Sorted by date Results 751 - 775 of 1088
A groundbreaking ceremony was held next to the AICS clinic on Wood Street last Thursday, May 30, signifying the official beginning of construction of Wrangell's new hospital. Wrangell has been seeking a new hospital to replace the Wrangell Medical Center for some time now. The Southeast Alaska Health Consortium, SEARHC, acquired the medical center in 2018. Part of this acquisition deal was the construction of a new hospital. The new medical center, which will connect with the existing clinic,...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association held a "meeting of the association" last Wednesday, May 29. The cooperative association is Wrangell's governing body for tribal citizens. The meeting held a dual purpose: To introduce the public to the new tribal council, and to let the public know about several projects that are in the works. The WCA elected five new members to the tribal council in April. These are Christie Jamieson, Michelle Jenkins, Cori Robinson, Richard Oliver, and Lu Knapp. After introducing the council, and a prayer by Virginia...
The Wolverines have stayed one game ahead in their lead against the Cubs, the other major league team in Wrangell's little league. The teams met on Wednesday, May 29. It was a very high scoring game, with both teams making run after run. The Wolverines proved to have a stronger defensive game, however, and were able to keep the Cubs back a few points. The final score was 20-15, in favor of the Wolverines. The next game was on Monday, June 3. The Cubs made a strong start in the first inning,...
The Sharks, one of the three minor league teams in Wrangell's little league, finally won their first game of the season last week. The Sharks played two games last week, against the Bears and the Rays. The first game, on May 28, went heavily in the Bears' favor. The Bears have gone undefeated all season, and continued that track record last Tuesday. The final score for the game was 11-2. Things turned around, however, the following Thursday. The game opened with the Rays and the Sharks both maki...
rangell went on a water watch for a few weeks back in March. Due to a forecast of insufficient rainfall, and ongoing drought conditions across Southeast Alaska, a water watch has been declared once again. As part of the water watch, there will be a town hall meeting to discuss conservation efforts at the Nolan Center on June 12, at 6 p.m. This is a Stage I water watch, the lowest that city officials can declare. In a statement on the borough's website, city officials have requested that...
Wrangell Bible Baptist Church will be hosting their first annual "Kidz Blitz" this coming week, from June 10 to 14. The event is being organized by Tim and Missy Helton, the two Wrangellites behind the church's Eagle's Nest after-school program. The Heltons are putting together another children's event because, they said, they both feel like its an area they are especially called to. "We've been in ministry since 1995 with children," said Missy. "So it's been kind of one of our things." "We...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association and the Administration for Native Americans will hold a workshop for the community to discuss ways to improve healthcare, housing, and economic development in Wrangell. Ruby McMurren and her assistant, Talea Massin, have been working on creating an action plan tocombat the out-migration of tribal citizens since 2018, thanks to a grant from the ANA. Through a series of meetings with various community members, they determined that healthcare, housing, and...
During their second-to-last day of school, on May 22, Evergreen Elementary School held an awards ceremony to recognize several of their students. All of the classes, from first to fifth grade, gathered in the school gym for the ceremony. Principal Virginia Tulley gave the first award of the day to student Kasey Whitaker for having perfect attendance all year. "We only had one student who's attended every single day," she said. "Give him a round of applause, I mean that is something." After Whita...
The Rasmuson Foundation was created in 1955 as an organization to support Alaskan arts and culture, health, and social services, among other things. They do this through a number of different ways, including offering financial support to Alaskans in the form of grants and fellowships. According to their website, since their founding the foundation has made $400,000,000 charitable payments. Earlier this month, the Rasmuson Foundation brought together several creative Alaskan artists for their...
Sixteen students from Laura Davies' fifth grade class came together at the Nolan Center last Tuesday evening, May 21, to read persuasive speeches they had spent the past month working on. Communication and learning how to formulate and defend opinions is an important part of her classroom, Davies said in a previous interview. Each of her students were tasked with creating a persuasive speech, on a topic of their choice, and give an in-class presentation. She also allowed the kids to volunteer to...
Walking onstage to Queen's "We Will Rock You," 27 Evergreen Elementary's "rockstar" kindergarteners held a graduation ceremony of their own last Tuesday afternoon, May 21. The class of 2031, the year these kids will graduate from high school, is a fairly large group. The kindergarteners showed off what they had learned through the year, such as their ABCs, the days of the week, and months of the year. Kindergarten teacher Mikki Angerman talked about some of the things the kids learned beyond...
The local Forest Service Resource Advisory Committee (RAC), which covers the areas of Wrangell, Petersburg, and Kake, held a meeting last Saturday to discuss a variety of projects the Forest Service is considering in the near future. Among these projects is a Kaatslitaan culture camp. The idea for the culture camp was brought before the RAC by Wrangell resident and Alaska Native Virginia Oliver. The camp, she said, would be held in the summer where everybody could come together and learn sustainable harvesting practices, as well as native...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly held a long meeting last Tuesday evening, May 28. The meeting covered a wide variety of topics, from the city’s water management strategy to budget matters. First there was a workshop on the water management strategy. Wrangell and other communities faced a power crisis recently due to low water levels at Tyee and Swan Lake. Wrangell briefly went on a water watch in early March, as the reservoirs dropped to low levels. The U.S. Drought Monitor reports that the majority of Southeast Alaska is currently facing d...
Southeast Alaska construction company SECON has returned to Wrangell to do some road work. They were working in Wrangell last summer to renovate Evergreen Avenue, which runs from the ferry terminal past Petroglyph Beach, before transitioning into the Airport Road. These renovations included resurfacing the entire street and constructing a sidewalk along the road. This year, according to Project Manager Ralph Vigilante, SECON will be doing some extensive work on the other side of the airport loop, on Bennett Street and Airport Road itself....
It was more of the same for the little league's minor league division last week: The Sharks lost, the Bears won, and the Rays did both. The Rays faced off against the other two minor league teams last week, claiming a win and a loss. The first game, between the Rays and the Sharks, took place on Tuesday, May 21. The Sharks have had a rough season, still chasing after their first win. While they made four runs during the game, and showed a lot of grit on the field, it was not enough to keep up...
The Wolverines, one of the two major league teams in Wrangell Little League, took the lead over the Cubs last Wednesday, May 22. The two teams have been trading wins back and forth over the season, but the Wolverines are now 4-3 while the Cubs trail at 3-4. The game opened with the Wolverines making two runs, followed by another five in the second inning. The Cubs were unable to score in the first inning, but pulled out four runs in the second. The score stayed put at 7-4 for the third inning,...
Wrangell High School was packed with students, family, and friends of the class of 2019 last Friday night. Another school year had come to a close, and so had the high school careers of 16 seniors. The school's commons was filled with poster boards covered in pictures of the graduating students, and the gym was decorated in school colors and filled with extra seating. The commencement began rather traditionally, as most high school graduations do. The students walked out onto the stage to "Pomp...
The Wrangell Mariners' Memorial Board and the Wrangell Ministerial Association came together last Sunday to jointly host the annual blessing of the fleet. The event is a tradition honoring Wrangell's fishing fleet and maritime history, according to board president Jen Miller, and to send them out safely as the fishing season draws closer. She added that this was the first year the memorial board has been involved in the fleet blessing. The ministerial association has held blessings at various...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly sat down for a continuation of their ongoing series of budget workshops on Tuesday, May 14. The assembly has been putting together their FY 2019-2020 budget for the past month, and are getting closer to final approval of it. Each workshop has covered a different portion of Wrangell's facilities and their financial needs. Last week's meeting took a look at capital facilities maintenance and improvements. The capital facilities department is looking at a budget of...
The Fourth of July royalty contest is a longstanding tradition in Wrangell. Each summer, candidates looking to be named "king" and/or "queen" compete in a fundraising competition to support the city's fireworks show. Last year's competition saw three competitors. This year, however, there is only one person running for queen: Abigail Gerald. Gerald is a recent graduate of Wrangell High School. She said that she decided to run because it would be a fun way to support her community, as well as to...
Four members of the Wrangell Swim Club went to Anchorage last month, in late April, to compete in the Alaska Junior Olympics. Over the course of the four day meet, from April 25 to 28, 24 different teams from across the state competed. The Wrangell team collectively made 18 personal best times. Christina Johnson competed in the 10-years-old and younger category and made six personal bests. She took third place in the 50-yard breaststroke, fourth in the 100-yard butterfly, fourth in the 500-yard...
The Wrangell School Board met last Monday night, May 20, for one of their regularly scheduled meetings. One of the first items they covered was the final report of the school year from the student government. They heard updates about student activities, and what the kids have been up to their final few weeks of school before summer, or graduation, came around. The student government elected new leadership in their final meeting, held on May 7. Jing O'Brien was named president for the 2019-2020...
The Wrangell High School class of 2019 set up shop in the gym the afternoon of Tuesday, May 7, to give presentations on their community service projects. The projects are a requirement for graduation, according to Principal David Macri, worth about half a credit. The senior students, individually or in small groups, are supposed to spend at least 20 hours on a project or series of projects that help the wider community. Afterwards, they then put together a poster board reporting on what they...
The NRA Foundation recently gave a $14,500 grant to some local organizations for the purpose of gun range improvements. Kimberly Powell, the membership co-chair of the Wrangell Rod and Gun Club, said her group partnered with the Stikine Sportsmen's Association to write a grant seeking funds to improve the city's gun range. Powell wrote the grant on behalf of the association, she said. The money came from the Friends of the NRA Banquet that was held in Wrangell last November. Powell said that...
Renovations to Shoemaker Bay Harbor missed the substantial completion deadline last Friday, on May 17. Capital Facilities Director Amber Al-Haddad said that contractors were expected to have the renovations far enough along that boats could be docked in the harbor once again, while the rest of the project was completed. This did not happen, she said, and the whole project has been thrown off schedule "Their whole schedule has been pushed back," Al-Hadd said. "Everyone's really anxious to get...
