Sorted by date Results 1645 - 1669 of 7954
Dozens of Alaskans testified in the state Capitol on March 20, urging lawmakers to advance a new anti-discrimination measure that would protect Alaskans from being denied housing or access to public accommodations because of their sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. House Bill 99, from Anchorage Rep. Jennifer Armstrong, is being considered by the House Labor and Commerce Committee, which heard two hours of public testimony, almost entirely in support of the idea. Members of the committee have received more than 1,000 emails — m...
Levi Foster of Anchorage said it’s taken him decades to recover from the “emotional abuse and manipulation” he experienced while he was subjected to conversion therapy, the largely discredited practice that attempts to change a minor’s gender identity or sexual orientation. He said that experience is what led him, and other survivors and advocates, to speak in front of the state House Health and Social Services committee on March 16 in support of a bill sponsored by Juneau Rep. Sara Hannan that would ban licensed physicians, psychia...
Adding to the millions of dollars in federal pandemic relief aid already provided to the borough, Wrangell has been notified that $1.23 million more is on its way in a final round of assistance. The community can use the money for pretty much anything that benefits its residents. It will be up to the borough assembly to appropriate the money. Borough Manager Jeff Good said he expects the assembly at its March 28 meeting will discuss the possibility of putting the money toward constructing a new pipeline to move water from the upper reservoir...
It’s been seven years since the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce operated in the black. Each year since, it’s run a budget deficit covered by savings. Declining membership renewals and falling revenues from other sources has left the organization struggling to operate, and its board is working to find funding solutions. In 2016, the chamber’s revenues totaled $266,169 and its expenses were $205,502, producing $60,667 in income to add to savings. Since then, operating expenses have been higher than income, with the nonprofit in the red thousands of...
A crowded field of proposals to address the annual debate over the amount of the Permanent Fund dividend became even more so on Friday as the Senate Finance Committee proposed a new formula for setting the payment. In the first 60 days of the 2023 legislative session, lawmakers have introduced six different proposals to set a new dividend formula in either state law or the constitution. Four other bills or resolutions would substantially affect the amount of money available for dividends without specifically setting a new formula. Legislators...
To keep pace with inflation and ensure its ability to cover future costs, the borough is considering rate increases across all enterprise funds — electric, water, port and harbors, wastewater and garbage. If the proposals are adopted, rates for the self-supporting funds would increase an average of 10%, effective with the start of the new fiscal year in July. The borough assembly will consider the rates at its March 28 meeting. The 15% wastewater rate increase would be the steepest rate hike; the 5.5% increase for trash pickup services would b...
Since the Wrangell Cooperative Association started offering e-waste recycling around 2016, IGAP technician Kim Wickman has been surprised to see growing demand for the service. “We thought we would have less,” she said, after a few major purges cleared most of the backlog of old electronics off the island. “But minus the COVID year, we’ve had a bit of a steady increase as people are realizing the importance of it. We get a lot of phone calls over the year about when our next e-waste event is.” Residents with old electronics crowding their close...
National Reading Month is in its final week, and some of the community’s literature lovers are sharing their favorite books for anyone who wants to add to their list — this month, or any month. The month was first celebrated in March of 1994 to commemorate the contributions of author and illustrator Dr. Seuss, who helped foster enthusiasm for reading in American youth by producing children’s books that were engaging despite their simple language. Every year in March, readers celebrate by picking up their favorite novels, visiting their local...
The Senate Education Committee on March 13 advanced a bill to increase state funding for public schools, clearing the bill’s first legislative hurdle. The bill to increase the base student allocation, the per-student formula used to calculate school funding, heads next to the Senate Finance Committee. The Senate bipartisan majority has named increasing public school funding as one of their top goals for the legislative session, and the measure has support from a broad coalition of education advocacy groups who are warning that districts will b...
Alesa McHolland is having a surreal life moment. While waiting to receive freight on March 15, the new co-owner of the former Alpine Mini Mart never quite expected to be where she is. "It's kind of surreal because I never thought anything like this would happen," she said. "I never thought I would have enough assets to do this kind of thing. When you work in Wrangell, there aren't a lot of options for jobs." On March 8, McHolland and her husband Wayne signed the papers and became the new owners...
The Alaska Marine Highway System is short more than 100 new crew to safely and dependably put the Kennicott to sea. Without enough onboard workers, the state ferry system will start the summer schedule in six weeks with its second-largest operable ship tied up for lack of crew. Though management has said they could put the Kennicott into service if they can hire enough new employees, filling all the vacancies would represent more than a 20% gain in current ferry system crew numbers, setting a very high hurdle to untie the ship this summer. The...
In an unannounced move, the State Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution March 14 that urges the Alaska Department of Education to limit the participation of transgender girls in girls school sports. The resolution, which is non-binding, encourages the department to adopt a policy that would ban transgender girls from competing alongside girls who are cisgender — meaning their gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth — in school sports. The resolution asks the department to create two sports divisions: one exc...
The federal subsistence management program aims to protect rural Alaskans’ subsistence lifestyle while maintaining healthy fish and wildlife populations on federal lands. However, this multi-agency governmental apparatus can be daunting for rural residents to navigate. Representatives of the Wrangell Cooperative Association, U.S. Forest Service and Sitka Conservation Society are partnering to bring a workshop to the community, intended to empower residents to engage with the complexities of the Federal Subsistence Board process. Attendees w...
Vying for state titles in three different sports is behind him, but Ethan Blatchley still has to blaze a trail to finish his senior project before he graduates. And though training and competing in cross country, wrestling and basketball might have been challenging, he faces his biggest challenge yet: Dressing up like a dalmatian and teaching fire safety to kids. There is no medal for this kind of bravery. Blatchley will aid the Wrangell Fire Department in its annual safety training for elementa...
The first legislative hearing on Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposal to restrict discussion of sex and gender in schools included testimony from only two invited public guests, both supportive of the measure. The bill, which Senate leaders say is unlikely to pass that chamber, got enthusiastic backing from those invited to testify during the House Education Committee meeting March 13. Aside from two top state Department of Education officials who provided details of the bill, testimony was limited to two retired teachers supportive of conservative c...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — The Biden administration’s approval last week of the biggest oil drilling project in Alaska in decades promises to widen a rift among Alaska Natives, with some saying that oil money can’t counter the damages caused by climate change and others defending the project as economically vital. Two lawsuits filed almost immediately by environmentalists and one Alaska Native group are likely to exacerbate tensions that have built up over years of debate about ConocoPhillips’ Willow project. Many communities on Alaska’s North Slope cel...
Conservation groups have asked a federal judge for a preliminary decision to stop construction work this winter at the Willow oil field on Alaska’s North Slope, days after the Biden administration approved the $8 billion project. ConocoPhillips had begun building an ice road but agreed to delay activity associated with gravel mining and road building — putting dozens of jobs on hold — while the court considers the request, according to paperwork filed in the case. The Biden administration early last week approved the controversial proje...
Alaska Natives continued to have the world’s highest rates of colorectal cancer as of 2018, and case rates failed to decline significantly for the two decades leading up to that year, according to a newly published study. The study, by experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, compared colorectal cancer rates among Alaska Natives with those of other populations in Alaska, the Lower 48 and other parts of the world. The 2018 colorectal cancer rate for Alaska Natives was 61.9 per 10...
Just eight weeks before the start of the summer timetable on May 1, the Alaska Marine Highway System released its schedule and opened its online reservations system for bookings. The schedule, which was announced March 7, came later than usual this year as the state continues to wrestle with crew shortages that will keep a couple of ships tied to the dock for the summer. Wrangell will see a weekly ferry stop in each direction May through September. “The Kennicott and Tazlina will be off-line for the time being due to skilled crew shortages, b...
Zach Taylor of Muddy Water Adventures is a self-described "small-town person." He likes striking up a conversation with his barista and greeting the familiar people he passes on the street. However, he acknowledges that life in small towns like Wrangell may not be for everyone. "Folks who grew up here, (Wrangell) they either stay here and they really like it," said Taylor, or they "have never been back, not for any reason." The Alaska Department of Labor is interested in the factors that...
While education advocates continue to push for increased state funding to Alaska public schools, Gov. Mike Dunleavy last week opted to introduce proposals that would limit sexual education in schools and impose new requirements on gender-nonconforming students. The governor at his March 7 news conference did not propose any increase in the state’s per-student funding formula for school districts, essentially unchanged in six years, though he did ask legislative approval of retention bonuses for teachers. Most legislators have said an i...
When Jan Kanitz of Juneau and Antonia Lenard of Eagle River testified before a legislative committee last Saturday about personal responsibility and the Permanent Fund dividend, they spoke from completely different perspectives. For Kanitz, it was about acknowledging that current state spending on schools, health care and the ferry system is woefully inadequate, with too much emphasis on paying out large dividends. “I think a fixed, limited PFD as a symbolic thing helps people have buy-in to the state … I support that, but it should not ban...
After meeting with representatives of the British Columbia mining and environmental ministries in Juneau last week, state legislators, Alaska Native leaders and environmentalists urged the federal government to intervene against the development of new B.C. mines that could pollute transboundary salmon runs. In a press conference March 8, stakeholders called on the federal government to use its powers under the U.S.-Canada Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 to place an immediate temporary pause on the exploration, development and expansion of B.C....
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Alaska’s human rights commission has reversed an earlier policy and now is only investigating LGBTQ discrimination complaints related to workplace discrimination and not for other categories like housing and financing. The Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica reported the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights deleted language from its website promising equal protections for transgender and gay Alaskans against most categories of discrimination. It also began refusing to investigate complaints. The commission is only accepting...
One of the challenges of being a nonprofit is continually seeking funds to continue operating, something radio station KSTK is well acquainted with. But instead of just shaking a bucket and hoping people will pitch in, staff at KSTK tries to put the fun in fundraising, such as their annual art auction. For the past four years, the radio station has auctioned donated art created by Alaskans. The goal for this year is to raise $5,000 at the March 24 event. The auction in 2022 had a $5,000 goal,...
