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The budget that legislators approved last week and will send to the governor for his signature into law or veto would provide about $425,000 in one-time additional state funding to the Wrangell school district for the 2023-2024 classroom year. That would deliver almost a 9% boost to the district’s total operating budget revenue, which is comprised of state money (more than 60%), a borough contribution (32%) and federal dollars. “It will still need to pass the governor, so it’s not guaranteed,” Bill Burr, Wrangell schools superin...
There were plenty of smiles, hugs and tears of joy in a ceremony lasting nearly two hours. Not a moment of the Wrangell High School 2023 graduation was wasted as speakers and video presentations reflected on the lives of 20 seniors taking the step into the next phase of their lives. Salutatorian Brodie Gardner and co-valedictorians Nikolai Bardin-Siekawitch and Kiara Harrison focused on the positive traits of their classmates and the dedication of their teachers. "They go above and beyond for...
Alaska lawmakers reached a compromise on the state budget and adjourned after a one-day special session last week, approving a $1,300 Permanent Fund dividend for this fall with the possibility of a second, smaller payment next year if oil revenues exceed projections. The amount of the PFD and the capital budget — construction and maintenance projects in legislators’ home districts — were the final items that forced legislators into a special session after the regular session ended May 17 without a budget. The governor called them back to work...
As Wrangell prepares for its biggest event of the year - the Fourth of July - one teen has taken it upon himself to ensure that the celebration will be prosperous for years to come. Though Ander Edens is the only contestant in this year's royalty fundraising competition, he is setting his sights on a record-breaking run. The ticket sales are the main fundraiser for the chamber of commerce, which organizes the holiday festivities. The current fundraising record is $126,408 in raffle ticket sales...
May 24, 1923 The health center is now established in the quaint old building which has stood for more than half a century on the government reserve near the courthouse, and which during the past 10 years was used for a time as a U.S. Commissioner’s office and later as a hall for the American Legion. This historic building, which is constructed of logs, was built in 1867 by Capt. Bancroft who built Fort Wrangell. With the exception of the customs house, it is the only one left of the eight buildings which comprised the garrison. The garrison w...
Trident Seafoods is on schedule with preparation work to reopen its processing plant on the Wrangell waterfront after a three-year closure. “We expect to start handling fish the week of July 10,” focusing on chum and pink salmon, Southeast regional manager John Scoblic said May 15. The company expects to have 100 to 110 workers on the job, somewhat under the count of past years, he said. Trident has said weak chum returns were behind the decision to keep the plant closed since 2019. Some workers will start before the first salmon come into the...
Though pandemic restrictions were hard on all community members, they were particularly hard on elders, many of whom endured long-term isolation because of the risks COVID posed to their immune systems. Now that the federal government declared the pandemic public health emergency over this month, Hospice of Wrangell is encouraging community members to reach out to their grandparents, older friends and long-term care and Senior Apartments residents. Homebound elders and Senior Center or long-term care residents “still want to be part of the c...
Wrangell’s recreational infrastructure is about to get a much-needed makeover in the coming months and years thanks to federal maintenance dollars from the Forest Service. The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), signed by then-President Donald Trump in 2020, directed $8.1 billion over five fiscal years — 2021 to 2025 — to fund maintenance and repair work that had been put off due to budget or workforce issues. The money is for projects on federal lands, like trails, bridges, monuments and campgrounds. In past funding cycles, the Wrangell Range...
The Legislature earned a passing grade for approving a substantial increase in state funding for public schools — the first since 2017. Think of it as a small gold star for effort, but they still will need to retake the class next year. Rather than permanently raise the per-student funding formula in state statute, lawmakers voted for a one-time boost in funding for the 2023-2024 school year. Helpful, but it does not solve the perennial problem of inadequate funding for public schools. The 15% increase is good for only one year and does not c...
The Alaska Legislature is no different than a typical American household – torn between spending every last dollar from their paycheck on immediate wants or saving some for the inevitable future needs. When the wants win out, money often is short for the needs that come later. That pretty much sums up this year’s political battle over the amount of the Permanent Fund dividend. The bipartisan Senate favored an affordable PFD that would not require drawing from savings; the House Republican-led majority wanted to take hundreds of millions of dol...
There are large calendar pages tacked to a wall in the Sentinel office. May through September list the cruise ships scheduled to stop in Wrangell on specified days. We keep them there for easy reference. However, we don’t really need the pages to know when there’s a cruise ship in town. Remember that scene in Pixar’s “Finding Nemo” where the horrible little kid comes up to the fishbowl and starts tapping violently on the glass? Many businesses along Front Street may have had that same feeling when cruise ship passengers disembark and start fil...
You are seen! Many times, we wander through life or even just the day and feel like no one is there or no one cares. We even do things at times to get noticed. We want the adoration or appreciation of others. And yet, sometimes it is unfulfilling. Not because we aren’t strong enough, funny enough or any of that, but because we lack a true understanding of our own value. You are enough! The one who created all has already said that. If He who began a good work in you, desires you and wants you as close to Him as possible, you are enough. 1 Peter...
I just wanted to give a big shout-out for all the recent awards the Sentinel staff received at the annual Alaska Press Club contest. I won’t try to name them all. Wrangell should be very proud of Larry Persily and the entire crew at the newspaper. I am now living in Anchorage since the sawmill shut down, but I still get the Sentinel every week. Larry is one of the most sought after advisers up here regarding oil, gas and Alaska’s budget. We Alaskans can’t afford to lose his voice, or Sen. Bert Stedman’s either. The Wrangell Sentinel receive...
Whether you prefer working up a sweat on the court, concocting delicious dishes in the kitchen or taking a relaxing stroll through the woods, the Parks and Recreation department will be offering community members of all ages ways to stay active, connected and engaged this summer. In past years, Parks and Recreation offered near daily activities for kids, but this year, due to staffing issues, the programming will be more spread out. “What we’re going to do, rather, is sprinkle in activities,” explained Devyn Johnson, recreation and aquat...
Look out, Martin Scorsese You've got some up-and-coming competition on your hands. Stikine Middle School students spent the past two weeks recording video footage and conducting interviews as part of the See Stories project, which creates documentaries to tell the stories of Alaska. What began 10 years ago as a way to tell Alaska's diverse stories through videos and podcasts from a youth perspective has grown into an award-winning program that has produced 150 short documentaries and podcasts by...
Mike Lewis, the owner of Tiny's Taxi, is committed to offering 24-hour, seven-day-a-week service, even if he has to sleep with his phone and headset to do it. The new business has been giving rides around town since it opened April 13. After graduating from Wrangell High School in 1988, Lewis spent about 30 years moving around the western United States doing construction jobs. He lived in Anchorage, Soldotna, Washington state, Colorado, Los Angeles and Palm Springs in California, Hawaii, Arizona...
Summer vacation may be the best time of the year for kids, but it can be tough on working parents to provide lunches for their children during the day. The Salvation Army is partnering with the borough’s Parks and Recreation Department to keep the community’s children nourished and active throughout the summer. The program, which started about two years ago, will provide lunches Monday through Friday to kids entering kindergarten through fifth grade, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., June 1 to July 31. In past years, kids would pick up meal vou...
The Hubbard pulled away from the dock at the Ketchikan Shipyard on May 18, headed for its first passenger sailing — more than four years after it was built at a cost of about $60 million. Carrying a crew of 24 — with newly installed sleeping quarters for crew — the Hubbard headed to Juneau, where it was scheduled to start work Tuesday, running six days a week between the Capital City and the Lynn Canal communities of Haines and Skagway. The Hubbard is not scheduled to visit Wrangell this summer. With the Matanuska out of service for repai...
At a time of year when most students are more concerned with sunshine and playing than with academia, one class is giving them the ability to plan for their future so they don’t miss out on sunnier days. A job skills and career planning and exploration class taught by Julie Williams, the Wrangell High School counselor, teaches students how to map out a path to prosperity. According to the U.S. Department of Education, about 8.3 million high school students took some form of career and technology education (CTE) class in the 2020-2021 school yea...
An Airbus H130 helicopter takes off from the back of the Scenic Eclipse in front of Wrangell on May 15. The helicopter is one of two in the Scenic Luxury Cruises and Tours fleet and can be added to a tour package. The Scenic Eclipse, which can host up to 200 passengers for Arctic tours, is billed as the "world's first discovery yacht" by its operators and is designed for scenic luxury cruises and tours. It travels throughout the Americas, Antarctica and the Arctic. It has a crew of up to 192,...
As the school year wraps up and learning winds down, students were recognized for their outstanding achievements. The annual academic and scholarship award ceremony held on May 16 in the Wrangell High School gym highlighted the hard work put in by eighth through 12th graders. Teachers, administrators, community and business leaders gathered to present the students with certificates, plaques and checks. Awards were given in the areas of general education, shop class, finance, student government...
Legislation to impose a state tax on e-cigarettes and vape products passed the Alaska Senate on the next to last day of the regular session, but will have to wait until next year for consideration by the House. The House did not take up the measure before adjournment on May 17. A House committee held one hearing on similar legislation earlier in the month, with members raising multiple questions about the tax and other issues. If approved next year, the bill would impose a 25% tax at the retail level on e-cigarette products, including liquids,...
The Alaska Legislature passed a bill May 16 to establish June 9 as Don Young Day, commemorating Alaska’s late congressman, who died in March 2022 after 49 years of service in the U.S. House of Representatives. Young, a Republican known for his gruff manner and bipartisanship, was 88 when he died. He was the longest-serving Republican in the history of the U.S. House. His contributions to Alaska have already been marked in numerous ways, including naming a volcano in the Aleutian chain and a federal office building in Fairbanks after him. Y...
October will be Filipino American History Month in Alaska if Gov. Mike Dunleavy approves a bill that passed the state House and Senate unanimously. House Bill 23, from Anchorage Rep. Genevieve Mina, is largely ceremonial — it does not declare an official holiday or require schools to teach lessons on Filipino American history — but supporters testified that passage of the bill would be an important honor. The first recorded Filipino visitor to Alaska arrived in 1788, and immigrants from the Philippines were critical to the operations of sal...
A pair of criminal-justice bills that failed to win state legislative approval in the session that ended last week will be back next year. The first bill would reclassify drug-overdose deaths as second-degree murders instead of manslaughter cases. It passed the House on May 11 but failed to advance out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The measure, House Bill 66, also contains provisions that would increase jail terms for drug-related crimes, as well as provisions relating to dosing of other people, such as in cases where so-called “date-rape...