Sorted by date Results 451 - 461 of 461
Finding an apartment or home to rent or buy is difficult in Wrangell, leaving many scrambling for a place to live. “Wrangell is extremely tight, plain and simple,” said Bennett McGrath, owner of Anchor Properties in Petersburg. McGrath’s business focuses on home sales in Wrangell, Petersburg and Sitka. Kathleen Harding with MoveToWrangell.com is the only agent based in Wrangell. A survey of landlords conducted by the state earlier this year showed no vacancies for one-bedroom apartments and homes in the Wrangell/Petersburg census area. In ad...
Judy Bakeberg loves baseball. Specifically, she loves the Seattle Mariners. She's been following the team since its inception in 1977, and she's been a fan of baseball since she was a child. Now the Wrangellite has been chosen as the Mariners' 2021 Ultimate Fan for Alaska, a title that comes with lots of perks and bragging rights. On Oct. 1, Bakeberg and her daughter, Leslie Cummings, will be flown to Seattle and treated to a two-night stay and fan celebration in a box suite at T-Mobile Park....
Social distancing and masking requirements will continue to stay in place at Wrangell public schools. At the school board meeting on Monday night, Superintendent Bill Burr updated board members on a change in some language in the district’s COVID-19 mitigation plan, but students and staff will still be required to wear masks and stay apart. The board in August agreed to review the mitigation plan and masking requirement monthly. “There were a few additions we had to [the mitigation plan],” Burr said Monday, which will ease the testing requi...
Despite intermittent downpours, the Wrangell High School boys' and girls' cross country teams took on several other runners in the first in-person meet of the season last Saturday. Forty-six girls and 69 boys from around Southeast competed in the soggy conditions, with Wrangell boys placing third as a team against 11 others, and the girls' team placing fifth out of nine in the 5-kilometer event. "The boys stuck together like we have been in practice, and they listened to me as I told them to...
Sometimes businesses can gain fresh insight with a new perspective. Just ask Terie Loomis, owner of Silver Liningz Boutique. In June, Loomis opened the doors on her Front Street shop down and across from where she'd been a few years earlier. On Labor Day, she was in the shop to gauge what traffic would be like on a day she's typically closed. Silver Liningz specializes strictly in women's apparel, carrying tops, jeans, dresses and intimate clothing, along with jewelry, accessories and other...
Brad Traxler is a walking miracle. One could go a step further and say he's a running miracle, literally. Ten years ago, at age 51, Traxler was in an auto collision near Belle Fourche, South Dakota, breaking his neck which left him a quadriplegic. Now, at 61, he's training to finish a 50-mile run in Daytona Beach, Florida. His doctors doubted Traxler would ever walk again. "They felt that if I ever walked again, it would only be with assistance," Traxler said. "Actually, in rehab, they figured...
It's a familiar storefront sight throughout Wrangell: "Help Wanted" signs placed in business windows. For various reasons, employers are having trouble filling positions. "We couldn't find someone to hire, even if we wanted to," said Jennifer Ludwigsen at the Totem Bar & Liquor Store, which is looking for extra workers. The business is currently down to three staff members, but finding new employees has been challenging. It isn't unique. "A lot, especially the larger businesses, the grocery stor...
I grew up in a small rural town in California where we played in the streets, kept our doors unlocked, built treehouses, and stayed out late until our parents called us in. That all changed over the years. Sure, I left the state here and there, but I always returned for family or just because it was familiar. With my children grown and moved away, I decided it was time to find a place that was more suited to my personality. Let’s not gloss over the fact that people in California’s Bay Area hav...
It’s looking to be a very good summer for pink salmon commercial fishing, much better than last year’s dismal catch. The pink harvest in Southeast was just over 44 million fish as of Sept. 3, over 50% more than the 28 million forecast issued after the 2020 season, according to the state’s preliminary commercial salmon harvest report. And more than five times the catch of last year. “For pink salmon, we’re around 40 million for the harvest for the Southeast region,” said Paul Salomone, a management biologist for the commercial fisheries d...
It's been quite a while since the Wrangell skeet range has had any improvements. That's about to change. The borough recently issued a request for bids to surface the parking area, a job it estimates will not take more than $50,000 to complete. That's only phase one of a potentially multi-phase project that will provide better access and make the site usable again. "The skeet range is just fallen into disrepair," said Amber Al-Haddad, capital facilities director for Wrangell. "The two houses -...
The Wrangell High School swim team traveled to Ketchikan this past weekend to compete in its first in-person meet in a year, as COVID-19 restrictions had relegated the team to virtual swim meets. In the two-day Ketchikan Invitational Swim Meet, the seven athletes from Wrangell swam against students from Juneau-Douglas and Thunder Mountain high schools in Juneau, Petersburg, Craig and Ketchikan. Every Wrangell athlete turned in a personal best, and a couple had multiple bests along with first-place finishes. Renee Roberts placed first in two...
