Sorted by date Results 1603 - 1627 of 7954
For the third time in as many legislative sessions, Kodiak Sen. Gary Stevens is leading the push to get a tax on e-cigarettes and vaping products into state law. “Taxes have been proven to reduce youth tobacco use, resulting in fewer kids becoming life-long smokers,” Stevens said in offering his legislation, which would add a 25% state tax to the sales price to dissuade youth from vaping. Senate Bill 89 also would raise the legal age to buy vape sticks, electronic smoking devices and other similar nicotine products in Alaska to 21, mat...
A federal court judge on April 3 ruled against environmental groups seeking to block preliminary construction of the Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope. The decision allows ConocoPhillips, the project developer, to begin digging a gravel mine and building a gravel road to access the area projected to be the largest new North Slope oil development in decades. A boat ramp to support subsistence hunting and fishing is also planned. Legal challenges will continue, multiple environmental groups said. At peak production in the early 2030s, W...
PHOENIX (AP) - Years ago, skateboarding was branded as a hobby for rebels or stoners in city streets, schoolyards and back alleys. Those days are long gone. Skateboarding, which has Native Hawaiian roots connected to surfing, no longer is on the fringes. It became an Olympic sport in 2020. There are numerous amateur and professional skateboarding competitions in the U.S. And on March 24, the U.S. Postal Service issued stamps that laud the sport - and what Indigenous groups have brought to the...
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A coalition of environmental groups said April 3 it is withdrawing a lawsuit against a renewable energy giant that it has accused of jeopardizing the last remaining wild Atlantic salmon in the U.S. The groups sued Brookfield Renewable, claiming the company kills salmon on the Kennebec River with its dams. Atlantic salmon only return to a handful of U.S. rivers, all in Maine, and they are protected under the Endangered Species Act. The conservationists were dealt a setback last month when the federal government ruled t...
After hearing from concerned residents and weighing the borough’s financial needs, the assembly voted unanimously to adopt rate increases for its water, electrical, sewer, harbor and trash pickup services. On average, the new rates will be 10% higher and will go into effect at the beginning of the new fiscal year on July 1. At the March 28 assembly meeting, Finance Director Mason Villarma explained the reasoning behind the proposed rate increases. The water, power, sewer, harbor and trash disposal funds are all “enterprise funds,” meani...
To the untrained eye, the Wrangell landscape looks serene and still, with its craggy, tree-covered hills, gray pebble beaches and sweeping ocean views. But to federal geologist Peter Haeussler, the land is full of hidden forces, operating on a timetable much vaster than our own. The color of a rock or the shape of a valley offer clues that can unlock the secrets of an area's past - and point to its future. Haeussler will share his expertise on Southeast geology at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the...
The state now plans to spend an estimated $8 million to replace wasted steel on the ferry Matanuska. If the repairs can be completed in time, the ship could be available by late summer or early fall if it is needed to fill in on Southeast routes. The work at the Vigor shipyard in Ketchikan had not started as of March 28, although the Alaska Marine Highway System’s timeline presented to legislators that day showed the Matanuska work was to have started in March. A much larger, $37.5 million project of safety and environmental upgrades to the 6...
Since the dawn of humankind, people have dropped stuff. And since that time, we've tried to figure out how to keep dropped stuff from breaking. Just look at cell phone cases. On March 27, students in the migrant education program continued the tradition by holding an egg drop. One by one, school district facilities and maintenance manager Josh Blatchley dropped 11 eggs from the Evergreen Elementary cafeteria roof. Fortunately, each fragile breakfast staple was encased in some form of protective...
From sponsorships to rental fees for Fourth of July event booths, the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce is doing what it can to make sure the organization no longer operates at a deficit. In a work session on March 24, chamber leadership looked at various ways to raise funds and cut costs where possible. “Basically, we’re trying to break even,” said chamber board of directors president Bill Burr. “The chamber has been running in the red for quite some time. We can’t. We’re at a point where breaking even is fine, but we can’t go backward.” Th...
The opportunity for free recycling of old cars and trucks, metal roofing and shelving, major appliances and anything else made of metal will end Sunday. Juneau-based Channel Construction, which is operating under a short-term lease at the borough-owned former sawmill property at 6.3-Mile Zimovia Highway, will stop accepting scrap metal as it gets ready to pile up its barge with the last pieces of scrap metal and ship the load for recycling out of state. The company will continue to accept cars, trucks and other metal at no charge 8 a.m. to 5 p....
A federal rule that prevented states from removing people from Medicaid rolls during the pandemic ended last week and some may lose health coverage if they no longer meet low-income guidelines, an official at SEARHC offices in Sitka said. However, those who do lose Medicaid will have a special enrollment period to get health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act, said Susan Briles, patient health benefits manager at SEARHC. The federal program subsidizes insurance premiums based on an individual’s income. Before the 2020 pandemic r...
Kindergartener Kysa Harrison shows off her new pinwheel at Evergreen Elementary last Friday. April is child abuse prevention month, with the pinwheel its national symbol. Community organization BRAVE (Building Respect and Valuing Everyone) distributed pinwheels to elementary students to raise awareness. "The cyclical nature of the pinwheel depicts positive cycles of love and support we want to help families create," BRAVE wrote. The organization is partnering with the Alaska Children's Trust to...
Thanks to federal pandemic relief money, the borough will be able to improve the reliability of the community’s water supply. At its March 28 meeting, the borough assembly allocated the final round of these funds — nearly $1.5 million total — to the reservoir bypass project. Right now, the borough has a direct connection from the lower reservoir to the water treatment plant, but not from the upper reservoir to the plant. This setup forces the Public Works Department to siphon water from the upper to the lower reservoir. The bypass proje...
Artist Jaynee Fritzinger paints a mural using acrylic paints on an interior wall in Breakaway Adventures new location on Lynch Street downtown. The design is based on similar artwork found on the boxes of the electric bikes the business will rent out this summer. Fritzinger also painted a mural in the Totem Bar, but this one is the largest she's painted to date, she said....
As the school year nears the end, so too do the one-year contracts of some staff members. While Mason Villarma, who took the job of activities director at the beginning of the school year, has opted not to renew his contract, a new principal and IT director have signed on for the 2023-2024 school year. Villarma said adding the school district activities director job to his ongoing workload became too much. “I think with the current load, being the (borough) finance director and coaching, there was not enough room on the plate to do a really gre...
After weighing the options of buying an electric school bus through a federal grant, Taylor Transportation, the company that provides the Wrangell School District with busing, has decided to pull the plug on the purchase. Citing the “unknowns” about electric vehicle operation and maintenance, John Taylor said the company decided it wouldn’t be economically feasible to purchase an electric bus. “We’re not doing EV,” he said. “The benefits did not outweigh the costs. We didn’t want to be a government guinea pig. Even though it’s free, it ain’t fr...
The governor last Friday signed an emergency funding bill to help resolve the crisis-level backlog of food stamp applications from needy Alaskans. The Legislature had approved the measure days earlier. The budget bill includes $3.1 million for overtime pay and to hire about 30 new employees to help with the applications backlog at the Division of Public Assistance, which processes food stamps and other benefits including Medicaid. Deb Etheridge, the division’s director, told lawmakers that the end of the backlog that has affected at least 8...
As she prepares to enter the adult world, Paige Baggen is leaving behind a noted legacy at Wrangell High School. The 17-year-old is working with fifth-grade band students, specifically the clarinet players, to learn a song for this year's spring concert. Not only is it her senior project but she's doing it out of a love for music. Baggen has been playing music since she was in kindergarten, when Tasha Morse began teaching her to play. She's played clarinet since the fifth grade, so she knows...
Martha Jager was a pillar of the Wrangell Salvation Army community around the 1970s and '80s, swelling the church's numbers and supporting its cause when the floors were covered in shag carpet and the chapel walls had wood paneling. The Alaska Native woman had a welcoming personality and was deeply committed to her church community - so committed that the Martha Jager Fellowship Hall is named in her honor. Jon and Rose Tollerud did not know Jager personally - by the time the pair arrived in Wran...
The Roosevelt Harbor parking lot on Zarembo Island has undergone major upgrades since last year, from drainage improvements to a new program that deters users from abandoning their vehicles. But after a major windstorm last December, the harbor dock needs repairs and will likely be closed until mid-summer, at the earliest. “We have submitted a contract to fix the dock, but the timeline is not as quick as we have hoped for,” said Tory Houser of the U.S. Forest Service Wrangell Ranger District. “We anticipate it will go out for bid in the next co...
A state senator wants to direct a larger share of filing fees paid to the court system toward a nonprofit legal aid organization that helps several thousand Alaskans a year with their domestic violence, family law, housing, elder advocacy and other cases. The 56-year-old Alaska Legal Services Corp. “is part of our social safety net,” helping the most vulnerable community members, particularly survivors of domestic violence, said Anchorage Sen. Forrest Dunbar, sponsor of the legislation. Senate Bill 104 would amend state law to direct up to 25%...
The Alaska House of Representatives could vote this week or next on a bill that would block a 67% pay raise for state legislators and a 20% raise for the governor and top members of the executive branch. Passage of the bill is anticipated — multiple members of the House Republican-led majority coalition and Democratic-led minority have already expressed their support of the idea — but leading members of the Senate said the idea is dead on arrival when it crosses the building and arrives in their chamber. Under state law, the raises will go ahe...
Cutting taxes for businesses while also imposing a 2% sales tax on Alaskans got side-by-side consideration last week as part of one legislator’s concept of a fiscal plan. Legislators have been discussing various forms of a long-term fiscal plan for years as the state has faced budget deficits much of the past three decades. A state sales tax and large corporate tax cut were proposed by Rep. Ben Carpenter, a Nikiski Republican who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee. He emphasized at a committee hearing on March 29 that while a state s...
More than 100 Alaskans spoke out against a “parental rights” bill proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, in a wave of opposition to the legislation that many said would harm already vulnerable transgender youths. Of the 119 Alaskans who spoke during the nearly five-hour hearing held last Thursday evening by the House Education Committee, 103 opposed the bill and only 16 were in favor of it. Apayauq Reitan, the first openly transgender woman to run the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, was one of many gender nonconforming individuals who said the bill wou...
ANCHORAGE — A judge has dismissed a sex abuse case against former acting Alaska Attorney General Clyde “Ed” Sniffen, citing the statute of limitations that were in place when the alleged abuse happened more than 30 years ago. The case, thrown out on Friday, involved allegations that Sniffen, now 58, sexually abused a then-17-year-old student in 1991 when he was 27 and was the alleged victim’s coach of her high school’s mock trial competition team in Anchorage. Sniffen had pleaded not guilty. Alaska does not currently have a statute of limita...
