Sorted by date Results 1 - 21 of 21
With the first cruise liner set to stop in Wrangell on April 25, returning visitors may notice a few changes along Front Street when stepping off the city dock. Perhaps the first thing they will notice will be a facelift given to the dockside visitor shelter. Maintained by the Chamber of Commerce until its sale to the Stikine Inn last month, its new owners plan to add more rock and fresh materials to the multi-stall structure before the summer season gets underway. The renovation presages a...
The city should be better prepared to meet its water needs this summer, the Borough Assembly learned last week. City manager Jeff Jabusch brought members up to speed on where Wrangell Public Works stands with its water plant situation. Last July the community was put into a state of high anxiety when its supply of potable water was reduced to less than half a tank, while the water treatment plant was unable to keep up with demand. A longstanding problem with the system has been its filtration method, relying on slow sand filtration....
March 5, 1917: Andrew Stevenson and W.R. Hillery, president and vice president, respectively, of the Bank of Alaska, arrived Tuesday morning on the Princess Sophia. Mr. Stevenson is returning to Alaska from a business trip to New York, while Mr. Hillery is returning from a business trip to cities on the Pacific coast. Messrs. Stevenson and Hillery will spend several days here getting better acquainted with the Wrangell people and local business conditions. From here they will go to Skagway where Mr. Stevenson makes his headquarters, and will be...
The Wrangell Advisory Committee (AC) to the Board of Game is currently working on a proposal that would tighten up the federal designated hunter program. Meeting last Thursday, members read over a draft proposal to be submitted to the Federal Subsistence Management Program. The taking of fish and wildlife on public lands in the state for subsistence purposes is allowed under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, adopted in 1980. Hunting and fishing on these lands are managed according to regulations set by the Federal...
Hunters, anglers and others predisposed toward outdoor activities will soon be getting to know a new face around Wrangell. Trooper David Bozman with the Alaska Wildlife Troopers was assigned to the A Detachment post earlier last month. Originally hailing from Illinois, he had previously been assigned to the post in Soldotna. Coming up on his third year with AWT, Bozman explained an interest in law enforcement and a love of the outdoors are what drew him to the state service. "I wanted a...
Monday, February 27 Report of theft. Parking complaint. Found property. Parking complaint. Tuesday, February 28 Traffic complaint/ATV on bike path. Wednesday, March 1 Traffic complaint. Traffic complaint. MVA/ Vehicle in ditch slid off roadway. Thursday, March 2 Agency Assist/Alarm. Citizen Assist/Vehicle unlocked. Found Property. Friday, March 3 Agency Assist/ Petersburg PD. Saturday, March 4 Report of Assault. Sunday, March 5 Report of Harassment. Parking in road way/vehicle has been moved. Found blanket. There were five ambulance calls and...
Residents of Wrangell concerned about the state’s evolving budget proposals joined those from Cordova, Nome and other rural communities in testifying on House Bill 57 over the weekend. Proposed by the House Finance Committee as part of a package of budget cuts, HB 57 proposes cutting state payments to municipalities for school construction debt. Homer Rep. Paul Seaton (R-District 31) co-chaired the proceedings on March 4, seeking input ahead of an amendment process scheduled for Tuesday. Wrangell is among the communities that would be a...
The hospital is offering a special on laboratory tests in the run-up to its annual Health Fair next month. Through March 24, Wrangell Medical Center is discounting a variety of screenings. These include a comprehensive health profile, which measures one’s blood count, cholesterol, and other components in a coronary risk profile. Other tests are for prostate specific antigen, which can indicate prostate cancer; Hemoglobin-A1C, used for diagnosing pre-diabetes and catching the disease in its early stages; thyroid stimulating hormone; and V...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Gov. Bill Walker on Monday proposed additional steps aimed at addressing opioid abuse in Alaska, including pain management training for medical providers and limits on initial prescriptions. The proposal is the latest from Walker, who, in a move applauded by state legislators, last month issued a public health disaster declaration stemming from the abuse of opioids, such as heroin and prescription painkillers. Walker’s bill, introduced Monday, would allow adult patients to decline opioids as part of a health care dir...
Wrangell's basketball girls brought their regular season play to an end with a win during an away weekend in Petersburg. Both games were very closely played, with the Lady Wolves taking the lead early on in Friday's game. Coach Laurie Brown noted it as the first weekend the team was able to play together in a while without any outstanding injuries, and it showed. "We came out strong," she said. Close but still leading at the half, Petersburg gradually did fight back and eke out a 39-34 win over...
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) – Regulators in Alaska have notified owners of private and government wastewater systems in Ketchikan that the systems don’t meet federal water quality standards. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation delivered letters to the Ketchikan Gateway Borough and area homeowners who rely on common ocean outfall sewer systems on Feb. 17 saying that the department is establishing new state permits that tighten water quality standards, The Ketchikan Daily News reported Wednesday. Common outfalls are used by multiple, n...
The Wrangell Wolves very nearly had a win at Petersburg last week, during the Vikings' homecoming weekend. "We played I thought a really good game the first game," explained coach Ray Stokes. Starting the last set of regular-season games for the season, on Friday Wrangell opened up with the lead against the Vikings. The Wolves held their hosts to seven points in the first quarter, scoring 13 themselves. They maintained a lead all the way into the fourth quarter, but after a low-scoring, particul...
Alaska crabbers are hauling back pots from the Panhandle to the Bering Sea, and reduced catches are resulting in record prices for their efforts. The year’s first red king crab fishery at Norton Sound has yielded 17,000 pounds so far of its nearly 40,000 pound winter quota for more than 50 local fishermen. The crab, which are taken through the ice near Nome, are paying out at a record $7.75 a pound. A summer opener will produce a combined catch of nearly half a million pounds for the region. Red king crab from Bristol Bay also yielded the h...
Alaska's Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) announced regulations for the king salmon sport fishing season this summer would be on the conservative side. Issued Monday, the order applies to marine waters adjacent to the Stikine River in District 8, near Petersburg and Wrangell. Beginning May 1 and lasting until July 15, the king salmon bag and possession limit for all anglers will be set at one fish, 28 inches or greater in length. Anglers will also have to abide by rod restrictions in place...
The spring troll fishery in Southeast Alaska (SEAK) is designed to target Alaska hatchery-produced Chinook salmon. However, with similar migration corridors and return timing, wild stock, SEAK originating Chinook are also harvested. The overall 2016 run to the 11 systems monitored for SEAK wild Chinook salmon is one of the lowest on record in 42 years of documented Chinook escapements. With arguably the poorest overall run on record in 2016, recurrent failures to meet lower bounds of escapement goal ranges in several systems, and with the 2017...
PETERSBURG – Petersburg Rotarian Rick Braun traveled to India recently to administer polio vaccines and help build two dams to create a water retention reservoir. The reservoir will provide both crop irrigation water and raise the underground water table, enabling area wells to store more water for village residents. Braun has been a member of the Petersburg Rotary Club since 1987. The club has carried out fundraising projects for the organization’s Polio Plus project for decades. Braun said polio has been eradicated in India for the past...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – There has been a significant increase in the number of intentional firearm injuries in recent years, marking a shift from when accidental shootings were more common in Alaska, state officials said. Dr. Frank Sacco, chairman of the Alaska Trauma System Review Committee, said the number of intentional firearm injuries has nearly doubled in the last three or four years. He said those injuries have become more common than accidental and self-inflicted gunshot wounds, KTUU-TV reported. The spike in intentionalfirearm injurie...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – A ferry that has been out of operation since January for its annual overhaul will return to service later than expected because it needs additional repair work, officials said. The Kennicott ferry will resume its coastal route from Washington state to Kodiak on March 30, two weeks later than planned, CoastAlaska News reported Friday. The delay comes after crews found more work needed to be done on the Kennicott’s engines, Alaska Marine Highway General Manager John Falvey said. ``We learned just a few days ago from . the...
Marking what would have been the 113th birthday of author and illustrator Dr. Seuss (the pen name of Theodor Geisel), students at Evergreen Elementary last Friday got to enjoy a selection of his many books. The fanciful illustrations and colorful rhymes stand out as Seuss' own style, but the thoroughly grounded lessons his books have to impart have endured through generations of schoolchildren....
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Mushers pumped their fists and high-fived fans Monday as they set out one-by-one on the world’s most famous sled dog race, a nearly 1,000-mile trek through the grueling Alaska wilderness. The grandson of a co-founder of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was the first competitor on the trail in Fairbanks, in the heart of the state. Ryan Redington, 33, of Wasilla led the other 70 mushers out of the chute nearly a half-century after his grandfather, Joe Redington Sr., helped stage the first race in 1973. The contest has a s...