Sorted by date Results 626 - 650 of 1088
Southeast Conference, a regional organization consisting of 185 member organizations and people, was founded in 1958 to help promote the creation of the Alaska Marine Highway. On top of promoting the state ferry system, according to their website, Southeast Conference also advocates for economic development, local business, and healthy communities, among other things. The Southeast Conference held its annual meeting Sept. 18-20 in Sitka. For Assembly Member Mya DeLong, who attended the...
For many years, Alaskans have enjoyed a special sales tax exemption in the state of Washington. One Petersburg resident explained that when traveling in Washington, Alaska residents could show their driver's license and be exempt from sales tax on their purchases. According to the Washington state Department of Revenue, this exemption was open to nonresidents who were purchasing "tangible personal property, digital goods, and digital codes, for use outside this state [Washington]." The...
PACE, the statewide homeschool program, held a meet and greet at the Stikine Inn last Wednesday, Sept. 25. Jen Whicker, a contact teacher for PACE, said that the program has been around since 2001 and is one of 15 homeschool providers in the state. Currently, she said they serve about 310 students across Alaska. About 22 of those kids live in Wrangell. There are several reasons a family might consider homeschooling, she said. "Sometimes the schools have overcrowding, or kids feel bullied, or...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association held an award ceremony at Wrangell High School Monday evening, Sept. 30. Tribal Administrator Esther Ashton, along with several members of the WCA board, organized the ceremony to officially give several local organizations a check from the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium's "Healthy Is Here" grant. In total, $10,600 was given to 17 organizations. "The reason we're here today is that we received from SEARHC a Healthy Is Here grant," Ashton said....
The Wrangell Cross Country team traveled to Ketchikan last Saturday, Sept. 28, for the Region V Championships. The regional tournament saw a total of 17 teams participate. Wrangell ran in the Division III races, and made some strong showings. In the women's 5,000 meter run, Wrangell took third place, behind Haines in first and Petersburg in second. Of the seven Wrangell runners who participated, four achieved personal best times. First place for Wrangell, sixth overall, was Liana Carney at...
Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) Wrangell Medical Center’s (WMC) Cathy Gross, Registered Health Information Technician and WMC Performance Improvement Manager, has been named the 2019 winner of the Front-line Staff Outstanding Performance Award by the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association (ASHNHA). Gross was honored during the September 26 ASHNHA Annual Conference for her years of dedication to patient safety improvements at WMC. She was notified of the award on the first-ever World Patient Safety Day, S...
While the role of superintendent is always busy, it has been especially so for Debbe Lancaster this past week. Lancaster, superintendent of the Wrangell Public School District, recently attended the Alaska Superintendents Association conference in Fairbanks, from Sept. 25 to 28. The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development also recently released a new website, "The Compass," that lets people more easily compare schools across the state. The ASA Conference was an opportunity for...
The Wrangell Municipal Light & Power Department spent most of their day last Thursday, Sept. 19, moving one of their new generators into the power plant. Wrangell recently purchased two generators from the city of Nome to reinforce the department's power generation capabilities. Rod Rhoades, director, said that all of the city's generators are basically the "plan B" for emergency power. Wrangell's power needs sit between 8-9 megawatts, he said. The borough typically draws its power from Tyee...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly held a work session on top of their regular meeting Tuesday, Sept. 24. The work session was to discuss the Alaska Municipal Sales Tax Authority, a statewide entity that the Alaska Municipal League is currently working to organize. The tax authority is meant to act as the "clearinghouse" for tax collection from remote retailers, according to the agenda packet. For towns like Wrangell, only large online retailers like Amazon meet certain thresholds to collect and...
Sabina Schlotzhauer, at one month old, is one of Wrangell's newest residents. Born to Kassee and Curtis Schlotzhauer, Sabina is facing some medical issues. Kassee said in a Facebook message that Sabina suffers from HIE, or Hypoxic-ischemic Encephalopathy. According to the HIE Help Center, it is a form of brain damage that can occur in newborns when there is a shortage of oxygen in the bloodstream and a shortage of blood flow to the brain. There are a wide range of causes for HIE, according to...
The Lady Wolves, Wrangell High School's volleyball team, are gearing up for another season. They will be traveling a lot this year, according to the team's schedule, with only one home game scheduled against school rival Petersburg. Wrangell will also be hosting the regional tournament in November. The team consists of 11 girls this year, as well as some new leadership. Alyssa Allen is the Lady Wolves' new head coach and she is looking forward to the new season. Allen was the team's assistant...
Wrangell's swim team finally made it to their first meet in Juneau on Sept. 20 and 21 after a late start to their season due to budget constraints. They competed against six other schools, according to meet results from Coach Jamie Roberts. Friday results: Renee Roberts took 1st place in the 50-yard freestyle and 2nd in the 100-yard freestyle with a personal best of 1:28.34. Paige Baggen took 2nd in the 500-yard freestyle with a personal best of 7:35.25, and 10th in the 100-yard breaststroke....
The Wrangell Cross Country team travelled down to Ketchikan last Saturday for another meet. This was their final meet before regionals, which will take place in Sitka on Sept. 28. Coach Drew Larrabee said that all the athletes tied or broke their personal records at the meet. The girls' team took 6th place in the 5,000 meter varsity. The first Wrangell runner to cross the finish line was Jade Balansag, 20th overall, coming in at 21:57. Jamie Early was the second Wrangell runner to finish at...
The Wrangell School Board met early Monday evening, Sept. 23, to hold a work session on the results of the recent PEAKS tests. The Performance Evaluation for Alaska's Schools is an annual test that, according to the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, is designed to measure a student's understanding of the English language and mathematics. Students are given the PEAKS test from the third to ninth grade. The tests were administered this spring, and according to Superintendent...
Harbor House, the assisted living facility, closed its doors on Sept. 1. The facility opened in April of 2017 as a place for Wrangell's senior citizens to live, and also became a popular spot for haunted houses around Halloween. Before then, the building was known as the Sourdough Lodge. According to a 2017 article in the Wrangell Sentinel, Harbor House offered five assisted living rooms and an additional 11 rooms for senior housing. According to a letter sent to employees of Harbor House, the...
While the Wrangell Wolves wrestlers do not have their first meet until mid-October, they have already been hard at work getting ready for the new season. Both wrestling coaches, Jeff Rooney and Jack Carney, said that they are looking at a very talented team this year and are looking to build off of previous successes. "We won a Region Championship with eight scorers in 2016," he wrote in a Facebook message. "We also took second for 2A at State that year. This year, it looks like we'll have 13...
Wrangell's planning and zoning commission met last Thursday, Sept. 12. One of the big discussion items on the agenda was the potential rezoning of the old Institute property, by Shoemaker Harbor. The property was once the location of the Wrangell Institute, a boarding school for natives that opened its doors in 1932. During World War II, the Institute was used to relocate Aleut people, as well. The Institute closed in 1975, and was briefly used by the Young Adult Conservation Corps until 1980....
The Nolan Center, Wrangell's museum, convention center, and theater has announced a new monthly program for moviegoers young and old to enjoy. Starting Thursday, Sept. 19 at 6:30, the public is invited to "Throw Back Thursday" movie night. The monthly program will provide people with dinner and a nostalgic movie from days gone by. "It's something that Cyni [Crary] thought up when she first took over her director position last year, and once I came on as the manager here we were able to...
Members of the Parks and Recreation Department, the Wrangell Rod and Gun Club, The Stikine Sportsmen Association, and the Forest Service held a meeting last Wednesday, Sept. 11. The purpose of the meeting was to review some recent renovations to the outdoor gun range on Spur Road, and to discuss priorities for future improvements. Renovations to the gun range began back in May, thanks to a $14,500 grant from the NRA Foundation. According to a document passed out by Parks and Rec Director Kate...
After a recent shake-up that saw the loss of the Wrangell Senior Center's site manager, cook, and driver, the facility is working to get back to its normal routine under the new leadership of Tom Jenkins, the new site manager. The center is still looking for additional staff and volunteers, but there are some big things being planned for the future. Jenkins is originally from Tennessee, he said, and has a background in industrial building. He worked for the senior center in Haines for three...
Wrangell’s cross country team competed in the Craig High School Invitational this past weekend, continuing a trend of improving times from their past two meets. In the women’s 5,000 meter varsity run, Wrangell took third place just behind Ketchikan and Petersburg. Liana Carney was the first Wrangell runner to complete the race, coming in with a time of 21:27.39. Jade Balansag came in shortly afterward with a time of 22:15.27, her new personal record. Wrangell’s third-place runner was Jamie Early at 23:56.81, also a personal record. In the men’s...
State Wildlife Troopers Kyle Freeberg, of Wrangell, and Cody Litster, of Petersburg, set up shop in Wrangell's downtown pavilion last Sunday afternoon with several hunting regulation handbooks and racks of moose antlers. As many eager hunters across Southeast Alaska are aware, moose season opens on Sept. 15. This is a registration moose hunt, Freeberg said, so anybody wanting to hunt moose will have to be registered with the Department of Fish and Game. The bag limit is one bull moose, and many...
The Forest Service held a public meeting regarding the Central Tongass Project last week, Sept. 3. The purpose of the meeting was to share information on the project and its recently published draft environmental impact statement, and also to receive input from the public. The public did not show much interest that night, however, as the meeting only saw a few people stop by. Despite the low turnout, the meeting provided a lot of information on the Central Tongass Project to those who did show....
For many people in Southeast Alaska, mining operations in nearby British Columbia is a source of concern. While these mines are across the border in Canadian jurisdiction, many of them are located in the watersheds of rivers that cross back into Alaska. Should an accident or pollution occur at these mines, whatever flows downriver could have a major impact on the lives and livelihoods of many people, Canadian and Alaskan. Salmon Beyond Borders is one Southeast Alaskan organization campaigning to...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly met Tuesday, Sept. 10, to discuss, among several topics, the recent announcement that the Alaska Marine Highway System would stop traveling to and from Prince Rupert on Oct. 1. Mayor Steve Prysunka, who called into the meeting via teleconference, said that he has been in contact with the offices of Senator Lisa Murkowski and State Representative Dan Ortiz and has tried his best to stay on top of the situation. The reason for the closure, he explained, is that...
