Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 25
The Borough Assembly convened in a special meeting midday Monday to change course on actions it took last week to curb water production issues this summer. Last Tuesday the Assembly approved moving forward with funding the redesign and installation of a new roughing filter system and purchasing fresh silicate for one of its four slow-sand filtration units at the water treatment plant. The intent was to address persistent clogging in the units from built up sediment, which was limiting the 17-year-old plant’s output such that it could not k...
Licenses for the cultivation and retail of marijuana were approved for a Wrangell applicant earlier this month. The Marijuana Control Board gave the go-ahead to the two applications during its April 4 and 5 meeting, put forward by Kelsey Martinsen of Happy Cannabis. The licenses are conditional, pending building plan approval from the Fire Marshal and local municipality. As proposed, the shop would be a grow and retail business just between First Bank and the Diamond C Restaurant. The shop would feature a store front, with 15 grow bays and...
April 26,1917: There was no little excitement on Front Street Monday afternoon when it was reported that little Clarence, the two year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis had been drowned. The child fell into the bay at about three o’clock, and it probably remained in the water for fifteen minutes. When discovered afloat it was quickly brought out by Fred Lewis. The child was apparently dead and no one supposed it would ever breath again. Dr. and Mrs. Pigg were near and lost no time in putting forth efforts to resuscitate the little one. More than f...
Alaska telecom provider GCI has announced it has reached an agreement with Liberty Interactive Corporation. General Communication, Inc. will be bought out by Liberty Interactive Corporation, an American media conglomerate and venture capital group. GCI's business, assets and liabilities will be combined with that of subsidiary Liberty Ventures Group, forming a company renamed GCI Liberty. "This transaction is a win for our shareholders, customers, and employees," stated Ron Duncan, GCI...
Monday, April 10 Report of Disturbance. Parking Complaint. Tuesday, April 11 Power Outage. Found Property. Post accident breath test. Breath test given. Found Property. Wednesday, April 12 Agency Assist: Brush Fire. Abandoned vehicle. Thursday, April 13 Criminal Mischief: Unfounded. Friday, April 12 Driving Complaint. Citation issued to Donald Sorric, 54, for Prohibited Parking. Noise Complaint. Saturday, April 15 Noise complaint: Unfounded. Traffic Complaint. Citizen Assist: Officer was requested for a standby. Sunday, April 16 Person...
April 17, Monday Lucas Canton Schneider, 40, appeared before First District Judge Kevin Miller on the charge of Assault 3 – Causing an Injury with a Weapon, a Class C felony. The defendant pleaded guilty to the offense, and was ordered to serve 18 months with 14 suspended with the time to be served immediately. As part of the plea agreement, a charge of Assault in the 4th Degree was dismissed. Schneider was also ordered to pay $300 with $100 suspended in fines and surcharges, pay restitution as required, and will be placed on three years of c...
For those following the issues facing our state, it’s no surprise that Alaska’s $2.7 billion budget deficit is the biggest issue. For the last five years, Alaska has had a budget deficit. Those deficits have caused the state to burn through at least $12 billion in savings, and we are quickly running out of savings. In the previous legislative sessions (2013-2016), the Legislature – led by Republican majorities – was unable to address the issue in any meaningful way other than to continue reducing the budget and kicking the can down the road. S...
Charlotte Lynne Robinson-Neff, 48, died on March 25, 2017 in Anchorage, Alaska. She was born to Noah (Dale) and Linda on February 4, 1969, in Monroe, Louisiana. Charlotte was a licensed hairdresser from the time she was 16. One of the shops she owned and operated was Charlottes Cutting Corner in Wrangell. Charlotte worked as a Personal Care Attendant and worked at the school while still doing hairdressing on the side. She managed and ran Bjorge House, an assisted living home for more than 10 yea...
Virginia "Ginny" Ellen Gillen/Allen, 73, of Wrangell, Alaska, died April 3, 2017 in her Wrangell home surrounded by her family. She was born August 29, 1943 to the late James and Madge Gillen, and was the third of eight children and was raised in Wrangell. Ginny was married to Gary Allen Sr. and had four children, Lynn, Gary Jr., Theresa, and Penny. Ginny also had 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Ginny was most notably known to Wrangell residents for her voice on KSTK, her oil...
Regional economic forum Southeast Conference is seeking out data on private sector investment for its annual report on the economy. The survey is supposed to only take three minutes, asking for general information on significant private project investments one’s business or company had made between July 1, 2016 and June 30 in Southeast Alaska. All individual survey answers are completely confidential, and will be reported in aggregate only. “We do this annually so we can get a better feel for what the private investment is in the reg...
Legislation advanced out of the House Resources Committee last week, which would allow municipalities to set their own rules to control trapping. House Bill 201 was proposed last month by Anchorage Democrat Rep. Andy Josephson. Under the bill’s language, municipal actions would be limited to preventing injuries to people and domestic animals. Municipalities could not limit reasonable opportunities for subsistence trapping activities, and could choose to exempt trappers from any trapping ordinances. In the sponsor statement, Josephson e...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Columbus Day would be known as Indigenous Peoples Day in Alaska under a measure passed by the state Legislature. The bill, which passed with broad bipartisan support, next goes to Gov. Bill Walker. For the past two years, Walker has issued proclamations declaring the second Monday in October _ recognized federally as Columbus Day – to be Indigenous Peoples Day. Columbus Day is a federal holiday but not a state holiday in Alaska. In a statement, Rep. Dean Westlake of Kotzebue says his bill does not replace Columbus Day but...
The allotted 90 days of the Alaska Legislature’s 30th session has passed by with two leading bills on the coming year’s budget still awaiting reconciliation. The House last week passed a version of Senate Bill 26, which among other things allots 75 percent of Permanent Fund earnings to the state’s operating funds and ties earning computations to a market value model. The House version differed from that initially put forward by the Senate, notably eliminating an appropriation limit of $4.1 billion and reducing the draw from the earnings reser...
Local seniors will be holding a moose-meat, Mexican-style fundraiser dinner this weekend to fill out the Wrangell Senior Center larder. The dinner is scheduled for Saturday from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Made from scratch by volunteers in the center kitchen, Wilma Leslie explained the main courses will be moose-meat tacos, chicken enchiladas and chili rellenos (stuffed peppers). Dinners will be available for pick-up from the center, or else can be delivered as far as Shoemaker Bay for an additional fee. The center provides a place for community elders...
In a brief meeting Thursday evening, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved final plat review for three items. The final review of a plat for Sea Level Seafoods was approved, creating a new subdivision lot zoned waterfront development. The 6,983 square foot parcel is a section of parking lot owned by the city, which will be leased out to the adjacent business for its ongoing use. The request was reviewed by Ports and P&Z back in February 2016, with both commissions recommending to the Borough Assembly the tidelands disposal. Planning and...
A brighter outlook for Alaska’s upcoming salmon season just got even better. Markets are looking good, the statewide salmon catch forecast of 204 million is up by a million fish, and the world’s biggest sockeye salmon fishery at Bristol Bay is breaking records for chilling its fish. Last year nearly 40 percent of Alaska’s total salmon value came out of Bristol Bay. When its fish fetch a better pay check for boosted quality due to chilling, it is felt throughout the entire salmon industry. “The size of the Bay harvest has a big impact on salmon...
A prototype component to the turbines at Tyee Lake's hydroelectric facility will be put into use this summer. A new needle position feedback assembly will be going into service, replacing the current models. Southeast Alaska Power Agency executive Trey Acteson explained the current assembly units have a tendency to leak, and are experiencing senor failures. The needle position feedback assembly sits atop the control head of the turbine nozzle restoring mechanism, and is a critical part in...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – An oil well leaking natural gas on Alaska’s North Slope has been successfully plugged, according to private and government responders. BP Exploration Alaska Inc. confirmed Monday that its well five miles from the airport at Deadhorse was successfully “killed” overnight. The method of plugging the well was not immediately announced. BP Exploration Alaska is a subsidiary of BP. Employees on Friday morning discovered uncontrolled natural gas flowing from the top of a well house, a metal structure that looks like a large b...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The capital city of Alaska is looking to expand its borders. The Juneau Empire reported Sunday that the city and borough of Juneau have hopes of owning more of Admiralty Island, located south of the capital city, and a portion of land next to the Petersburg Borough. “In the near future, annexation of this region is mostly symbolic since there are no local residents or private properties,” Lands and Resources Manager Greg Chaney wrote in a memo to city officials. “In the long run, mineral development or tourism could g...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska’s capital city and borough are considering closing a museum, gym and educational facility to balance its 2018 budget. Juneau needs to find nearly $2 million to balance its budget, the Juneau Empire reported Friday. Finance Director Bob Bartholomew has proposed taking $1.4 million from the city’s fund balance and reducing spending by $500,000. Juneau-Douglas City Museum, Mount Jumbo Gym, the Eagle Valley Center and more are in jeopardy of being closed to properly balance the budget. The city’s priorit...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Going without health insurance is a risk. Going without it in Alaska can be a gamble of a much higher order, for this is a place unlike anywhere else in the U.S., a land of pitiless cold, vast expanses and dangerous, back-breaking work such as pulling fishing nets from the water or hauling animal carcasses out of the woods. And yet many people on the Last Frontier do not carry insurance. For them, the Affordable Care Act just isn’t working. For reasons that have a lot to do with its sheer size, sparse population and har...
Wrangell's roller derby term held its last bout before the summer on April 8, heading over to Petersburg. The Garnet Grit Betties faced the Ragnarök Rollers at the local high school gym. The bleachers were pretty well packed with spectators, with about 170 people turning out for the bout. "We were super surprised and excited that such a large crowd turned out," said Ola "PolkaOlka" Richards, a first-year skater for Petersburg. Running a lean roster this year, Wrangell filled out its bench with...