Sorted by date Results 1 - 19 of 19
The borough assembly held a short special meeting last Friday night, Jan. 11. The purpose of the meeting was to approve of two tail insurance policies for the Wrangell Medical Center. Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen explained that tail insurance is designed to cover something that happened in the past, but had consequences that only become apparent in the future. “So rather than insuring operations that ‘are’, you’re insuring things that occurred in the past,” she said. “So if someone should file a claim against operations, or a decision, o...
Four students from Wrangell High School will be heading to Juneau Jan. 27 to Feb. 1 to learn more about behavioral health and potential careers in the field. While in Juneau, they will be touring health care facilities, shadowing people, and learning more about the field. Pictured from left to right: Zoe Affholter, Donna Massin, Tasha Massin, and Jing O’Brien. Donna Massin will be chaperoning these three students and Elizabeth Johnson (not pictured)....
The 2019 cruise season is just around the corner. Starting in April and ending in October, about 57 cruise ships are scheduled to stop at the city dock. To get ahead of the upcoming busy season, city officials and businessmen all came together on Wed. Jan. 9 to discuss what the city’s priorities should be for the upcoming and future cruise seasons. The largest of these ships is Holland America’s Maasdam, 719 ft. in length and capable of carrying 1,258 passengers. According to a draft schedule provided by Carol Rushmore, Wrangell’s econo...
Wrangell’s planning and zoning commission met last Thursday evening to review and approve of the rezoning of several lots owned by Armstrong Rents, LLC. Robert Armstrong came before the commission to give some history on the lots, which are located on a stretch of land between Front Street and Church Street to the west and east, and Episcopal Avenue and Case Avenue to the north and south. These lots came into his family’s possession over many years, Armstrong said, when his father first came to Wrangell. “Curley” Armstrong came to Alaska on May...
January 23, 1919 The people of Wrangell enjoyed a treat Saturday evening when Richard Surratt’s motion pictures of the Stikine River and its wonderful scenery were shown at the Rex Theatre. The pictures are so real that if any one who knows the Stikine should suddenly awaken from a snooze while the pictures were being shown he would think he was aboard the Hazel B III bound for Telegraph Creek landing, at the head of navigation. From Wrangell to Telegraph Creek the voyage is one continuous panorama of scenic grandeur, of which Mr. Surratt’s pic...
The Wrangell borough assembly met last Tuesday night to hear an update on the transition of the Wrangell Medical Center to SEARHC control. The regional healthcare consortium took over the medical center late last year and is in the process of building a new hospital in Wrangell. In the meantime, the WMC will be run by SEARHC until the new hospital is ready to receive patients, reportedly in 2021. Dan Neumeister, with SEARHC, said the transition has been very smooth for the hospital’s employees. There have also been some technological and i...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska’s population has declined for a second consecutive year, dropping by 1,608 people to a total of 736,239, according to a state report. A report released Thursday by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development shows 7,577 residents left as Alaska gained 5,969 people from July 2017 to July 2018, the Juneau Empire reported . Some residents left to pursue job opportunities outside the state as unemployment rates in the state have consistently topped 6 percent in the last two years. Alaska has the highest unem...
Jan. 8 – Dylan L. Barger was found guilty of theft at a value between $250 and $749. He has been sentenced to 30 days imprisonment, with 30 days suspended. He will also pay a total of $100 in surcharges, and will be fined an additional $100 if probation is revoked. He has also been ordered to pay restitution, and will be on probation for one year....
January 7 Agency assist: Fire alarm. Traffic stop: Citations issued to Israel Comstock, 23 for driving while license revoked and failure to provide proof of insurance. Civil issue. Summons service. Extra patrol. January 8 Hazardous play: Report of children waiting for the school bus, playing in the roadway. Agency assist: OCS. Agency assist: Fire department. Parking complaint. Suspicious circumstance. Traffic complaint: Vehicle ran through school bus stop. Welfare check. January 9 Report of theft. Alarm. Civil issue. Missing items. Summons...
Wrangell High School hosted their first home games of the basketball season last weekend with Craig. The games on Friday and Saturday were hard-fought, but the Wrangell Lady Wolves came out victorious. Both teams had a strong defensive game on Friday. The first quarter saw a lot of fouls from both teams and many of the points made came from free throws. Wolves player Julia Miethe (#1) received an leg injury during this quarter, too. The second quarter, and most of the third quarter, saw lots of...
After going three-to-one in the Rally the Regions tournament earlier this month, the Wrangell Wolves played their first games of the regular season last weekend. Wrangell hosted the Craig Panthers, opening the basketball season with a pair of home games. The Wolves made a very strong showing, winning both games against the Panthers. The first game, on Friday, Jan. 11, went very much in the Wolves' favor. Wrangell took the lead early in the first quarter and held it through the whole game. The...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The Blood Bank of Alaska has opened a permanent center in Juneau. The Juneau Empire reports the facility has operated for a week and plans a grand opening Jan. 17. Blood Bank of Alaska chairman Chris Mello says organization representatives have conducted mobile blood drives in Juneau for years. The organization has about 2,000 registered donors. Two phlebotomists from Anchorage are staffing the center and the facility is looking to hire two locally. Blood Bank CEO Robert Scanlon says none of the organization’s col...
April The Department of Transportation is finally able to get started on a major Wrangell road repaving project. Perforated by potholes, the borough’s Evergreen Avenue will be resurfaced and repaired, with pedestrian improvements and other fixes. The major project has been on hold for half a decade, surviving rounds of budget cuts to capital funding elsewhere in the state along the way. Two local right of way issues which had lately been holding up the project were wrapped up in February, allowing the project to move along. Speaking at a p...
Wrangell got quite a bit of snow last week. Here, Hannah Buness and Vincent Mitchell can be seen building a snowman outside of Stikine Middle School....
Members of Girl Scout Troop 31 gathered together some gently used books this week and made a donation to Wrangell's Little Free Library. They also handcrafted some bookmarks to donate alongside the books. Pictured in no particular order are Kaiya Brevick, Charlie Nelson, Shailyn Nelson, Lily Stearns, Mara Heller, Kara Heller, Maddilyn Gillen, and Violet Allen. The troop leaders are Tyla Nelson and Beth Heller. The Little Free Library is located on Case Avenue....
Eating seafood can save lives. Premature birth is the leading cause of death for children under 5 years old worldwide, accounting for nearly one million deaths annually. Now there is proof that eating seafood or marine oils can significantly reduce that number. The lifesaving ingredient? Omega 3 fatty acids. The conclusion of a new Cochrane Review of 70 studies worldwide on nearly 20,000 pregnant women stated that omega’s from marine sources reduces early premature birth by a whopping 42 percent. “The effect really has to be strong to see it...
Kids from Stikine Middle School left for Anchorage on Jan. 11, to attend an ANSEP STEM camp. They're being chaperoned by teachers Winston Davies (top right) and Brian Ashton, and are scheduled to return on Jan. 24. ANSEP, the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program seeks to improve academic outcomes and promote a strong background in STEM for Alaskan students. The students attending the camp will get to live on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus and get a small taste of college...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The two objects were unmistakable from the Egan Drive traffic. Large kites, similar in appearance to the ones used by paragliders in the summer, sailed gently above Mendenhall Wetlands State Game Refuge on a rainy December afternoon. Below the flying instruments were two black dots, kiteboarders, grasping a small bar to steer themselves across the watery landscape. As the kites cruised across the top of the channel, so too did the drysuit-clad bodies some 60 feet below. “Did you see my air?!’’ Rob Cadmus said to his kit...
The winners of the Elks' Hoop Shoot contest were recognized at halftime during the Lady Wolve's Friday night game against Craig High School. The contest let local kids between the ages of 8 to 13-years-old shoot free throws to see who could get the most baskets. Pictured here (from left to right, starting at the top row) are: Rock Guggenbickler, Trevyn Gillen, Mindy Meissner, Ian Nelson, Keaton Gadd, Cody Barnes, Paige Hoyt, Hailey Cook, Alana Harrison, Sawyer Larrabee, Casey Whitaker, Aadyn...