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A Juneau-based contractor and scrap metal recycler wants to expand its operations in Wrangell. It has offered the borough about $700,000 in site work in exchange for almost 10 acres of land at the former 6-Mile mill site. Tideline Construction, a sister company of Channel Construction, in January offered the borough $250,000 for the acreage, but submitted a new proposal last month for an extensive cleanup of the mill property in exchange for the acreage it wants at the southern end of the site....
Facing a gap of several hundred thousand dollars between available funds and its draft spending plan, the school board will hold a special meeting Wednesday, April 30, to adopt a final budget — which could include spending cuts. The latest draft budget presented to the board at its regular monthly meeting on April 14 showed about $6 million in spending versus just $4.7 million in projected revenue from state, municipal and federal sources for the 2025-2026 school year. The district expects to start the next school year with $990,000 left in its...
School Board President Dave Wilson on April 14 named 10 people to a special committee to assist the board in developing a long-term budget plan. The district has been drawing on its dwindling savings the past few years to cover spending, and it doesn’t look likely that any combination of state, municipal or federal money is going to rescue the district from spending cuts. “The budget situation is extremely dire,” Ryan Howe, a 16-year teacher in the district, said at the school board’s April 14 meeting. “There’s no calvary coming.” Wi...
More than five dozen high school students from around Southeast, along with their art teachers, will be busy painting, inking, printing, beading, knitting and more during Artfest, a four-day series of workshops in Wrangell this week. Artfest will run Thursday through Sunday, April 24-27, at the high school, with an art show open to the public from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Sunday, said Tawney Crowley, the Wrangell School District’s art teacher. The festival for Southeast students started in 1997 when Wrangell art teacher Kirk Garbisch helped organize t...
April 23, 1925 Major A. A. Oles, a tax expert, will arrive on the Admiral Rogers on Saturday for the purpose of assessing the property within the corporate limits of Wrangell. At the March meeting of the town council, the matter of having the property within the town of Wrangell assessed by an expert was considered. The council was of the opinion that if an expert were employed, he would be able to prepare a tax assessment roll that would be more uniform than any of the numerous appraisals that have been made in the past. April 21, 1950 Due to...
DADDY-DAUGHTER DANCE 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, April 25, at the community center multi-purpose room. Tiaras, dessert and backdrop for pictures come with the $40 entry fee. Purchase tickets at the door via cash or Venmo. Hosted by Wrangell Burial Assistance. PADDLER’S POTLUCK 6 p.m. Friday, April 25, at Shoemaker Bay recreation shelter. For anyone who canoes or kayaks, has a raft or rowboat or paddleboard; likes to explore the waterways; or just wants to start up. Come out and meet folks who share your interests while enjoying stories of trips old and...
The borough is seeking bids from contractors to complete road and utility work at the Alder Top Village (Keishangita.’aan) subdivision, in anticipation of putting 20 residential lots up for sale this summer. The estimate for the work is $1.9 million, which would include surveying, clearing and grubbing the land, constructing a gravel roadway to the lots, installing water and sewage lines, and trenching for buried electrical, cable and phone lines, according to the bid notice. Bids are due May 7 for the land development work just south of the Sh...
The school board is advertising on a tight timeline for a new schools superintendent to start work July 1, to replace Bill Burr who has resigned effective June 30 after four years on the job. The deadline for applications is May 5, with the selection of finalists tentatively scheduled for May 7-9 and interviews with the board May 12-14. The board scheduled a special meeting for 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 23, at Evergreen Elementary School to discuss additional “particulars of the superintendent search.” The board is expected to go into exe...
More than likely, the Legislature and Gov. Mike Dunleavy will strike a deal next month to increase state funding for K-12 education in Alaska. That’s the big checkbook fight as lawmakers face a May 21 constitutional deadline to finish their work. The increase in state aid will not be enough to solve all the money problems at school districts across Alaska, but it will be enough to prevent the worst of the crisis from hitting students, teachers and parents for the 2025-2026 school year. In Wrangell’s case, it probably will be enough money to...
Fiscal conservatives like to say that Alaska has a spending problem. Solve it, cut programs, and the good tax-free life can continue — along with a fat Permanent Fund dividend every fall. The other side in the budget debate says the state has a revenue problem. They cite the political refusal to consider changes in oil taxes, mining taxes or corporate taxes, the rejection of a return to the pre-oil-days personal income tax, even the denial of an increase in the lowest-in-the-nation motor fuel tax rate. They say raise new revenues and a good l...
Along with announcing his veto of an education funding bill on April 17, Gov. Mike Dunleavy introduced new legislation with less of an increase in the state’s per-student funding formula, along with additional funding and policy items to benefit charter schools and homeschool programs. At a news conference in the state Capitol, the governor said there were two reasons for his veto. “One of the reasons is that the (state) revenue situation has deteriorated a lot” in recent months, Dunleavy said. “And the second reason for the veto is there’s...
Members of the high school band, jazz band and choir spent three days in Juneau earlier this month for the 51st annual Southeast Music Festival. “There are no winners or losers at Music Fest,” and no trophies, said Tasha Morse, who is in her 17th year teaching music at Wrangell schools. “It is a learning experience. … It’s kind of like a master class,” with guest musicians, called adjudicators, listening and coaching the students one-on-one and in small ensembles. Music Fest was held April 10-12 at Juneau-Douglas High School, with morning and...
Sometimes, making the decision to leave an abusive situation can be extremely difficult — especially if you are unaware of what options might be available for help. And, often making such a decision requires a person to be brave. BRAVE, a Wrangell nonprofit dedicated to preventing domestic violence and promoting healthy families, will host its Family Resilience Fair 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 3, at the Nolan Center. The event aims to connect community members with vital educational resources through a fun and engaging atmosphere. A...
The community responded with 6,000 pounds of donated food after The Salvation Army cut back the days its free food pantry was open last month due to a shortage of donations to keep the shelves stocked. The donations allowed the pantry to return to its schedule of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Tuesday for families that need help. Previously, the pantry had cut back to every other week. “We’ve been tremendously blessed by this community,” Salvation Army Capt. Chase Green said last week. The 6,000 pounds included lots of canned goods and other shelf...
The Wrangell team in the annual Salvation Army Bible Bowl captured first place at the state level this month, the third year in a row the squad led the state. Wrangell won the national competition last year — the first time ever — and will try for a repeat in June in Los Angeles, said Capt. Chase Green of the Wrangell Salvation Army. “Hopefully, we’ll bring home the repeat,” he said. “There is more opposition,” Green said. “People want to beat them,” he said of the six-member Wrangell team. The state competition quizzed competitors on al...
The Alaska Press Club named the Wrangell Sentinel as the second-best weekly newspaper in the state last year. The awards were presented at the organization’s annual conference April 12 in Anchorage. “With one of the strongest news staffs among the six weekly newspapers competing, the Wrangell Sentinel — ‘The Oldest Continuously Published Newspaper in Alaska’ — consistently places multiple home-grown stories on each front page,” the judge said. The Sentinel, established in 1902, lost out for first place to the Nome Nugget. It’s the second time...
Retired Fire Department Chief Tim Buness was recognized for decades of meritorious public service by the U.S. Coast Guard in an April 3 ceremony, particularly for his dedication to the search and rescue operations run by the department. The award cites Buness’ oversight of more than 2,000 such operations, and his direct work with the Coast Gurd on over 500 search-and-rescue cases. Buness can pinpoint his very first SAR experience, going out with his father Gordon, who was then the fire chief, in May 1967 to look for an overdue boater. Since t...
Graduating senior Kyan Stead, who was selected by the Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches for this year's all-star game in Anchorage, wished the game had lasted just a little longer. Stead's team lost in double overtime in the April 12 contest, 84-82, in a high-scoring game that he described as fast-paced. "I was hoping for a third overtime," he said. Cordova's John Itliong sank the winning basket for the Gold team. Stead played on the Blue team in the Division 1A/2A all-star matchup of...
The 2025-2026 Wrangell Travel Guide, a joint project of the Sentinel and the borough’s Economic Development Department, is now available around town. The 52-page, full-color booklet features as its cover photo a brown bear family walking along, minding their own business at the Anan Wildlife Observatory, continuing the annual guide’s theme of showcasing the bear observatory as a prime attraction for visitors to Wrangell. The updated guide includes stories, maps and suggestions for visitors, including a full-page table listing boat charters ava...
The Alaska House of Representatives on April 16 approved a $6.2 billion draft state operating budget, putting Alaska on track for a deficit of as much as several hundred million dollars in the fiscal year that begins July 1. If the House version of the operating budget is added to the capital budget passed a day earlier by the Senate — and counting a planned supplemental budget needed to fill holes in this fiscal year’s spending plan — total general-purpose spending this legislative session would come in near $6.6 billion. The Alaska Depar...
A change to Alaska’s corporate income tax structure could add as much as $65 million a year to the state treasury by expanding the tax code to collect more from digital businesses, such as online merchants located outside the state. The Alaska Senate voted 16-4 on April 15 to approve Senate Bill 113, which changes the state’s corporate income tax code to require online merchants and other businesses pay taxes in Alaska based on their sales into the state, even if they have no employees or property in Alaska. Selling goods or services to Alaskan...
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has long struggled to compete with corporate America to recruit tech workers to maintain the complicated computer systems that track the federally regulated seafood harvests off Alaska. These chronic staffing shortages at NOAA Fisheries' Alaska Region have been greatly exacerbated by the Trump administration's efforts to cut the federal workforce. As of mid-March, the Alaska Region had 29% of its staffing positions vacant, and the Information...
As Alaska legislators confront a major state budget deficit, the state Senate on April 15 voted unanimously to approve a “bare bones” $162 million capital budget to pay for construction and renovation projects across the state. The spending plan, which would take effect July 1, remains a draft subject to approval by the House. Gov. Mike Dunleavy could also veto individual items in the spending plan. The budget bill passed by the Senate is almost entirely limited to the minimum in state money needed to unlock more than $2.5 billion in fed...