn...
It’s just a short block but it’s long been a challenge for drivers and the borough public works crew. Relief is in sight, with new underground water and sewage pipes, a new crushed-rock subbase and, most noticeably, new concrete pavement coming for the one-block stretch of St. Michaels Street from Church to Front streets. Borough staff expect to receive 100% complete drawings from the engineers by the end of this week, the last step to bidding out the project, Capital Projects Director Amber Al-Haddad reported to the assembly for its mee...
The Presbyterian Church, which has had an interest in the Garnet Ledge on the mainland across from Wrangell for 63 years, has turned over ownership to the Wrangell Cooperative Association. The rules will not change, only the owner. The 39-acre property has been reserved since 1962 for “the children of Wrangell” to collect garnets, which they sell to tourists and at shops around town. “If anyone goes up there to get garnets, they have to have kids,” said Sandy Churchill, a member of the WCA tribal council. The church, which managed the propert...
President Donald Trump’s budget proposal would cut funding by more than half for the Essential Air Service program, which has ensured daily jet service to Wrangell, Petersburg, Yakutat and Cordova for almost 50 years. The program covers 65 small communities in Alaska — which includes 11 in Southeast — and 112 communities in the Lower 48, Hawaii and Puerto Rico as of late last year. Congress created the Essential Air Service subsidy in 1978 to ensure a minimum level of service for communities that otherwise might receive no regularly scheduled f...
After 13 years with the Wrangell Cooperative Association, the past seven as tribal administrator, Esther Aaltséen Reese will leave in June to start her new job as chief operating officer for the Tlingit-Haida Regional Housing Authority. "Housing is the No. 1 need" across Southeast Alaska, Reese said in an interview on May 8. The nonprofit tribal agency's mission "is to connect Southeast Alaskans with sustainable housing opportunities and innovative financial solutions," particularly aimed at...
After losing more than $500,000 in federal funding, the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska has put on hold this year’s community food distribution of herring roe and salmon. The Southeast tribal nonprofit’s Traditional Foods Security Department had planned to use the money to continue the program, which over the past three years has distributed more than 52,000 pounds of herring roe on kelp, 120,000 pounds of salmon and 31,000 pounds of black cod to the tribe’s 21 recognized communities. Wrangell is among the commu...
The school board has narrowed down its search for a replacement for outgoing Superintendent Bill Burr to three finalists. The board scheduled a special meeting for Monday, May 12, “to act on the superintendent finalists and discuss interview dates,” according to the meeting announcement. The board approved the list of three finalists after a five-hour, closed-door session Wednesday, May 7: Joshua Garrett, Mark Lee and Frank Oakes. As of Monday afternoon, May 12, the board had not released any information on the finalists — such as the appli...
Krizz Kaliko is bringing his unique brand of hip-hop/country music - and some mental health talk - to town as part of the Wrangell Cooperative Association's Bouncing Back program. He will give two free concerts on Tuesday, May 20: a student-only performance at 2:30 p.m. at the high school, and a community show at 6:30 p.m., also at the high school. He will then participate in a roundtable mental health discussion with community elders, moderated by Peter Adams of the WCA, at the Nolan Center at...
There are no timelines to process grief and trauma, and the impacts of the deadly 2023 landslide in Wrangell continue to affect the community. To help, the Wrangell Cooperative Association received a federal grant and is making resources available through its new Bouncing Back program to address this reality, led by Peter Adams, director of crisis counseling. Adams, based in Kansas City, Missouri, was familiar with Wrangell through visits with the Team Hollywood sports presentations. When he...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy ramped up his threats to school districts on May 8 by declaring he will use his line-item power to reduce per-student funding in next year’s budget unless the Legislature passes his education policy priorities. The Republican governor issued his ultimatum during a Zoom call with school district superintendents. It comes after the Legislature passed House Bill 57 a week earlier, increasing the per-pupil base student allocation by more than 11%. The increase, if it survives, would generate more than $400,000 in additional s...
State senators issued warnings on May 7 as they approved a draft operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The Senate version of the spending bill, which includes an estimated $1,000 Permanent Fund dividend for eligible Alaskans and an increase for K-12 education, also cuts into state money for several services. The proposal would trim back proposed funding increases for early education programs, reduce funding for state prisons, eliminate the state’s office of citizenship assistance, mostly defund the state militia, reduce road maintenanc...
Every year is different for Wrangell High School students in the nationwide Close Up program, and this year had a couple of new high-tech highlights. Since the 1970s, the program has provided an opportunity for students to visit the nation's capital to learn about history, government, people and places. New York City was added to the itinerary for Wrangell students in 2008. Five high schoolers the last week of April toured Washington, D.C., including The People's House, which uses interactive...
Both chambers of the Alaska Legislature have approved a resolution stating its support for Canadian independence and opposing “restrictive trade measures or tolls” that would affect commerce between Alaska and Canada. House Joint Resolution 11, which will be sent to President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and other top officials in both countries, rejects Trump’s call to make Canada the 51st state in the United States. “Alaska recognizes the importance of a strong and sovereign nation of Canada and firmly supports Canada’s r...
The 15 seniors graduating this week are Johnny Allen, Adeline Andrews, Vanessa Barnes, Della Churchill, Ander Edens, Keaton Gadd, Trevyn Gillen, Daniel Harrison, Anika Herman, Max Lloyd, Lucas Schneider, Kyan Stead, Clara Waddington, Aubrey Wynne and Kayla Young. Fourteen took time from their already busy days to answer questions about what lies ahead for each. Here are their responses. Johnny Allen What's your favorite thing about going to school in Wrangell? "Going home." What's your advice...
Alaska’s largest tribal government marked its return after two years to the biggest statewide Alaska Native organization on May 6, with the tribal president declaring “unity is our greatest strength” during uncertain political times. The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska participated in an Alaska Federation of Natives board meeting, which occurred about two months after Interior Alaska’s major tribal consortium — the Tanana Chiefs Conference — also voted to rejoin AFN after a two-year absence. “Two years ago, th...
Four years after a federal appeals court eliminated Alaska’s limits on political campaign contributions, the Alaska House of Representatives has taken a step toward reimposing them. The House voted 22-18 on April 28 to approve House Bill 16, which mirrors the language of a ballot measure slated to go before voters in 2026. The bill moves next to the Senate, with the Legislature facing a May 21 adjournment deadline. Bills that don’t pass both chambers this session will still be alive for consideration next year. Alaskans are expected to approve...
A Washington state-based conservation group filed a lawsuit last week in an effort to speed up the federal government’s review of a proposal to list king salmon as threatened or endangered across the Gulf of Alaska. The Wild Fish Conservancy filed its lawsuit May 8 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., saying that the National Marine Fisheries Service had missed a 12-month deadline under the Endangered Species Act to decide on the conservancy’s proposal to list Gulf of Alaska king salmon. The conservancy, in its 17-page complaint, said it...
The state agency that owns the Ketchikan Shipyard wants to find a new operator quickly, hoping to avoid a work gap after deciding that the current contractor needs to vacate the facility this fall. But few specifics about the process for selecting a new operator, the transition timeline and prospects for current shipyard workers if there is a gap between operators were available May 4 during a nearly two-hour public meeting in Ketchikan hosted by the shipyard owner, the Alaska Industrial...
Mothers in Alaska’s northern and western regions are more likely than other Alaska mothers to give birth to preterm and underweight babies, and their travel from rural Alaska to get care in bigger communities is a factor that contributes to those outcomes, a study has found. The study, by researchers at the University of Alaska Anchorage, analyzes the more than 218,000 childbirths recorded in the state from 2000 to 2020. It revealed striking geographic disparities in the rates of preterm and very preterm births, defined respectively as b...
The Alaska Legislature has approved what would be the first measure to raise significant new state revenue in a decade. The measure, unless blocked by the governor, also would unlock a key section of the Legislature’s education funding bill. On May 7, the House voted 26-14 to update the corporate income tax for companies doing business over the internet. The revenue measure is tied to a provision of House Bill 57, a bipartisan education funding measure awaiting Gov. Dunleavy’s verdict. The Senate passed the bill on a 16-4 vote last month. Rep...
Tessa Hulls was making sandwiches in the Alaska Capitol when she learned she had won a Pulitzer Prize. Her book, "Feeding Ghosts," is a nonfiction graphic novel that documents three generations of women in her family, starting with her grandmother, who was a journalist at the time of the Chinese Communist Revolution. It had already won three national awards by the time the Pulitzer announcement came on May 5, placing her among America's top writers. She won for the category of memoir or...
For over two decades, Suquamish tribal member Joshua George has dived into the emerald waters of the Salish Sea north of Seattle, looking for an unusually phallic clam that's coveted thousands of miles away. George is a geoduck diver. Pronounced "gooey-duck," the world's largest burrowing clam has been harvested in tidelands by George's Indigenous ancestors in the Pacific Northwest since before Europeans arrived. In recent years it has also become a delicacy in China, with Washington state...
The school board has adopted a budget for the next school year that relies heavily on funds from two different reserve accounts to balance revenue with expenses. By withdrawing $976,000 from its operating reserves — just about emptying the longstanding account — and transferring $250,000 from its capital improvement projects reserves, the school district is able to cover its $5.98 million operating budget. The 2025-2026 spending plan includes two fewer full-time teaching positions than this year. Any increase in state funding for schools would...
The borough’s continuing work on its downtown waterfront master plan is ramping up after the community’s nearly 50-year-old freight barge landing was shut down. The assembly will hold a work session on the master plan at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 13, at the Nolan Center. The barge ramp, next to the City Dock, was closed down in mid-March after an engineering report detailed structural and safety concerns about the steel bridge and other components. The closure has prompted the borough to accelerate its quest for a permanent solution. The freight comp...
The chamber still needs volunteers - and sponsors - to run events at the town's multiday Fourth of July celebration. And there's just one big, bright, sparkly unknown. "The only worry is the fireworks," said Tracey Martin, executive director of the chamber of commerce, which organizes the holiday extravaganza. Wrangell no longer has a certified pyrotechnician to take charge of the fireworks. "Someone in the fire department is working on passing their state-proctored test so that they can do the...