Sorted by date Results 1780 - 1804 of 6232
The new election system approved by Alaska voters in 2020 will get an unexpected first test this summer with a special election to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Congressman Don Young, Alaska’s sole member in the U.S. House of Representatives. Alaskans will pick a temporary replacement for Young using a top-four special primary election and a special ranked-choice general election. The prospect is adding a historic extra dimension to what was already expected to be a major year in Alaska politics. Alaska hasn’t had a statewide spe...
For the first time in more than a decade, Wrangell has a state child protection services caseworker. Jennifer Ridgeway was the Office of Children's Services worker in Petersburg from October 2021 until February, when she transferred to Wrangell. She first visited Wrangell from Tennessee in July 2018 to officiate and attend her daughter's wedding, according to a release from the state. She had no plans to move but loved the area and moved to Wrangell that fall. "Southeast Alaska offers so much...
With 1,153 boxes of two tests each piled up at the fire hall, there were enough COVID-19 self-tests available as of last Friday for more than the entire population of Wrangell to check for the virus at home. The tests are still available for free, though it can be days in between requests, said Wrangell Fire Department Capt. Dorianne Sprehe last Friday. Initially, during the Omicron wave of infections that hit the country last fall, at-home test kits were in short supply. Eventually, supply caught up with demand, and now demand has fallen back...
If it wasn't for the carts at Muskeg Meadows, more golfers might be forced to walk between holes. One teen is making sure that's not the case when the course opens this year. High school senior Jimmy Baggen is working on providing maintenance for several of Muskeg's carts for his senior project, an idea that came to him because of his interest in golf and mechanics. Baggen has been interested in fixing cars (and carts) only for a couple of years after hanging out with a friend of the family who...
Options for television in Wrangell narrowed in mid-January when some DISH Network customers lost access to the Alaska affiliates for ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX when the provider switched satellites. After two months of calls to the satellite TV provider and technicians, a solution might finally be on the way. Kitty Angerman, who has been a DISH customer for more than 20 years, said when the channels disappeared from her menu she didn't think much of it because it's happened before. Unlike past...
The borough is requesting quotes for a second columbarium —a vault to hold urns with remains of the deceased — that would be added at Sunset Gardens cemetery. Borough Clerk Kim Lane reported on the issue for the borough assembly’s Tuesday meeting. She said she is hopeful the borough can get the additional columbarium installed in the upcoming fiscal year that starts July 1. “Although we have 17 available niches in the existing columbarium, I still believe that it’s important to get another one in place,” she wrote of the need for more spaces...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association announced the four winning candidates from its March 8 tribal council election. Results posted March 9 show Frank Churchill Jr., Heidi Armstrong, Edward Rilatos and Lavina “Lovey” Brock were elected to the eight-member council, which also consists of Xúns', Richard Oliver; Michelle Clark; Jason Clark; and AAnshaawasnook, Lue Knapp, speaker of the Naanyaa.aayí clan house. Elections are held every year, and each councilmember serves a two-year term, Councilmember Knapp said Monday. Brock, Churchill Jr. and R...
With lower enrollment creating ongoing revenue shortfalls, the school district is seeking solutions and resources to close the persistent gap — particularly as one-time federal pandemic aid money will run out in two years. On March 7, members of the school board and district employees met with the borough assembly to present what district Business Manager Tammy Stromberg referred to as Version 1.5 of the budget. The work session lasted nearly two hours and consisted of an exchange of ideas and positive remarks as the process moves forward. ...
The state has started negotiations to sell the Malaspina to a company owned by a business that operates a new multimillion-dollar cruise ship terminal at Ward Cove in Ketchikan. M/V Malaspina LLC and the Alaska Department of Transportation “have agreed to negotiate in good faith on the sale of the 59-year-old vessel,” the state announced Monday. “MVM’s letter of interest outlines a plan to use the Malaspina to showcase Alaska’s maritime history and support a Ketchikan-based tourism business,” the state said. “Among other uses, they propose...
Federal help for Wrangell’s ailing water delivery system will soon be flowing down the pipeline. Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced on Friday that the borough would be among the communities sharing in $230 million directed to Alaska projects in the $1.5 trillion federal budget bill sent to the president for signature into law. Wrangell will be receiving $2.08 million to build a pipeline connection between the upper reservoir and water treatment plant. “Currently, we can only draw water off the lower reservoir,” said Tom Wetor, public works direc...
A process that has dragged on for years for the borough to receive full ownership of about 9,000 acres of state land has reached another step. The borough, which has already received the patent for its state lands selection of 2,000 acres on Zarembo Island, Zoning Administrator Carol Rushmore said March 7, has received from the state “survey status” of all the other entitlement parcels. Only the 2,500-acre Sunny Bay parcel south of Deer Island has been surveyed by the Department of Natural Resources. Final transfer of the lands from the sta...
After a 30-month absence due to a new federal requirement for armed customs agents and the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown of Canadian waters, the Alaska Marine Highway System is scheduled to resume limited service this summer to Prince Rupert, British Columbia. The Matanuska is scheduled for two stops each month in June, July and August, and one visit in September before the ferry system switches over to its more limited fall/winter schedule, which is still being developed. The first sailing from Ketchikan to Prince Rupert is set for June 20....
Raven learned the hard way that you don't mess with women. High school and middle school students performed a shadowbox play of "Koodigwási Shaawát (Fogwoman)" on March 8 in honor of Women's History Month and Elizabeth Peratrovich Day, illustrating stories of strength and resolve. By the end of the play, the character Raven was alone and hungry due to the treatment of the woman he loved. "The moral of the story was, don't hit your wife," said Xwaanlein, Virginia Oliver, Tlingit language t...
The U.S. Census Bureau and Alaska Department of Labor both say Wrangell has lost population, though the numbers don’t match other statistics. The Census Bureau last year said the community lost 242 residents, about 11%, between the 2010 and 2020 counts, going from 2,369 to 2,127 residents. The state Labor Department said Wrangell’s population loss was even steeper, down 14% from July 2011 to July 2021 estimates, falling from 2,412 to 2,096, according to this month’s issue of Alaska Economic Trends magazine. Census numbers and state estim...
It's hard to pin down senior Jake Eastaugh. Between a full schedule of work and school, the 18-year-old found time to complete his senior project by combining it with something he loves: Wrestling. "I was putting my project off for too long," he said. Head wrestling coach Jef Rooney asked Eastaugh if he'd be interest in coaching the Wolfpack Wrestling program for his project. "I took his offer, been doing it and it's actually a lot of fun." Eastaugh was having so much fun, in fact, that he kept...
Sunlight streamed in through the windows of the Wrangell Senior Center where a handful of elders gathered after lunch last Wednesday to play bingo until "blackout" - the second such gathering since the center reopened to group activities after pandemic safety measures eased in light of declining case counts. Lunch wrapped up early, so the game began at about 12:30, with Solvay Gillen, site manager, calling out letter and number combinations. The bingo cards were well-loved, American Legion Auxil...
It’s looking like April for archeological field work to start at the former Institute property — or so the borough hopes — as it awaits a response from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State Historic Preservation Office on a draft plan submitted March 3. The borough last September tasked Ketchikan-based R&M Engineering to help it figure out a plan for searching the former Native boarding school site for any human remains or cultural artifacts. The Bureau of Indian Affairs operated the school 1932 to 1975. The federal government in Ju...
Regard Recovery Centers, a Fort Lauderdale-based for-profit substance abuse treatment chain that has expressed interest in the former Wrangell hospital, has been waiting on a commercial appraisal of the building — and last week the borough said it’s found a company to do the work. The borough is paying Anchorage-based Reliant $42,000 to appraise the value of the former hospital building as well as the former sawmill site at 6.5 Mile Zimovia Highway, Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore said last Thursday. “The hospital appraisal quote...
Wrangell once again has a deputy magistrate for the first time in just over a year. The post hasn't been filled since Leanna Nash retired in January 2021 after 22 years. Sheri LaDawn Ridgeway was sworn in via Zoom last Friday by state Superior Court Judge Amy Mead, of Juneau, the presiding judge for Southeast, and she will handle a mix of duties from ruling on minor traffic offenses to acting as justice of the peace. Ridgeway, the state's lone court employee in Wrangell, has worked as a clerk in...
The parks and recreation department wants to hire and retain lifeguards at the pool, and is asking the borough assembly to amend the current wage classification so as to offer more competitive salaries. People shy away, Director Kate Thomas said, because the pay is low compared to the rest of Southeast, or anywhere else in Alaska, to do what is potentially a liability-incurring job — monitor the pool and dive in to help if someone is in danger. The jobs are part time. The current starting wage for lifeguards and recreation assistants is $...
The borough released its updated cruise ship calendar on March 9, with ships reflecting a capacity for 18,777 passengers this summer, up from 17,170 in a Jan. 19 draft calendar. That’s an increase of 1,607 in berth capacity for potential visitors aboard cruise ships, or 9% since January. The bump reflects the addition of the Alaska Dream Cruises array of vessels heading to Wrangell — the 40-passenger Alaska Dream, 49-passenger Baranof Dream, 54-passenger Admiralty Dream, 74-passenger Chichagof Dream and 12-passenger Kruzof Explorer. Eco...
Applications are now being accepted for a federally funded financial assistance program for Alaska homeowners. Applications will be accepted through April 4 by the Alaska Housing Finance Corp., which is administering the $50 million program to help homeowners hurt by income loss the past two years due to the pandemic. As of last Friday, 13 Wrangell homeowners had preregistered for the program, out of almost 5,400 people statewide, according to Stacy Barnes, public affairs director at the agency. The aid can go toward eligible homeowners’ m...
Parks and Recreation Director Kate Thomas stands at the tidelands in front of City Park, where the borough plans to build a rock staircase and add a handrail to provide easier access to the waterfront. Thomas estimates the work may cost $2,000 to add the steps, which will blend in with the boulders that make up the naturally rocky shoreline. The department will look at what's left over in the budget from this fiscal year that ends June 30 or turn the page to the upcoming fiscal year to pay for...
The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium and the borough are negotiating another year of voluntary payment in lieu of taxes on the nonprofit’s property in town. SEARHC paid property taxes when the clinic and hospital were under construction, Finance Director Mason Villarma said March 2, even though those tribal-owned parcels are exempt from property taxes. Construction on the $30 million hospital started in 2019; the facility opened in February 2021. SEARHC paid $331,000 for the 2021 tax year. Payments in lieu of taxes, or PILTs, “are re...
The Forest Service is bulking up how many permits it issues to the Anan Wildlife Observatory in order to allow as many visitors to the site as people and bears can handle, while also protecting the habitat. And it has a mid-March start date for a contractor to tear down the existing observatory to put up a new one in time for the July 5 to Aug. 25 viewing season. The current limit is 60 permits a day during the season, District Recreation Staff Officer Tory Houser said Friday. That was implemented back in 2003. “So many people loved Anan and we...