Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 29
Results will be slow, even in races that don’t use ranked-choice voting, Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer and Gail Fenumiai, head of the Alaska Division of Elections, said at a press conference last week. Through Sunday, just two days before the election, more than 64,000 Alaskans had already cast early or absentee votes, according to figures published by the Division of Elections. Many of those votes, plus others that come in before Election Day on Nov. 8, won’t be counted until after polls close. Meyer said Alaskans should be prepared. “I know that...
After a recent fire put the Ketchikan harbor department at risk of a lawsuit for not requiring boat owners to carry insurance, the Wrangell Port and Harbors Department is considering issuing an insurance requirement for vessels, though the decision-making process is still in the early stages. At the Ketchikan harbor, the owner of a boat damaged in the fire aboard a nearby vessel has threatened legal action against the city for losses. According to Wrangell Port Director Steve Miller, the borough harbor department is weighing its funding needs...
Student involvement is integral to solving the problem of bullying at school. Building a Supportive Environment, a student group better known as BASE, will be a main ingredient toward implementing a bullying prevention program school staff are looking to use. Students who participate in BASE said they're already working to connect with students and to reach out when they believe there might be problems. "My idea is ... having simple acts of kindness or as simple as holding a door open for...
From stained glass designers to wood carvers, Wrangell is home to a thriving creative community. But one of the most popular artists in town, whose work appears all over Front Street, is also one of the most anonymous. If you've ever gone on a Stikine Inn coffee run, eaten pizza at Nic's Place or looked up the weekend movie selection on the Nolan Center website, you've seen the artwork of printmaker and graphic designer Grace Wintermyer. When she isn't working at outdoor retailer 56° North or...
Nov. 9, 1922 At a public meeting at the city hall Thursday evening, the Alaska Game Protective Association of Wrangell was organized. Officers elected were: Chas.Benjamin, president; J.G. Grant, vice president; Dr. R.J. Diven, secretary-treasurer. John E. Worden served as secretary pro tem. At this meeting, the association endorsed the Alaska Game Bill, with two changes recommended, and passed a resolution asking that there be undertaken an extensive program of stocking lands with furbearers and game. This work had already been started by the...
The design for Wrangell’s new water treatment plant, which will improve water quality and accommodate potential population growth, is over halfway complete. During an Oct. 25 borough assembly work session, DOWL engineers reported that the project is on track to accept construction bids by February 2023 and that the bidding window will likely last for six weeks. “If we have a longer bid window, we’re more likely to get more than one contractor interested,” said engineer Chase Nelson. “We get bids in, we evaluate them and we have to make the...
Ander Edens was quite vocal about landing a spot in the state music festival. Literally. The Wrangell High School sophomore submitted a singing audition to the Alaska All-State Music Festival with some uncertainty, but was good enough to land in the top percentage of students who made the cut. Edens is only the fourth student selected from Wrangell in the past 15 years for the state concert, which takes place on Nov. 19 in Anchorage. He's also the only male student selected on the local level...
Whether it’s a pesky case of the winter blues or a more serious health condition, Brooke Reynolds of the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium has words of encouragement for community members who are starting to feel the effects of the changing seasons. The lengthening hours of darkness “affect us all, some of us more than others,” said Reynolds, who is the clinical supervisor at Wrangell Behavioral Health. Even otherwise-healthy people can have “down days,” especially during the winter months. She recommends that her clients stay phys...
The election is over, thankfully. No more campaign calls, tweets, texts or flyers in the mail. The polls closed around the state at 8 p.m. Tuesday, and now all that remains is to wait for the count. Which will require patience. That doesn’t mean anyone is stealing votes or changing ballots or messing with democracy and the will of the people. It just means that tens of thousands of Alaskans voted early, same as tens of millions of Americans. Some of those votes will be counted along with all the in-person ballots on Nov. 8, but many will not b...
Anger is threatening America. It comes from growing hostility over differences in politics, religion, race, education, personal choices and even the meaning of democracy. Anger that borders on hatred. It’s scary, and it’s dangerous. I’m actually starting to wonder if the country can survive all the anger. It seems too many people are willing to step up to and cross the line into violence in pursuit of their cause. That is not democracy, it’s a disintegrating society, encouraged by politicians, bloggers and social media influencers who care mo...
An art teacher has created art for teachers. Tawney Crowley, the art teacher for Evergreen Elementary School, embarked on a logo design project over the summer for the Alaska Science Teachers Association, incorporating elements that each region of the state is known for. The background of the logo is a silhouette of Alaska overlaid with items like glaciers and salmon in Southeast, volcanoes and a mammoth skull in the Aleutians, the aurora borealis over the northernmost portion of the state, a...
Each year, the borough compiles a list of big-ticket infrastructure improvement projects, ranked by priority, that it uses to apply for grant funding. This year, the borough is involving the public in its ranking process for the first time. On Nov. 1, Capital Facilities Director Amber Al-Haddad led a public forum to educate the community about the borough’s ongoing capital investment projects and learn which ones are most important to residents. An updated list that reflects the desires of the community is an important step in accessing g...
In today’s interconnected world, internet access allows people to connect with loved ones, stay updated on current events, access essential government services and more. But in Alaska, not all communities have access to reliable, affordable internet. Late last month, Alaska Municipal League representative Alicia Hughes-Skandijs met with seven representatives from the library, borough, Wrangell Cooperative Association and others to discuss challenges with the Wrangell community’s internet access. The meeting was an early step in the fiv...
Bill Sheffield, who served as Alaska's fifth governor and survived a brush with impeachment during a decades-long career in public service, died Nov. 4 at his Anchorage home after a long illness. He was 94. Sheffield was born in 1928 to a poor family on a small farm in Spokane, Washington, and he grew up during the Great Depression. After serving as a radar technician with the U.S. Army, he got a job with Sears Roebuck and was sent to the territory of Alaska. "So that's how I got here in 1953,"...
Brother and sister wrestlers Della and Randy Churchill expressed excitement last Friday as the siblings prepared to leave for a meet in Anchorage. That excitement translated to fierce grappling and big wins. The Wrangell High School wrestling squad took on competitors from all over the state at the Anchorage Christian Schools tournament last Friday and Saturday, with seniors Randy Churchill and Ethan Blatchley winning first place in their weight classes. Churchill bested his first three...
Junior Jack Roberts was the lone Wrangell High School swimmer to compete at the state meet in Anchorage over the weekend, coming off a first-place win in regionals. Roberts gave his best effort in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard freestyle, but it wasn’t enough to sink the competition. Roberts came on strong in each heat, powering through each lap. He finished ninth in the 200-yard individual medley preliminaries with a time of 2:06.48. The top eight swimmers advance to finals. In the 100-yard freestyle preliminaries, he finished e...
The Wrangell High School girls volleyball team traveled to Skagway to participate in the north seeding tournament last Saturday through Tuesday, winning 12 out of 13 sets and four matches in the first three days. The weekend’s scores are: Versus Haines: 25-17 (Wrangell), 25-16 (Wrangell) and 25-12 (Wrangell). Versus Skagway: 25-19 (Wrangell), 25-8 (Wrangell) and 25-9 (Wrangell). Versus Klawock: 25-18 (Wrangell), 25-19 (Wrangell), 22-25 (Klawock) and 25-16 (Wrangell). Versus Craig: 25-19 (Wrangell), 25-22 (Wrangell) and 25-20 (Wrangell). W...
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Fishing regulators and the seafood industry are grappling with the possibility that some once-profitable species that have declined with climate change might not come back. Several marketable species harvested by U.S. fishermen are the subject of quota cuts, seasonal closures and other restrictions as populations have fallen and waters have warmed. In some instances, such as the groundfish industry for species like flounder in the Northeast, the changing environment has made it harder for fish to recover from years of o...
The principal and several school staff members left the community of Kipnuk in Southwest Alaska two weekend ago in two chartered planes following reports of a banishment order, occupation of a school building and a brief blockade during a visit by Alaska State Troopers. As of Nov. 1, the Chief Paul Memorial School in Kipnuk remained closed for the second day in a row, with plans to switch to remote learning Nov. 2, according to the Lower Kuskokwim School District, which cited “the concern for the physical safety for students and staff” in a w...
Green might surround the Southeast Alaska village of Angoon, but it’s not that common inside the community grocery store. However, despite the challenges, students and faculty at Angoon’s Chatham School District are taking steps to change that. Angoon agroscience hydroponic cultivation class Haa Aani’: Haa Yaasi’ Haa (Our Land, Our Harvest) is in its second year of operation. Its goal, according to Ryan Smith, the teacher and project manager, is to teach the students how to cultivate healthy and sustainable foods to eventually provide to the...
The top official in the U.S. Census Bureau, Robert Santos, was in Sitka last month to talk with city and Sitka Tribe of Alaska officials about ways to improve the accuracy of Alaska’s population numbers in the national census held every 10 years. The official figures are used to determine congressional districts and some forms of federal funding, and there was a significant undercount of Alaska Natives in the 2020 census, Santos said. Ever since the census count was released, Wrangell borough officials have complained that the tally u...
The wolf hunting and trapping season for Prince of Wales Island will be the same as last year — Nov. 15 to Dec. 15 — though a number of individuals who trap wolves in the area criticized the Alaska Department of Fish and Game last week for its wolf management decisions. The department announced the limited season last Friday, just two days after a teleconference to review with the public wolf population estimates and harvest levels. Several people described seeing more wolves than deer in the area, arguing that a longer season and higher harves...
Seven months after an earthquake swarm beneath Mt. Edgecumbe led volcanologists to determine that the Sitka-area volcano is active, data collection and research are continuing. Since August 2018, magma has risen beneath the formerly dormant volcano and caused almost 3 inches of deformation annually, University of Alaska Fairbanks associate professor of geodesy Ronni Grapenthin said. An eruption is not imminent, he added. Since April’s quakes, seismic activity on the mountain has subsided, he noted, but the mountain is deforming more quickly t...
The state sued the federal government one week before Election Day, seeking ownership of part of Alaska’s most-visited tourist destination. Filed Nov. 1 at U.S. District Court in Anchorage, the case asks a federal judge to award ownership of the land beneath Mendenhall Lake and Mendenhall River to the state. Located in Juneau’s residential Mendenhall Valley, the lake rests at the base of the Mendenhall Glacier, within the Tongass National Forest, and is seen by more than 700,000 tourists annually, more than Denali National Park and Pre...
Monday, Oct. 31 Parking complaint. Tuesday, Nov. 1 Citizen assist. Wednesday, Nov. 2 Motor vehicle accident: No injuries. Thursday, Nov. 3 Agency assist: Fire alarm. Agency assist: Ambulance. Domestic violence order: Paper service. Friday, Nov. 4 Theft: Arrested. Agency assist: Wells Fargo. Traffic stop. Welfare check. Traffic stop: Arrested for driving under the influence. Saturday, Nov. 5 Theft. Dog at large. Found property. Agency assist: U.S. Forest Service. Agency assist: Stikine Inn. Sunday, Nov. 6 Agency assist: U.S. Forest Service....