Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 31
The Wrangell Police Department successfully executed a dual search warrant on Jan. 28 after a month-long investigation into a local drug ring. Cooper Seimears, 39, Jacob Marshall, 29, and McKenna Harding, 29, were charged and arrested following the 8 a.m. search warrant execution. Seimears and Marshall face eight drug-related felony charges and one misdemeanor. Harding faces drug-related charges of one felony and one misdemeanor, though she and Marshall, her fiancée, each face two additional...
Wrangell’s potential summer cruise ship passenger count has dropped by about 5,000 with the loss of two mid-size ships to Klawock. The Prince of Wales Island community opened up a cruise ship port last summer to attract more visitors — and economic activity — to the town of about 700 residents which is on the island’s extensive road system that links 10 communities. The 728-berth Sea Nova canceled six Wrangell stops May through August, switching to Klawock, and the 750-berth Silver Seas Explorer moved an August visit to Klawock while retaini...
“It’s the red house down a ways a bit, yeah the one that Ben used to live in.” That’s a great way to tell someone new in town where your house is, but when it comes to emergency services, it’s far from helpful. City Hall is partnering with DATAMARK, a business solutions company, to update addresses on the houses and buildings in Wrangell. Borough officials hope the changes will increase the community’s emergency and disaster preparedness. The first step in the process will be to update the online maps of the borough’s GIS (geographic informatio...
In the early days of President Donald Trump's second term, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has openly challenged or rebuked him at least three times - stunning for a congressional Republican who has faced his wrath before and yet remains unbowed by pressure to embrace his agenda. Murkowski is a moderate with a history of bucking her party and Trump when she has felt it was the right thing to do. She was the first GOP senator to publicly break ranks with Trump on his nomination of Pete Hegseth as...
CLOTHING and HOUSEHOLD RECYCLE SALE 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, at the American Legion. Choose from more than 45 totes of lightly used and new items from off the island. Everything by donation. Hosted by BRAVE and St. Frances Animal Rescue volunteers. VALENTINE’S DAY CARD MAKING 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 8, at the Irene Ingle Public Library. Materials will be provided. No registration required, just drop in. BOOK CLUB 2 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, at the Irene Ingle Public Library. TRAVELING CLIMATE CHANGE EXHIBIT from the U... Full story
Feb. 5, 1925 A new seating arrangement has been adopted for the high school. Seats are arranged in a circle with the stove as a center. This new arrangement was adopted for three reasons: First, because it makes possible a uniform temperature for all students; second, it makes possible a better utilization of the light; and third, it eliminates congested areas. All seats have been made rigid by means of cleats attached to the floor. Students and faculty agree that the new plan is an improvement artistically, as well as from every other...
Start saving today. Wrangell’s first sales tax-free day of 2025 will be on Saturday, May 3. The borough assembly approved the chamber of commerce’s date request unanimously at its Jan. 28 meeting. There may be a second tax-free day in 2025, which the chamber has traditionally scheduled for October. This year, the assembly will consider the chamber’s request for a second tax-free day with a public hearing at its April 22 meeting. Last December the assembly altered municipal code so that the number of tax-free days every fiscal year can be anywhe...
No matter what any crowd-pleasing elected official says, Alaska cannot afford a long-deserved increase in state funding for schools and a large Permanent Fund dividend. There just isn’t enough money in the state checkbook to do both this year — not unless Alaskans want to start paying an income tax or a state sales tax, which are both even less popular than a middle seat in the last row of a six-hour flight. More than 90% of the spendable dollars in the state budget comes from two sources: An annual draw on Permanent Fund investment ear...
President Donald Trump has strong opinions, strong confidence in his decisions and often uses strong language. All of which can be good traits for a leader. Assertiveness and assurances, particularly in times of crisis or disaster, can help the public feel that someone is taking charge and will make things better. Nations need leaders who can bring people together in times of sadness. Such as the day after a deadly crash between a passenger jet and a military helicopter at Washington National Airport last week. Trump started his press...
I am writing to express my outrage and disappointment over the recent actions of our school district activities director, Tammi Meissner, and Superintendent Bill Burr. As a parent of a student athlete, I am appalled by the strict enforcement of a fee-payment rule that resulted in two of our top student athletes being denied travel to a Jan. 23-25 basketball tournament in Craig. This is not the first time this issue has arisen. Just weeks ago, three other student athletes faced the same situation, initially being denied travel due to late...
An article appeared in the Daily Sitka Sentinel about Dale Borgford’s proposal to turn Wrangell’s former 6-Mile sawmill site into the trash-burning capital of Southeast Alaska. I was sent a letter that Dr. Gregory Duncan and Dr. Anne Duncan wrote to the Wrangell borough assembly and Borough Manager Mason Villarma. They raise extremely valid concerns about the extreme hazards and drawbacks of this proposal. Sitka’s municipal trash incinerator is now closed. If something like this was ever proposed again, I would spend every last dime I had t...
Sitka and Ketchikan have much in common: They both have airports on islands — Japonski (Sitka) and Gravina (Ketchikan). Yet there is a significant difference: Sitka has a bridge to their island and Ketchikan has a ferry. I believe there is another alternative. The late Don Young, while a member of the U.S. House, was successful in obtaining initial federal funding for planning and engineering for a bridge to Gravina Island, but we had a change in governors and the new governor moved the money to needed road projects in Central and Interior A...
The borough is accepting letters of interest to fill one vacancy each on the assembly and port commission. To submit a letter, either email Borough Clerk Kim Lane — municipal clerk of the year in Alaska for 2024 — at clerk@wrangell.com or drop it off at her office in City Hall. As of Jan. 31, Lane said she had received three letters of interest. Phillip Mach and Scott McAuliffe submitted for the assembly seat, while Antonio Silva submitted for the port commission. “More would be great!” Lane said. Silva ran for port commission last fall an...
The borough has negotiated a $50,000 insurance settlement to help pay for repairs after a boat owner pulled up their anchor and hooked and crimped the sewage treatment plant’s deep outfall pipeline in the waters off City Park last September. The Public Works Department quickly found a temporary solution to keep the treated discharge flowing out of the plant. Bids on a permanent fix were due at City Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 4. The total cost of the temporary work, underwater video to locate the problem and permanent repairs to the pipeline is estim...
The borough assembly has passed the first reading of an ordinance to eliminate the requirement of a public vote to sell or lease borough-owned property worth more than $1 million, scheduling the ordinance for a public hearing and possible approval Feb. 11. Lawyers had advised the borough that the public consent requirement in the municipal charter contradicts the state constitution. The assembly unanimously approved the first reading of the ordinance Jan. 28. The approval process was used as...
In a series of hearings last week in the Alaska Capitol, advocates from across the state presented hours of impassioned and often emotional testimony in favor of a bill to sharply increase state funding for public schools. The state funding formula has increased just 2% over the past decade, but a pair of cold-blooded financial hearings by legislative committees showed that the education request may have to compete with the Permanent Fund dividend and aid for aging state buildings in the next budget. In December, Gov. Mike Dunleavy offered a st... Full story
A wide-ranging education package with provisions that include allowing students to attend any public school in the state was introduced Friday, Jan. 31, by Gov. Mike Dunleavy at the State Capitol. The legislation also revives numerous policy goals by the Republican governor such as more state money for homeschooling and state authorization of new charter schools instead of leaving that decision up to school districts. The governor’s package contains no increase to the state's per-pupil funding number for school districts, the Base Student A...
The boys and girls high school home basketball games between Wrangell and Craig were postponed from the weekend (Jan. 31 and Feb. 1) to Monday and Tuesday this week (Feb. 3-4). Bad weather in Craig made it unsafe for student travel by boat for the weekend games, though the Panthers were eventually able to make it to Wrangell ahead of the Feb. 3 matchup. Following the postponement, the boys varsity games tipped off at 5:30 p.m. on Monday and again at 7 p.m. the following night. The girls schedule was the inverse, tipping off at 7 p.m. Monday...
Facing a deficit of $111 million, the Anchorage School District released its draft budget on Jan. 31 calling for massive cuts to programs and positions. The cuts represent about 20% of the district’s spending plan for the 2025-2026 school year. In a letter to Anchorage parents, Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt said the deficit is “driven by more than a decade of flat state funding and rising costs due to inflation.” The budget proposal came on the heels of Gov. Mike Dunleavy rejecting a plan by Alaska lawmakers to significantly increase state...
On Jan. 28, more than 2 million federal workers received an emailed offer to resign but be paid for eight months, part of an aggressive effort by the administration of President Donald Trump to drastically cut the size of the federal workforce. The move could have major consequences in Alaska, a state with 15,000 federal workers. The “deferred resignation” plan is part of a suite of changes the Trump administration is trying to make to the federal government, including slashing equity programs and ordering remote workers back to offices. Wor...
State political campaign regulators have issued a second heavy penalty against the organizers of a failed campaign that sought to repeal Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system. On Jan. 27, the Alaska Public Offices Commission fined Alaskans for Honest Elections, Alaskans for Honest Government, the Ranked Choice Education Association and Anchorage resident Arthur Matthias a combined total of almost $157,000. The commission imposed the maximum allowable fines on the parties, stating that they have “proven themselves shockingly poor at com... Full story
A state commission is recommending automatic inflation-driven pay raises for Alaska’s governor, lieutenant governor, members of the state Legislature and top officials at state agencies. The recommendation, approved by the three members of the State Officers Compensation Commission on Jan. 29, will become effective after the 2026 state election unless the Legislature and Gov. Mike Dunleavy approve a measure within 60 days rejecting the pay hikes. “If we’re really going to have a system where anybody can run (for office) and be able finan... Full story
A New York food bank was offered a huge donation of fresh fish last month — but it came with a catch. LocalCoho, a going-out-of-business salmon farm in the small upstate city of Auburn, New York, wanted to give 40,000 pounds of coho salmon to the Food Bank of Central New York, a motherlode of high-quality protein that could feed thousands of families. But the fish were still alive and swimming in the farm’s giant indoor tanks. The organizations would need to figure out how to get some 13,000 salmon from the water and then have them pro... Full story
The U.S. Forest Service’s “Sustainability and Climate” web page is gone, as are the news sections for the homepages of Alaska’s national forests and the Tongass National Forest. Likewise for a vast amount of federal government weather, disaster assistance, fisheries, health, education and other reports. In some instances they can still be accessed through submenus or via virtual backdoors such as the exact URL for a specific report. In others, the information has simply halted — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity a...
