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Late last month, the borough discovered an oversight in the construction of Heritage Harbor — its steel pilings and piers do not have corrosion-preventing anodes on them. These pieces of oxidizing metal protect pilings from underwater degradation. Without them, the supports underneath the Heritage floats have begun to corrode. The borough plans to work quickly to install nearly $1 million worth of anodes at the harbor to prevent further wear. Near the end of March, the Port and Harbors Department sent a diver to check the anodes at Heritage H...
In light of the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce’s operating deficit over the past six years, it has sought to cut costs and find added revenues to continue the popular Fourth of July celebration. To that end, the chamber board of directors will be asking the borough’s economic development department to support funding for this year’s event. The borough this fiscal year contributed $27,000 toward the chamber’s general budget — not specifically designated to the Fourth of July. That is a small increase over $23,000 in the previous year. At a work...
Piper Buness might not be big on words but she's big on making and setting goals. The 9-year-old fourth grader participated in the Big Climb in Seattle on March 26 to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and her accomplishment had big results. Chris Buness, Piper's grandmother, has been participating in the firefighter version of the Big Climb in Seattle's Columbia Building off and on since 2011. Firefighters wear their gear to scale the 69 floors two weeks before the Big Climb,...
The Wrangell School District would receive an additional $425,000 in one-year state money under a budget headed toward approval in the Alaska House, falling short of a permanent increase in the education funding formula sought by school districts statewide. Under the House budget, state funding for K-12 public education would increase by about 14% for the 2023-2024 school year. The state’s foundation funding, based on enrollment, covers about 60% of the Wrangell district’s total general fund budget. The Republican-led House majority str...
April 5, 1923 The regular meeting of the executive committee of the Red Cross was held at the town hall last Monday. The principal business transaction was the appointment of Mrs. Stephen D. Grant as public health nurse for Wrangell for a year beginning April 16, with a two months leave of absence without pay during June and July at which time Mrs. Grant will take a six-week course in public health nursing in Portland, approved by the American Red Cross. Mrs. Grant, who is a graduate nurse with post-graduate work, enjoys the confidence of the...
The state has embarked on a mandatory income eligibility review of about 150,000 households receiving Medicaid benefits — covering as many as 260,000 people, more than one in three Alaskans. Nearly 500 Wrangell households could be in that stack. That represents about half of all the households in the community of just under 2,100 residents. The Alaska Department of Health reported an average monthly caseload of 476 Wrangell households enrolled in Medicaid in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2022. The program provides health care coverage f...
Whether he's promoting independent artists or advertising to independent travelers, musician and business-owner Matt Henson uses his marketing know-how to connect buyers with products. In the past, he worked in music marketing, where he got the word out about up-and-coming artists. In his new job as borough marketing and community development coordinator, he'll be promoting Wrangell. "The core concepts of marketing stay the same no matter what you're doing," Henson explained. "For the borough,...
The shelters at Shoemaker Park and City Park were damaged by fire and vandalism last week in two separate incidents. On April 3, the south-end shelter at City Park was used by a group of youths to camp overnight. Food, garbage and human waste were left behind, the Parks and Recreation Department reported. On April 6, more destructive damage occurred at Shoemaker Park as two fires were built inside and outside the shelter. The inside fire, caused by burning a pallet in the fireplace, scorched...
Tons of free non-perishables and canned goods are headed to Alaska communities through the Food Bank of Alaska, but Wrangell’s food pantries haven’t signed on to the program. The town’s largest food pantry at The Salvation Army says it is well stocked with local donations. After a state agency’s monthslong backlog of processing applications for food stamp benefits left residents throughout Alaska struggling to feed their families, the governor in late February directed $1.7 million to help. The money is intended to stock food pantries, particu...
No question about it, Wrangell loves its Fourth of July celebration. Residents, families and visitors all gather downtown to watch and participate in the games and races, enjoy the food and, hopefully, some summer sunshine, though that is the least predictable of the festivities. Putting on the days of the Fourth is not cheap for the chamber of commerce. The celebration totals somewhere around $115,000 for fireworks, event expenses, insurance, prize money, running the royalty fundraising raffle and everything else that everyone enjoys every...
There is no wisdom in the state House majority’s decision to put Permanent Fund dividends ahead of the public education budget. Paying for larger PFDs before schools is not the way to build a better state, to keep families from leaving, to entice new residents and businesses to move here, to educate children. It does nothing to address the fact that more people have left Alaska than moved here in each of the past 10 years. It’s as if the legislators want a new state motto: “Give me liberty, or give me death, but give me my dividend eithe...
The lack of respect and hypocrisy in the Biden administration’s application of its policy of environmental justice toward Alaska’s Natives was on full display when on March 14 Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland withdrew from the 2019 land exchange in the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge that the department had agreed to with the King Cove Corp. and Agdaagux and Belkofski tribes. This land exchange was intended to provide the people of King Cove with the opportunity to seek permits to construct an 11-mile gravel road to medevac people fro...
Will Carol Beecher, who was appointed to serve as director of the Alaska Division of Elections, comply with Alaska state statutes in the future? The relevant statute clearly states that the elections director must be nonpartisan and may not make political contributions. The Sentinel reported Feb. 22 that Beecher made recent contributions to the campaigns of Republican candidates including Donald Trump, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom. Four months later, Dahlstrom appointed Beecher as director of the Alaska Division of...
There isn’t another business in this town, bar none, that looks out for its citizenry the way River’s Mouth does. That is the most important thing I have to say, so I’ll repeat it, and hold that thought. But first let us take a peek at this endearing little place on Earth that we call home. In Wrangell, as residents we fall into one of those two categories: buyers and/or sellers. We are all in this together. We are all trying to survive in this day and age while inflation is eating us alive and the almighty dollar buys nothing. Enter the solut...
Pointing to high credit card balances, growing student loan debts and inadequate savings for many U.S. households, Anchorage Sen. Bill Wielechowski believes it is important to teach students “to avoid common financial pitfalls and manage their money successfully.” He has proposed legislation that would require Alaska high schools to teach a financial literacy course. His bill also would require that students complete the course to earn their diploma. The course would have to cover managing a bank account, setting a budget, credit card deb...
For Kristy and Brian Herman of Canoe Lagoon Oysters, operating an oyster business has been an exercise in efficiency. Since buying the farm in 2020, the pair has cut labor costs and oyster growing time, streamlined their cleaning and sorting processes and formed lasting relationships with restaurants in the Lower 48. Now, the company is ready for its next big step - a retail location in Wrangell. In the past, Canoe Lagoon Oysters has had a minimal presence in town, since the business's primary...
If you're having trouble with your tires - or you want to commission a custom blade - John Hurst of John's Junk Removal has expanded his offerings to include tire repair, mounting and balance, plus handmade metalworks from his new forge. Hurst bought his tire-mounting machine on a whim last December, after seeing one available for sale. "I needed my tires changed and the one guy who did it here in town was really busy at that time," he explained. "I said, what the heck, I'll buy it for 150...
What started out as merely a way to show support for her best friend ended up being a life-changing experience for high school senior Brodie Gardner. Last June, she was asked by Mia Wiederspohn to go with her to the Sealaska Heritage-organized Celebration in Juneau, which led to Gardner becoming more involved in the Tlingit culture and restoration of the Chief Shakes gravesite on Case Avenue. "I went to Celebration with Virginia (Oliver), and I'm not part of her Tlingit class but my best friend...
As the school year hastens to its May 25 end, the district took its first steps toward updating its strategic plan, a document that lists specific goals and outcomes, how those will be achieved and the deadlines for each. Though discussions about updating the plan were held at the beginning of the school year, the district has recently issued a survey, inviting community members to share what they think the schools should focus on. “This is our initial foray into getting as much information as possible,” said Schools Superintendent Bill Bur...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has reduced this year’s non-hatchery chinook catch limit for Southeast commercial trollers by 44,000 fish — about 23% lower than last year’s harvest quota. The catch limit for sportfishing, commercial seine and gillnet fleets also were set about 23% lower than last year. The largest salmon are the main moneymaker for many trollers. This year’s harvest limit, while down substantially from 2022, is about the same as was set for 2021 and 2020. It’s almost 50% higher than 2019, when several runs were not...
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A federal regulatory group voted last Thursday to officially close king salmon fishing season along much of the West Coast after near-record low numbers of the fish returned to California’s rivers last year. The Pacific Fishery Management Council approved the closure of the 2023 season for all commercial and most recreational chinook fishing along the coast from Cape Falcon in northern Oregon to the California-Mexico border. Limited recreational salmon fishing will be allowed off southern Oregon in the fall. “The forec...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he does not support a request to add millions of dollars to the state budget to help child care providers, instead announcing the formation of a task force to examine the issue and provide policy recommendations by the end of the year. Child care, expensive and in short supply in Alaska, has benefited from more than $50 million in federal pandemic aid paid as grants to providers since 2020. With the end of federal funding, child care advocates have asked legislators to add $15 million to the state budget to boost...
A lawsuit over a driveway-sized parcel in Juneau and a sales tax disagreement involving a food truck in Craig both highlight the learning curve facing city, state and tribal officials in Alaska as the federal government slowly accepts tribal lands into trust. So far, only two tribes in Alaska have placed land into trust — in Craig in 2017 and in Juneau this year — after the federal government in 2014 began reversing a decades-old ban against the practice in the state. The Alaska Department of Law early this year filed a lawsuit to stop the pol...
For the third time in as many legislative sessions, Kodiak Sen. Gary Stevens is leading the push to get a tax on e-cigarettes and vaping products into state law. “Taxes have been proven to reduce youth tobacco use, resulting in fewer kids becoming life-long smokers,” Stevens said in offering his legislation, which would add a 25% state tax to the sales price to dissuade youth from vaping. Senate Bill 89 also would raise the legal age to buy vape sticks, electronic smoking devices and other similar nicotine products in Alaska to 21, mat...
A federal court judge on April 3 ruled against environmental groups seeking to block preliminary construction of the Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope. The decision allows ConocoPhillips, the project developer, to begin digging a gravel mine and building a gravel road to access the area projected to be the largest new North Slope oil development in decades. A boat ramp to support subsistence hunting and fishing is also planned. Legal challenges will continue, multiple environmental groups said. At peak production in the early 2030s, W...