Week of February 19, 2025
Week of February 19, 2025
Seven employees of the U.S. Forest Service Wrangell Ranger District were fired last week - more than one-quarter of the district's permanent staffing - as the Trump administration continues to slash the federal workforce. Further terminations in Wrangell are anticipated. In response to the terminations and uncertainty over who's next, community members organized a walk in solidarity with Forest Service employees last Friday. About 30 to 40 people showed up to support the fired workers. They...
The Alaska Marine Highway System has decided to cancel plans to replace the controllable-pitch propellers aboard the state ferry Columbia next year, opting to keep the 52-year-old ship in service until a replacement vessel is built. The propulsion system project was estimated in 2022 to cost as much as $20 million. The Columbia, the largest vessel in the fleet, serves the ferry system’s longest and most heavily traveled route between Bellingham, Washington, and Southeast Alaska. It had been scheduled to head into a shipyard for much of next...
Tidal Network is scheduled to break ground for construction of its first permanent wireless internet tower on Feb. 19. Tidal Network is the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida’s broadband internet service company. After receiving a $50 million federal grant to construct 20 towers across Southeast, the company pinpointed Wrangell as the host site for its first tower. The ceremony is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the 3-Mile location where the tower will be constructed. The “groundbreaking” ceremony will be mostly symbolic: Tidal Network...
The Wrangell Sentinel has a new front-page masthead and logo, honoring the history and culture of the Tlingit people. The new logo incorporates a representation of the Bear Up The Mountain Totem, with permission of the Naanya.aayi' clan. The new artwork replaces a different totem that had been part of the Sentinel for more than 50 years until last fall when it was deleted from the newspaper logo at the request of the clan. Bear Up The Mountain tells the story of how a bear led villagers up a...
In a series of hearings last week, members of the Alaska Legislature heard emotional testimony about the need for more education funding. As lawmakers consider the idea, it’s becoming increasingly clear within the Capitol that more funding for public schools will come at the expense of the Permanent Fund dividend. “The state of Alaska is probably facing its largest fiscal problem … in 30 years,” said Bethel Sen. Lyman Hoffman, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, on Feb. 11. Hoffman has been a legislator since 1987. Under the...
Dozens of Alaska students, parents and school board members from across the state visited the Legislature on Feb. 10, painting a picture of crowded classrooms, teacher shortages, agonizing school closures, loss of learning opportunities and uncertainty about the future. "We have cut and cut and cut, year after year after year, due to stagnant funding from the state," said Bobby Burgess, a school board member from Fairbanks. "We have trimmed the fat. We have cut into the flesh, and we are...
Almost one-quarter of the jobs in the state ferry system are unfilled, and the vacancy rate is highest among the positions that require the most training, Alaska Marine Highway System Director Craig Tornga told state lawmakers last week. Among wheelhouse positions, the vacancy rate is above 30%, he said at a House committee hearing on Feb. 11. The ferry system has been short crew for the past few years, limiting the number of vessels it can put into service and further eroding its passenger revenues. To operate the cross-gulf route between...
Passenger and vehicle traffic aboard the Alaska Marine Highway System moved slightly higher in 2024 from 2023, but still is less than half its peak from the early 1990s. The state ferries carried just over 185,000 passengers and about 65,000 vehicles last year on its routes stretching from Southeast to Prince William Sound and into several Gulf of Alaska coastal communities. That’s down from more than 400,000 passengers and 110,000 vehicles 1990-1992. And it’s down from more than 325,000 passengers as recently as the early 2010s. Marine...
Mass layoffs in the federal workforce ordered by President Donald Trump began to hit Alaska employees last week, with workers losing jobs at multiple agencies across the state. The scale of the Alaska layoffs wasn’t fully clear, but by Friday, Feb. 14, included around 30 Alaska employees at the U.S. Forest Service and 30 with the National Park Service, according to employees and union representatives. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said late Friday that “dozens of Alaskans — potentially over 100 in total” had lost their jobs, criticizing...
Southeast Alaska residents are used to choppy waters, so while they may be getting seasick over the waves of uncertainty in federal programs and funding stirred up by Donald Trump’s return to the White House, smoother sailing is on the horizon, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski told a conference of regional business and community leaders Feb. 11. A mix of uncertainty, optimism and concern about the Trump administration’s impacts on the region was expressed by other federal, state and industry officials participating in the opening day of Southeast...
In a 5-2 vote, the Alaska Board of Fisheries rejected a proposal to cut by 25% the allowable egg harvest for Southeast salmon hatcheries. The proposal, submitted by former board member and North Pole resident Virgil Umphenour, sought to “reduce the permitted egg take of pink and chum salmon of each applicable Southeast hatchery … by 25%.” The board voted Feb. 8, the next-to-last day of its 13-day meeting in Ketchikan. Similar proposals to significantly cut the egg harvest at Southeast hatcheries have come before the board at least four...
Wrangell Elks Lodge No. 1595 received $19,000 in state and national Elks funds which the lodge has distributed to four separate community programs. The grant funds were distributed to the school wrestling program, Senior Center, Parks and Recreation’s youth swim program, and for grocery gift cards for veterans and their families. The checks — and burgers — were presented at the Elks Club weekly burger night Thursday, Feb. 13. “The Wrangell Elks Lodge is proud to support these programs and more in our community,” said Dawn Angerman,...
Maylee Martin is working to line up financing to buy Tiny’s Taxi and its vehicle, but until that comes though she is offering to give people rides for a donation. Tiny’s Taxi closed down last month, and Martin stepped in to provide donation-only rides when and where she can, while working toward setting up her own business. Tiny’s was the only taxi service in Wrangell. “I’m just doing this until … I get the loan I need,” she said last week of her work with a financial institution under a state loan program. She plans to call her...
The borough assembly on Feb. 11 appointed Phillip Mach and Antonio Silva to fill vacancies on the assembly and port commission, respectively. Both terms will expire in October, when Mach and Silva will have the option to run in the municipal elections. Anne Morrison (assembly) and Gary Morrison (port commission) vacated the seats in January after announcing they plan on leaving town. Candidates needed to submit a letter of interest to City Hall to be eligible for the appointments. While Borough...
The borough assembly on Feb. 11 unanimously approved an ordinance to eliminate the need for the public to approve the sale of borough-owned assets valued at more than $1 million. The decision came after borough attorneys suggested the clause in Wrangell’s charter violated the state constitution, as it allowed the public to usurp the assembly’s appropriations powers. “From a legal standpoint,” borough attorney Rob Luce said, “it’s not good practice to leave … charter sections on the books that aren’t legal or aren’t...
Vaccinations successfully guarded children from pertussis, a respiratory disease also known as whooping cough, during last year’s spike in cases of the disease in Alaska, a new state report says. Unvaccinated children were more than 13 times as likely as vaccinated children to get the disease during the outbreak, according to a bulletin released by the Alaska Division of Public Health’s epidemiology section. There were more confirmed cases of pertussis in Alaska last year — over 500 — than in all the years from 2016 to 2023 combined,...
The number of nonresidents working in Alaska hit a new record in 2023 and all major industries are relying more heavily on workers who do not live in the state, according to the state Department of Labor. Nonresident workers in Alaska totaled 92,664 in 2023 and comprised 23.5% of the workforce, the highest percentage since 1995, according to an annual report published by the department that is mandated by state law. Typically, about one in five workers in Alaska is not a resident of the state, and certain seasonal industries, such as seafood...
Federal fishery managers took steps on Feb. 11 to impose new rules to prevent Alaska chum salmon from being scooped into nets that go after Bering Sea pollock, an industrial-scale fishery that produces the nation’s largest single-species commercial seafood harvest. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council advanced a suite of new protections intended to combat the pollock trawlers’ salmon bycatch, the term for the incidental catch of unintended species. Proposed steps in the package include numeric caps on total chum salmon bycatch,...
The high school boys varsity basketball team lost both nonconference games on a road trip to Mt. Edgecumbe High School on Feb. 14-15. The Wolves currently sit in a convincing second place in Southeast with a 6-2 record. Their only in-conference losses came at the hands of 8-0 Metlakatla earlier this season. While Wrangell will likely head into next month’s Southeast tournament as the No. 2 seed no matter what happens this weekend, the upcoming Friday and Saturday homestand against 0-8 Petersburg will be a good opportunity for Wrangell to...
The high school girls basketball team won the 15th annual Susitna Valley Crowley Classic, held in Talkeetna from Feb. 13-15. While the tournament did not contribute to Wrangell’s Southeast standing, the win will certainly instill some confidence ahead of the homecoming series against Petersburg this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 21-22. Alana Harrison, Alexis Easterly and Hailey Cook were named to the all-tournament team. Harrison was also named MVP of the tournament. Sophia Martinsen was awarded the Heart and Hustle award while Christina...
Feb. 19, 1925 During the past week there has been a stream of halibut boats putting into Wrangell for herring for bait. Ten days ago it was reported that the local cold storage plant had the only supply of bait in Southeast Alaska. Later herring was obtainable at Ketchikan and Sitka. A supply of herring was sent to Juneau from Wrangell on the Alameda. Feb. 17, 1950 An encouraging note this week is the quarterly report of sales tax collections for the quarter ended Dec. 31. Although down a little from the first quarter, which included the...
The hand-woven cedar bark hat valued at $1,500 that I happily donated for the Tasha Toombs Peterman fundraiser raised $5,400. We are Wrangell strong and we all do for each other. I am so proud to have helped Tasha. I could not have done it all without the help of Team Tasha: Fern Seimears, Lynn Allen and Christy Jamieson. Thank you for the overwhelming and generous support to everyone who bought tickets. Congratulations to the winner Trixie Kalkins-Bennet. Clara...
Monday, Feb. 10 Agency assist: Fire Department. Welfare check. Tuesday, Feb. 11 Agency assist. Paper service. Wednesday, Feb. 12 Animal complaint. Agency assist: Ambulance. Thursday, Feb. 13 Child abuse. Friday, Feb. 14 Agency assist: Public Works. Agency assist: Pretrial. Agency assist Line crew. Saturday, Feb. 15 Agency assist: Ambulance. Traffic stop: Verbal warning for speed. Motor vehicle accident. Sunday, Feb. 16 Civil matter. During this reporting period, there were four agency assists for the Hoonah Police...
As if years of political interference and, for many elected officials, disinterest weren’t enough to sink the Alaska Marine Highway System, rust and age could finish the job. Maybe the answer is some duct tape to keep the ships running just a little longer until they turn 65 years old and could qualify for Medicare. But that’s too long to wait — the marine highway needs urgent care. The ships are aging, which is a polite way of saying they are long past their prime and getting older and rustier. Salt water accelerates the process. The...
Amid all the upheaval in the nation’s capital — where the only certainty is that the Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln memorials haven’t been sold off — comes a new idea to help school children nationwide. Regardless of what anyone thinks of efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, cut funding for programs that encourage vaccinations of children or allow appointed federal officials to dictate what and how colleges should teach, there was news last week that could have long-lasting, positive impacts on students for years....
