Sorted by date Results 576 - 600 of 660
The Legislature is set to convene next week in Juneau, with the Permanent Fund dividend perhaps the biggest issue lawmakers will confront. Gov. Mike Dunleavy wants the state to pay individual Alaskans $1,900 this spring, a cash supplement to last year's dividend intended to help boost the pandemic-weakened economy. The governor also wants to take more money out of the Permanent Fund earnings reserve to pay a $3,000-plus dividend this fall, calculated on a 40-year-old formula the Legislature has...
To help gain support for his proposal to pay Alaskans $5,000 in Permanent Fund dividends this year, Gov. Mike Dunleavy cites numbers that the Alaska Permanent Fund gained $10 billion on its investments March 31 through Nov. 30, 2020. The state can afford the extra spending, he says. That's not entirely accurate. It's misleading. Before the fund gained $10 billion in eight months, it lost $7 billion in the first three months of the year. But the governor is not talking about those money-losing...
Between state budget cuts, a mainline vessel engine breakdown, a halt to port calls in Prince Rupert, B.C., and COVID-19 travel restrictions, the Alaska Marine Highway System has struggled the past year to provide service to Wrangell and the rest of Southeast. Under the governor's proposed budget for the state fiscal year that starts July 1, the ferry system would have even less money to provide service. "Woefully inadequate," Ketchikan Rep. Dan Ortiz, who also represents Wrangell, described...
Predictability and dependability. More than anything else, that's what the communities served by the Alaska Marine Highway System need. The communities need to know the schedules further in advance so that they can plan school sports, scholastic and musical events, regional festivals, and confidently market to tourists in a post-COVID world. Residents need the dependability of ferry service for medical appointments, commerce and shopping, vehicle repair appointments at dealers, and of course...
January Jan. 2: Along with the lights, trees and carolers, the Salvation Army's red Christmas kettles are a common sight during the holiday season. Lt. Jon Tollerud, Wrangell's new corps officer, said the red kettles brought in $10,469. Jan. 9: The Nolan Center celebrated the new year Dec. 31 with a murder mystery party. As this new year marks a new decade, a return to the '20s, the party had a 1920s theme to it. With jazz music, themed costumes and masks, partygoers had the chance to return to...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Gov. Mike Dunleavy proposed an “extraordinary response’’ to revive Alaska’s pandemic-stunted economy Friday, including about $5,000 in direct payments to residents from the state’s oil-wealth fund and an infrastructure plan he said is intended to create jobs. “Alaskans are suffering now. Businesses are suffering now. This is the time for us to act. This is the time for us to act quickly,’’ he said in rolling out his budget plan for next year. The state’s economy has been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, with tour...
December 17 Jamie Roberts, with the Wrangell EOC, reported that there are currently no active cases of COVID-19 in the community. Statewide, Alaska’s case count is 41,859 as of yesterday. This is an increase of 3,151 from last week. Wrangell received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 16. According to SEARHC, following guidance from the Alaska Vaccine Advisory Council, vaccinations will be given to frontline health workers first, along with first responders, and l...
Last Thursday morning, Nov. 12, many Alaskans received an emergency alert on their phones from Governor Mike Dunleavy. The message contained a link to a video of Dunleavy, in which he addressed the rapid spread of COVID-19 across the state. Effective immediately, he said, all state employees were to work from home if possible, and face masks and social distancing were mandatory at state work sites. On Nov. 16 he also issued a new 30-day COVID-19 disaster declaration. In his address, the governor...
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Alaska has faced its share of monumental challenges. The testing of all incoming travelers, providing relief for devastated tourism businesses, creating a new unemployment program from scratch. Yet none compared to the challenge of protecting our critical seafood industry and the communities that rely on their economic production. We commend Alaska's seafood industry for successfully navigating the most difficult season Alaska has ever experienced. Captains,...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration has been ordered to change the language of the ballot summary for a proposed act that seeks to raise taxes on the oil industry. The Alaska Supreme Court upheld a ruling by Superior Court Judge William Morse, who found in June that Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer did not provide an impartial summary of the measure as required by law, the Anchorage Daily News reported. The Fair Share Act is designed to make the tax filings of the state’s major oil producers “a matter of public record....
Representative Don Young made a stop in Wrangell Monday, July 7, to meet with constituents and discuss issues that matter to voters while on a tour of Southeast Alaska. There are several issues Wrangell is facing that are common across multiple Southeast communities, he said. He also discussed problems facing Alaska, in general, and common issues across the entire United States. The ferry system is a common issue for many Southeast residents, Young said. His role, in Congress, relates to the...
The biggest red salmon run in the world is building at Bristol Bay. Up to 50 million fish could surge into its eight river systems in coming weeks, on par with past seasons. When it's all done, the fishery will provide nearly half the global supply of wild sockeye salmon. But this summer is different. Not only due to the restrictions and fears and economic chaos caused by Covid-19. At the height of the fishery, fishermen will learn if a massive gold and copper mine that's been hanging over...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Alaska’s government has announced that child care providers will receive an additional $10.5 million from the state’s portion of federal coronavirus relief funds. State Department of Health and Social Services Commissioner Adam Crum said in a statement that the department and Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy directed the additional funding to businesses providing child care, The Anchorage Daily News reported Saturday. “We found that the funding available to this sector was not coming fast enough,” Crum said. Child care is...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – The Alaska Permanent Fund dividend was finalized at $992 and distribution is expected to begin early this year because of economic impacts caused by the coronavirus pandemic, state department officials said. The state Department of Revenue made the announcement Friday, saying payments are expected to begin July 1 instead of in October. "We are in extraordinary times. We need to make sure that the people of Alaska have cash in their hands to help in this economy," R...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – An Alaska Department of Administration audit has found that the state’s National Guard units improved the handling of sexual assault and sexual harassment since 2014, but some problems remain. The administration department’s oversight unit said the National Guard increased sexual assault and prevention training, set up new procedures for addressing complaints and created a new military judicial system under laws passed by the Alaska Legislature, The Anchorage Daily News reported Sunday. Citing the results of anony...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska will receive $50 million in federal coronavirus aid for fisheries, the U.S. Department of Commerce has announced, about half what state officials had expected. Alaska is home to large stocks of pollock, an inexpensive fish used in fast-food sandwiches and fish sticks, and landed 58% of the nation’s seafood by volume in 2018, officials said. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy and his administration expected the state to receive about $100 million, or one-third of the $300 million allocated to fisheries in the Cor...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly held a special meeting Monday evening, May 4, to discuss three agenda items related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Governor Mike Dunleavy and the Department of Health and Social Services recently announced four metrics by which they would determine if restrictions need to be eased or rolled back, to protect public health. According to the meeting's agenda packet, the four metrics are: Epidemiology, tracking disease trends and forecasts; Testing, tracking overall...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Organizers of the Southeast Alaska State Fair said Friday that the summer event in Haines has been canceled this year due to COVID-19. In a statement, fair officials said it was a difficult decision but the right one to make. “For us and many across Southeast Alaska and the Yukon, the Fair is something to look forward to at the end of the summer, a moment of congregation and fun separate from the rest of the year,’’ the statement reads. “2020 has instead united us with the common goal of preserving the health and safet...
Governor Mike Dunleavy signed the Fiscal Year 2021 budget into law on Monday, April 6, according to an April 7 press release from the governor's office. The budget, as enacted "maintains spending across various programs and components at a level consistent with FY 2020, and funds an incomplete Permanent Fund Dividend." In short, the approved budget has total revenues set at about $9.07 billion and expenses at about $10.03 billion. While adopting this budget, the governor also issued some line-it...
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office of Governor Mike Dunleavy, Department of Health and Social Services, and Department of Military and Veterans Affairs are launching a new joint COVID-19 website. This new website will be a one-stop-shop for Alaskans as they navigate the resources that the State of Alaska is offering during this unprecedented crisis. “This outbreak is an all hands on deck situation. Resources are available from every State of Alaska agency working to slow the spread of COVID-19, financially help Alaskans, assist b...
The State of Alaska wants input on plans to distribute nearly $24.5 million in federal disaster relief funds for stakeholders and communities hurt by the 2018 Gulf of Alaska cod crash. Better make it quick – the deadline to comment is April 10. Cod is Alaska’s second largest groundfish harvest (after pollock), but the Gulf stock dropped by 80% in 2018 following a three year heatwave that disrupted food webs, fish metabolism and egg survival on the ocean floor. It combined to push down cod catches to just 28.8 million pounds, compared to nea...
The City and Borough of Wrangell held a special meeting via teleconference last Sunday afternoon, March 22, to issue an emergency "shelter in place" order. The assembly recently granted the mayor and borough manager the ability to issue emergency orders in the interest of public health, during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen issued Wrangell's first emergency orders last week, limiting restaurants to to-go service only and limiting public gatherings to a maximum of...
4/1/20 COVID-19 Update Mayor Steve Prysunka and Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen hosted a brief teleconference, on Wed., April 1, to share pertinent information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic with the public. There are still no confirmed cases of the virus in Wrangell as of this date, Prysunka said. However, this is not cause for relaxation. Von Bargen said she was recently part of a teleconference with other city managers across Alaska, along with representatives from FEMA and the Department...
Governor Mike Dunleavy announced two new statewide health mandates Monday, March 23, in response to the ongoing spread of COVID-19 in Alaska. These are the ninth and tenth health mandates the state government has announced regarding the virus. Many local communities have been taking steps of their own to mitigate the risk of the virus spreading further. These mandates, however, are meant to help statewide efforts to combat COVID-19. The first of these two mandates, Mandate 009 took effect on...
Due to the spread of COVID-19 through Alaska, many people and organizations have had to suddenly alter their schedules and day-to-day operations. The Wrangell School District, for example, is looking at an extended closure right at the tail end of the school year. All schools in Alaska are to remain closed until May 1, according to an announcement by Governor Mike Dunleavy, to help mitigate the spread of the virus. This is especially important in Wrangell, Superintendent Debbe Lancaster wrote...