Sorted by date Results 1841 - 1865 of 8063
When longtime Public Works Department employee Brian Christian was asked to attend the Feb. 14 borough assembly meeting by his supervisor, Tom Wetor, he thought that he would be asked to share his expertise on a pump station collection process with the assembly. Instead, Wetor surprised him with an award for his 25 years of service, courtesy of the Alaska Rural Water Association. Wetor, the assembly and borough officials thanked Christian for his contributions to the borough and wished him well...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s amended budget unveiled Feb. 15 attempts to address crisis areas in state public services, with the additional spending driving the anticipated budget deficit past $400 million. The proposed budget for the next fiscal year is updated from his initial proposed budget announced in December. At that time, Dunleavy’s largely flat spending proposal for services had a $322 million deficit. The largest single expense in the governor’s proposed budget is $2.5 billion for a Permanent Fund dividend at roughly $3,900 per person this...
Alaska state lawmakers have begun examining a plan to set regulations and fees for companies that collect carbon dioxide and inject it deep underground. The governor has touted the potential for the state to make hundreds of millions of dollars over the years by leasing state lands to hold carbon deep underground and out of the atmosphere where it is blamed for worsening climate change. Members of the House Resources Committee held their first hearing on the proposal from Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Feb. 10. A leading member of the House’s m... Full story
Wrangell is home to a passionate community of outdoor leaders and Parks and Recreation professionals, who are committed to uniting the town by developing public programs and maintaining public spaces. This fall, the Parks and Recreation Department will pool its knowledge with other departments statewide to improve services across Alaska. In September, representatives from municipalities around the state will visit Wrangell for the annual Alaska Recreation and Park Association conference — an opportunity for the state’s recreation departments to...
A group seeking to reverse Alaska’s 2020 election reform has begun gathering signatures to put the question before voters on the 2024 ballot. The ballot initiative is seeking to do away with open primaries and ranked-choice voting in general elections, returning to Alaska’s previous elections rules, which included closed partisan primaries and traditional pick-one general elections. Ranked-choice voting and open primaries were adopted in Alaska in 2020 through a ballot measure that passed narrowly, with just over 50% of voters in favor of the...
Kiara Harrison is closing the chapter on her high school life by promoting literacy in the community. For her senior project, Harrison helped organize and run the book fair at Evergreen Elementary School gym from Oct. 25 to 27, a natural fit for the student who began reading even before starting kindergarten. At the beginning of the school year when Harrison was immersed in volleyball practice and trying to figure out what her senior project was going to be, her mother, Kaelene Harrison, was...
For the first time in 31 years, Alaska’s sitting U.S. representative addressed a joint session of the Alaska Legislature. Speaking in the state Capitol last Friday, Rep. Mary Sattler Peltola praised the bipartisan coalitions that control the state House and Senate, saying she’s frequently asked about “the Alaska model” of bipartisanship. “It’s strange,” she said, “to hear something we take for granted here at home is so foreign in the rest of the country. But it’s also inspiring because it gives me faith that for all the challenges Alaska... Full story
Alaska’s U.S. senators and several Alaska Native leaders on Feb. 14 urged the federal government to approve a major oil project on the petroleum-rich North Slope, casting the project as economically critical for Indigenous communities in the region and important for the nation’s energy security. The Biden administration “damn well better not kill the project, period,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski told reporters on a video conference. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management earlier this month released an environmental review for ConocoPhillips Alaska...
Oil-dependent Alaska has long sought ways to fatten its coffers and move away from the fiscal whiplash of oil’s boom-and-bust cycles. The newest idea, promoted by Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, would have the state capitalize on its oil and gas expertise to tap into a developing industry — carbon storage — as a way to generate new revenues without curtailing the industries that underpin Alaska’s economy. It’s also being pitched as a potential way for petroleum and mining companies to head off legal challenges over greenhouse gas impacts....
More than 90,000 pounds of canned Alaska pink salmon purchased and donated by the state of Alaska is being distributed as wartime relief in Ukraine. The cans were donated to the nonprofit World Central Kitchen and arrived in Ukraine this month after months of shipping and customs delays. The food is the state’s biggest contribution to Ukraine’s defense against a Russian invasion that started a year ago. Other than appropriating money last year to buy the canned salmon, the war has remained a back-burner issue in the state Capitol. No Ukr... Full story
Alaska’s largest school district repeatedly and inappropriately secluded and restrained students with disabilities, the U.S. Department of Justice said last Thursday following an investigation into alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. According to an agreement reached between the Justice Department and Anchorage schools, the district will eliminate the use of seclusion at all schools and ensure that students are only restrained when there is imminent danger of “serious physical harm to the student to another per...
President Joe Biden’s calls in his State of the Union speech for strong criminal penalties in response to soaring deaths linked to the potent opioid fentanyl are being rebuked by harm-reduction advocates who say that approach could make the problem worse. The proposal has support among some health officials, however, including Alaska’s chief medical officer. Dr. Anne Zink, who also serves as president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, said in a statement that she welcomes his efforts to prevent overdoses, make acc...
Randy William Churchill Jr., 39, died Feb. 22 after a tree fell on top of him near Pats Lake. Wrangell Police Department received a 911 call at 5:59 a.m. from Churchill’s companion, requesting an ambulance. Police arrived on the scene to assist with removing the tree and emergency medical services personnel began performing lifesaving procedures. Churchill was transported to the hospital, where he passed away. Police Chief Tom Radke could not confirm the exact time of death but said Churchill did not regain consciousness after the accident. ... Full story
Southeast trollers and communities are awaiting a federal judge's decision on a lawsuit that could close down the region's chinook troll fishery. If the lawsuit prevails, Southeast trollers would be denied access to the highest-priced salmon available to the commercial fleet. The lawsuit seeks to ensure more of the salmon make it to an endangered population of killer whales in Washington state. The Southeast winter troll fishery is underway and will close March 15; the summer season is slated to...
It's long been a challenge for travelers to find lodging in Wrangell, especially during the spring and summer months, but with the closure of three bed and breakfasts in the past six months, securing a place to stay has become even harder. With the loss of those short-term-stay establishments, other tourist-related businesses are having trouble attracting clients to the island. Little Bitty Getaway, Oceanside B&B and The Squawking Raven B&B have all closed since last August. The reasons are...
An ongoing shortage of crew is the “No. 1 risk factor” for the Alaska Marine Highway System, Transportation Department Deputy Commissioner Katherine Keith told legislators. At a Feb. 2 presentation to the Senate Transportation Committee, the ferry system reported it was still short just over 100 crew for full staffing to efficiently operate the winter schedule, about a 20% vacancy factor for onboard employees. The ferry system, however, is able to run its schedule with crew members picking up extra shifts and overtime to cover the work, and...
It has been more than a month without state ferry service after the Kennicott last stopped in Wrangell on Jan. 11. Ferry service is scheduled to start again on Friday, with the Columbia pulling in on its northbound run. In the month with no service, privately operated water taxis have been filling even more than before, responding to an increased need for passengers and cargo looking to get to Banana Point at the southern end of Mitkof Island, or all the way into Petersburg or to Coffman Cove...
The IRS announced last Friday that most temporary relief checks issued by states in 2022 are not subject to federal income taxes, including the $662 energy-relief portion of last year’s $3,284 Alaska Permanent Fund dividend. Alaska legislators last year added the energy-relief money to the annual PFD of $2,622 in a move to help residents hit hard by high prices for gasoline, diesel and heating fuel. The IRS decision provides last-minute tax guidance as returns are starting to pour in. The agency said it will not challenge the taxability of paym...
When the recently retired Patty Kautz signed her restaurant, Hungry Beaver Pizza and Marine Bar, over to Rolland Wimberley on Feb. 4, it was exactly 43 years to the day since she first leased the establishment in 1981. "I could not believe it," she said. "It was pretty comical." Though Kautz looks back fondly on her quadragenarian run as owner of Wrangell's oldest pizza parlor, she looks forward with excitement to a retirement full of travel and family time. "There's been a lot of changes in 43...
The borough will use the results of an eight-day public survey of users of its downtown harbor floats to boost the competitiveness of its federal grant application to rebuild the facilities, which officials said are in desperate need of repair. The survey closed Monday and it will take a while to tabulate the results, but officials believe it will help make the borough’s case for as much as $25 million in federal funds. After completing an $11.5 million repair project at Shoemaker Bay Harbor in 2019, the borough does not have the cash on h...
On Thursday, Alaskans will celebrate Elizabeth Peratrovich Day to honor the Tlingit civil rights advocate who pushed for the nation's first anti-discrimination law, 19 years before the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. During her lifelong campaign for Native rights, she fought segregation and a majority white territorial Legislature to establish a foundation of legal protections that have benefitted Alaskans since 1945. Peratrovich was born in segregated Petersburg on July 4, 1911. She was a...
Tribal citizens with new business ideas may be eligible for funds to help launch their small businesses through the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s start-up grant program. Tlingit and Haida has been operating pandemic relief programs for existing small businesses run by tribal citizens for three years. In 2021, they added the federally funded small business relief start-up grant program to their list of offerings to support citizens who do not yet have a small business, but would like to develop one. This year...
After only one school year, Bob Burkhart is retiring as the principal of Wrangell High School and Stikine Middle School. Burkhart relocated from Ennis, Montana, last year to take the job, coming from a position as a principal at a school in Missoula, Montana, which he took on after being retired the first time. “He just decided not to sign an additional year contract and will continue as principal through the end of this year’s contract,” said Schools Superintendent Bill Burr. “He is looking to retire with his wife in Montana where they ha...
A second bill has been introduced in the Legislature to significantly boost state funding for public schools. Rep. Dan Ortiz, whose district covers Ketchikan, Wrangell and Metlakatla, introduced a bill on Feb. 8 to increase the state’s per-pupil funding formula by 21%. The Senate Education Committee a week earlier introduced its own version with a 17% boost. Ortiz’s bill would add about $320 million to the state budget. The per-student funding formula has not budged in the past six years, squeezing school budgets, jeopardizing programs and staf...
Nearly 18 years ago, about 6,000 young Alaskans left high school and launched into adulthood. Where did they end up? Slightly half were still in Alaska as of 2021, but the percentage was much smaller for those who got college degrees outside of the state, according to an analysis by the Alaska Department of Labor. Results are published in the February issue of Alaska Economic Trends, the monthly magazine of the department’s research and analysis division. There is “nothing magical” about the class of 2005, said Dan Robinson, the depar... Full story