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The Wrangell High School wrestling and volleyball teams stayed in town last weekend instead of traveling for matches, due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns. A wrestler tested positive for COVID-19 last week after returning from a match in Anchorage with eight other athletes from the squad. The team was scheduled to compete in Ketchikan last weekend but ended up canceling due to the close-contact exposure. The tournament in Ketchikan was still held. The volleyball team was scheduled to compete in Petersburg for a second weekend in a row, and for a se...
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A coalition of 10 states, including Alaska, sued the federal government on Nov. 10 to block a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for health care workers, adding to resistance by Republican-led states against the pandemic policies of President Joe Biden’s administration. It’s the third such lawsuit Alaska has joined against vaccination rules. The latest lawsuit filed in a federal court in Missouri contends that the vaccine requirement threatens the jobs of millions of health care workers and could “exacerbate an alarming sho...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Alaska doctors plan to ask the State Medical Board to investigate concerns about the spread of misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines and treatments by other physicians. Merijeanne Moore, a private practice psychiatrist, said she drafted the letter out of concern over an event about COVID-19 treatments that featured prominent vaccine skeptics in Anchorage last month. Moore said last Saturday that nearly 100 doctors had signed the letter and more could before she plans to submit the letter this week. “We are writing out of con...
While Wrangell has counted 11 new COVID-19 infections in the past week, Petersburg was at 69 active cases as of late Monday, with a mandatory face mask order in place and public buildings closed. Almost 20% of COVID tests administered in Petersburg in the past seven days had come back positive, the borough reported on its website Monday. The active case count set a pandemic record for the community, going past the old record of 68 from March 3. Petersburg was hit with 85 cases from mid-February to the first week of March, its highest numbers...
The finance department has decided the borough will resume collection efforts and power disconnects for severely delinquent residential utility customers after COVID-era payment moratoriums and grace periods have ended. The borough on Tuesday shut off the power to three residences that had failed to make payment or set up a payment plan; two of those account holders paid their bill the same day and had their power restored. Though a state moratorium on utility shutoffs expired a year ago, the borough instituted its own grace period, said...
Wrangell’s first clinic for children ages 5 through 11 to get vaccinated against COVID-19 is set for Thursday at the Wrangell Medical Center. Additional clinics will be scheduled. Parents and guardians can register online at searhc.org, or call the medical center at 907-874-7000 for more information. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week approved the Pfizer vaccine for young children. “Vaccines will be available by appointment, and a parent or caregiver must accompany the youth,...
About 40 years ago, the Sentinel published a news story about how the U.S. Forest Service was going to start moving against illegal squatter cabins on the Stikine River. Seemed reasonable that the agency would enforce the law and evict people who had no legal right to build or park their float on public land. The Forest Service announced its effort and we published under a headline something like, “Forest Service to evict illegal cabins.” The agency’s overly sensitive central Southeast spokesperson at the district offices in Petersburg calle...
The state high school swim meet in Anchorage was derailed for Wrangell’s competitors last weekend when senior Renée Roberts tested positive for COVID-19. Head coach Jamie Roberts (Renée’s mom) reported the test came back positive an hour before the second day’s competition began on Saturday. “As a coach and a mom this was heartbreaking,” Roberts said. “After the 2020 season, we were looking forward to a season of competition. Renée had a goal to go to state four years in a row. She made it her first two years, then state was canceled in 20...
Attorneys general in 11 states, including Alaska, filed suit last Friday against President Joe Biden’s administration, challenging a new vaccine requirement for workers at companies with more than 100 employees. The lawsuit filed in the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals argues that the authority to compel vaccinations rests with the states, not the federal government. “This mandate is unconstitutional, unlawful, and unwise,” said the court filing by Missouri Attorney General and political candidate Eric Schmitt, one of sever...
The Juneau assembly will consider an ordinance that would amend the borough’s sales tax code to collect on goods and services sold aboard cruise ships, whether tied to the dock or anchored in front of town. The ordinance would amend a provision in code that currently exempts sales aboard cruise ships from the borough’s 5% tax. Services sold on board the ships but which are delivered or used on shore, such as bus or whale watching tours, cooking classes and other activities, already are subject to sales tax, but goods or services consumed abo...
"It is with great sorrow that we share the death of Robert Wickman III, 58, on Sept. 21, 2021, in Anchorage, from complications of COVID-19," his family wrote. "A resident of Ketchikan, he was devoted to his wife Roseanne, and his son, Robbie, and was a steadfast supporter for all his extended family. He took pride in being a leader in both Yellow Taxi Co. and his beloved Boy Scout Troop." Bob was known for many things, including a boisterous laugh, dedicated work ethic, and always putting...
By Anita Snow and Terry Tang The Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) - Canadians Ian and Heather Stewart are savoring the idea of leaving behind this winter's subzero temperatures when the U.S. reopens its borders to nonessential land travel this week and they launch a long-delayed drive to their seasonal home in Fort Myers, Florida. Restrictions imposed by both countries during the coronavirus pandemic and their own concerns kept the retired couple and millions of other Canadians from driving south...
After more than 18 months without Canadian visitors, Haines could see an influx of RV traffic and coho fishermen this week. The U.S.-Canada border reopened for fully vaccinated Canadians on Monday. With coho still running and Yukoners long cut off from the sea, the quiet days of the pandemic in Haines could be waning. “Be prepared to maybe see a bunch of RVs,” said Haines Borough tourism director Steven Auch. “We’re looking forward to finally getting to see our friends we’ve been separated from forcibly for so long,” said Alaska Rod’s co-ow...
With approval from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaccinations against COVID-19 for children ages 5 through 11 could be available in Wrangell next week. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week approved the vaccine for children, and the CDC late Tuesday also approved the shots. The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, which was waiting on that decision, will soon start opening appointments to administer Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, Maegan Bosak, a senior SEARHC official in Sitka, s...
As the state’s largest city, Anchorage should be a leader, a role model for the rest of Alaska. The city of almost 290,000 people, about 40% of the state’s population, should be a wise, steadying influence — much like a big brother or big sister. And yet, Anchorage is an unruly sibling of late, more prone to tantrums than solving problems. The political behavior is appalling. The bickering and nastiness are shameful. The intolerance promoted by some community leaders is a role model of the worst kind. Anchorage is divided between those who w...
Alaska and 17 other states filed three separate lawsuits last Friday to block President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal contractors, arguing that the requirement violates federal law. Attorneys general from Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming signed on to one lawsuit, which was filed in a federal district court in Missouri. Another group of states including Georgia, Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia filed a lawsuit in f...
HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii’s COVID-19 case counts and hospitalizations have declined to the point where the islands are welcoming travelers once again. Gov. David Ige said vacationers and business travelers were welcome to return to the islands starting Monday. His Oct. 19 announcement came nearly two months after he asked travelers on Aug. 23 to avoid Hawaii because case counts were surging with the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant and hospitals were becoming overwhelmed. The state didn’t impose any new travel quarantine restr...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials have extended for nearly three more months its rules that cruise ships must follow to sail during the pandemic, adding that the government will move to a voluntary program next year. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the extension makes only “minor modifications” to rules already in effect. The agency said that after Jan. 15 it plans to move to a voluntary program for cruise companies to detect and control the spread of COVID-19 on their ships. The current regulations, calle...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — The board of the Alaska Railroad has voted unanimously to rescind a requirement for all of its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Initially, railroad employees were supposed to be vaccinated by Dec. 8 to comply with vaccine requirements ordered by President Joe Biden that, in part, required vaccination for employees of contractors doing business with the federal government. The railroad is a federal contractor. An email sent to railroad employees on Oct. 22 said the railroad must meet the standard. But the board decis...
While Wrangell experienced a small outbreak of community-spread cases over the weekend, Alaska continues to lead the nation in new COVID-19 cases per capita. The state health department reported more than 2,400 new cases Friday through Monday, continuing Alaska’s ranking at the top of cases per resident nationwide. In Wrangell, the borough reported 11 new cases Saturday through Tuesday, a majority of which were community spread and mostly linked to attendees at a memorial service Oct. 19. The 11 cases came after a lull during the first 22 d...
The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium reports 100% compliance with its policy requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for all employees and contractors. “Very few have left employment due to the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine,” Maegan Bosak, a senior SEARHC official in Sitka, said last week. The health care provider operates in 19 Southeast communities. It has more than 1,500 employees, contractors and travelers, Bosak said, including more than 200 in Wrangell, where it operates the hospital, dental clinic, pharmacy and other services. “SE...
Wrangell’s public library is 100 years old this week and ready to turn the page for its next century. The library’s history includes several chapters, starting with 802 books on the shelves on opening night Oct. 31, 1921, about equal to the 821 residents counted in the 1920 census. It must have been a long wait for popular books back then. Members of the Wrangell Civic Club led the movement to open a library. The town was just 18 years old and ready for a library, which shared the building at the site where the senior center is now loc...
The borough assembly on Tuesday discussed — but took no action — on Wrangell’s COVID-19 testing and isolation policy as it affects unvaccinated students who travel out of town for sports and activities. The school district had requested a waiver of the policy. The district currently allows unvaccinated students who travel for games or other activities to return to school and practice without isolating until their test results come back, so long as the students follow the school district’s weekly testing protocols and mitigation plan. The sch...
The six Alaska communities that shared in a $10 million pandemic-relief gift from Norwegian Cruise Line have found various ways to spend the money — or save it for later. Seward committed much of its share to help provide child care services. Skagway set aside nearly half-a-million dollars to pay out as cash to residents this winter. The cruise line in May announced it would donate $10 million to communities that had been on the company’s itineraries and suffered economically with the loss of cruise ship travelers last year and again this sum...
Imagine performing in a band or choir but not being able to practice with the other performers on the stage. That's how students from Southeast high schools have to approach Honors Fest. Each year, high schoolers from across the region audition for the event, and this year two students from Wrangell were scheduled to perform on Tuesday with 73 other musicians in Ketchikan. The event was supposed to be held at Wrangell High School last year. Normally, about 120 students perform during Honors...
