Sorted by date Results 76 - 94 of 94
“Twisters” (2024) picks up right where “Twister” (1996) left off: a team of meteorologists, Dorothy the tornado-monitoring system, and a high-flying F-5 tornado. Though “Twister” fans’ hearts will break when they learn the tornadoes are now measured on an EF scale rather than the beloved F scale. But instead of just trying to measure tornadoes, we are now trying to defeat them. “Twisters” progresses beyond the 1996 film in every facet: The music is better, the tornadoes are cooler, the stakes are higher; hell, even the cast is hotter. And th...
A team of experts has been conducting research in Wrangell this week, hoping to pinpoint the cause of last November's landslides. As a part of its visit, the group gave a well-attended presentation on Saturday evening at the Nolan Center to keep the community informed on their findings. The team's research is funded by a National Science Foundation rapid response research grant, known as RAPID. Led by Margaret Darrow, a professor in geological engineering at the University of Alaska Fairbanks,...
School is back — at least it will be in a week. On Aug. 22, students will walk through the doors of Evergreen Elementary, Stikine Middle and Wrangell High, marking the start of the 2024-2025 school year. Superintendent Bill Burr said this year’s projected enrollment of 260 students is an estimate, nearly identical to last year’s average daily tally of 259.5. Though school might not feel all that different for students walking the halls, the upcoming school year will not be without some changes. In personnel, Jamie Wollman and Greg Clark will...
It never hurts to get more gigahertz. The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida’s broadband service, Tidal Network, will build a 5G cell tower at 3-Mile this winter for its wireless internet service. Eventually, Tidal Network plans to build a second tower on the island, but plans are not finalized, said Tidal Network Director Chris Cropley. These projects all come on the back of a $50 million federal grant as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. In total, Tidal Network will build over 20 towers in 20 Southeast communities w...
Too busy to vote? That’s now less of an excuse. Early voting, in addition to voting by email, was unanimously approved by the borough assembly last month. The ordinance only affects municipal elections, not state elections. It will take effect for the borough election on Oct. 1. Both vote-by-email and early voting are just as secure as traditional election day voting. Early voting opens 15 days before an election and takes place in Borough Clerk Kim Lane’s office at City Hall. Voters need only to provide a form of identification, sign the...
It's safe to say that City Park received quite the facelift this summer. Thanks to work from the Parks and Recreation Department, new stairs, a refurbished pavilion and even a pair of horseshoe pits are the freshest features of Wrangell's often-frequented City Park, about a mile south of downtown. Parks and Rec Director Lucy Robinson began planning the project earlier this spring with the hope of contracting out work to exclusively local contractors, as opposed to putting the projects up for...
The Oakland Museum of California has housed the Kadashan cane for the past 65 years. Now, with help from the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, the five-foot cedar cane is due to arrive in Wrangell in the coming days. Lu Knapp, a direct descendant of Chief John Kadashan, was thrilled when she learned of the cane's imminent return. "It just gives me a really good feeling hearing that it's coming back," Knapp said. "It was my great-grandfather's!" While any...
The Meyers Chuck dock is in despair, kept floating mostly by barrels Meyers Chuck residents installed themselves. The borough is responsible for maintaining the floating dock, and plans are underway to build a replacement. The borough took in the small community, about 50 miles south of town, when Wrangell expanded to a borough from a city in 2008. The state turned over the dock to the borough in 2014. The most recent census estimates there are 20 full-time residents of Meyers Chuck. Regardless...
Need a secure, dry place to stash your stuff? John Esther and Phillip Mach may have a solution, it just might be a while. The business partners are working to get a rezone from the borough that would allow them to build a storage facility on their Zimovia Highway lot, midway between TK’s Mini Mart and Panhandle Trailer Court. According to Mach and Esther, the project “would include three metal buildings with lighting, security cameras and locked gates.” The buildings would be constructed one at a time, as Esther and Mach would need to wait...
The borough assembly has taken the first step in allowing American flags on veterans’ gravestones to remain up for the month-long stretch between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. After approving the change in first reading at the July 23 assembly meeting, there will be a second reading of the ordinance at the Aug. 27 meeting, with a public hearing before assembly members vote whether to adopt the change. The current version of the law states: “No temporary decoration, marker, or monument, may be placed upon or near the grave … except on th...
So, you want to see bears at the Anan Wildlife Observatory. But maybe you couldn't get one of the limited number of permits, or you live out of town and can't make the trip, or maybe you are a little more afraid of them than you care to admit. But now, thanks to the U.S. Forest Service, explore.org and 14 Wrangell high school students in the T3 Program, anyone worldwide can view Anan's fish-crazed black and brown bears. Last week, after months of preparation, planning and prototyping, the two...
T.J. Sgwaayaans Young, a Haida master carver from Hydaburg, arrived in Wrangell earlier this month to lead a team of Wrangell-based apprentices to carve a new Kadashan totem pole. When the work is finished, the Wrangell Cooperative Association plans to hold a pole raising ceremony on Shakes Island sometime next year, Wrangell's first totem raising in 38 years. The Kadashan pole - referring to the Tlingit chief of the same name - is the first of two the WCA team will carve this year. Next month,...
Annual moorage rates will not increase this year, after the assembly on July 23 passed a resolution reversing a 3% fee increase it approved in April. The higher rates had been scheduled to take effect this month. The vote to roll back the rate increase was unanimous. “Realizing that it’s such a poor commercial fishing season, realizing that the tourism industry has struggled a bit this year, we felt we could drop the rate increase this year and come back to it next year,” Borough Manager Mason Villarma said in an interview last week. The assem...
The assembly last week took the first step toward seeking voter approval to someday pay members for their work. The assembly on July 23 approved in first reading an ordinance that would put the question to voters on the Oct. 1 municipal election ballot; they set a public hearing on the ordinance for Aug. 27. If approved by voters, the ballot measure would not result in immediate compensation for assembly members and the mayor. Instead, it would only remove a provision from the borough charter prohibiting such payments. The assembly would need...
Last week, Jim Kauffman, director of U.S. Capitol grounds and Arboretum at the Architect of the Capitol, selected one of seven Southeast Alaska finalists for the official 2024 Capitol Christmas Tree. The winner is a secret, for now. All seven finalists are located within the Wrangell Ranger District of the Tongass National Forest. This means that when the tree is harvested in October - an operation that requires multiple cranes and an 82-foot-long trailer - it will be paraded through Wrangell's...
When Dan Trail took his dogs to play fetch on June 20 at Petroglyph Beach, the last thing he expected was to find himself involved in a statewide baby seal rescue mission. But when he reached for his tennis ball and noticed it lying on the tail of a 1-week-old lost seal pup, he sprang into action. The seal - now called Rocky by her rescue team - was extremely dehydrated when Trail found her. Wedged in between two rocks, high above the receding tide, she was sucking in air on a warm June day....
Heat pumps, which can be a cost- and energy-efficient upgrade from traditional heating systems, are growing in popularity in Southeast Alaska - especially in Wrangell. Charlie Hazel, one of two licensed contractors who installs the units in Wrangell, said when he moved to town in 2013, 60% of homes used electric boilers for heat. In the past 11 years, Hazel has installed around 120 electric heat pumps. For context, Wrangell has just over 1,000 residential properties. While most models cannot...
Wrangell's deer hunting season will open on Aug. 1 and remain open through Nov. 30. The dates for archery season are the same for rifle hunting. Hunters are permitted two bucks over the course of the four-month window, and no doe harvest is allowed to protect the herd's population for future years. Hunters must always carry their harvest tags with them while they hunt. Harvest tags are free, but an annual hunting license will cost residents $45, or $5 for low-income residents. Nonresidents will...
Somewhere in the Wrangell district of the Tongass National Forest lies a prize package — a special holiday ornament containing a possible winning ticket, among other surprises. The U.S. Forest Service hid ornaments in each of the nine districts of the Tongass to raise awareness for the 10,000 ornaments that Alaskans are being asked to create for the Capitol Christmas Tree and multiple smaller trees that will be on display this holiday season in the nation’s capital. This year’s premier holiday tree will come from the Tongass. It comes from...
