Sorted by date Results 1 - 23 of 23
A project to improve storage capacity at Southeast Alaska Power Agency's (SEAPA) Swan Lake hydropower facility continues along with efforts to finance it with up to $11.36 million in bond sales. Over the past month, SEAPA's executive director Trey Acteson and general counsel presented updates on the planned expansion of the facility located northeast of Ketchikan on Revillagigedo Island. Each of SEAPA's three member utilities-Wrangell, Petersburg and Ketchikan- heard presentations on the...
For the first time in more than two months the board of trustees for Wrangell Medical Center found themselves with a quorum March 25, in a meeting postponed from the 18th. The hospital’s financial situation remains delicate as staff recover from a difficult combination of low reserves, high receivables, sluggish Medicaid payments and rising operating costs. In her board report, hospital CEO Marla Sanger reported a $155,000 loss for the month of February, or $141,822 when grants were taken into account. Net charges came to $704,398, short of a...
Wrangell residents and other Alaskans from around the state were given more opportunity to voice concerns over impending cuts to state programming during a public hearing held Monday evening for the draft of next year's budget being considered by the Senate Finance Committee. Six Wrangellites came to their local Legislative Information Office to provide testimony via telephone, along with residents of Petersburg and Ketchikan. “I am speaking in opposition to the cuts to the Alaska Marine Highway System,” borough manager Jeff Jabusch told the...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. April 8, 1915: Election day in Wrangell passed off quietly last Tuesday, there being very little interest shown other than going to the polls to vote. Only one lady, Mrs. J.G. Grant, availed herself of the opportunity to have her say in the affairs of the city and cast her vote. There were eight members running on the ticket, five of them from the old council. The following men were on the ticket, the first seven being the new council. They received the highest vote in the order named: J.G. Grant,...
Alaska Department of Natural Resources reminds residents the state’s wildland fire season officially begins this month. From now until the end of August permits will be necessary for the open burning of brush, grass, slash and yard debris. Obtainable from the local fire department or online at http://forestry.alaska.gov/burn/, permits must be renewed annually and may only be used on days without burn restrictions. Permit holders are required to check the Division of Forestry website or call their local office to determine whether a r...
Monday, March 23 Report of Possible Harassment. Tuesday, March 24 Citizen Assist—Officer unlocked vehicle. Report of Possible Theft. Parking Complaint. Officer responded. Agency Assist—EMTs requested. Wednesday, March 25 Noise Complaint. Traffic Stop—Verbal warning for driving habits. Identity Theft. Noise Complaint. Thursday, March 26 Criminal Mischief. Agency Assist—Fire. Friday, March 27 Arrested Larry Aitken, 42, on charges of Violating Conditions of Release. Possible Theft. Noise Complaint—Verbal warning for disorderly conduct, loud nois...
Workers at a logging camp on nearby Zarembo Island discovered the body of a Nevada man in the early evening of March 24. David Fussell, 55, of Stagecoach, Nev., was found unresponsive by a coworker in the passenger seat of a parked truck. First aid was performed, but Fussell was declared dead on the scene when emergency personnel arrived. Alaska State Troopers were notified just before 5 p.m. Fussell’s body was sent to the medical examiner’s office for an autopsy. The death is considered to be of natural causes, with Troopers reporting no fou...
The high school is getting ready to sponsor a bit of culture, as it comes Wrangell's turn to host this year's Southeast Alaska Regional Artfest next week. Sixty students and 15 teachers from schools around the region will be represented, coming from Klawock, Skagway, Petersburg, Craig, Sitka, Mount Edgecumbe and Juneau. "We're honored to host the continuation of the Southeast Alaska Artfest," said Wrangell High School's art teacher, Anne Luetkemeyer. Fifteen different classes will be offered to...
John Eilertsen passed away Friday, March 27, 2015. Services will be announced at a later time. An obituary will follow....
Laura Nan Johnston, 82 died on January 19, 2015. Born to Wendell and June Abell, on February 26, 1932 in Chama, N.M. Laura's mother taught for The Bureau of Indian Affairs moving them to Sitka, Alaska where she lived through high school. She attended Oregon State University (OSU) as a Delta Zeta and with a Major in Science she became a Medical Technician. She met Norman Dale Johnston whose major was Fisheries Biology, they both graduated in 1955, were married in 1956 and by 1959 Norman had...
Emily Cox of Wrangell, AK, has been named to the Provost’s List at Troy University for Term 3 of the 2014/2015 academic year....
While the threat of service reductions looms over the Alaska Marine Highway System as the Legislature devises its budget, starting this summer travelers will at least have another option to hop between islands in the area. The North End Ferry Authority (NEFA) in Coffman Cove is starting up Rainforest Islands Ferry, a three-stop service between Wrangell, Petersburg and Prince of Wales Island. Beginning June 14, the ferry's new public passenger-vehicle service will connect stops at Coffman Cove,...
Wrangell residents are invited to shake off their winter malaise and step down to the annual Health Fair this Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon inside the Nolan Center. The fair will feature booths put up by 45 different agencies, groups and organizations related to health and wellness. Participating groups are many and varied, aimed for all ages. Alaska Island Community Services (AICS) will have its Teddy Bear Clinic for the wee ones, Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department will provide free blood pressure checks for adults, and Hanna’s Place will h...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska's top public defender said Friday that there will be delays in criminal trials and appeals if a proposed $1.2 million cut to his agency goes forward. A Senate subcommittee on Thursday proposed the cut to the public defender's agency, calling it commensurate to the percentage cut to Department of Law's criminal division. But Public Defender Quinlan Steiner said his agency has costs prosecutors do not, such as having to pay for investigators, and a caseload that historically has outpaced its budget growth. When it com...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) _ Where does your food come from? Where does your kid's school lunch come from? Ninety-five percent of the time, the answer is a barge. Lia Heifetz, owner of Grow Southeast and Food Security Coordinator for Southeast Conference, hopes to increase security in the region through local production in Southeast Alaska, where most food comes from around the world and arrives on Alaska forks only through a complex web of transportation. One place to start? Schools. Heifetz is organizing the Fish and Farm to Schools Conference,...
Volunteers are needed to help craft new safety rules that are being written for older boats – which includes the bulk of Alaska’s fishing vessels. Called the Alternate Compliance Safety Program (ACSP), it is part of the 2010 US Coast Guard Authorization Act and is aimed atvessels that will be 25 years old by 2020, are greater than 50 feet in length, and operate beyond three nautical miles. The program will include most of Alaska’s fishing fleet — a 2014 maritime study by the Juneau-based McDowell Group shows that the majority of Alaska...
PETERSBURG – Those looking to work at Petersburg’s fish processors will have a good chance to jump onboard with this summer’s pink salmon season predicted to be a big one. “The 2015 harvest forecast of 58 million pink salmon is well above the recent 10-year average harvest of 41 million pink salmon, and a harvest of that magnitude would be in the top ten harvests since 1960,” according to a guide put out by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Andy Piston, pink and chum salmon project leader in Ketchikan, and Steve Heinl, Ketchikan r...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Some northwest Alaska bird species could benefit from climate change but increased temperatures could harm populations of several mammals, a federal study has concluded. More shrubs and trees and less tundra could help tree-dwellers such as northern goshawks, according to the study, which predicted changes in boreal and Arctic habitats used by 162 bird species and 39 land mammals in northweast Alaska. But rising temperatures and other trends could harm species that need open space, that feed on lichens, or that use c...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) _ The Alaska Senate on Monday got closer to having state statutes reflect what remains illegal after Alaska voters legalized limited recreational marijuana last year. The bill passed on a 17-3 vote and outlines crimes for possessing more than one ounce of marijuana. Several amendments to the bill were defeated during lengthy floor debate Monday, including one from Fairbanks Republican Sen. Pete Kelly. He wanted to make marijuana concentrates illegal in two years, but amendment opponents said they wanted to stick to the will...
Environmental organization Earthjustice announced last Friday groups it is representing in a trio of lawsuits opposed to U.S. Forest Service’s Big Thorne timber sale have filed two notices of appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, following the dismissal of their suits by a federal judge in a March 20 ruling. The Big Thorne sale involves the harvest of around 6,200 acres of forest on Prince of Wales Island and includes the clearcut of old-growth rainforest. Klowock-based mill Viking Lumber was awarded a contract last September to h...
