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  • The fun before the feast

    Nov 30, 2022

    Rolland Wimberley has a bear of a time running the Wrangell Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. Wimberley, along with many others, ran and walked the Volunteer Park Nature Trail loop three times to total 3.1 miles. Many were dressed in costumes as part of the traditional event to help burn calories and raise funds for the Parks and Recreation Department, which put on the race....

  • Republican and Democratic state senators organize in coalition

    Yereth Rosen, Alaska Beacon|Nov 30, 2022

    Seventeen of Alaska’s 20 state senators and senator-elects have banded together to form a bipartisan majority coalition that members promise will be moderate and consensus-focused. Gary Stevens, a Kodiak Republican and veteran lawmaker known as a moderate, will be president, returning to the role he held from 2009 to 2012. “It’s a pleasure for me to announce that we have a very healthy majority and we’ve found a way to share responsibilities between all of us,” Stevens said at an Anchorage news conference late Friday. Cathy Giessel, a Republica...

  • Dunleavy will be sworn in for second term Dec. 5

    Becky Bohrer, Associated Press|Nov 30, 2022

    JUNEAU (AP) —Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy has won reelection, becoming the first governor in the state since 1998 to win back-to-back terms. Dunleavy received 50.28% of the vote after final tallies were released Nov. 23. Because he won a majority of votes, the race did not go to ranked-choice voting. Dunleavy said he was “relieved that it’s over and behind us and now we can focus on the next four years.” Dunleavy, who during his first term faced a recall effort, overcame challenges in the Nov. 8 election from former Gov. Bill Walker, an inde...

  • Murkowski wins with 54% of the final vote tally

    Becky Bohrer, Associated Press|Nov 30, 2022

    JUNEAU (AP) — Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has won reelection, defeating Donald Trump-endorsed GOP rival Kelly Tshibaka. Murkowski beat Tshibaka in the Nov. 8 ranked-choice election. The results were announced Nov. 23, when elections officials tabulated the results after neither candidate won more than 50% of first-choice votes. Murkowski wound up with 54% of the vote after ranked-choice voting, picking up a majority of the votes cast for Democrat Pat Chesbro after she was eliminated. Tshibaka in a statement posted on her website c...

  • Peltola defeats Palin 55% to 45% in final count for U.S. House

    Becky Bohrer, Associated Press|Nov 30, 2022

    JUNEAU (AP) — U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola has been elected to a full term in the House, months after the Alaska Democrat won a special election to the seat following the death earlier this year of longtime Republican Rep. Don Young. Peltola defeated Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich, as well as Libertarian Chris Bye in the Nov. 8 election. Results of the ranked-choice election were announced Nov. 23. “It’s a two-year contract,” Peltola told the Anchorage Daily News after her victory — a 55%-45% margin over Palin in the final tabulatio...

  • Just two people charged with voter fraud in Alaska's 2020 election

    James Brooks, Alaska Beacon|Nov 30, 2022

    A woman accused of voting illegally in both Alaska and Florida during the 2020 elections will face charges in a Florida court on Dec. 8, according to online court records. When Cheryl-Ann Leslie is arraigned on felony counts of casting more than one ballot, she will become just the second person charged with voter fraud related to Alaska’s 2020 election. Despite claims by some Alaskans that fraudulent voting changed the state’s election results two years ago, no evidence of fraud on that scale has been uncovered by investigators. After the 202...

  • School districts hope for more state funding next year

    Larry Persily, Wrangell Sentinel|Nov 23, 2022

    School districts statewide, including Wrangell, will be looking to the Legislature next year for an increase in state funding, but any boost in the state’s per-pupil formula likely will depend in large part on oil revenues and also Permanent Fund earnings. And neither looks good this month, less than eight weeks before lawmakers are scheduled to convene in Juneau. The state funding formula for K-12 education hadn’t moved in about five years before this year’s 0.5% mini-nudge upward. Meanwhile, districts statewide are facing budget defic...

  • Borough will install additional public restrooms downtown next spring

    Caroleine James, Wrangell Sentinel|Nov 23, 2022

    Next year, Wrangell will be home to a hot new tourist attraction — public restrooms. Portable facilities will appear downtown in the late spring to meet tourist demand and to reduce the strain on area businesses. “We’re looking at doing some sort of mobile trailer type of restroom,” said Tom Wetor, director of the Public Works Department. The trailers will sit at the intersection of Campbell Drive and Front Street, near 56º North and Angerman’s. Facilities will include four private stalls, complete with sinks. Two of the stalls will be wheelch...

  • Alaska at or near bottom in measures of economic health nationally

    Alex DeMarban, Anchorage Daily News|Nov 23, 2022

    For the past seven years, the Alaska economy has performed “at or near the bottom” nationally in four key measures of economic health, according to a report released Nov. 17 by the University of Alaska Center for Economic Development. Taken together, the state’s poor performance between 2015 and 2021 — in employment growth, unemployment, net migration and gross domestic product — place Alaska’s economic health at the bottom of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, said Nolan Klouda, the center’s executive director and lead author of the...

  • Borough to seek community input on 6-Mile mill site development

    Caroleine James, Wrangell Sentinel|Nov 23, 2022

    In the Oct. 4 municipal election, Wrangell voters authorized the borough to sell or lease the 6-Mile mill site, a 39-acre parcel of land on Zimovia Highway. As they explore options for developing the land, borough officials will seek community feedback at an upcoming public forum. The forum represents an effort to “look at what the community would like to see out there,” said Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore. How does the community think the property can best be utilized for its benefit, she asked. At the Oct. 19 meeting of the bor...

  • Rushmore to retire as borough economic development director

    Caroleine James, Wrangell Sentinel|Nov 23, 2022

    Soon after Carol Rushmore stepped into her role as economic development director in 1993, Wrangell’s economic landscape changed forever. The sawmill, which had been the borough’s economic mainstay since the mid-1950s, shut down, setting off a chain reaction of job losses and business closures that affected the entire community. “We lost 20% of our workforce overnight,” Rushmore said. “It was extremely bad for a good 10 years.” But 29 years and countless grant applications, public forums and infrastructure projects later, Rushmore is planning...

  • Silver Liningz to close next month after nearly six years

    Marc Lutz, Wrangell Sentinel|Nov 23, 2022

    On Dec. 17, a downtown shop will turn off the open sign for good. Silver Liningz Boutique is closing after nearly six years in business, leaving customers to find their sassy fashions somewhere else. A myriad of reasons led to the decision, said owner Terie Loomis, who will be entering her second retirement. "I've already retired once from corporate America back in 2012. Then we moved here and decided to open the boutique," Loomis said. "I've retired twice now and (my husband is) jealous." Her...

  • Legislature may hear two renewable energy proposals in upcoming session

    Caroleine James, Wrangell Sentinel|Nov 23, 2022

    Renewable energy advocates will try again at next year’s legislative session to win approval for extending the life of the state’s Renewable Energy Fund and creating a “green bank” to help finance clean-energy projects. The Renewable Energy Fund (REF) provides grants for renewable energy projects via a competitive process. The fund was established in 2008 with an initial investment of $100 million, plus additional deposits over the years. The program ends in 2023, unless extended by lawmakers. Legislators convene in Juneau on Jan. 17. Over 10...

  • Ongoing worker shortage drags down Alaska economy

    Yereth Rosen, Alaska Beacon|Nov 23, 2022

    Alaska’s economy shows signs of prosperity. But it’s also facing an emerging crisis. A veteran economist described these contradictory forces in a presentation Nov. 16 at an industry conference in Anchorage. “We have the strangest and weirdest economy that I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been following the economy for a long, long time,” Neal Fried of the Alaska Department of Labor told the Resource Development Council for Alaska. By many measures, Alaska’s economy is in good shape, said Fried, whose economic presentations have become a staple at the...

  • Annual Audubon Christmas bird count scheduled for mid-December

    Caroleine James, Wrangell Sentinel|Nov 23, 2022

    Though you might not find four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree in the rainforest ecosystems of the Tongass, there can be no doubt that counting birds is a quintessential Christmas activity. On Dec. 17, Wrangell’s avian enthusiasts will participate in Audubon’s 123rd annual Christmas Bird Count. Over 20 countries and thousands of volunteers contribute to this early-winter bird census, which runs from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5 yearly. Each community’s bird count is conducted on a single calendar day w...

  • Dunleavy, Murkowski, Peltola headed to victory today

    James Brooks, Alaska Beacon|Nov 23, 2022

    All three incumbents likely clinched victory in Alaska’s statewide elections when the Alaska Division of Elections updated vote count results on Friday with thousands of additional absentee, questioned and early ballots from this fall’s general election. Final unofficial results will not be available until 4 p.m. Wednesday, when the division implements the state’s new ranked-choice sorting system, but voting trends have made the results clear in most races. With 264,994 votes counted, incumbent Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy had 50.3% of the v...

  • Palin first to sign petition to repeal ranked-choice voting

    Iris Samuels, Anchorage Daily News|Nov 23, 2022

    A new group has announced it will attempt to do away with ranked-choice voting in Alaska by ballot initiative, and former Gov. Sarah Palin was the first to sign the petition — before the outcome of her failed congressional bid ws final. Alaskans for Honest Government, a political action committee that formed last month, hosted an event Nov. 17 where group organizers launched their effort to collect signatures to put the question of reinstating the state’s former voting system to voters on the 2024 ballot. Ranked-choice voting was adopted in...

  • BIA accepts Juneau parcel to hold in trust for Tlingit and Haida

    Mark Sabbatini, Juneau Empire|Nov 23, 2022

    A tiny parking lot on a little-traveled downtown side street is now a landmark achievement for Alaska Natives in Juneau, with the federal government approving a “land-into-trust” application last Thursday that paves the way for a range of self-determination, economic and other benefits for the tribal owners. The application by the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska is only the second approved in the state, following one in Craig five years ago. In addition to making Tlingit and Haida eligible for more federal ser...

  • Washington state orders closure of last fish-farming pens

    The Associated Press|Nov 23, 2022

    SEATTLE (AP) — The Washington state Department of Natural Resources said Nov. 14 it will not renew a fish-farming company’s last remaining leases on net pens in Puget Sound. Department officials said Cooke Aquaculture has until Dec. 14 to finish steelhead farming and start deconstructing its equipment, The Seattle Times reported. Cooke’s pens are located in Rich Passage near Bainbridge Island and Hope Island in Skagit Bay. Letters sent from the Department of Natural Resources to the Canada-based company on Nov. 14 indicate Cooke had a histo...

  • State euthanizes black bear cub infected with avian flu

    The Associated Press|Nov 23, 2022

    JUNEAU (AP) — A black bear cub in Southeast Alaska was euthanized after it became ill with avian influenza, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said. It is believed that the cub, which was located in Bartlett Cove in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve west of Juneau, is the second bear diagnosed with the highly pathogenic bird flu, the Juneau Empire reported. Bird flu “passes really easily to poultry, but mammals aren’t really susceptible to it,” said Dr. Kimberlee Beckmen, a wildlife veterinarian for the department. “It’s difficult t...

  • Supreme Court hears case against American Indian, Native adoption law

    Mark Sherman, Associated Press|Nov 23, 2022

    WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court appears likely to leave in place most of a federal law that gives preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings of Native children. The justices heard more than three hours of arguments on Nov. 9 in a broad challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act, enacted in 1978 to address concerns that American Indian and Alaska Native children were being separated from their families and, too frequently, placed in non-Native homes. The...

  • Indian Health Service wants to 'reenergize' vaccination efforts

    The Associated Press|Nov 23, 2022

    PHOENIX (AP) - The Indian Health Service announced last Thursday that all tribal members covered by the federal agency will be offered a vaccine at every appointment when appropriate, under a new vaccine strategy. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, American Indians and Alaska Natives have had some of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates across the country. But Indigenous people are especially vulnerable to vaccine-preventable illness, and IHS officials recently noticed fewer patients have be...

  • Longstanding problems led to banishment of village school principal

    Zachariah Hughes, Anchorage Daily News|Nov 23, 2022

    Leaders in the Western Alaska community of Kipnuk say the principal of nearly a decade bullied Native school staff members, put residents in jeopardy by ignoring COVID-19 restrictions and oversaw a decline in education quality. That’s why in October, according to documents obtained through a public records request, they voted to banish her from the community. School officials and tribal leaders involved in the banishment order and subsequent search by tribal police officers at the Chief Paul Memorial School at the end of last month have largely...

  • Conoco wants to start work this winter on $8 billion North Slope project

    Alex DeMarban, Anchorage Daily News|Nov 23, 2022

    A top official with ConocoPhillips said the company expects to start working early next year on the $8 billion Willow oil prospect in Alaska, an effort that could lead to more than 2,000 construction jobs in the coming years. The project is located in the 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska on the North Slope. The reserve is home to migratory birds, polar bears and calving grounds for the Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd. Willow could potentially produce 600 million barrels of oil over a 30-year life, according to estimates. Peak produ...

  • Federal agencies will resume study of restoring grizzlies to North Cascades

    Nicholas K. Geranios, The Associated Press|Nov 23, 2022

    SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Environmental groups have hailed a decision by the Biden administration to resume studying whether grizzly bears should be restored to the remote North Cascades mountains in Washington state. The National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said they would jointly prepare an environmental impact statement on restoring the endangered bears to the North Cascades ecosystem. Humans killed the bears off from the ecosystem long ago and restoration there will contribute to the general recovery of the endangered a...

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