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The failure of the U.S. House to reauthorize federal funding to assist rural communities with a lot of non-taxable federal land — such as the Tongass National Forest — presents a $550,000 challenge for the Wrangell School District and borough. If the new Congress doesn’t fix the problem, the district could have to further draw on its reserves, or the borough could have to take from its reserves to plug the gap, or a combination of the two. Or cut spending at the schools — the federal money represents about 10% of this year’s school district...
Close to 20 years ago, when I was working for the Anchorage Daily News, the paper was moving more aggressively into the online world, allowing readers to post comments at the end of news stories, opinion columns and letters to the editor for everyone to see. I thought that was a bad idea, opening up a free platform for people to spread and promote mistruths, half-truths and full-out falsehoods to tens of thousands of readers every day. Not to mention personal attacks on innocent people, accusations and hostile language. The problems would...
The Washington state developer who wants to turn the former 6-Mile mill property into a waste-burning operation to heat large-scale greenhouses said his next steps include lining up financing and making an offer to buy the land from the borough. Dale Borgford said he was heartened by the warm reception he received from the borough assembly, mayor and borough staff when he and his crew met with officials and toured the site last month. The Colville, Washington businessman has estimated the cost for developing the Wrangell project could total...
“Grease cake” is not a recipe for success in Public Works Director Tom Wetor’s kitchen. And there’s nothing completely handy and harmless about wiping up a mess and flushing it down the toilet. It all clogs up the pumps, screens and equipment at Wrangell’s sewage treatment plant. “It’s definitely a constant problem,” Wetor said, so much so that the borough sends out a reminder every year to residents about what not to dump into their sinks, tubs and toilets. “You’d be amazed at how those wipes clump together,” twisting into a rope around th...
Borough staff is working with an engineering team to finish up the design and specifications to put in streets and utilities for the second phase of the Alder Top Village (Keishangita.’aan) residential subdivision near Shoemaker Harbor. If the borough goes ahead with the project, the street and utility work could be put out to bid for 2025 construction. Phase II of the subdivision of borough-owned land would make available for sale 20 residential lots, adding to the 20 lots already planned for sale by online bidding and a lottery this coming s...
Anne Morrison, who is moving to Montana to be closer to family, has resigned her seat on the borough assembly. Applications to fill the vacancy will be accepted until Feb. 11, when the assembly is expected to appoint a successor to serve until the next municipal election in October. Anyone interested in serving on the assembly needs to submit a letter of interest to the borough clerk’s office by 3 p.m. Feb. 11. The assembly will consider the applicants and make an appointment at its regularly scheduled meeting that evening. A majority vote o...
There’s no reason to hide my praise for the Freedom Caucus, that rabble-rousing merry band of far-right conservatives who make trouble for congressional Republican leaders — and for the country. The hard-liners are willing to shut down government services to make a point, even when the point is dull and the public harm is sharp. They promote chaos to churn up their fundraising efforts. And they flock to social media like waterfowl flock to wetlands to feed — both leave the same kind of mess behind. But when the Freedom Caucus is right, they...
It’s been almost four months since an anchor line pulled up and bent the deepwater discharge pipe from Wrangell’s wastewater treatment plant, cutting off the outflow, but the repair work is going out for bid and the borough hopes to have everything back to normal by April. Borough crews will restore the normal flow through the buried discharge pipe near City Park just as soon as the contractor completes the underwater repairs, said Public Works Director Tom Wetor. Crews had dug up the pipe on the beach and cut into the line so that the tre...
The mayor convened the public workshop, inviting Washington state-based entrepreneur Dale Borgford to lay out for borough officials his plans to build biomass boilers that would burn trash from around Southeast to heat large commercial greenhouses at the site of the former 6-Mile mill. He also wants to build a plant capable of filling large plastic bottles with 40,000 gallons a day of clean water from a creek at the north end of the property, or from rainwater if the creek flow is insufficient. And his list includes a plant to turn fish waste...
The Alaska Marine Highway System has added Wi-Fi service for passengers aboard the state ferry Columbia - with other ships in the fleet to follow. The service, which initially will be free on the Columbia, started last month when the ship came out of a yearlong layup to take over the weekly run between Bellingham, Washington, and Southeast Alaska when the Kennicott was pulled for its own yearlong layup for new generators. The Columbia is the only state ferry serving Wrangell, with a northbound...
The borough has until 2030 to meet tighter state and federal water quality standards for its wastewater treatment plant discharge, and will use this year to determine the best way to kill more of the bacteria in the outflow. The Environmental Protection Agency renewed Wrangell’s wastewater discharge permit in November — along with permits for Haines, Skagway, Sitka, Ketchikan and Petersburg. The communities must make improvements to their treatment systems to reduce the levels of bacteria discharged into marine waters. In Wrangell, that lik...
The Irene Ingle Public Library, which has run a summer reading program for children for years, is turning a new page for 2025 — it is running a similar program for adults. There will be prizes for adults who fill in their book bingo card. The idea started with parents asking during the annual summer activity for children, “I wish you had an adult reading program,” said Sarah Scambler, library director. She talked with other librarians around the state, including the Anchorage public library which has run a bingo-card style reading chall...
Americans are changing their minds in record numbers. No, not about politics. People are pretty stubborn about that. And don’t look for Americans to change their minds about what they dislike — taxes, inflation, roof leaks and car repairs — or what they like —sweets, free Wi-Fi and airline miles on their credit cards. But take a look at the numbers and you’ll see that people change their minds about their online purchases more often than candidates change their positions on tough issues. Or, if you don’t want to pick on politicians...
The Wrangell Athletic Club succeeded in raising enough money in its first full year to repay the school district for the cost of sending students to state competition in the 2023-2024 school year. The all-volunteer nonprofit organization was created in late 2023 after the school district determined it could not afford to pay the expenses of students traveling to state competition and needed community fundraising to cover the bills. The costs totaled $25,042 for the 2023-2024 school year, which...
Southeast Alaska’s population is expected to drop 17% between 2023 and 2050, far more than any other region of the state, according to the latest projections, with Wrangell showing the steepest decline at 33%, from 2,039 residents in 2023 to 1,988 in July 2025, 1,845 in 2030 and down to 1,349 in 2050. Wrangell’s population has been in a steady decline since the timber industry started cutting back in the 1990s and the mill closed down permanently in 2008, and with deaths outnumbering births. The state’s latest projections are not based on an...
The CEO of a large health insurance provider was shot dead on the sidewalk in front of his New York City hotel in a planned killing and 57,000 people posted laughing emojis on the company’s Facebook page. When did murder become funny? Days after the Dec. 4 killing, the tone turned even uglier. “Wanted” posters started appearing in New York City, glued to light poles and traffic control boxes at street corners. But these posters were not searching for the murderer; they were threatening more violence against health care executives. “Heal...
The 18-year-old Marine Service Center, a mainstay of Wrangell’s waterfront economy, collects enough money in fees to cover its expenses — but there is nothing set aside to replace equipment, such as the boatlifts and hydraulic trailer that are essential to the operation. A 2022 economic analysis pointed out that if equipment replacement and other capital expenses were included in the math, the borough loses money on the service center. The port commission has started discussing possible rate increases to ensure there is sufficient money in a r...
Alaska Airlines has received a federal subsidy since 1976 to provide Wrangell with twice-daily jet service, and the mayor and chamber of commerce are rounding up community support to urge the government to issue a new contract after the current agreement expires in 2025. “I want to ensure it stays around,” Mayor Patty Gilbert said of her petition drive to show community support for Alaska Airlines under the U.S. Department of Transportation Essential Air Service program. Wrangell is one of 65 communities in Alaska — which includes 10 more...
Unbelievable as it may sound, the state is preparing to burn up more public dollars in the fire pit of the mythical Alaska North Slope gas pipeline. But unlike a real fire pit, which warms those who gather around, spending more money on a gas line dream will leave Alaskans in the cold and the state a little poorer. The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) last week decided in a bout of fiscal foolishness and pro-development fervor to put up $50 million to ensure the completion of engineering work on the line. It’s e...
Tidal Network is operating in its test mode, with about a dozen Wrangell households trying out the new wireless internet service provided by the Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Wrangell is the first location in Southeast to get the new service, which is funded by a federal grant for construction and later will be expanded across the region. During the testing phase, technicians will be “breaking it to fix it,” looking to maximize the signals’ range and finding the best system for managing the fiber optic and satel...
After distributing over 120 Thanksgiving food baskets — 20 more than last year — The Salvation Army has shifted into Christmas gear to share even more food, plus presents for children. “It’s a shame that we have to do it,” Salvation Army Capt. Chase Green said of the growing need for food assistance in town. But the community has responded with donations to fill the need, he said. Plans for fundraising and community assistance this month include a dinner Saturday, Dec. 7, at the Stikine Inn; the annual Red Kettles donations campaign; “Angel Tr...
No matter what President-elect Donald Trump may think about the far reach of his powers, only Santa is allowed to make the list of who is naughty or nice. Yet just as Santa Claus is coming to town, so is Trump. And while I expect most people can live with whichever one of Santa’s lists they fall into for holiday gifts, I suggest they’d better not cry and better not pout about Trump’s lists — I doubt it would matter. He seems determined to serve a holiday feast covered in a thick sauce of sweet revenge. The president-elect spent much of his cam...
As if the American public needed another reason to be cynical about their elected leaders. As if people needed one more reminder that justice isn’t equal, or that politicians can go back on their pledges. President Joe Biden on Sunday pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, wiping away federal criminal convictions on income tax and gun charges. That’s even though the president and his spokesperson said repeatedly this year that he would do no such thing. Donald Trump’s multiple pardons of crooks, cheats and liars in the final weeks of his first preside...
There’s still time for people to donate items for the American Legion Auxiliary’s Santa for Seniors program Gifts should be turned in by Dec. 16 for the annual sharing event, now in its fifth year. Auxiliary volunteers will deliver the gifts to residents at the long-term care facility at Wrangell Medical Center, most of the residents at Senior Apartments, and the town’s other older citizens who don’t have any family or are shut in at home and unable to get out, said Marilyn Mork, who helps to organize the program. “We want to help brighten...
Jeremy Bynum is transitioning from being a member of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly to his new job as state representative for Ketchikan, Metlakatla, Wrangell and Coffman Cove. He has a lot to do in the seven weeks before he is sworn in as a member of the state House when the Legislature convenes in Juneau on Jan. 21. He is looking for housing and for office staff; there will be orientation and training sessions for new lawmakers; there are legislative rules and procedures to learn; and...
