News / Wrangell
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 5355
By 
School board discusses potential cost savings with borough assembly
During the budget process next year, the school district will need to cut about $500,000 from its current $5.1 million operating budget to maintain financial sustainability as it prepares for the end of federal pandemic relief funding. This could mea...
Bigger cruise ships plan Wrangell stops for 2024-2025
Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Cunard Line — among the biggest names in Alaska summer cruises — have added Wrangell to some of their longer itineraries. The traditional seven-day Southeast Alaska cruises from Seattle or Vancouver,...
Borough moves closer to allowing more apartments in town
In an effort to make more housing available in the community, the planning and zoning commission has accepted a draft set of rules to allow the addition of a detached rental unit on the same lot as a single-family home. Such rentals currently are...
State will notify tour operators of Petroglyph Beach fees
A state parks official said staff shortages and lack of information about commercial tour operations led to the situation where the state didn’t realize until this summer that businesses were failing to register or pay the required permit fees to...
Borough seeks federal grant to cover shortfall on water plant project
The borough needs to fill a funding gap of almost $10 million before it can upgrade its water treatment plant. The new design would increase the plant’s water output and storage capacity to accommodate future growth. The low bid for construction...
Forest Service will work to lower cost of viewing platform for historic boat
The borough hopes to partner with the U.S. Forest Service to give the Chugach - a wooden Forest Service boat built in 1925 - an improved permanent home outside the Nolan Center, complete with a...
Scheib revs up new car detailing business
No matter how many muddy boots soil your car's seat or how many lattes you spill driving over the Case Avenue potholes, a new car detailing business in town can return your vehicle to mint condition....
Parks and Rec expands offerings with sign language classes
The Parks and Recreation Department will offer American Sign Language classes next month for youth and adults. “We want to expand” what the department offers the community, said Devyn Johnson. “My goal is to offer something for everyone,...
Wrangell walkers cover 5,500 miles and win Southeast trophy
Wrangell won a regional Parks and Recreation competition as local participants walked more than others in Southeast this summer. On average, Wrangell’s 22 participants in the challenge tallied 252 miles each — enough to walk from Juneau to...
School district looks for new activities director
The school district hopes to sign up a new activities director this week after the person handling the work moved on to another job in town. The activities director is a contract position — not a full-time or even part-time staff job — and handle...
School board race attracts two candidates for one seat
Voters on Oct. 3 will choose between incumbent Esther Aaltséen Reese and challenger John DeRuyter for a three-year term on the school board. It is the only one of five school board seats on this...
Michael Ottesen and Anne Morrison run for assembly unopposed
Two candidates will be running for two seats on the borough assembly in the municipal election Oct. 3 - Michael J. Ottesen and incumbent Anne Morrison. Barring a successful write-in campaign, both...
Gary Morrison unopposed for fourth port commission term
Gary Morrison is running unopposed for his fourth term on the port commission. He is seeking reelection so that he can support ongoing harbor projects and, he admits, "because no one else is doing...
State will require tour operators to pay fee for access to Petroglyph Beach
It appears that tour operators who bring visitors to Wrangell’s Petroglyph Beach will be required to pay a $350 annual fee to the state plus $6 per person starting next year. The fee for commercial use of a state park or historic site has been a pr...
Federal program will help borough develop plan for mill property
Wrangell is one of 64 communities nationwide selected for the first year of a new federal program called Thriving Communities, intended to help towns get a better shot at federal funds. In Wrangell’s case, the two-year effort will focus on...
Return traveler reunites with garnet seller after 34 years
A former garnet seller was reunited with one of her customers last week after 34 years. In 1989, Eva Lee Henderson traveled to Wrangell from Chicago for a ferry trip with a friend. During her roughly...
Borough goes to bid for corrosion-preventing anodes on Heritage Harbor pilings
The borough this week went out to bid for a contractor to supply and install corrosion-preventing aluminum anodes on the steel pilings at Heritage Harbor. The job is estimated at $1.5 million. The plan is for the contractor to start work in February...
Forest Service now requires annual parking tags at Zarembo Island lot
The Zarembo Island parking lot is free, as are the tags to put on the windshield. What’s changing is that the U.S. Forest Service now wants people to get a new tag each year so that the agency can keep better track of vehicles left at the...
Moose hunting season opens Friday; harvest expected similar to last year
Wrangell-Petersburg area hunters took 118 moose last year and a similar harvest is expected this year. Harvest levels have remained fairly constant in recent years, area game biologist Frank Robbins said last week. The season opens Friday, Sept. 15,...
State challenges federal roadless rule for Tongass
A legal challenge by the state to the Biden administration’s reinstatement of the roadless rule, banning logging and road building on more than nine million acres in the Tongass National Forest, was filed Friday, Sept. 8, in federal court. The...
New booster club to raise money for student athletics
About 20 years ago, a booster club helped raise money for the community’s youth athletics, but the organization has since shut down. Now, a new fundraising organization is about to step up to support student athletes — the Wrangell Athletic Club...
Parks conference includes opportunities for locals to help and participate
Community members have a couple of ways to participate in the Alaska Recreation & Parks Association conference that is coming to town Sept. 19-22. One way is to donate artwork and handmade crafts for a fundraising auction. Another is to sign up for...
Parks and Rec invites people to learn more about pollinators with an app
Parks and Recreation is inviting people during the month of September to participate in something new — a BioBlitz community event — to create an online snapshot of the variety of pollinator wildlife that can be found in Wrangell. It’s part of...
Clan objects return to Wrangell after nearly a century away
Members of the Tlingit community gathered outside the Wrangell airport last Friday while chests carrying four objects -a mudshark hat, a mudshark tunic, a blanket and a blanket with a killer whale...
School district applies for state money to repair aging buildings
The school district has submitted its application for a spot on the Alaska Department of Education’s list of schools in need of major repair and rebuilding grants. The department reviews and lists projects from across Alaska in order of priority,...
