Sorted by date Results 1901 - 1925 of 8063
Organizers hope a new program will generate as much compost as interest to reduce the amount of waste Wrangell ships out each month. The Wrangell Cooperative Association's IGAP department launched a compost pilot pickup program last month and has already reached its capacity of 20 participating households. Each week, IGAP staff picks up either a 3 ½-gallon 5-gallon bucket from participating homes as far out as 3 Mile. Kim Wickman, IGAP technician, got the idea for the program from Juneau...
A month after a major backlog in Alaska’s food stamp application processing surfaced publicly, state officials are scrambling to hire emergency workers to address delays reaching crisis levels for Alaskans who depend on the federal program to feed their families. Public frustrations have become so high that the state is hiring security guards to protect existing workers, officials with the state’s Department of Health said. Meanwhile, another hurdle for the understaffed and overwhelmed Alaska Division of Public Assistance lurks around the cor...
The Biden administration will ban new logging roads and limit development on Tongass National Forest lands, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Jan. 25. The decision, which repeals a 2020 U.S. Department of Agriculture action under the Trump administration, continues a quarter-century of action and counter-action over development in the region, which contains the world’s largest temperate coastal rainforest and is home to more than 72,000 people. “As our nation’s largest national forest and the largest intact temperate rainf...
The Coast Guard rescued an 85-year-old overdue boater last Friday on a beach in Steamer Bay, after a Wrangell Search and Rescue crew located the man. A Coast Guard helicopter crew from Air Station Sitka landed on the beach about 20 miles southwest of Wrangell, picked up Larry Jacobson, of Point Baker, then flew him to Wrangell where he was placed in the care of emergency medical personnel in good condition, according to a Coast Guard statement. The Coast Guard received initial notification at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday that Jacobson, who left...
The state Board of Game has approved a proposal to reopen an elk hunt on Zarembo Island, though the odds that a local could nab a tag and take a bull will be low — a small number of tags will be available and the drawing will be open to hunters nationwide. The first drawing will likely take place this fall, with the hunt set for fall 2024. There hasn’t been an elk hunt on Zarembo for nearly 20 years, due to concerns about the small population’s sustainability, explained Petersburg-based state Fish and Game biologist Frank Robbins. “The last ye...
After months of negotiation, the borough is ready to approve a short-term lease with Juneau-based scrap metal recycling company Channel Construction for a portion of the 6-Mile mill site. At its Jan. 24 meeting, the assembly authorized Borough Manager Jeff Good to finalize the lease, which has been in progress since last September. At its Sept 1. meeting, the port commission unanimously voted down a motion to recommend leasing a portion of the property to company owner William “Shorty” Tonsgard Jr. Commissioners wanted more information about th...
No matter your age, AARP has you covered, at least as far as tax return preparation is concerned. Each Saturday starting this week and going through April 15, the American Association of Retired Persons will provide free tax return services to individuals and small businesses at the Nolan Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Paula Rak has been volunteering to prepare returns for 16 years and Nancy McQueen has been volunteering for about five years. Both are trained by the IRS and receive updated certification every year due to changes in tax laws....
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A nonprofit group that aims to protect endangered species has asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reintroduce sea otters to a stretch of the West Coast from Northern California to Oregon. Threatened southern sea otters occupy only 13% of their historic range, with a small population of the mammals currently living on California’s central coast, the Center for Biological Diversity said. “Bringing the sea otter back to the broader West Coast would be an unparalleled conservation success story,” said Kristin Carden,...
"I have always had a passion for animals," said senior Rylee Chelette. "When I was younger, I had cats, I had dogs, I had fish and I had hermit crabs I loved to play with. And I begged my mom to let me have goats, but she didn't fall for it." That love of all creatures great and small led Chelette to volunteer her efforts at the St. Frances Animal Shelter for her high school senior project. Not only will she be volunteering her time to care for the animals where possible, she will be putting her...
The borough is moving forward with design of the Alder Top Village (Keishangita.’aan) subdivision at the site of the former Wrangell Institute, a federal Alaska Native boarding school that closed in 1975. Borough officials hope the project will alleviate the community’s housing shortage — after its first phase is complete, 20 new residential lots could go on sale in 2024. At its Jan. 24 meeting, the borough assembly unanimously approved a $109,616 professional services contract with Ketchikan-based R&M Engineering to design roadways and water...
Rebecca Mork and Kristofer Vasquez-Kool are the proud parents of our newest community member, Alice Lynn Mork. She was the first baby to join a Wrangell family in 2023. Alice was born at 2:38 p.m. Jan. 19 in Juneau's Bartlett Regional Hospital. She was 7 pounds and 15 ounces. "It was a pretty fast delivery," said Rebecca Mork. "She took about 10 to 20 minutes." Mork hadn't realized how far along she was until she arrived at the hospital, where the nurses informed her that she would likely have...
In his annual address to the Alaska Legislature, Gov. Mike Dunleavy identified successes from his first four-year term in office and called for action on a list of administration priorities, including more funding for a “statehood defense” program that has launched a series of lawsuits against the federal government. Speaking Jan. 23 at the Capitol in Juneau, the governor also said he would work with state legislators to make Alaska “the most pro-life state in the entire country.” Doing so, he said, would require affordable housing, improve...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has officially unveiled a pair of bills designed for the state to make money from companies and investors looking to reduce the effect of greenhouse gas emissions by paying the state not to log timber or paying for credits that come from storing carbon dioxide deep underground. “There’s a burgeoning market for carbon credits, particularly in the voluntary market, and Alaska seems to be really well-positioned to take advantage of these opportunities,” said John Boyle, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources....
While Alaska lawmakers have not yet started to discuss specific numbers, public education advocates are calling for an increase of at least 14% to the per-student formula used to calculate state funding for K-12 schooling. In Senate Education Committee meetings held in the second week of the legislative session, members of the bipartisan Senate majority appeared open to a sizable increase to the base student allocation formula, but have yet to put forward legislation to that effect. At the same time, Republicans who control the majority in the...
The Alaska Supreme Court has upheld the disputed residency eligibility of Anchorage Rep. Jennie Armstrong to serve in the Legislature. In a decision issued Jan. 13, four days before the Legislature convened, three of the court’s justices voted 2-1 to uphold a lower-court decision in Armstrong’s favor on the residency question. The justices did not provide an immediate explanation for their decision; one will be published in the coming months. The Supreme Court decision was the result of a lawsuit filed by Liz Vazquez, who lost to Armstrong by...
The borough has been trying to get the old hospital property off its hands for the better part of a year. After a $360,000 price cut and months of languishing on a public surplus website, the property has attracted its first potential investors. Jim Freeman, chief development officer of California-based restaurant chain Jimboy’s Tacos, his associate California-based business consultant Kevin Jones and Jimboy’s Chief Financial Officer Erik Freeman shared their vision with borough officials and committees at the Jan. 12 Planning and Zoning Com...
If not for drawing on its fund balance, the Wrangell School District’s 2023-2024 budget would come up short. However, by drawing $112,000 from its general fund balance, the first draft of the budget matches revenues with expenditures. Tammy Stromberg, the district’s business manager, presented the draft to the school board in a work session on Jan. 16. In the draft budget, total expected revenues for the 2023-2024 school year are $5,036,098, whereas expenditures total $5,148,136, a difference of $112,038. Drawing on savings covers the gap. “We...
Wordsmiths, fans of crossword puzzles, word nerds and casual spellers alike now have a place to test their knowledge and battle it out with friendly competition. A new community Scrabble group started playing the popular tile letter game last Thursday in the St. Philip's Episcopal Church parish hall. The group began when teacher Tracey Martin decided to gauge the town's interest since she missed playing. She posted in the Wrangell Community Group Facebook page and the post exploded with...
Last September, the borough was excluded from the final round of federal pandemic aid, which distributed $27 million to Alaska communities through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. However, recent legislation will make funding available to communities that were previously ineligible — including Wrangell. The provision, which was included in the appropriations bill signed by the president on Dec. 29, allows states, tribes and local governments additional flexibility in their allocation of federal funds. The provision was part of a much l...
The Wrangell school district’s business manager and information technology director have both resigned from their positions. Bob Russell, the IT director, will finish out his contract and leave the district at the end of the school year. Tammy Stromberg, the business manager, will leave at the end of February, though her last official day is the end of March. “Staffing changes in administrative positions are always difficult,” said Schools Superintendent Bill Burr. “Finding people to come to a small district or work with a small distric...
When podcaster and historian Ronan Rooney came home from college in the summer, he got a job guiding tourists around Wrangell, showing them the island's sights and sharing its stories. When they'd pass Deadmans Island, a small tree-covered piece of land a half mile offshore from the airport, he'd tell his audience about the Chinese cannery workers who were supposedly buried there in the 19th and 20th centuries. According to Wrangell lore, workers' bodies were preserved in barrels of salt brine...
Five benches on Shakes Island that have been there possibly more than 50 years are showing signs of their age. Thanks to two Wrangell teens, the benches will soon be replaced with all new ones. Steven Bales, 17, and Randy Churchill, 18, will build new benches out of yellow cedar as part of their senior project. It's a small way in which they can help preserve their Tlingit heritage and give back to the community. Originally, Churchill was going to help with Wolfpack Wrestling - for...
Other than still needing crew if it is to put the Hubbard into service for the first time since it was built a few years ago, the Alaska Marine Highway System believes it has enough staff to operate the confirmed runs of its proposed summer schedule this year. The state ferry system has been plagued by staffing shortages the past couple of years due to retirements, resignations and hiring efforts coming up short, temporarily sidelining vessels on occasion. “We’re still really pushing hard on recruitment,” Shannon McCarthy, communications direc...
There are at least two distinct populations of harbor porpoises in Southeast Alaska waters, and one of them — which swims around Zarembo and Wrangell islands — appears to be particularly vulnerable to deaths from entanglements in commercial fishing gear, according to newly released information from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists. The breakdown of Southeast Alaska’s porpoises into separate northern and southern populations contrasts with current management, which treats the region’s porpoises as a single populat...
The steady drumbeat and voices singing in unison, mixed with formline artwork regalia are unmistakable as Tlingit storytellers and dancers share their Native culture while curious visitors look on. It’s a way to share the past and keep tribal traditions alive. But it needs help. The Wrangell Cooperative Association, which manages tribal affairs on the island, is looking for people to participate in its dancing and storytelling during the tourism season, which runs from about April to September, depending on the cruise ship schedule. “This is op...