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A state Department of Transportation official told legislators that the ferry system is “burning out our crew” with lots of overtime amid staff shortages, and that the problem jeopardizes tentative plans to bring back the Columbia to service in Southeast for the first time since fall 2019. The Alaska Marine Highway System as of March 16 was down 125 employees from the minimum needed to staff its full online summer schedule plus the addition of the Columbia, according to a department presentation to the Senate Finance Committee. Deputy Commissio...
High oil prices driven by the war in Ukraine, tight global oil supplies and OPEC’s decision not to pump more crude are adding tens of millions of dollars per month to the Alaska state treasury. The rush of oil revenues is boosting the governor’s push for a larger Permanent Fund dividend for individual Alaskans this fall, while also fueling legislative interest to increase funding for education and deferred maintenance — or just save some of the money for the next time oil prices fall. The Alaska Department of Revenue last week issued its annua...
The anticipated return of visitors means that Wrangell business owners are readying themselves for customers to reserve lodging, stop into their shops and book tours on the waters of the Inside Passage and the Stikine River. Of the more than dozen bed and breakfasts and other rentals in town, one is in its second life. Tyla Nelson and Jimmy Nelson live at 2.9 Mile. Tyla works at the post office and Jimmy works for the Forest Service. Jimmy bought the decommissioned Binkley Slough Forest Service...
The Roald Amundsen, a first-of-its-kind hybrid cruise ship powered by battery energy and fossil fuel, is scheduled for its first Wrangell stop on May 23 - on its first voyage to Southeast. Norwegian cruise line Hurtigruten had the 528-passenger ship - named for the first man to cross the Antarctic - specially constructed for voyages in polar waters. The 460-foot-long ship was built in Norway and started service in 2019. A spokesperson said Hurtigruten chose Wrangell as a port of call "because it...
March 23, 1922 With the Inter-School Meet at Juneau only five weeks away, the need for concerted action on part of the people in Wrangell has become more evident. Everyone is enthusiastic about the meet, as Wrangell wants to be put on the map educationally. The community is loyal to its school and is anxious to see the pupils who will be chosen for their special ability pitted against selected pupils of other schools in debates, declamatory contests, spelling, oral and written English, rapid calculation, basketball and track work. These pupils...
WASHINGTON (AP) - Alaska Rep. Don Young, the longest-serving Republican in U.S. House history, will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, March 29, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Monday. Young, 88, a blunt-speaking politician known for his brusque style, died last Friday. He was first elected to the U.S. House in 1973 He was reelected in 2020 to serve his 25th term and was running this year for another term. A special election will be held this summer to fill the seat. Pelosi's...
The new election system approved by Alaska voters in 2020 will get an unexpected first test this summer with a special election to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Congressman Don Young, Alaska’s sole member in the U.S. House of Representatives. Alaskans will pick a temporary replacement for Young using a top-four special primary election and a special ranked-choice general election. The prospect is adding a historic extra dimension to what was already expected to be a major year in Alaska politics. Alaska hasn’t had a statewide spe...
No, this column is not directed at oil producers. They are not the guilty party in this tale of cost escalation. Nor is this column about the many businesses around the world stressed by energy prices that have shot up faster and higher than fireworks on the Fourth of July. As crude oil has jumped, surged and spiked from just over $65 a barrel on Dec. 1 to painfully over $100 a barrel this month, consumers have been paying more at the pump — whether the corner gas station for a dozen or more gallons to fill up a car or pickup, a couple h...
Challenging the U.S. Census undercount for Wrangell would not change the numbers, but presenting the case to the state could be a profitable use of borough time. While the census count showed Wrangell dropped from 2,369 residents in 2010 to 2,127 in 2020, the Alaska Department of Labor’s Research and Analysis Division arrived at an even steeper loss of population — from 2,412 in July 2011 to 2,096 in its July 2021 estimate. Considering the lack of empty homes or apartments in town, it’s hard to see where the community lost more than 200 residen...
It's been too long, more than a decade, since a state Office of Children's Services caseworker has been assigned to Wrangell. Welcome back, we missed you. The borough and school district have been trying for years to get state officials to put back money in the budget for a caseworker in town. The position is so important to help children struggling with the emotional challenges of life that the borough offered two years ago to share the cost of the position with the state. News of the offer was well publicized in town, winning strong support...
I was pleased to learn that the Legislature finally has a bill, Senate Bill 170, to transfer the Alaska Marine Highway System from the Department of Transportation to a separate state-owned corporation similar to the structure of the Alaska Railroad. This would provide something that the ferry system has lacked since its inception: accountability. The state-owned corporation would have its own budget and be managed by its own board of directors. The fact that the ferry system has been part of the Department of Transportation, which also...
For the first time in more than a decade, Wrangell has a state child protection services caseworker. Jennifer Ridgeway was the Office of Children's Services worker in Petersburg from October 2021 until February, when she transferred to Wrangell. She first visited Wrangell from Tennessee in July 2018 to officiate and attend her daughter's wedding, according to a release from the state. She had no plans to move but loved the area and moved to Wrangell that fall. "Southeast Alaska offers so much...
With 1,153 boxes of two tests each piled up at the fire hall, there were enough COVID-19 self-tests available as of last Friday for more than the entire population of Wrangell to check for the virus at home. The tests are still available for free, though it can be days in between requests, said Wrangell Fire Department Capt. Dorianne Sprehe last Friday. Initially, during the Omicron wave of infections that hit the country last fall, at-home test kits were in short supply. Eventually, supply caught up with demand, and now demand has fallen back...
If it wasn't for the carts at Muskeg Meadows, more golfers might be forced to walk between holes. One teen is making sure that's not the case when the course opens this year. High school senior Jimmy Baggen is working on providing maintenance for several of Muskeg's carts for his senior project, an idea that came to him because of his interest in golf and mechanics. Baggen has been interested in fixing cars (and carts) only for a couple of years after hanging out with a friend of the family who...
Options for television in Wrangell narrowed in mid-January when some DISH Network customers lost access to the Alaska affiliates for ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX when the provider switched satellites. After two months of calls to the satellite TV provider and technicians, a solution might finally be on the way. Kitty Angerman, who has been a DISH customer for more than 20 years, said when the channels disappeared from her menu she didn't think much of it because it's happened before. Unlike past...
The borough is requesting quotes for a second columbarium —a vault to hold urns with remains of the deceased — that would be added at Sunset Gardens cemetery. Borough Clerk Kim Lane reported on the issue for the borough assembly’s Tuesday meeting. She said she is hopeful the borough can get the additional columbarium installed in the upcoming fiscal year that starts July 1. “Although we have 17 available niches in the existing columbarium, I still believe that it’s important to get another one in place,” she wrote of the need for more spaces...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association announced the four winning candidates from its March 8 tribal council election. Results posted March 9 show Frank Churchill Jr., Heidi Armstrong, Edward Rilatos and Lavina “Lovey” Brock were elected to the eight-member council, which also consists of Xúns', Richard Oliver; Michelle Clark; Jason Clark; and AAnshaawasnook, Lue Knapp, speaker of the Naanyaa.aayí clan house. Elections are held every year, and each councilmember serves a two-year term, Councilmember Knapp said Monday. Brock, Churchill Jr. and R...
The Lady Wolves came off their Southeast regional championship with the confidence to compete all the way to the state title for the first time since 1985, eventually falling one game short. In three games in Anchorage last week, the Wrangell High School girls basketball team twice showed why they entered the Division 2A state tournament as the top seed, but it was not enough to overcome the strong defense and speed of the Tikigaq High School squad from Point Hope. The Tikigaq Harpooners of the...
For nearly 10 years, Renèe Roberts has dedicated her life to swimming, and all those miles swum are taking her places. Roberts, a standout member of the Wrangell High School swim team, signed with Western Colorado University and will be one of 12 freshmen this fall joining the women's swimming and dive team. When she was 9 years old, Renee started swimming for fun, but was learning and practicing swim strokes right away. In 2016, at 12, she joined the Wrangell Swim Club and began improving her...
The Wrangell community gym was the site for tumbling, grappling and pinning last Saturday. Forty-two members of Wolfpack Wrestling gathered as their families watched from the stands to put their training to the test. Ages 5 to 11 faced off with their fellow squad members to show their skills. Head coach Jef Rooney, a wrestler himself, moved between matches, providing direction, conferring with referees and giving solace to the junior wrestlers who fell to their opponents. Five of the grapplers a...
By Felicia Fonseca The Associated Press The Interior Department is on the verge of releasing a report on its investigation into the federal government’s past oversight of Native American boarding schools. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland told journalists during a call March 16 that the report will come out in April but didn’t specify a date. She first outlined the initiative last June, saying it would uncover the truth about the loss of life and the lasting consequences of boarding schools. Starting with the Indian Civilization Act of 1819, the U...
JUNEAU (AP) — Simmering public anger in Alaska over the Legislature’s failure to settle the state’s most radioactive issue — how big a check residents should receive from the state’s oil-wealth fund — is colliding with a once-a-decade opportunity for political activists: The chance for voters to call a convention to amend the state constitution. The frustration over the long-festering Permanent Fund dividend question is providing a tailwind for groups seeking to change the constitution to address a range of hot-button topics, such as restrictin...
Former Wrangell resident Carroll Merritt, 86, died July 21, 2021, in Fort Benton, Montana. He was born in 1935, the first child of Bonnie and Ves Merritt, of Sturgis, South Dakota. During elementary school the family lived a short time in Deadwood, S.D., but most years were in Sturgis, where both sets of grandparents and other family were close. Carroll Merritt lived in Wrangell about 20 years, from the late 1960s to late 1980s, working as a teacher, said his widow, Agnes Merritt. They were married 51 years. He excelled in sports in high school...
Former Wrangell resident Randy Charles Maygard, 68, died March 2. He was born Sept. 14, 1953, to Charles and Nancy Maygard, of Seattle. Randy grew up part of his life in Seattle, where he attended Jane Adams Junior High, then Nathan Hale High School. The family moved to Wrangell, where he completed his schooling. Randy spent his life working in the sawmill and commercial fishing industry. He started out in commercial fishing with his grandfather on the KED, and ended up owning his own boat, the...
A bill that would ban discrimination on the basis of COVID-19 vaccination status passed the Alaska Senate on March 16 in a move to limit state service providers and private businesses from requiring the life-saving vaccine. The bill, sponsored by Eagle River Republican Sen. Lora Reinbold, would make it illegal for the state to withhold services based on COVID-19 vaccination status, such as in public education or assisted living in Pioneer Homes. The bill would also ban private businesses from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations as a condition for...