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After about 10 candidates applied for the position of business manager with Wrangell Public Schools, a hiring committee chose Tammy Stromberg, of Anchorage, to fill the job. Citing the scarcity of qualified applicants, Schools Superintendent Bill Burr said Stromberg, a certified public accountant, will work full-time remotely. About half the applicants that applied would need to have worked remotely if hired. "We ideally would have liked to have a business manager in the office full-time in...
It was a rough week for the cruise line industry and travelers. Hundreds of passengers who embarked on an 11-day cruise from Miami were returned to port on Jan. 4 after less than two days at sea because several dozen crew members got infected with COVID-19. The pandemic also prompted a last-minute cancellation of another cruise that was scheduled to depart Jan. 4. Norwegian Cruise Line said it was canceling sailings on eight of its ships in the U.S. and abroad to protect the health and safety of guests, crew members and communities. The next...
Darian Burley's Magnolia Beauty Bar serves comfort and grooming care with a lush pedicure massage chair, salon chair and mirror, a nail care table, and hair care items for sale. Burley offers haircuts for men, women and children, hair coloring and highlights, and pedicures and manicures at her Front Street shop. She said she's usually on the job from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Burley said she likes to keep the salon open late for people who come in after work. There is no typical day at her salon,...
Pacific halibut catches for 2022 will be announced at the annual International Pacific Halibut Commission meeting held online Jan. 24-28, and fishermen are hoping for another year of increased catches when the fishery opens in early March. Last year’s coastwide catch limit was 39 million pounds for commercial, sport, subsistence and personal-use fisheries, and bycatch, spanning from California and British Columbia to the far reaches of the Bering Sea. Alaska always gets the lion’s share of the quota, and in 2021 fishermen holding shares of the...
Posted Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 12 Alaska Crossings, a program that helps at-risk teens and takes them on guided wilderness expeditions throughout Southeast, is closing its Wrangell base of operations and moving to Sitka. Crossings has been based in Wrangell since it was founded in 2001. The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium took over the program in 2017. SEARHC announced in a press release Wednesday it would permanently shut down Crossings in Wrangell. “SEARHC made the extremely difficult decision to permanently close Crossings i...
The state has decided to stop offering walk-up COVID-19 testing at Alaska’s larger airports, and to stop paying for similar free testing operations in communities statewide, including Wrangell, effective Jan. 31. The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium will shut down its walk-up, no-appointment-needed free testing operation in Wrangell on Jan. 31 but will continue offering testing by appointment. The change in testing comes as Wrangell is seeing the start of a post-holidays surge in infections, with 14 new cases among residents reported...
High winds, deep snow, below-zero temperatures, frozen pipes, canceled flights and ice-covered everything - it was not a merry Christmas or a happy new year for many Alaskans. Ketchikan endured its coldest-ever Christmas, and the next day, too, shivering to a low of zero degrees on both days, breaking a 57-year-old record for Christmas Day. It was cold enough to freeze saltwater in shoreline areas of Bar Harbor, City Float, Mud Bight and Ward Cove. The 350 residents of Hydaburg, on the...
The first cruise ships are less than four months away from pulling into Southeast Alaska ports. After a year of no ships in 2020, followed by a year of weak returns in 2021, the region is looking forward to a healthy number of cruise passengers this summer — maybe even a record number. Businesses, their employees and sales tax collectors dream of a strong 2022 for a healthy rebuilding from the sickly COVID-19 economics of the past two cruise ship seasons. The emphasis this year should be on healthy. No cruise company is going to want to o...
Anchorage public schools opened the new year with face mask requirements still in place, after the school board reversed a decision by the superintendent that would have made masks optional. Schools Superintendent Deena Bishop decided in mid-December to drop the masking requirement for when students and staff returned to class on Monday, but the Anchorage School Board on Dec. 20 voted 5-1 to reverse the decision. Face masks will be required in the state’s largest school district until at least Jan. 15, when the board will review the policy. B...
Citing COVID-19 concerns and weather-related transportation worries, the state has postponed the 12-day Alaska Board of Fisheries meeting that was scheduled to have started Tuesday at the civic center in Ketchikan. The meeting to consider more than 150 proposed changes to state management regulations for finfish and shellfish in Southeast Alaska and Yakutat already had been postponed from January 2021 because of COVID-19 issues. Last Friday, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced that the 2022 meeting would proceed in Ketchikan with...
There were about 1,000 stories in the Wrangell Sentinel last year, covering state and local budgets, the ailing state ferry system, ongoing pandemic and more — including a new owner for the Sentinel. On Jan. 1, Larry Persily bought the newspaper — for the third time over the past 45 years — with a promise to return the operation to Wrangell, expand the paper and its staff, and focus on more local news. “We plan to add more news from around Southeast and the state, but not at the expense of crowding out news of Wrangell. It’s not one or the ot...
The borough assembly has selected an almost quarter-million-dollar recreation center project for Wrangell’s application to a competitive, federally funded COVID-19 aid grant program, while it has also adopted its projects wish list for consideration by the Legislature this year. The assembly at its Dec. 21 meeting approved upgrades to the heating and ventilation systems and carpet replacement at the recreation center as its selected project for a federal COVID aid community development grant program. The estimated $225,000 rec center work w...
Alaska’s economic development districts are in the running to win $50 million in federal money to grow the state’s seaweed and shellfish farming industry – known collectively as mariculture. The U.S. Economic Development Administration announced last month that the proposed Alaska mariculture project is among 60 finalists for a Build Back Better Regional Challenge grant. Advocates say the money could help with the state's goal of building a $100 million industry by 2040. More kelp and oyster farms have been popping up along Alaska’s shoreli...
MIAMI (AP) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned people on Dec. 30 not to go on cruises, regardless of their vaccination status, because of onboard outbreaks fueled by the Omicron variant. The CDC said it has more than 90 cruise ships under investigation or observation as a result of COVID-19 cases. The agency did not disclose the number of infections. “The virus that causes COVID-19 spreads easily between people in close quarters on board ships, and the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is very high,” even...
Two hundred at-home COVID-19 test kits were delivered to Wrangell’s emergency operations center last Friday, and more will soon be on the way. Capt. Dorianne Sprehe, of the EOC, said the fire department received the kits via SEARHC, and is making them available free to anyone who requests them. “We’ve already handed out a couple over the weekend,” Sprehe said on Monday. The kits are available to pick up any time at the fire hall between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. People who plan on large gatherings, especially those with friends...
Fundraising efforts are a year-round task for most organizations, but during the holidays those efforts are increased. People in Wrangell are willing to give their time, energy and money to support everything from the food pantry and pets to high school athletes. A pressing need "This community, hand over fist, is one of the most generous communities I've ever had the privilege to work in," said Lt. Jon Tollerud, of The Salvation Army. The Christian-based organization coordinates the community...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy last week outlined what he called a responsible budget proposal that doesn’t dip into savings, bolsters law enforcement and calls for direct payments of about $3,700 to residents amid an unsettled dispute with lawmakers over the future of the state’s dividend program. But the budget relies on high oil prices to help pay the bills and is heavily dependent on one-time federal pandemic aid dollars to help cover the cost of public services usually paid out of state funds, such as the Alaska Marine Highway System. The budget pla...
SEARHC soon will move into its second year of providing free COVID-19 testing for Wrangell residents and visitors to the community. The testing is covered under a state contract that had been scheduled to stop Dec. 31 but which has been extended to the end of the state budget year June 30, said Carly Allen, hospital administrator for the SEARHC-operated Wrangell Medical Center. The state-funded tests for travelers and community members who are not showing any symptoms of the virus are available from noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday at...
Maybe we need to pay more attention to what kids are saying. Especially around the holidays, when adults can get wrapped up in ribbons and bows and sometimes forget it is the thought, not the gift that really matters. Youth and innocence make for honest, direct answers. Funny ones, too. No politically calculated holiday greetings from these children. Sure, they’re kids, so they want toys and games and anything electronic. But in their heartfelt letters to Santa, Wrangell elementary school students told us what’s important to them and what sho...
If the almost 5.5 million deaths from COVID-19 worldwide seem remote and irrelevant in Wrangell; if you feel a safe distance from the 805,000 deaths across the United States; and if the 946 deaths reported in Alaska as of Monday don’t touch anyone in your life, then think about your closer neighbors. State records show COVID-19 as a cause of death for 14 people in Ketchikan, 15 in Juneau, six in Sitka, three in Petersburg, six in Prince of Wales Island communities and Hyder, three in Angoon, Hoonah and Yakutat, and one in Wrangell. That’s alm...
Greater access to COVID-19 home testing kits, changes to the state statistics dashboard, and the arrival of the Omicron variant in Alaska were among the topics covered by Dr. Anne Zink in a report to the Sitka Assembly on Dec. 14. “I know the last thing we want is COVID,” said Zink, the state’s chief medical officer. “Man, we are all done with it. Unfortunately, it’s just not done with us.” She said the state’s role is “to provide tools for Alaskans to keep themselves, their families and their communities healthy.” Zink attended the meet...
Letters from Matt Nore’s kindergarten/first grade class Isaac wrote: “I would like the Avengers tool box, a remote control swim car for my brother, a new phone for my dad, and a makeup kit for my mom.” Rosslyn: “I would like an easel for painting, a new painting set, and a gnome for mom's garden. Kailani: “I would like a pink teddy bear.” Peyton: “I would like a headset for video games, and three plane tickets to New Jersey.” Emma: “I would like an Amico robot and for my whole family to be together for the holidays.” Chloe: “I would like a rea...
Letting politics influence management decisions of the Alaska Permanent Fund is like inviting an acquaintance with COVID-19 to dinner. You may get lucky and nothing bad happens, but the possibilities for misery are real. One of the tenets of an endowment fund is to minimize risk, or at least measure the risks against the potential gains. It’s unclear whether the Permanent Fund’s board of trustees were thinking about that when they voted 5-1 last week to fire Angela Rodell, who has served as executive director the past six years. During her ten...
The annual Elks Hoop Shoot is back on schedule this year. The event is set for Saturday morning at the community gym, with staggered times for different age groups. Last winter’s shoot was postponed to January, to stay away from holiday events amid concerns over COVID-19’s impact on the community. Each participant Saturday will receive a free basketball to use in the Hoop Shoot — and will get to keep the ball. A hamburger lunch at the Elks Club for all participants will follow the competition. Boys and girls ages 8 and 9 will shoot at 9 a.m.,...
When Amber Al-Haddad inherited the public safety building project as the borough’s capital facilities director in 2018, she was told the building simply needed a paint job. The now 34-year-old building needed, and still needs, much more than that. The assembly convened in a work session Monday night to discuss a phased rehabilitation plan for overhauling the water- and rot-damaged building, a plan it had requested of Al-Haddad at its Nov. 9 assembly meeting. The latest proposal comes with an estimated price tag of at least $14.7 million, in t...