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It was 1869 and smoke filled the winter air. Cannon balls ripped through Tlingit homes while U.S. Army shells shrieked across the sky. The same type of artillery used against the Confederates just four years prior was now turned on the Tlingit people of Wrangell, in their homeland which they called Ḵaachx̱aana.áakʼw. One hundred and fifty-five years later, the U.S. Army is apologizing. The apology is scheduled to take place in Wrangell on Jan. 11, 2025. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Army repr...
Jack Carney's maniacs on the mat aren't slowing down. At the Southeast wrestling championship in Haines on Dec. 13-14, Wrangell boasted three champions, four runners-up and five bronze medalists. Seven wrestlers qualified for the state tournament in Anchorage on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 20-21, but head coach Jack Carney hopes many more will receive an at-large bid. Wrangell's triad of top-step finishers were Della Churchill, Jackson Carney and Everett Meissner. Hailey Cook, Ian Nelson, Vanessa...
The governor has proposed a state budget for next year that does not repeat this year’s education funding increase and pays out a $3,838 Permanent Fund dividend — and runs up a $1.5 billion deficit. The cost of the dividend, estimated at more than $2.5 billion, consumes 40% of total available state general fund revenues. Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s spending plan, unveiled Dec. 12, would wipe out more than half of the state’s budget reserve account. The broad aspects of the Republican governor’s spending plan are similar to those that encounter...
A sea lion estimated to weigh more than a ton had been terrorizing people and pets in Petersburg’s South Harbor. It was killed on Dec. 7, but not by law enforcement. Instead, authorities collaborated with Brandon Ware, who is Tlingit and grew up hunting marine mammals. He plans to use the hide and whiskers for traditional regalia. Harbormaster Glorianne Wollen said the sea lion had been snapping at people and pets, stalking them as they walked the docks. She said people felt hunted. Wollen said that when there’s an aggressive sea lion han...
WRANGELL MARINERS’ MEMORIAL board members will be available to assist in completing applications to add names to the commemorative plaques from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 19, and Jan. 2, 13, 22 and 31 at the Nolan Center. Applications are available online at wrangellmarinersmemorial.com. Donations and memberships are also accepted online. CHRISTMAS TREE LANE decorated trees are up for bid through 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec 19, at the Nolan Center lobby. Half the proceeds go to the treemaker and half to Hospice of Wrangell. For more information,...
Dec. 18, 1924 On last Friday evening the Wrangell schools two basketball teams played their first public game of the season. The attendance at the game was small due to the fact that the evening was so cold. The evening opened with a curtain raiser by two teams of smaller boys from the grade school. The featured event of the evening was a game between the regular high school and grade school teams. The teams are about as evenly matched as any two teams could be, the grade team having the advantage in weight and high school boys the advantage...
Southeast Alaska’s population is expected to drop 17% between 2023 and 2050, far more than any other region of the state, according to the latest projections, with Wrangell showing the steepest decline at 33%, from 2,039 residents in 2023 to 1,988 in July 2025, 1,845 in 2030 and down to 1,349 in 2050. Wrangell’s population has been in a steady decline since the timber industry started cutting back in the 1990s and the mill closed down permanently in 2008, and with deaths outnumbering births. The state’s latest projections are not based on an...
The community theater team is gearing up for their spring production, the musical “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Auditions will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Jan. 6 and 7 at the Nolan Center. Everyone who tries out for the cast is encouraged to come prepared with a song to sing and to read lines for the auditions. First performed on Broadway in 1982, the musical tells the biblical story of Joseph, whose dreams of destiny and his father’s favoritism inspires jealousy among his 11 brothers. Set in Canaan and Egypt, it follo...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has a choice for his final two years on the job: He can continue talking about how state law requires him to include an outrageously large Permanent Fund dividend in the budget — even though it would dig a deep budget hole which, thankfully, legislators will never approve — or he can help solve the problem. It looks like he is sticking with the irresponsible approach. He proposed a budget last week that is politically popular with his supporters but which he knows the state cannot afford without drawing down its rem...
The CEO of a large health insurance provider was shot dead on the sidewalk in front of his New York City hotel in a planned killing and 57,000 people posted laughing emojis on the company’s Facebook page. When did murder become funny? Days after the Dec. 4 killing, the tone turned even uglier. “Wanted” posters started appearing in New York City, glued to light poles and traffic control boxes at street corners. But these posters were not searching for the murderer; they were threatening more violence against health care executives. “Heal...
The recent announcement by the state’s bank AIDEA, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, and the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. warrants close examination not only by the Legislature but every Alaskan who might become a ratepayer utilizing the natural gas. The AIDEA proposal commits up to $50 million as a backstop in support of engineering work on the proposed pipeline to move North Slope gas to Fairbanks and Southcentral Alaska. The work would be conducted and initially funded by an unnamed private company. If the study c...
Landslides, heavy snowfall, flooding and wildfires aren’t uncommon in Alaska. But as the oceans and atmosphere grow warmer, such extreme events and disasters are becoming more frequent across the state, a new report says. The Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks International Arctic Research Center this month released the report, “Alaska’s Changing Environment 2.0.” The report contains contributions from dozens of scientists and Indigenous experts and dives into long-term climate trends, focusin...
Heavy winds earlier this month caused several trees to fall near Zarembo Island’s popular public access point. One tree tore through the causeway that connects the dock to the island. Another barricaded a dirt ramp often used to load and offload vehicles at the beach landing. The nearby island is a hot spot for hunters and outdoor enthusiasts. U.S. Forest Service Wrangell District Ranger Tory Houser hopes to have the causeway repaired ahead of the 2025 deer hunting season, which begins Aug. 1. She said the Forest Service is actively working to...
The 18-year-old Marine Service Center, a mainstay of Wrangell’s waterfront economy, collects enough money in fees to cover its expenses — but there is nothing set aside to replace equipment, such as the boatlifts and hydraulic trailer that are essential to the operation. A 2022 economic analysis pointed out that if equipment replacement and other capital expenses were included in the math, the borough loses money on the service center. The port commission has started discussing possible rate increases to ensure there is sufficient money in a r...
The port commission is considering whether it can attract more boat owners to keep their vessels in the water during the winter if the monthly moorage rates were discounted. The idea is to generate revenue from unused moorage spaces. Even with a discount, the monthly short-term moorage rates would still be more expensive per month than the rate for boat owners who reserve a space for a full year. A seasonal discount to entice more owners to keep their boats in the water in the winter might work, said Winston J. Davies, port commission chair....
Alaska’s oil revenues are expected to decline over the next few years, creating a substantial budget deficit that will have to be filled by withdrawals from the state’s savings, according to a semiannual forecast released by the state Department of Revenue on Dec. 12. Or spending cuts or taxes could be used to cover the deficit, though neither option was presented in the department’s forecast. The new forecast is more pessimistic about the state’s oil-revenue prospects over the next few years than was the department’s previous forecast in March...
Ketchikan Rep.-elect Jeremy Bynum has decided to join the House Republican minority caucus. A narrow 21-member coalition of Democrats, independents and two Republicans are set to govern the 40-member House when lawmakers convene next month in Juneau. The majority coalition has been hoping to entice a couple more Republicans, including Bynum, to join their ranks. Bynum opted to stay with the Republicans, according to last week’s announcement by the minority caucus. The freshman legislator, who also will represent Wrangell, Metlakatla and C...
What do you get when you mix a cross-country superstar, a couple of wrestling studs, one of the best basketball players in Southeast and a coach who believes in his system and his players? My guess? A damn good basketball team - but at the very least a really, really, really, really fun team to watch. And if you aren't quite convinced, add to the mix the following: a feisty freshman vying for a spot in the rotation and a high basketball-IQ senior leader unwilling to accept anything other than...
Last season, just two high schoolers signed up for cheerleading. This year, that figure exploded to 12. Head coach Tyla Nelson is thrilled, and you can expect to see Wrangell's cheer squad at every home basketball game this season. The cheerleaders began practices on Dec. 4, and their season will wrap on the same day as basketball regionals on March 5-8 in Ketchikan, where they will compete against other Southeast cheer teams. The top two teams will go on to state the following week. Nelson...
Alaska Airlines said Dec. 10 it will start new service to Tokyo and Seoul next year as part of a plan to boost international flights over the next several years, using the Airbus wide-body aircraft it obtained in its purchase of Hawaiian Airlines. The airline said it will begin flying between Seattle and Tokyo’s Narita International Airport in May and will add service between Seattle and Seoul in October. Alaska said it plans to fly from Seattle to at least a dozen international destinations by 2030, including Europe, using large jets owned by...
Monday, Dec. 9 Agency assist: Fire Department. Agency assist: Line Crew. Tuesday, Dec. 10 Theft: Unfounded. Domestic violence assault: Arrest. Agency assist: Ambulance. Wednesday, Dec. 11 Nothing to report. Thursday, Dec. 12 Welfare check. Dog complaint. Traffic stop. Friday, Dec. 13 Dog bite. Domestic violence order served. Saturday, Dec. 14 Stranded boat. Sunday, Dec. 15 Civil matter....
President Joe Biden created the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument in Pennsylvania on Dec. 9 to underscore the oppression Indigenous people faced there and across the broader Native American boarding school system, as well as the lasting impacts of the abuse that occurred at these schools. The proclamation came as Biden — who hosted his fourth and final White House Tribal Nations Summit on Dec. 9 — announced several efforts his administration is taking to support tribal communities. The administration continues to ack...
A small Canadian First Nation and an Indigenous group in Alaska each have challenged a British Columbia permit decision for a massive mining project across the border from southern Southeast Alaska. The challenges, filed earlier this month in British Columbia’s Supreme Court, call for legal reviews of the provincial government’s decision earlier this year to let a Canadian company hang on, indefinitely, to a key environmental permit. Seabridge Gold, a Toronto-based company, has been pushing for years to advance what it describes as the lar...