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A special meeting will be held on Aug. 12 to allow the public to discuss and review a proposed ordinance relating to the new property tax payment due date. In May the Wrangell Assembly passed an ordinance amending the Municipal Code to establish a single due date for payment of property taxes to Sept. 15, rather than dividing it between two dates. Under the ordinance, interest on late payments was set to 10 percent annually. Mayor David Jack requested the Assembly revisit the matter at its meeting Tuesday, after some residents expressed...
The jury in the trial of Greg Salard found the former family physician guilty of two child pornography charges, for receipt and distribution. A lesser, third count was not deliberated by jurors. Judge Anthony Burgess presided over the proceedings, which lasted seven days. Jury selection began last week, and the trial included five days of testimony. Prosecutors finally rested their case on Monday, after the court heard from a federal investigator, arresting officers and a computer specialist. Evidence shown during the trial included screenshots...
On Sunday Alaska Native and Canadian First Nations groups will mark the first anniversary of the Mount Polley tailings dam collapse in a ceremony on the Stikine River. On Aug. 4, 2014, a rupture in the tailings dam servicing the British Columbia mine released billions of gallons of metals-tainted effluent into waters that fed into the salmon-rich Fraser River system. Earlier this month the mine’s owner, Imperial Metals, received a restricted permit from the provincial government allowing it to reopen Mt. Polley, using an alternate tailings o...
In fits and kicks, with each passing year technological innovations continue to change the way people live, work, recreate and perceive the world. Many of these changes can go unnoticed by the average consumer, like a slightly longer-lasting battery or the stapleless tea bag. Other technologies that have today become virtually indispensable only a few decades ago were conceivable only in the realm of science fiction. Smartphones are one such example, transforming the way Americans communicate...
Monday, July 20 Dog complaint. Police issued a citation to Kayla Gillen, 24, for dogs at large. Probation violation. Minor on licensed premises. Tuesday, July 21 Random breath test. Dog complaint. Found property. Missing property. Dog complaint. Possible DUI reported. Unfounded. Wednesday, July 22 Dog complaint. Traffic Hazard—Vehicle blocking traffic. Alarm. Traffic Stop—Verbal warning for driving habits. Report of Assault—Altercation. Courtesy transport given. Agency Assist—Line Crew. Thursday, July 23 Motor Vehicle Accident. A caller...
Monday, July 13 Brandon Luck, 17, appeared before First District Court Magistrate Chris Ellis for the offense of Under-21 Possession or Consumption of Alcohol. The defendant pleaded guilty, no contest, to the first offense charge. Luck was sentenced to pay a fine of $600 with $300 suspended and a $10 surcharge, and he must complete screening, evaluation and recommended education and/or treatment with a Juneau program. He was also placed on probation for a period of one year. Leif Bosdell, 16, appeared before First District Court Magistrate...
Members of the Wrangell Medical Center (WMC) board’s special hiring committee met at the Nolan Center Wednesday morning to sort through a sheaf of resumes received over the preceding weeks. A replacement chief executive officer for the hospital is being sought, after interim CEO Marla Sanger announced last month she will not continue in the position after October. Her employer, PeaceHealth, issued a statement that it would not seek to renew its management contract with WMC after Sanger’s departure. Made up of members of the hospital board, the...
To the Editor: I would like to thank all of the community involved in the planting and upkeep of the flower beds downtown. They are beautiful and really spruce up the downtown area. I really enjoy them. Thank you so much. Olinda White...
District 36 Rep. Dan Ortiz stopped into Wrangell over the weekend, both to enjoy some of the Bearfest 2015 events and meet with constituents. The Ketchikan Independent has put his first session under his belt after being elected last November. And it was an interesting year to start with, after an atypical pair of special sessions were called by Gov. Bill Walker as legislators struggled to pass a budget. “In this last session we were able to cut the budget by $800 million,” Ortiz noted. However, he pointed out the state is still left with a m...
A humpback whale that was first sighted in Lynn Canal in 1972 was re-sighted by researchers earlier this month feeding off Cape Fanshaw in Frederick Sound. The 44-year span between the two sightings of the whale, dubbed "Old Timer" by researchers, is the longest re-sighting span of an individual humpback in the world. Dr. Adam Pack, a marine mammal researcher at the University of Hawaii (UH) at Hilo, and photographer Jim Nahmens spotted the whale on July 12 while doing research aboard the M/V...
Wrangell's annual Bearfest offers a unique opportunity each year for biologists, researchers, photographers and artists to come together for a common cause, and last week's event was no exception. With an international climate conference set to meet in Paris this November, it seemed appropriate that this year's Bearfest lectures revolved around climate change and its anticipated effect on bears and other species. Speakers were invited and an overall theme was arranged by Lance Craighead, a...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Federal laws tying marijuana money with money laundering has banks turning away marijuana businesses. While marijuana businesses will be able to get licenses and make sales starting May 2016 in Alaska, the cash involved is still taboo for banks, the Alaska Journal of Commerce reported. A designation at the same level of heroin in the Controlled Substances Act means bankers don’t want to take the risk of handling money from pot businesses. Alaska Marijuana Industry Association vice-president Brandon Emmett is an ind...
Shock and dismay were heard from Bristol Bay fishermen when they finally got word last week that major buyers would pay 50 cents a pound for their sockeye salmon. That’s a throwback to the dock prices paid from 2002 through 2004, and compares to $1.20 advanced last year ($1.33 on average after price adjustments). A late surge of reds produced catches of nearly 13 million in its final week, bringing the total by July 23 to 34.5 million fish. The fish were still trickling in, and state managers, who called the season an ‘anomaly,’ said the final...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Six conservation organizations want to stop hunting and trapping of a rare southeast Alaska wolf while the federal government decides whether the animals merit endangered species status. The groups asked Fish and Game Department Commissioner Sam Cotton on Thursday to preemptively close hunting and trapping seasons for Alexander Archipelago wolves, a southeast Alaska species that den in the root systems of large trees. They also asked the Federal Subsistence Board to close subsistence hunting and trapping, and the U...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — The Obama administration has given Royal Dutch Shell PLC approval to begin limited exploratory oil drilling off Alaska's northwest coast. The two permits issued Wednesday clear the way for drilling in Chukchi Sea, but with conditions. Shell can only drill the top sections of wells because the company doesn't have critical emergency response equipment on site to cap a well in case of a leak. That equipment is aboard a ship headed to Portland, Oregon, for repairs. The Interior Department's Bureau of Safety and Environmental E...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Tourists who want to look at seal pups resting among Alaska’s glacial fjords may be making things harder for the marine animals. Cruise ship traffic in the glacial fjords an import nursery area for harbor seal pups has increased ten-fold in the past 30 years, the Juneau Empire reported. Biologists like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admistration’s John Jansen have been collecting data on seals in the fjords of southeast Alaska. Jansen has been studying harbor seals in Disenchantment Bay, one of the fjords among touri...
A good-sized crowd of over 100 people attended the dedication ceremony for the Wrangell Cooperative Association's new cultural center on Saturday. After a welcoming performance by the Shxat Kwaan Dancers, the building was consecrated by Rev. Wilson Valentine of St. Philip's Episcopal Church and cleansed with a traditional placement of cedar boughs by community members. "This is over a decade in the making," said Aaron Angerman, WCA tribal administrator. He expressed the Tribe's thanks for those...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – The U.S. Geological Survey is reporting no damage from a strong earthquake that rocked Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. The quake struck at 8:49 p.m. Sunday and was centered 45 miles southwest of the village of Nikolski at a depth of 16 miles. The USGS says the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.9. Nikolski and its 15 permanent residents are on Umnak Island, one of the Fox Islands, which are just less than 1,000 miles west of Anchorage. At least four quakes of magnitude 5.0 to 5.7 followed in the Fox Isl...
