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Face masks are going back on in several communities across Alaska as health officials continue urging people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The state reported more than 1,000 new cases of the coronavirus Friday through Tuesday, and almost 4,000 since mid-July, as the numbers have climbed to high-alert levels not seen since last January. Meanwhile, vaccination rates have not changed much, reaching 58% of all eligible Alaskans age 12 and older with at least one dose as of Tuesday, up from 57% a week ago. Alaska’s senior U.S. senator, Lisa M...
The Wrangell Borough has returned to requiring COVID-19 testing of unvaccinated travelers — locals and visitors — who arrive from out of state. The requirement had expired in June. The assembly approved the immediate reinstatement of testing at its July 27 meeting. The requirement will remain in place through Sept. 30. “Identifying positive cases through testing upon arrival from outside the state is still one of the most effective ways to keep the community safe from the virus being brought into town,” Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen wrote i...
Wrangell’s new schools superintendent wants to provide students as many choices as possible for learning, though he acknowledges it’s hard for the small district to provide in-person teaching for every subject students may want. Over time, that may mean more online classes, led by instructors outside Wrangell, said Bill Burr, who took over as schools superintendent on July 1, moving to Wrangell from the Delta/Greely School District in the Interior. Burr sees the potential for additional class subjects as a positive. “We want to give our student...
As if national campaigns haven't turned nasty enough in recent years, the billions of dollars at stake in political fundraising is making it worse. Yes, billions. Estimates are that spending nationwide on last year's presidential and congressional races totaled $14 billion - about double from four years earlier. That same $14 billion could have bought close to 100 school lunches for every student in America last year, kindergarten through high school senior. And that would have been a whole lot...
Using federal pandemic relief funds, the state has paid more than $162,000 toward past-due and future rent and utility bills in Wrangell, part of $85.2 million paid out on behalf of tenants across Alaska since early April. Of the 99 Wrangell households that applied for the aid program, which closed to applications in March, payments have gone out for 49, with 41 still in processing and seven ineligible or withdrawn, Stacy Barnes, public affairs director at the Alaska Housing Finance Corp., said last week. Priority was given to catching up on de...
The marine work is done and all that remains are the final shoreside connections and testing, and a new undersea power cable between Woronkofski and Vank islands will be ready to carry electricity. The cable repair barge that pulled up the broken line and laid down 3.5 miles of new cable has left, with the onshore work expected to take until about mid-August, Trey Acteson, chief executive officer of the Southeast Alaska Power Agency, said July 29. At its deepest, the crossing is about 700 feet,...
The Alaska Supreme Court has upheld the $20,000 fine imposed on a Metlakatla commercial fisherman who took coho salmon in 2014 in a closed area, without a state fisheries permit. In a 4-0 ruling, the justices rejected the appeal filed by the fisherman and the Metlakatla Indian Community, which had argued the state lacked jurisdiction in the waters around Alaska’s only Indian reserve. John Scudero Jr. was cited for three commercial fishing violations and fined $20,000 after a one-day trial in 2015. The U.S. Coast Guard in 2014 reported the v...
In an effort to stay within the sportfishing catch allocation, the state has ordered that nonresidents may not take king salmon anywhere in Southeast Alaska this month. The catch limit for residents will remain at generally one king in possession. Last week’s order took effect Sunday. The restriction on nonresident sportfishing probably will not mean too much to most visitors, said John Yeager, of Alaska Charters and Adventures. “I don’t think it’s a big surprise for anybody,” he said. The king run “is pretty well over.” From now into Septembe...
Wrangell’s half-dozen new COVID-19 cases July 15-27 are a small piece of a wave of infections spreading across Alaska, with more than 2,200 cases reported statewide during that same period. Most of the new cases are people who have not been vaccinated, state officials said. The hardest-hit communities have been Sitka, the Kenai Peninsula, Cordova, Anchorage, Fairbanks, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and Juneau, though almost all of Alaska is at high alert this week based on rising case counts. There were 95 COVID patients in Alaska hospitals a...
The borough’s plans to subdivide the former Wrangell Institute Native boarding school property will wait until a thorough inspection of the site is conducted for cultural artifacts and remains. “We are working with both the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and working with the tribe (Wrangell Cooperative Association),” to ensure the property is searched “before any activity takes place,” Mayor Steve Prysunka said last week. “It is incredibly sensitive that we do it really well,” Prysunka said. “What I care the most a...
Some of the key players in legislative efforts to reach a compromise on a long-term fiscal plan for the state — in addition to settling on an amount for this fall’s Permanent Fund dividend — say growing regional, political and economic differences, plus a large number of first-term legislators, make the effort harder. “To find a common ground means people have to give up something,” said Anchorage Sen. Natasha von Imhof. That compromise of spending versus revenues versus dividends has to add up to a solution that balances the checkbook...
The list of escalating Alaska political divides is growing faster than skunk cabbage in a rainforest. And it smells just as bad. The line-up for the political fight scorecard seems endless: Democrats versus Republicans, liberals versus conservatives, rural versus urban, sportfishing versus commercial versus charter fishing, full-dividend advocates versus fiscal restraint, tax advocates versus budget cutters. There are those who believe religion belongs in government and others who believe God...
Although the directional signs for each hole have not yet arrived, eager disc golf players are tossing their way through the 18-basket course at Muskeg Meadows. "People are playing, it's just not well marked yet," said Kristi Woodbury, board president for Muskeg Meadows Golf Course. After a couple of years of work, the baskets went in last fall, she said. The baskets were delayed by COVID-19. The manufacturing plant closed down at the start of the pandemic last March, pushing off delivery until...
Practice starts next week for the Wrangell High School swim team, which had its season cut short last year by pandemic restrictions. After a month of five-day-a-week practice, the team’s first swim meet is tentatively planned for the first weekend of September, in Ketchikan. And although the team has put 13 or 14 swimmers into the pool in past years, “this year I might have only eight swimmers,” said coach Jamie Roberts. Fewer students this coming school year is part of the reason, Roberts said. In addition, some swimmers also compete in cross...
As visitor travel to Alaska picks up strength, as residents participate in summer events, and as the pace of vaccinations slows down, the state’s COVID-19 case count is rising, prompting a return to high-alert status and warnings by health officials. The statewide case count has been climbing since mid-June, with Alaska health officials attributing the rise in part to the highly contagious delta variant first identified in Alaska in May. Sitka went on high alert last week, as did Anchorage. The Kenai Peninsula went to high alert on Monday a...
Wrangell would see one northbound ferry every other week during October and November, and one southbound ferry the other weeks in October and November under the draft winter schedule released by the Alaska Marine Highway System. That’s down significantly from the current summer schedule of one northbound and one southbound stop each week. “At what point do we just say, ‘We don’t have a ferry system anymore,’” Mayor Steve Prysunka said. “We just get these schedules that are horrendous in the fall.” The community received one northbound ferry in...
The COVID-19 case count among the 214 passengers and crew who were aboard the American Constellation’s Southeast Alaska cruise the second week of July has risen to 16, as the ship prepared this week to end its 10-day quarantine in Juneau and resume voyages. Of the 16, four isolated in Petersburg, which was where the first case was discovered on July 8, and a dozen in Juneau, the City and Borough of Juneau reported July 15. As of Monday, nine had recovered and seven people remained in isolation in Juneau, officials said. The 267-foot-long s...
Newspapers report what happened. Sure, we also report some of what will or may happen in the days ahead, but most of the Sentinel tells you what occurred last week in the community that may affect or interest you. By definition, it's old news by the time you get it in your mailbox or buy it at the store on Thursdays. It's not deliberately old, it's just a matter of timing. Publishing a weekly newspaper has its time and production constraints, which dictate how old the news is by the time we get...
Wrangell needs more foster homes for children. “A lot of people are afraid to even take that first step,” said Vena Talea Stough, a tribal family and youth services case worker in Wrangell with the Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Providing a safe home could be temporary, such as in an emergency, or a long-term relationship. “If something happens in the middle of the night, that kid would have someplace to go,” Stough said. “The need is great,” for more foster homes in town, she said. Children with family ties to Wra...
The owner of the former sawmill property at 6-Mile Zimovia Highway has been working with the borough since last year on an application to develop the site into an industrial subdivision, offering more than 32 acres for sale as individual lots. The property would include 24 lots, ranging in size from 0.36 to 2.36 acres, with 60-foot-wide roads and utilities serving the subdivision, which is zoned for waterfront development. “The preliminary (subdivision) plat has been conditionally approved,” said Carol Rushmore, borough zoning adm...
State officials say the highly contagious delta variant is likely driving the increase in COVID-19 cases reported in Alaska, plus the fact that more than 40% of Alaskans over the age of 12 still had not received at least their first vaccination shot as of last week. Sitka has reported its worst outbreak in seven months, with 20 new cases reported Tuesday. There were 51 active cases in the community and at least 15 people hospitalized as of Monday evening. Almost all of the recent cases in the community were among unvaccinated people. Sitka...
The first cruise ship to cancel runs through Southeast Alaska this summer due to COVID-19 cases on board is tied up in Juneau, waiting for the 10-day quarantine for the crew to end. The 267-foot American Constellation, which was carrying 162 passengers and a crew of 52, docked in Juneau last Saturday after a day earlier letting off several people in Petersburg for medical care and quarantine. Uninfected passengers flew home from Juneau, while the crew remains on board. “The three individuals who tested positive for COVID-19, along with their cl...
Could anything be more difficult than getting the Alaska Legislature to settle on a workable, affordable, sustainable fiscal plan for the state? Yes. Getting a clear majority of Alaskans to accept the reality and the need for a workable, affordable, sustainable fiscal plan for the state probably is more difficult - and yet it has to come first. Most legislators understand the numbers, even if they disagree or dislike the math and the choices. Many just need a permission slip from their...
Alaska lawmakers are scheduled to reconvene in another special session in just over two weeks to consider a long-term fiscal plan for the state — and to set the amount of this fall’s Permanent Fund dividend. The Aug. 2 start date for the special session could be delayed by legislative agreement with the governor, or the session could drag on all month. The dominating deadline will come sometime in September, when the Department of Revenue will need to know the amount of the PFD payment, which usually is issued the first week of October. Gov...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy used his veto power to thwart a legislative effort to boost the state ferry system budget. The governor cut almost $8.5 million from an overall appropriation of $190.7 million intended to cover the next 18 months of Alaska Marine Highway System operations. The veto scales back the budget closer to last year’s level on a 12-month basis and frustrates legislative attempts to restore some of the service cuts under the governor’s administration. This is the third budget Dunleavy has signed since he took office in December 201...