Sorted by date Results 1998 - 2022 of 7954
As they’ve done every 10 years since 1972, Alaska voters on Nov. 8 again overwhelmingly rejected the ballot measure to convene a convention to rewrite the state’s founding document. Advocates on both sides had expected the outcome to be closer this time because of the annual deadlock in the Legislature over the size of the Permanent Fund dividend, an issue that convention supporters said they wanted to resolve with changes to the Alaska Constitution. But as of the Nov. 9 count, 70% of voters had voted against the measure (146,092 to 63,...
WASHINGTON — William Smith, of Valdez, an Alaska Native veteran who served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, joined hundreds of veterans from around the country in Washington, D.C., last Friday to attend the dedication ceremony for the National Native American Veterans Memorial. Speaking on Thursday night at a gathering at the U.S. Capitol, Smith said, “To me, I’m here with veterans. I got my Alaska veterans here. But when you see us tomorrow, you’ll see how strong the veterans are and how much they appreciate this.” “It’s all part of t...
Results will be slow, even in races that don’t use ranked-choice voting, Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer and Gail Fenumiai, head of the Alaska Division of Elections, said at a press conference last week. Through Sunday, just two days before the election, more than 64,000 Alaskans had already cast early or absentee votes, according to figures published by the Division of Elections. Many of those votes, plus others that come in before Election Day on Nov. 8, won’t be counted until after polls close. Meyer said Alaskans should be prepared. “I know that...
After a recent fire put the Ketchikan harbor department at risk of a lawsuit for not requiring boat owners to carry insurance, the Wrangell Port and Harbors Department is considering issuing an insurance requirement for vessels, though the decision-making process is still in the early stages. At the Ketchikan harbor, the owner of a boat damaged in the fire aboard a nearby vessel has threatened legal action against the city for losses. According to Wrangell Port Director Steve Miller, the borough harbor department is weighing its funding needs...
Student involvement is integral to solving the problem of bullying at school. Building a Supportive Environment, a student group better known as BASE, will be a main ingredient toward implementing a bullying prevention program school staff are looking to use. Students who participate in BASE said they're already working to connect with students and to reach out when they believe there might be problems. "My idea is ... having simple acts of kindness or as simple as holding a door open for...
From stained glass designers to wood carvers, Wrangell is home to a thriving creative community. But one of the most popular artists in town, whose work appears all over Front Street, is also one of the most anonymous. If you've ever gone on a Stikine Inn coffee run, eaten pizza at Nic's Place or looked up the weekend movie selection on the Nolan Center website, you've seen the artwork of printmaker and graphic designer Grace Wintermyer. When she isn't working at outdoor retailer 56° North or...
The design for Wrangell’s new water treatment plant, which will improve water quality and accommodate potential population growth, is over halfway complete. During an Oct. 25 borough assembly work session, DOWL engineers reported that the project is on track to accept construction bids by February 2023 and that the bidding window will likely last for six weeks. “If we have a longer bid window, we’re more likely to get more than one contractor interested,” said engineer Chase Nelson. “We get bids in, we evaluate them and we have to make the...
Ander Edens was quite vocal about landing a spot in the state music festival. Literally. The Wrangell High School sophomore submitted a singing audition to the Alaska All-State Music Festival with some uncertainty, but was good enough to land in the top percentage of students who made the cut. Edens is only the fourth student selected from Wrangell in the past 15 years for the state concert, which takes place on Nov. 19 in Anchorage. He's also the only male student selected on the local level...
Whether it’s a pesky case of the winter blues or a more serious health condition, Brooke Reynolds of the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium has words of encouragement for community members who are starting to feel the effects of the changing seasons. The lengthening hours of darkness “affect us all, some of us more than others,” said Reynolds, who is the clinical supervisor at Wrangell Behavioral Health. Even otherwise-healthy people can have “down days,” especially during the winter months. She recommends that her clients stay phys...
An art teacher has created art for teachers. Tawney Crowley, the art teacher for Evergreen Elementary School, embarked on a logo design project over the summer for the Alaska Science Teachers Association, incorporating elements that each region of the state is known for. The background of the logo is a silhouette of Alaska overlaid with items like glaciers and salmon in Southeast, volcanoes and a mammoth skull in the Aleutians, the aurora borealis over the northernmost portion of the state, a...
Each year, the borough compiles a list of big-ticket infrastructure improvement projects, ranked by priority, that it uses to apply for grant funding. This year, the borough is involving the public in its ranking process for the first time. On Nov. 1, Capital Facilities Director Amber Al-Haddad led a public forum to educate the community about the borough’s ongoing capital investment projects and learn which ones are most important to residents. An updated list that reflects the desires of the community is an important step in accessing g...
In today’s interconnected world, internet access allows people to connect with loved ones, stay updated on current events, access essential government services and more. But in Alaska, not all communities have access to reliable, affordable internet. Late last month, Alaska Municipal League representative Alicia Hughes-Skandijs met with seven representatives from the library, borough, Wrangell Cooperative Association and others to discuss challenges with the Wrangell community’s internet access. The meeting was an early step in the fiv...
Bill Sheffield, who served as Alaska's fifth governor and survived a brush with impeachment during a decades-long career in public service, died Nov. 4 at his Anchorage home after a long illness. He was 94. Sheffield was born in 1928 to a poor family on a small farm in Spokane, Washington, and he grew up during the Great Depression. After serving as a radar technician with the U.S. Army, he got a job with Sears Roebuck and was sent to the territory of Alaska. "So that's how I got here in 1953,"...
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Fishing regulators and the seafood industry are grappling with the possibility that some once-profitable species that have declined with climate change might not come back. Several marketable species harvested by U.S. fishermen are the subject of quota cuts, seasonal closures and other restrictions as populations have fallen and waters have warmed. In some instances, such as the groundfish industry for species like flounder in the Northeast, the changing environment has made it harder for fish to recover from years of o...
The principal and several school staff members left the community of Kipnuk in Southwest Alaska two weekend ago in two chartered planes following reports of a banishment order, occupation of a school building and a brief blockade during a visit by Alaska State Troopers. As of Nov. 1, the Chief Paul Memorial School in Kipnuk remained closed for the second day in a row, with plans to switch to remote learning Nov. 2, according to the Lower Kuskokwim School District, which cited “the concern for the physical safety for students and staff” in a w...
Green might surround the Southeast Alaska village of Angoon, but it’s not that common inside the community grocery store. However, despite the challenges, students and faculty at Angoon’s Chatham School District are taking steps to change that. Angoon agroscience hydroponic cultivation class Haa Aani’: Haa Yaasi’ Haa (Our Land, Our Harvest) is in its second year of operation. Its goal, according to Ryan Smith, the teacher and project manager, is to teach the students how to cultivate healthy and sustainable foods to eventually provide to the...
The top official in the U.S. Census Bureau, Robert Santos, was in Sitka last month to talk with city and Sitka Tribe of Alaska officials about ways to improve the accuracy of Alaska’s population numbers in the national census held every 10 years. The official figures are used to determine congressional districts and some forms of federal funding, and there was a significant undercount of Alaska Natives in the 2020 census, Santos said. Ever since the census count was released, Wrangell borough officials have complained that the tally u...
The wolf hunting and trapping season for Prince of Wales Island will be the same as last year — Nov. 15 to Dec. 15 — though a number of individuals who trap wolves in the area criticized the Alaska Department of Fish and Game last week for its wolf management decisions. The department announced the limited season last Friday, just two days after a teleconference to review with the public wolf population estimates and harvest levels. Several people described seeing more wolves than deer in the area, arguing that a longer season and higher harves...
Seven months after an earthquake swarm beneath Mt. Edgecumbe led volcanologists to determine that the Sitka-area volcano is active, data collection and research are continuing. Since August 2018, magma has risen beneath the formerly dormant volcano and caused almost 3 inches of deformation annually, University of Alaska Fairbanks associate professor of geodesy Ronni Grapenthin said. An eruption is not imminent, he added. Since April’s quakes, seismic activity on the mountain has subsided, he noted, but the mountain is deforming more quickly t...
The state sued the federal government one week before Election Day, seeking ownership of part of Alaska’s most-visited tourist destination. Filed Nov. 1 at U.S. District Court in Anchorage, the case asks a federal judge to award ownership of the land beneath Mendenhall Lake and Mendenhall River to the state. Located in Juneau’s residential Mendenhall Valley, the lake rests at the base of the Mendenhall Glacier, within the Tongass National Forest, and is seen by more than 700,000 tourists annually, more than Denali National Park and Pre...
TRES RIOS, Brazil (AP) - Sometimes you start something and have no idea where it will lead. So it was with Eduardo Filgueiras, a struggling guitarist whose family worked in an unusual business in Rio de Janeiro: They farmed toads. Filgueiras figured out a way to take the small toad skins and fuse them together, creating something large enough to sell. Meanwhile miles away in the Amazon, a fisherman and a scientist were coming up with an innovation that would help save a key, giant fish that...
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments this Wednesday on the most significant challenge to a law that gives preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings of Native children. The outcome could undercut the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which was enacted in response to the alarming rate at which Native American and Alaska Native children were taken from their homes by public and private agencies. Tribes also fear more widespread impacts in the ability to govern themselves if the justices rule against...
SEATTLE (AP) — Big ships entering and leaving Puget Sound will be asked to slow down to reduce underwater noise this fall in an effort to help the Pacific Northwest's critically endangered orca whales. Washington state is importing the voluntary slowdown from British Columbia for container ships, tankers, freighters, cruise ships and car carriers coming from the Canadian province, Northwest News Network reported. The optional slowdown started Oct. 24 and is scheduled to run to Dec. 22 and covers the shipping lanes from Admiralty Inlet by P...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that its updated permit for the Wrangell wastewater treatment plant will contain stricter limits on the amounts of bacteria the facility can discharge into Zimovia Strait. Wrangell will need to update its treatment operation to include disinfection of discharged wastewater, which will decrease fecal coliform and enterococcus bacteria counts. The borough will have five years to comply with new requirements. Disinfection will be “a major project for us,” said Borough Manager Jeff Good. He est...
Name calling. Spreading rumors. Shoving, tripping. Excluding. Those are just a few of the ways bullying can be perpetrated, and staff at Wrangell schools are working to prevent it and the damage and lasting trauma that can stem from it. About 20% of students ages 12 through 18 across the country reported being bullied, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ stopbullying.gov website. Of those students, 56% said they believed the bully “had the ability to influence other students’ perception of them.” Fifty percent...
