Sorted by date Results 26 - 36 of 36
As part of its plan to accommodate a large increase in cruise ship visitors this summer, Sitka is offering grants of $1,000 or more to businesses and other entities that will open their bathrooms to the public. The community is expecting ships with capacity to carry close to half-a-million passengers this summer, more than double the pre-COVID year of 2019. The city posted the grant application on its website last Thursday. The city’s tourism office, Visit Sitka, will direct visitors to the locations of the public facilities using maps, s...
The arrival of herring signals the start of Alaska’s spring fisheries and this year’s commercial catch limits from each of the three main areas are record breakers. But much of the catch will go unharvested — there is no market. Combined harvests from three prime producing areas total 118,346 tons, or nearly 237 million pounds. The limit for the Sitka Sound harvest in late March is set at over 45,164 tons, followed the first days of April at Kodiak where a harvest of 8,075 tons is allowed. Alaska’s largest roe herring fishery at Togiak in Brist...
Salvage teams, the U.S. Coast Guard and state Department of Environmental Conservation reported last Thursday that fuel leaks from the grounded tug in Neva Strait 17 miles northwest of Sitka have been stopped. The state agency updated its situation report Thursday afternoon, noting that the exact quantity of diesel spilled is unknown but progress is being made in the cleanup on the water around the 83-foot tugboat Western Mariner. “Additionally, fuel has been removed from the engine room,” the department said in its report. The Department of...
Juneau-based Channel Construction will resume accepting scrap metal at no charge — including vehicles — starting Friday at the former sawmill property at 6.3-Mile Zimovia Highway. The company, which brings its barge to communities throughout Southeast to collect scrap metal for hauling to recyclers out of state, will operate its collection site in Wrangell “for the foreseeable future,” the borough announced last week. The site will be open for people to drop off scrap metal and vehicles drained of oil and gasoline and stripped of their tires f...
Former Wrangell resident Mary Delia Hoyt, 84, died Jan. 11, 2022, at her home in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. She was born March 19, 1937, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Sabina and John Weber, one of five children. “Mary met the love of her life, Herb Hoyt, while attending Marquette University,” her family wrote. They were married in 1956 and later camped their way across the country “like gypsies,” the family wrote, finally settling in Ketchikan. Together they raised seven children. “Mary always claimed her father’s family were Romanian gypsies, an...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — A former police dispatcher in the Bering Sea coastal community of Nome has settled with the city after officers failed to investigate her report of being sexually assaulted in 2017. Under terms of the agreement, Clarice “Bun” Hardy, an Alaska Native woman now living in Shaktoolik, will drop her lawsuit in exchange for $750,000 and an apology from the city, the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska said March 22. “The mayor and common council wish to apologize to Clarice ‘Bun’ Hardy for the fact that the Nome Police Departmen...
FAIRBANKS (AP) — In the pristine expanse of Alaska’s Interior lies a dirty secret: Some of the most polluted winter air in the United States can be found in and around Fairbanks. The Fairbanks North Star Borough, which includes Alaska’s second-largest city, routinely exceeds limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for particle pollution that can be inhaled and cause myriad health problems. Over seven weeks this winter, nearly 50 scientists from the U.S. and Europe descended on Fairbanks to study the sources of air pollu...
JUNEAU (AP) — Anchorage Democrat Elvi Gray-Jackson said last Friday that she is ending her run for U.S. Senate in Alaska and instead will seek reelection to the state Senate, where she has served since 2019. Gray-Jackson, in a statement released by her campaign, said that as first-quarter fundraising concludes “and after some deep reflection on our current system and the monumental expenses necessary to run a successful campaign, I have decided that my best efforts to change that system and to change Alaska will be done in the Senate in Jun...
Posted 2:30 p.m. Friday, April 1 The state health department website reported Friday that there have been 54 COVID-19 cases in Wrangell in the past 14 days, with 28 of those in the past seven days and nine in the past two days. The case counts include only those test results reported to the state; at-home test results are not included. Wrangell's case count, while significantly higher than the average over the two years of the pandemic, is down substantially from the post-holidays record-high surge in January and February. Statewide counts are...
HELP WANTED Wrangell Public Schools is accepting applications for a long-term Substitute Elementary School Teacher. This position is anticipated to begin Aug. 22 and run through Nov. 23, 2022. An Alaska Type A Teaching Certificate with the appropriate endorsements is required. Contact the district office at 907-874-2347 for more information. It is the Wrangell Public School District’s policy to not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, national origin, sex or disability. WANTED Looking for galvanized planters in good condition, and W...
Posted at noon Friday, April 1 Alaska Airlines canceled dozens of flights Friday — including the northbound jet through Wrangell — as pilots picketed over an impasse in contract negotiations that have lasted nearly three years. As of 8 a.m. Alaska time, the airline said it had canceled more than 120 flights for the day, about 9% of its traffic, due to a shortage of pilots. Friday’s cancelations include 66 flights in Seattle, 20 in Portland, 10 in Los Angeles and seven in San Francisco, according to the flight tracking website fligh...