Sorted by date Results 1273 - 1297 of 7954
Whether you have a green thumb or are all thumbs around greenery doesn't matter. If you want to help beautify downtown, the Parks and Recreation Department is looking for you. And your thumbs. Six garden beds throughout the downtown need to be adopted by volunteers who will weed, clean, water and maintain the spots. Another six have already been adopted. "The beautification of downtown Wrangell is everybody's responsibility in that your community is what you make of it," said Lucy Robinson,...
Want to golf for a good cause? The WMC Foundation and SEARHC are offering the women of the community an opportunity to do just that at the Rally for Cancer Care fundraiser at Muskeg Meadows on Aug. 5. The event will feature a luncheon, beverages, prizes, a silent auction and a “fun and frolic” golf tournament — a non-scored, no-skills-necessary take on the game. The tournament is ladies only, but organizer Patty Gilbert said she “wouldn’t mind men attending” the lunch, games and auction. The fundraiser will support the WMC Foundation,...
When people choose to live in a remote area, they give up certain things like grocery stores, movie theaters and, probably most importantly, pizza deliveries. That's why residents of Port Protection were thrilled when Nic Martin and Brian Schwartz showed up on July 15 with 18 pizzas from Nic's Place pizzeria. Not only was it a chance to expand the reach of Nic's Place and bring some happiness to the community on the north end of Prince of Wales Island about 47 nautical miles west of Wrangell,...
Whale Pass youngster Jesse Dempsey started practicing taekwondo as a kindergartner with a very simple goal: to help control his temper. In the past five years, Jesse has made strides toward that objective and progressed his skills to the point where he could compete at the international level. And recently the 10-year-old has found plenty of training partners in his small town on Prince of Wales Island. Despite a population that rarely crests above 100 even during the busy summer season, Jesse...
A Juneau man inadvertently filmed his own drowning on Mendenhall Lake with a GoPro camera mounted on his helmet, but authorities who recovered the camera have not yet found his body, officials said July 18. Alaska State Troopers said teams would continue to search the lake for the body of Paul Rodriguez Jr., 43. Troopers said a helmet with a camera attached to it that was confirmed to have belonged to Rodriguez was recording on July 11 when his kayak overturned and he went into the water. “The recording continued showing that the kayak o...
At the upcoming municipal election on Oct. 3, the community will head to the polls to share its vision for Wrangell’s future. But before that can happen, engaged community members need to declare their intention to run for elected office. Starting on Tuesday, Aug. 1, eligible candidates will be able to submit their candidacy for one of four available seats. Two three-year seats on the borough assembly will be on the ballot: Anne Morrison and Ryan Howe’s terms end this fall. These elected volunteer positions help guide the direction that the...
A federal judge on July 18 dismissed a year-old lawsuit by the state against the federal government over liability for contaminated land given to Alaska Native corporations under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. No Alaska Native corporations or Native groups joined the lawsuit, and in an order published July 18, Judge Hezekiah Russel Holland found multiple problems with the state’s arguments, ultimately ruling that they should be dismissed. The state had argued that three prior acts of Congress required the Department of the Int...
Canada`s worst-ever wildfire season has choked much of North America with dangerous smoke for months, coupling with deadly heat around the globe in a summer that`s focusing the world`s attention on the perils of climate change. By last week, some 42,000 square miles had burned in Canada — half again more than the entire Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. About 900 fires were actively burning, with only about one-fifth considered under control. “I watch this pretty much 24/7,” Mark Smith, the air quality meteorologist for the Alask...
Recently published federal data shows that Alaska’s payment error rate for administering food stamp benefits was the highest of any state during the past fiscal year. Between October 2021 and September 2022, the Alaska Division of Public Assistance reported a payment error rate of nearly 57%, compared to a national average of 11.5%. Public assistance advocates say the error rate, which measures how accurately a state agency processes federal benefits, sheds light on continued problems at the Alaska Division of Public Assistance, which for n...
Working together in long, tandem strokes, Terry Gardiner and John Sund rowed beneath looming cruise ships along Ketchikan's waterfront on July 10, then turned into Bar Harbor to meet a couple dozen friends and family waiting for them on shore. It was the end of a 925-mile rowing trip from Seattle to Ketchikan for the two men, born and raised in Ketchikan, now in their 70s. The two have been partners in personal and professional escapades for years. Gardiner served in the Alaska House of...
Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor joined 18 other Republican attorneys general last month in a letter calling on the federal government to preserve state governments’ access to private medical records. That access could be used to restrict access to abortion and gender transition care. The attorneys general are opposing a proposed federal rule that would “prevent private medical records from being used against people for merely seeking, obtaining, providing, or facilitating lawful reproductive health care.” Idaho, which has criminalized abort...
A medical student is visiting the Wrangell Medical Center for a month this summer to learn more about rural medicine and prepare herself for a future as a physician in Alaska. Christine Richter, who recently finished her first year at the University of Washington School of Medicine, arrived in town July 22 and will stay until Aug. 19. "I was so happy when I saw I got placed here (in Wrangell)," she said. Though she was born and raised in Anchorage, she hasn't had the opportunity to explore much...
We're harvesting goose tongue to dry for distribution to local elders. I'm also going to experiment with pickling it. Goose tongue is a beach plant called suktéitl' in the Lingít language, hlgit'ún t'áangal in Xaad Kíl, the Haida language, and its scientific name is Plantago maritima. It's known as sea-plantain and saltgrass. Goose tongue is found in Alaska, Arctic regions, Europe, Northwest Africa, parts of Asia and South America. There are four other subspecies of goose tongue found thro...
After cutting costs and taking on event sponsors, the chamber of commerce’s financial struggles have substantially decreased after putting on the Fourth of July celebration. The chamber had requested an additional $25,000 from the borough in May to help fund the Fourth — money that the borough would reimburse to the organization for insurance and utilities on an as-needed basis. However, at a July 14 meeting, chamber officials and board members discussed not putting in for any reimbursement. “We still need funding,” said Board Preside...
"It could have been a whole lot worse," Scott Brown said of running his 27-foot Tollycraft on to a rock in Circle Bay on the south side of Woronkofski Island last week. No one was hurt, the boat didn't take on water, and the only damage was a bent prop, Brown said July 12, the day after the mishap. Brown was piloting the boat, the Shawna Lea, named for his wife, around the southwest corner of Hat Island in the bay, "not paying attention to the depth," he said. It was about 10 a.m. July 11, soon...
After the past few years when resignations and retirements far outpaced new hires, the Alaska Marine Highway System was able to hire as many new onboard crew as it lost in the first six months of this year. It showed a net gain of two workers, adding 47 and losing 45, though most of the new hires were in entry-level jobs and not the critical experienced positions that remain vacant. The lack of enough crew to fully staff the state ferries has been a problem, keeping the Kennicott tied up this summer and creating spot shortages the past couple...
Alaska’s smaller school districts, including Wrangell, are concerned about how they can implement a major state education overhaul with limited resources. The Legislature passed the Alaska Reads Act last year, intended to improve student literacy. The 45-page bill adds wide-ranging requirements for school districts, including that they develop intensive programs for younger students struggling to read. The new law went into effect July 1. The Alaska Department of Education has spent months working on outreach efforts and providing online t...
Wrangell experienced an uptick in the number of people cited for driving without insurance in late June and early July. Though the bump in citations may or may not indicate a trend, driving without insurance is “a big deal,” said Police Chief Tom Radke. The police department doesn’t keep data on the percentage of Wrangell drivers unable to provide proof of insurance at traffic stops. However, after no traffic stops with failure to show proof of insurance reported between the beginning of May and June 11, the department’s reporting period...
Only a third of Alaska children meet the state’s goals to be ready for kindergarten. But the state’s share of funding for Head Start, a mostly federally funded child care and health program that promotes school readiness specifically for low-income families, is less than it was a decade ago. This year, the Legislature appropriated a $5 million increase so that Head Start programs could match federal contributions, but Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed most of it, slashing the increase to $1.5 million. “Gov. Dunleavy’s veto of much of the Legisla...
For the first time since its November 2022 closure, the pool is full of water again and lifeguards are being trained to protect swimmers. However, though the facility is showing signs of life, don’t grab your floaties and strap on your goggles just yet — Parks and Recreation staff have identified a few technical issues that need to be addressed before reopening. These changes have pushed the tentative reopen date past its previous mid-July mark. At the moment, Parks and Recreation staff have to manually adjust the facility’s heat and venti...
In recent months, the borough has been getting a higher number of complaints about derelict vehicles sitting idle in the community's yards. The outcry has motivated officials to take a look at their options for clearing up the junk - a borough assembly work session on code enforcement is scheduled for July 25. "We've been getting a lot of complaints," said Police Chief Radke, not just about cars, but about boats, old appliances, unusable lumber and other junk that's been sitting out for years....
The Alaska Marine Highway System may have to cancel some Lynn Canal sailings this week as the state ferry system’s hiring woes continue through the peak summer travel season, its top official said Friday, July 14. “We’re at risk of shutting the Hubbard down this next week because we can’t get another licensed engineer onboard,” AMHS director Craig Tornga told the ferry system’s operations board. The Hubbard was scheduled to sail between Haines, Skagway and Juneau six times in the week ending Saturday, July 22, and those sailings were in jeo...
From formidable black bears to cuddly teddy bears, from luxurious queen-sized bedspreads to tiny, hand-pieced landscapes, the Stikine Stitchers' BearFest quilt show - "Bears in July" - displays the skill of Wrangell's quilting community. The show is on view in the Nolan Center's classroom during regular hours until July 31. The quilts on display at the quilt show are "very diverse," said event organizer Janet Buness. "Some are a lot of patchwork, a lot of smaller pieces. Some are done with a...
The Southeast Alaska commercial troll fishery closed to the retention of chinook salmon at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, July 12. That’s when the Alaska Department of Fish and Game expected that the target of 77,100 chinook for the summer’s first retention period would be reached. The commercial summer troll fishery for chinook opened July 1, after the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay of a previous court order that would have prevented the fishery from opening. A lawsuit filed by a Washington state-based conservation organization aga...
An investigation into the July 6 fire that destroyed most of St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Petersburg determined that the blaze started with maintenance work outside the building. Petersburg Fire Marshal Ryan Welde said in a statement that the fire was accidental. The fire started at ground level on the exterior of the building, the statement said. The fire marshal’s report did not explain what maintenance work was underway that ignited the flames. The fire then traveled up the wall via rigid foam insulation behind the vinyl s...
