Sorted by date Results 1048 - 1072 of 8043
A coalition of hemp growers and manufacturers has sued the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, claiming that new limits on intoxicating hemp products are unconstitutional. The lawsuit, by the Alaska Industrial Hemp Association and four businesses, was filed Nov. 2 in U.S. District Court in Anchorage. Attorney Christopher Hoke, representing the plaintiffs, said the rules mean that virtually every hemp-derived product made in the state and for sale in Alaska — drinks, gummies, cookies and more — will become illegal. “We’re just harming... Full story
Alaska is warming at two or three times the U.S. rate, with impacts ranging from individuals’ health and safety to the military security of the nation, according to a new federal report. The Fifth National Climate Assessment, a multiagency scientific report issued Nov. 14 by the Biden administration in accordance with federal law, includes a chapter devoted specifically to Alaska. Among the most profound impacts of climate change in Alaska are threats to surface construction, such as roads, and buildings, which are now much more costly to maint... Full story
The Sitka city clerk has rejected a second application to gather signatures for putting an initiative on the 2024 ballot to limit the number of cruise ship visitors to the Southeast community. City Attorney Brian Hanson recommended rejection of the application on the grounds that the proposed ordinance “would not be enforceable as a matter of law.” The attorney said, “Initiatives must be drafted clearly enough so that the voters know what they are voting on and so future disputes over the initiative’s meaning are avoided.” The initiativ...
From a prison cell in California, federal prosecutors allege, a 56-year-old inmate directed an Alaska drug trafficking ring that in recent years smuggled huge quantities of fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine to some of the state’s smallest villages through a network of postal shippers and drug couriers. In Alaska, meanwhile, a woman incarcerated at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center recruited a fellow inmate on the verge of release to join the drug ring, federal prosecutors wrote in an indictment unsealed in October. That woman, the U.S. A...
The body of Otto Florschutz, 65, was recovered from the landslide area at 11-Mile Zimovia Highway shortly before 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, 10 days after he was declared missing in the slide. With help from scent-detection dogs, Wrangell Search and Rescue and other volunteers located and recovered the body from the landslide debris, according to an Alaska Department of Public Safety announcement on Friday, Dec. 1. Derek Heller, 12, is the only missing person who has still not been found from the slide that killed his parents and two sisters.... Full story
Borough staff presented their plan for selling the first 20 lots of the Alder Top Village (Keishangita.'aan) subdivision to the Economic Development Board and members of the public at a work session Nov. 16. The plan is to sell the first row of 10 lots - the ones with waterfront views - at a public auction and the second row of 10 using a lottery system. The auction is tentatively scheduled for May 2024 and the lottery for June 2024, with buyers receiving access to their land in September, thoug...
A nearly $90,000 state grant will help the borough reinvent the community’s address system so that first responders, internet providers and residents are on the same page — or in this case, the same street. At present, Wrangell’s homes and roadways reject the conventional wisdom of street naming. There are two First avenues, two Second avenues, two Third avenues and a Third Street in town. Grave Street turns left onto one of the Third avenues, which turns left onto Grave Street again. Some streets have never been named at all, and homes on Zi...
Alexandra Angerman of the Wrangell Cooperative Association is one of 16 young people who will serve on a nationwide committee advising the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on environmental issues. The National Environmental Youth Advisory Council (NEYAC) was created this year by EPA Administrator Michael Regan to provide "a critical perspective on how the impacts of climate change and other environmental harms affect youth communities," according to the EPA press office. Members are ages 16...
Tables and seats were organized for students and guests along the walls of the elementary school gym, with "Happy Friendsgiving 2023" coloring pages scattered on the tables, ready for crayons. The main serving area was in the center, with long tables placed end to end full of ham, meatballs, macaroni and cheese, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, rolls, casseroles and other foods. As the time drew near for the second festive lunch of the day to begin, Angela Allen, who serves on the boards of the...
As the Nolan Center community theater production of “Cinderella” prepares for shows the weekend of Dec. 9 and 10, director Haley Reeves has been delighted with the performance of cast and crew since rehearsals first began. “We’re miles from where we started,” she said, adding that everyone participating in the production has exceeded her expectations. Reeves expressed excitement to revisit this well-known musical this time as director, instead of as a performer. “It’s been 10 to 15 years since I’d been involved with a production of ...
Residents may soon be allowed to build small apartments on their properties for family members or to use as rentals. The assembly gave its initial approval to an ordinance that would let residents add rental units to their properties at its Nov. 14 meeting. Before the new ordinance is officially approved, it must undergo a public hearing and be approved at a second reading before the assembly. The public hearing is scheduled for the Dec. 12 assembly meeting. These rentals — called “accessory dwelling units” — are not currently permiss...
A vacant floathouse moored behind the Marine Bar at the Inner Harbor keeled over Nov. 14, around noon. An old boat tied up nearby also partially sank. Both belonged to an elderly resident who died several weeks earlier. A private contractor has been hired to handle cleanup of the wreckage. Tori Peterson, who lives near the floathouse, witnessed it turning over. She said it had been tilting more and more to one side for sometime before going down at high tide. "It just rolled right over and fell...
Several store owners and managers are talking about the need to form a business association of some kind to work toward drawing more locals to shop downtown. Wrangell residents are spending an increasing amount of their dollars online, ordering from Amazon and other remote merchants. About 10% of the borough’s sales tax collections last year came from online shoppers — and the number is growing. Forming a downtown business association isn’t about competing with or abandoning the chamber of commerce, the store owners said. The chamber serve...
Borough officials successfully negotiated down the cost of the Mount Dewey trail extension with the project’s only bidder to keep the work within budget. The assembly approved the contract at its Nov. 14 meeting after staff and the contractor cut more than half a million dollars from the job. The contract is now about $25,000 below the original spending target. The plan to improve the Mount Dewey trail system has been in progress since a 2014 public forum, when community members told borough staff that they’d like to see the trail updated. The...
A SEARHC patient benefits staffer will be in Wrangell Monday through Thursday, Nov. 27-30, to assist people who have questions about health insurance and need help signing up for low-cost coverage through the Affordable Care Act federally operated online marketplace. The annual enrollment period is open through Jan. 15, but people need to sign up by Dec. 15 for their coverage to start Jan. 1, according to Susan Briles, the SEARHC patient health benefits manager in Sitka. One of her colleagues, Hillary Russom, comes to Wrangell twice a year to...
Groups and individuals can bring their decorated holiday trees to the Nolan Center this weekend for the Hospice of Wrangell annual Christmas Tree Lane fundraiser. The only rules are no real trees — only artificial ones to avoid any fire risk at the building — and no wreaths. Creative decorations and unusual themes are encouraged, said Alice Rooney, of Hospice. “One year we had a tree that was upside down,” she said of the donations over the past 20 years of the fundraiser. People have decorated trees with themes ranging from Harry Potter...
The U.S. Coast Guard said two of four crew members injured in a helicopter crash near Petersburg during a search and rescue mission late at night Nov. 13 have been released from the hospital. The other two members, who were seriously injured, remained hospitalized at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle as of Nov. 15, but their condition had improved, said Lt. Cmdr. Michael Salerno, a public affairs officer for U.S. Coast Guard Alaska. The two were listed in fair condition, according to an...
The Sitka assembly has approved a one-time payment of $300 to all residential utility customers, spending more than $1 million of the city’s higher-than-expected sales tax haul this past fiscal year. The ordinance passed on a 5-2 vote on Nov. 14. The $300 will be applied to residential accounts starting late this month, city staff said. “Even as I was running, I had people always coming up to me, saying ‘we need help with utilities,’” Assembly Member Chris Ystad said. “That was a constant theme. And another constant theme was ‘how does t...
Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom is running for Alaska’s lone seat in the U.S. House, challenging Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola in the 2024 election. In her campaign announcement on Nov. 14, Dahlstrom dubbed herself “a conservative Republican, law enforcement leader, military and veterans advocate.” Dahlstrom, 66, has served as lieutenant governor for less than a year. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy tapped her as his running mate in 2022. Before that, she served as commissioner of the Department of Corrections. Dahlstrom also served in the state...
Alaska’s minimum wage will increase on Jan. 1 from $10.85 to $11.73 an hour, in accordance with a law put in place by a 2014 citizen initiative, the state Department of Labor announced. The law mandates regular increases in the minimum wage to match inflation rates as determined by the Consumer Price Index in Anchorage. Compared to the rest of the nation, the state’s minimum wage is “a little bit middling right now,” said Joelle Hall, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO. It appears on track to stay that way for at least the near term. Even after t... Full story
The state council that sets and enforces standards for employment, training and certification of law enforcement officers in Alaska has approved a proposal to lower the minimum age of state prison guards from 21 to 18 years old. The proposal requires regulatory approval, however, before it can take effect. Alaska’s Department of Corrections is feeling the same hiring pressures as law enforcement across the country and needs a wider applicant pool, Commissioner Jen Winkelman told the Police Standards Council in its September meeting. “These are...
After recent years of record or near-record runs and harvests, Bristol Bay sockeye salmon numbers are expected to return to more average levels next year, according to state biologists. The 2024 Bristol Bay sockeye salmon run is expected to total 39 million fish, with a predicted range between about 25 million and 53 million fish, according to a preliminary forecast released Nov. 3 by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. That is 35% lower than the average over the past 10 years but 6% higher than the long-term average for Bristol Bay, the... Full story
One juvenile female and two adults are confirmed dead after a massive landslide 11 miles from town covered three homes on Monday night. Three people — one adult and two juveniles — were still missing as of late Tuesday evening. Local and state rescue teams are engaged in an ongoing search. First responders arrived at the scene soon after the slide was reported at 8:51 p.m. Monday. Shortly after, they started a “hasty search” for survivors, said Austin McDaniel, communications director for the st... Full story
Multiple resources are responding Tuesday to help people affected by the massive landslide at 11-Mile on Monday night that killed at least one person, with five others still missing. The growing list includes food, temporary shelter, or just a warm place to spend the day with family and friends. Angela Stires, an evacuee and a nurse at Wrangell Medical Center, said she and her family were provided rooms at the Stikine Inn, which has been offering shelter to people displaced by the landslide.... Full story
State officials today released the names of the three people killed and three others still missing from the Monday night landslide at 11-Mile Zimovia Highway. Searchers have found the bodies of Timothy Heller, 44, his wife, Beth Heller, 36, and their daughter, Mara, 16. Mara was a high school junior. Searchers found her body on Monday night. Crews found Timothy and Beth Heller on Tuesday. As of Friday morning, searchers had not found Derek Heller, 12, Kara Heller, 11, or Otto Florschutz, 65. Derek was in sixth grade; Kara in fifth grade.... Full story