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The borough received two proposals in the past few months to buy some of its land at the former 6-Mile mill site. One was a pretty firm proposal. The other was a concept. Tideline Construction, part of the half-century-old Juneau-based Channel Construction operation, applied in January to buy more than nine acres of borough-owned land at 6-Mile. Tideland offered to buy two parcels at the assessed value of about $250,000 and would like portions of three neighboring lots. It wants to grow its scrap metal recycling operation and expand into...
The school district and borough share a money problem. And it’s a community problem that needs an answer this spring. The schools need more money to continue even the basic programs for Wrangell’s 260 students. The state funding formula over the past eight years has been flat, which is to say far short of keeping up with inflation, which is to say wholly inadequate. The borough assembly has tried pitching in, but its check-writing ability is limited by two factors: A state law that puts a cap on local contributions to school district budgets, a...
As if years of political interference and, for many elected officials, disinterest weren’t enough to sink the Alaska Marine Highway System, rust and age could finish the job. Maybe the answer is some duct tape to keep the ships running just a little longer until they turn 65 years old and could qualify for Medicare. But that’s too long to wait — the marine highway needs urgent care. The ships are aging, which is a polite way of saying they are long past their prime and getting older and rustier. Salt water accelerates the process. The Matan...
Though February is the shortest month of the year, there still is plenty of time to get your fingers working at the keyboard — or thumbs on your smartphone — to help guide decisions that will affect the town’s economy, health and children’s fun in the years ahead. It’s as if someone proclaimed February as Community Survey Month. But that’s OK. Better that people have an opportunity to share their opinions before decisions are made than being left behind to complain after the decision making is finished. And it’s a triple header of opportunit...
Facing steep growth in demand, constant turnover and employee retirements, Alaska’s health care industry has a staggering need for workers, a new report says. “To meet those variables, we have to find over 9,400 new health care workers every single year,” Jared Kosin, executive director of the Alaska Hospital and Healthcare Association, said last month. The numbers Kosin presented at the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce meeting on Jan. 27 were from his association’s newly released analysis of Alaska’s health care workforce. The report, by Juneau-b...
Admittedly, a lot of people avoid surveys. They have other things they want to do with their time than answer questions. But this isn’t a political poll or an advocacy group asking your opinion about a hot topic, or a company asking how much you love their product. The borough has given the Sustainable Tourism Lab at Oregon State University a homework project. The students will run an online survey of Wrangell residents, asking their opinions about — yes, you’re right — tourism. What’s good about it, what’s not so good. What are the benefit...
The Wrangell School District — its students, staff and parents — will need to practice deep-breathing exercises to relieve the stress as they wait to see if the state Legislature and governor can agree on adequate funding for public education while at the same time waiting on Congress to reauthorize a quarter-century-old federal aid program for rural schools. These are significant and serious stress issues, particularly for Wrangell. State funding, based on a per-pupil formula, and the federal Secure Rural Schools money that comes through the...
Just two days after he was sworn in as Alaska’s sole member of the U.S. House, Nick Begich should have been happily celebrating and graciously thanking his supporters. Instead, he was flapping his lips. Or, more accurately, flipping his thumbs and other typing fingers. The freshman member of Congress, elected to fill one of the 435 seats in the House, disagrees with a decision by President Joe Biden to ban offshore oil and gas leasing in vast areas off the East Coast, West Coast and much of the Bering Sea offshore western Alaska. Begich p...
Wrangell, like much of Alaska and the country, relies on fundraising for all sorts of good causes. Many of those causes look pretty similar to public services that are covered by taxes. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it is something that elected officials and the public should keep in mind as they increasingly talk about cutting government spending and relying on donors to pick up the tab. In Wrangell’s case, the borough assembly decision last year to reduce financial support for the Senior Center, school district and public radio sta...
Borough officials met with the Washington state developer who has grand plans for the former mill property at 6-Mile. They listened as he presented his ideas at a public workshop. And they wisely made no commitments, other than to continue listening. It’s not that the borough is against development proposals to create jobs; City Hall fully supports any reasonable idea that would help the town’s struggling economy. It’s just that officials don’t want to write any checks, make any promises or sign any commitments until they know more. Cautious is...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has a choice for his final two years on the job: He can continue talking about how state law requires him to include an outrageously large Permanent Fund dividend in the budget — even though it would dig a deep budget hole which, thankfully, legislators will never approve — or he can help solve the problem. It looks like he is sticking with the irresponsible approach. He proposed a budget last week that is politically popular with his supporters but which he knows the state cannot afford without drawing down its rem...
A Washington state developer with ideas of turning organic waste into new products is coming to town to look over the former mill property near 6-Mile, lay out his ideas and answer questions from community officials. The borough plans to assemble most everyone from City Hall with an interest in development of the property, including members of the assembly, planning and zoning commission, port commission and economic development board. Officials will hear from Borgford BioEnergy, which set up a new company this year, Alaska BioEnergy. The...
The average hourly wage in Alaska was $33.60 in 2023, putting the state in 11th place among all 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Alaska Department of Labor. The median hourly wage — which is calculated in a way that reduces the influence of the highest and lowest numbers — was $26.99. Alaska has been among the top states for wages since the oil pipeline boom almost 50 years ago, and was No. 1 as recently as 2013, but has been falling and was eighth in 2022. Wage and job statistics were detailed in a pair of articles by...
Sometimes, the best explanations are the simplest. Especially when it comes to economics. The complicated way to describe the consequences of Alaska losing population, particularly working-age residents, is to explain that fewer people have moved north than have moved out of the state in each of the past 12 years. That net outmigration is making it hard for employers to fill jobs, which means reduced hours of operation, longer waits for services and less money in the economy. The decline in working-age residents — ages 18 to 64 — is esp...
Alaska is losing its residents to Texas, Oregon, Washington state and Florida. That’s according to 2023 American Community Survey results, an annual demographics survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. From 2022 to 2023, Alaska lost more residents than it gained, continuing a trend that has existed since 2012. Though Alaska has long led the nation in annual population turnover — typically, about 45,000 people moved both into and out of the state annually, said Alaska Department of Labor demographer Eric Sandberg — “what has changed is that...
No question about it, the state is delinquent in funding public schools in Alaska. It has failed to do its homework, turn in assignments, come to class prepared and whatever other analogy you want to use. The mathematical fact is that the state’s per-pupil funding formula hasn’t had a permanent raise of any significance since the Chicago Cubs broke a 108-year drought and won the baseball World Series in 2016. And while 2016 was a good year for Cubs’ fans, that shouldn’t also be remembered as the last year the Alaska Legislature and governor agr...
Not everyone in Wrangell welcomes more cruise ships or the visitors they bring to the community. There are detractors who fear too many ships and their passengers could change the character of the town. They look at Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka and Skagway and see more than a million visitors a year crowding the sidewalks and shops, the buses crowding the streets and the summer workers crowding already tight housing. But they need to look at the numbers for Wrangell; actually, two sets of numbers. Wrangell could see 40,000 cruise passengers next...
It’s more than 2,700 miles from Wrangell to the nation’s capital — if you have a private jet. Or more than 3,600 miles if you plan to ride the state ferry and drive. Either way, Wrangell is far from Washington, D.C. Except not really this year. With a special Christmas tree, hundreds of handcrafted ornaments and a local hand at artful floral arrangements, Wrangell will make its presence known in the nation’s capital. The official U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, a tall spruce cut from Zarembo Island, is on the road and on its way to Washington, due...
Online, mail order and phone shopping by Wrangell households and businesses last year totaled around $7.5 million, which averages out close to $4,000 for every person living in town. That is a stunningly large amount of money. And a large opportunity. Not that residents could find every item, or even most items, on that $7.5 million shopping list in town. But if they could shift just 10% of online shopping to in-town shopping, that would equate to about $2,000 a day in additional spending at local businesses. That is a lot of money in a small...
Though voters should remember that campaign signs, flags or banners are prohibited within 200 feet of a polling place — and that applies to T-shirts, hats and buttons, too — there is one very good sign to hold up for this year’s state general election: Wrangell voters have cast a record number of early ballots. As of last Friday, 147 residents had cast early ballots in the election. That’s just in the first five days of voting, with several more days remaining before the early voting station at City Hall closes at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 4. Elec...
This year’s take of 131 moose in the Wrangell-Petersburg area was down by 10 kills from last year’s harvest. But 131 was still good enough to rank as the third-highest harvest on record for the area, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The season ran Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. Last year’s take of 141 moose in the Wrangell-Petersburg area was a record, passing the previous high of 132 in 2021, according to Fish and Game. The five-year average is just over 120 moose a year. Of this season’s 131 moose, 120 were legal and 11 illegal...
Wrangell hasn’t been this excited about a harvested spruce tree since the sawmills were running. Only the tree that is the subject of this month’s enthusiasm wasn’t cut down, it was dug up. Crews dug, then dug some more, cut some roots and then lifted the 80-foot-tall tree and its massive root wad out of the ground on Zarembo Island on Oct. 19 for a short ride to Wrangell, where it will go on display Saturday, surrounded by a weekend of activities. Not to diminish its brief display in Wrangell, but the tree’s real destination is the West La...
Alaskans will be asked on the Nov. 5 statewide ballot if they want to vote yes and repeal the state’s ranked-choice election system. Opponents of ranked voting collected enough signatures to put the question on the ballot, though they violated state campaign finance laws to get there — a rank and dishonorable start. Alaskans would be better served to vote no on Proposition No. 2. Ranked-choice voting, adopted by Alaskans in 2020, ensures that the winning candidates in state and congressional races have the support of a majority of voters. Not...
The Nolan Center is so much more than a museum, though it certainly excels in its historical role. It’s the center of activity in town. It’s a meeting place, a conference center, movie theater, visitor information center. It’s something for everyone, all under one roof. And it’s 20 years old. Actually, 20 years and 3 months old, but Nolan Center staff figured they couldn’t very well manage a big community birthday party for residents in the middle of the visitor season, so the celebration was moved to 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 14. A birthday cake cou...
The community is climbing up the right tree as it prepares to celebrate an early start to the holiday season Oct. 25-27. The borough’s economic development team, the Nolan Center, chamber of commerce, U.S. Forest Service and other branches of community service are going all out to deck out the weekend as Wrangell will for the first time see and then say goodbye to the special tall tree that will truck its way to a spot on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. It’s not going out on a limb to say it’s a big deal for the town. This year’s Capitol...