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In the early days of President Donald Trump's second term, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has openly challenged or rebuked him at least three times - stunning for a congressional Republican who has faced his wrath before and yet remains unbowed by pressure to embrace his agenda. Murkowski is a moderate with a history of bucking her party and Trump when she has felt it was the right thing to do. She was the first GOP senator to publicly break ranks with Trump on his nomination of Pete Hegseth as...
Start saving today. Wrangell’s first sales tax-free day of 2025 will be on Saturday, May 3. The borough assembly approved the chamber of commerce’s date request unanimously at its Jan. 28 meeting. There may be a second tax-free day in 2025, which the chamber has traditionally scheduled for October. This year, the assembly will consider the chamber’s request for a second tax-free day with a public hearing at its April 22 meeting. Last December the assembly altered municipal code so that the number of tax-free days every fiscal year can be anywhe...
The borough is accepting letters of interest to fill one vacancy each on the assembly and port commission. To submit a letter, either email Borough Clerk Kim Lane — municipal clerk of the year in Alaska for 2024 — at clerk@wrangell.com or drop it off at her office in City Hall. As of Jan. 31, Lane said she had received three letters of interest. Phillip Mach and Scott McAuliffe submitted for the assembly seat, while Antonio Silva submitted for the port commission. “More would be great!” Lane said. Silva ran for port commission last fall an...
The borough has negotiated a $50,000 insurance settlement to help pay for repairs after a boat owner pulled up their anchor and hooked and crimped the sewage treatment plant’s deep outfall pipeline in the waters off City Park last September. The Public Works Department quickly found a temporary solution to keep the treated discharge flowing out of the plant. Bids on a permanent fix were due at City Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 4. The total cost of the temporary work, underwater video to locate the problem and permanent repairs to the pipeline is estim...
The borough assembly has passed the first reading of an ordinance to eliminate the requirement of a public vote to sell or lease borough-owned property worth more than $1 million, scheduling the ordinance for a public hearing and possible approval Feb. 11. Lawyers had advised the borough that the public consent requirement in the municipal charter contradicts the state constitution. The assembly unanimously approved the first reading of the ordinance Jan. 28. The approval process was used as...
In a series of hearings last week in the Alaska Capitol, advocates from across the state presented hours of impassioned and often emotional testimony in favor of a bill to sharply increase state funding for public schools. The state funding formula has increased just 2% over the past decade, but a pair of cold-blooded financial hearings by legislative committees showed that the education request may have to compete with the Permanent Fund dividend and aid for aging state buildings in the next budget. In December, Gov. Mike Dunleavy offered a st... Full story
A wide-ranging education package with provisions that include allowing students to attend any public school in the state was introduced Friday, Jan. 31, by Gov. Mike Dunleavy at the State Capitol. The legislation also revives numerous policy goals by the Republican governor such as more state money for homeschooling and state authorization of new charter schools instead of leaving that decision up to school districts. The governor’s package contains no increase to the state's per-pupil funding number for school districts, the Base Student A...
Facing a deficit of $111 million, the Anchorage School District released its draft budget on Jan. 31 calling for massive cuts to programs and positions. The cuts represent about 20% of the district’s spending plan for the 2025-2026 school year. In a letter to Anchorage parents, Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt said the deficit is “driven by more than a decade of flat state funding and rising costs due to inflation.” The budget proposal came on the heels of Gov. Mike Dunleavy rejecting a plan by Alaska lawmakers to significantly increase state...
On Jan. 28, more than 2 million federal workers received an emailed offer to resign but be paid for eight months, part of an aggressive effort by the administration of President Donald Trump to drastically cut the size of the federal workforce. The move could have major consequences in Alaska, a state with 15,000 federal workers. The “deferred resignation” plan is part of a suite of changes the Trump administration is trying to make to the federal government, including slashing equity programs and ordering remote workers back to offices. Wor...
State political campaign regulators have issued a second heavy penalty against the organizers of a failed campaign that sought to repeal Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system. On Jan. 27, the Alaska Public Offices Commission fined Alaskans for Honest Elections, Alaskans for Honest Government, the Ranked Choice Education Association and Anchorage resident Arthur Matthias a combined total of almost $157,000. The commission imposed the maximum allowable fines on the parties, stating that they have “proven themselves shockingly poor at com... Full story
A state commission is recommending automatic inflation-driven pay raises for Alaska’s governor, lieutenant governor, members of the state Legislature and top officials at state agencies. The recommendation, approved by the three members of the State Officers Compensation Commission on Jan. 29, will become effective after the 2026 state election unless the Legislature and Gov. Mike Dunleavy approve a measure within 60 days rejecting the pay hikes. “If we’re really going to have a system where anybody can run (for office) and be able finan... Full story
A New York food bank was offered a huge donation of fresh fish last month — but it came with a catch. LocalCoho, a going-out-of-business salmon farm in the small upstate city of Auburn, New York, wanted to give 40,000 pounds of coho salmon to the Food Bank of Central New York, a motherlode of high-quality protein that could feed thousands of families. But the fish were still alive and swimming in the farm’s giant indoor tanks. The organizations would need to figure out how to get some 13,000 salmon from the water and then have them pro... Full story
The U.S. Forest Service’s “Sustainability and Climate” web page is gone, as are the news sections for the homepages of Alaska’s national forests and the Tongass National Forest. Likewise for a vast amount of federal government weather, disaster assistance, fisheries, health, education and other reports. In some instances they can still be accessed through submenus or via virtual backdoors such as the exact URL for a specific report. In others, the information has simply halted — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity a...
Alaska law enforcement officials say statewide drug enforcement actions focused on the U.S. Mail resulted in the seizure of more than four times as much alcohol in 2024 than in 2023. Officials seized more than 8,500 liters of distilled spirits, malted beverages and wine, according to new data by the Alaska Department of Public Safety released in an annual report for the state’s drug enforcement unit. State authorities identified and intercepted large and small alcohol imports headed for communities that have opted to prohibit alcohol, known a... Full story
In the fall of 2018, officials with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and their partners celebrated what they thought was a milestone: an end to the infestation of invasive northern pike in the Kenai Peninsula. Their laborious program - they thought - had ridden the peninsula of the salmon-gobbling species that has wreaked havoc on the natural runs that are important to commercial and sport fishers, as well as to the overall ecological system. "We were all excited, you know. We spent,...
During a break in the U.S. Army apology ceremony, Sik'nax̲.ádi clan leader John Martin walked over to a table in the audience, turned and handed U.S. Army Chaplain Phillip Rittermeyer a book. It was "The Sea Runners," by Ivan Doig, a novel about four indentured servants and their quest for freedom in a stolen canoe. Rittermeyer turned to those seated at his table and explained what happened. "We met last night, and he wanted me to have this," the chaplain said, tapping the book to the table. I...
The Wrangell School District could run short of operating funds by 2026 or 2027 if it doesn't receive new revenues or make large cuts to its programs. The school board discussed the first draft of its 2025-2026 budget on Jan. 20. Barring any notable changes between now and when the budget is sent to City Hall for approval by May 1, the district anticipates a deficit of $767,016, requiring a dip deep into the school district's dwindling reserves. This would leave the reserves at an estimated $51,...
A team from Oregon State University’s Sustainable Tourism Lab will conduct a survey in Wrangell next month to help the borough learn more of what residents think of tourism, the positives and any negatives of having visitors in town, and how to manage for the best outcome for the community. The online survey will start early February, with a student researcher in town later in the month for in-person interviews. “The purpose is to figure out where community sentiment lies” on the effects of a growing tourism industry, explained Kate Thoma...
A member of the Alaska House majority on Jan. 24 introduced legislation that would increase the state’s public school funding by more than 35%, marking the beginning of what will likely be a lengthy debate over lawmakers’ top priority for the session. The bill would add roughly $464 million to the state’s annual education spending, which currently hovers around $1.2 billion per year to Alaska’s schools. The measure was introduced by Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, a Sitka independent who co-chairs the House Education Committee, and who worked as a publ...
The Wrangell advisory committee doesn’t want to see Southeast residents lose any more of their limited share of king salmon catches to nonresident charter fishing customers, but it isn’t ready to support proposals that would substantially rewrite the commercial/sport allocations set by the Alaska Board of Fisheries. “It’s complicated,” said Chris Guggenbickler, chair of the local advisory committee which met three times in November and December to consider close to 160 proposals that will go before the state board at its meeting Jan. 28 throug...
Among the 159 proposals to go before the state Board of Fisheries at its meeting in Ketchikan starting this week is one to reduce Southeast Alaska hatcheries’ chum and pink egg take by 25%. Supporters say it would help wild salmon stocks by reducing their competition with hatchery fish for food. The Wrangell advisory committee to the Board of Fisheries “adamantly opposes” the proposal, said Chris Guggenbickler, committee chair. “The hatcheries around here are pretty beneficial to everyone,” he said. “If we didn’t have them,” a lot of people i...
This Valentine’s Day, you won’t have to worry about where to eat. The Wrangell Elks Lodge will transform its Nolan Room into a “five-star romantic restaurant” on the evening of Feb. 14. According to the Elks, romance will be the night’s theme. There will be “soft music, candlelight, five-star service,” and of course, the four-course meal. The event will take place from 6 to 9 p.m., with seating times at 6, 6:30 and 7 p.m. To book a reservation, call Dawn Angerman at 907-305-0552. Seats are limited and organizers encourage anyone interested to...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy is proposing legislation that would shorten the window for early voting in statewide elections and make other changes to the way elections are conducted. The bill would require all mail ballots to be received by the Division of Elections by Election Day, changing statutes that have existed for decades. Currently, ballots must be postmarked by Election Day but can be received up to 10 days later for most voters, and 15 days after Election Day for overseas voters. The bill faced immediate criticism from an advocate for voting...
The two U.S. Border Patrol officers newly stationed in Juneau will work with law enforcement throughout Southeast on high-priority illegal activities — largely involving drugs — not conducting workplace raids and setting up deportation camps, said Ross Wilkin, patrol agent in charge of the Border Patrol’s sector office, which is responsible for operations in Washington, Oregon and Alaska. “We don’t want people to be concerned that there’s a restaurant that’s going to get raided or something like that,” he said. “This is not the goal of this...
For their senior project, Addy Andrews and Aubrey Wynne are helping to coach the middle school girls volleyball team. During their four-year careers playing high school volleyball, they three-peated as Southeast champions, with just as many showings at the state tournament. Now, with their varsity volleyball careers behind them, Andrews and Wynne hope they can help the next generation find the same passion for the sport they love. "We try and make sure that they enjoy it," Wynne said. "We both...