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Wrangell author, poet and Southeast newspaper columnist Vivian Faith Prescott's latest book isn't like any other of her writings. She produced a collection of poetry and recipes after years of work, putting them together into one heart-filling piece. "My Father's Smokehouse: Stories & Recipes from Fishcamp," is about recipes and her father, Mickey, who turns 82 soon, Prescott said. It's known as a foodoir - a book of personal experiences focused on food. "The hardest thing was writing the...
JUNEAU (AP) — The Alaska Division of Elections has determined that Wasilla Republican state Rep. David Eastman is eligible to run for reelection. Eastman’s candidacy faced challenges over his affiliation with the far-right Oath Keepers group. Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai in a written response to the complaints said a “preponderance of evidence supports his eligibility.” The division on June 22 in response to a records request from The Associated Press provided copies of complaints that were filed challenging the eligibi...
The 848-foot-long Norwegian Sun cruise ship bumped into a chunk of ice last Saturday while traveling to Hubbard Glacier, which drains into Yakutat Bay. Norwegian Cruise Line confirmed on Monday that the ship canceled its port call in Skagway on Sunday and headed to Juneau to assess the damage, according to Juneau radio station KINY. Coast Guard divers in Juneau were assessing the damage on Monday. According to the website Cruise Hive, the ship, with capacity for 2,400 passengers, was on a nine-evening itinerary from Seattle to Southeast. “On J...
SEATTLE (AP) — A Washington state jury on June 22 awarded the Lummi Indian tribe $595,000 over the 2017 collapse of a net pen where Atlantic salmon were being raised — an event that elicited fears of damage to wild salmon runs and prompted the Legislature to ban the farming of the nonnative fish. About 250,000 Atlantic salmon escaped into the Salish Sea when the net pen owned by Cooke Aquaculture — an anchored, floating enclosure off Cypress Island, about 15 miles southeast of Bellingham — collapsed. The northwest Washington tribe quickly...
SEARHC is continuing to expand its behavioral health services in Sitka and also to serve residents of other Southeast communities, an official of the health care provider has told the Sitka borough assembly. “I wanted to bring your attention to some of the changes, the evolution of the behavioral health service line at SEARHC,” said Dr. Elliot Bruhl, senior vice president and chief medical officer at the Sitka-based SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium. He called behavioral health “one of our number of areas of emphasis in terms of our c...
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The federal government has a responsibility to Native American tribes, Alaska Native villages and Native Hawaiian communities to fully support and revitalize education, language and cultural practices that prior boarding school policies sought to destroy, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said June 22. Haaland testified before a U.S. Senate committee that is considering legislation to establish a national commission on truth and healing to address intergenerational trauma stemming from the legacy of Native American b...
The Skagway borough assembly has earmarked $200,000 in subsidies for two licensed child care start-ups. The funding comes amid a child care crisis in Skagway that Assemblymember Reba Hylton, sponsor of the funding, said has been a chronic issue. “When I first found out I was pregnant 10 years ago, before I told my own mother, I went to Grandma Linda and secured my spot to get child care, because I knew that I could not make it in this community without her help,” Hylton said. With the closing of Mighty Munchkins Daycare earlier this year, Ska...
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski last Thursday described as responsible and “targeted” a bipartisan bill aimed at addressing the nation’s increasing gun violence. She said the measure represents compromise. “No, I don’t think that you just say, ‘Alright, we pass this and everything is solved,’” she said in a video conference with reporters. The bill represents what a group of lawmakers could “come together with and say, ‘This is a step in the right direction.’” She said she believes more can be done to provide mental health services in this country....
The Alaska Supreme Court is considering a case that could redefine the extent of legal protection for corporations — including health care consortiums — jointly operated by Alaska Native tribes. The verdict could have implications across the state. In written arguments and in court on June 21, attorneys representing the state said that if the court rules broadly it might limit the state’s ability to enforce a wide range of laws, including tax collection, consumer protection and antidiscrimination rules. But tribal health care consortiums argue...
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Six environmental groups sued officials of the Biden administration on June 14, saying a Trump-era rule change that allowed logging of old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest violates federal laws and was politically motivated. “Large and old trees have outsized ecological and social importance. They provide critical ecosystem functions such as storing carbon, providing wildlife habitat and maintaining water quality,” the groups said in their lawsuit. The Trump administration amended a protection that had been in place...
Sitka’s drinking water won second place in a national competition this month at the American Water Works Association’s annual conference in San Antonio, Texas. The panel of judges rated Sitka’s water second only to WaterOne, a Kansas public utility that serves the Johnson County area, just outside Kansas City, Missouri. “It’s a great honor to receive the award,” said Shilo Williams, Sitka’s municipal environmental superintendent. “We’re really lucky to have such a pristine water source, which is Blue Lake.” To qualify for the national compet...
By Scott Bowlen Ketchikan Daily News Pure & Wild, a 44-foot monohull sailboat, won the 2022 Race to Alaska on June 20, sailing into Ketchikan four days, four hours and 32 minutes after departing Victoria, British Columbia. Team members Jonathan McKee, Matt Pistay and Alyosha Strum-Palerm gathered at the Alaska Fish House, where their first-prize winnings of $10,000 cash had been nailed to a high beam on the back wall. Pistay climbed up to the beam and used a small crowbar to pry the prize money...
Following the death of her son to an opioid overdose in January, Sitka state public health nurse Denise Ewing and her husband, Gary Johnston, sought to prevent others from suffering the same loss. Named after her son, Gabe Johnston, Project Gabe seeks to place opioid overdose kits at seafood processors across Southeast, aiming to protect the high-risk population from avoidable deaths. “Gabe … had struggled with opioids for many years,” Ewing said in an interview. “When he passed, we said, ‘We have to stop this. This is stoppable...
After finding a solution to a contractor lien against the property owner, the borough this week completed the purchase to take over ownership of the former sawmill property at 6 Mile. “The intent is not to hold on to the property,” Mayor Steve Prysunka said at the June 14 assembly meeting. The purpose in buying the 39 acres is to guard against the seller further piecing out the land in small parcels that could hinder future large-scale development. “Site control of this area has been really important,” he said. The owner has been “chunki...
The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium has placed its order with the state for COVID-19 vaccination doses for children as young as 6 months old, and could start distributing them to its facilities across the region this week. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday approved the children’s doses of Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech. “At this point in time we do not have pediatric vaccine clinics scheduled, as we are waiting for approval and a definite timeframe for receiving our supply of vaccines,” Randi Yance...
Most will recognize Joshua and Clarissa Young as the owners and operators of the popular lunchtime spot J&W's Fast Food. Now the couple are tackling another business: Innkeepers. Most will recognize the inn they are keeping as the Sourdough Lodge at 1104 Peninsula St. Under their ownership, the lodge is being renamed the Cedar House Inn. The 15,000-square-foot building has been in the Harding family since it was built by Lloyd Harding and his sons in 1984. It's now owned by Bruce and Darlene...
A babbling creek and screeching eagles weren't the only music that could be heard among the swaying trees at Shoemaker Bay. The first Music in the Parks concert was held at Shoemaker Park last Wednesday evening, with about 200 people listening to the tunes played by artists Kaylauna Churchill-Warren and The Powers. First Bank and Alaska Marine Lines sponsored the free concert, which was organized by the Parks and Recreation Department. The Wrangell Police Department donated 250 hamburgers and...
Plans to make the almost-century-old U.S. Forest Service Chugach Ranger workboat a permanent display at the Nolan Center are slowly moving forward, but until then the 62-foot wooden vessel will be temporarily on display for the Fourth of July weekend. The protective wrapping on the boat will be removed by next Sunday so the vessel can be inspected and assessed in order to proceed with plans to eventually build a protective shelter and walk-around ramp for easier viewing. Those who want to see th...
Alaska state ferry service between Ketchikan and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, resumed on Monday afternoon. The last state ferry voyage to the Canadian port city was in late fall 2019. The Matanuska made a quick round trip Monday and is scheduled for another voyage on Friday. “(The) Matanuska made a test sailing to Prince Rupert about a week ago and all went to plan,” state Transportation Department spokesperson Sam Dapcevich wrote in a Friday email. This summer’s service is limited, with two round trips scheduled the third week of July,...
August Schultz Jr. was born June 23, 1960, in a hospital that's now an apartment building in Wrangell. He grew up in a house up behind that hospital, surrounded by family. Schultz, known to friends as Augie, still lives in the same house, though alone, being the last living member of his immediate family. Though it's been hard, he has found healing through the town's history in the form of a Facebook page. At his therapist's suggestion, Schultz created "Wrangell yesterday - place where old...
Garbage trucks are no different than all the other things consumers order but have to wait an extra-long time to arrive. The borough is spending almost $300,000 on a new garbage can and dumpster picker-upper and trash-hauling truck. The company told the borough it could be a year before arrival. “They can’t even get the chassis from the manufacturer to make the truck,” Borough Public Works Director Tom Wetor said last week. A 16-cubic-yard, automated side-loader will be installed on a Freightliner chassis. It’s basically the same as the bor...
Eric Halstead was at the top of the Wrangell King Salmon Derby scoreboard with a 43.4-pound catch as of Sunday evening, five days into the competition. The derby runs through July 3, with $7,900 in cash prizes. As of Sunday evening, 27 salmon had been entered, according to the chamber of commerce, which sponsors the event. Halstead hooked his salmon last Friday, near Blake Island. Stanley Johnson, of Wyoming, was in second place, with a 41.8-pound king that he caught near Found Island on Sunday. He won $500 for catching the largest fish on...
A state Superior Court judge signed a scheduling order on June 7 that will put former Anchorage Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux on trial later this summer for voter misconduct. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 12. The trial is expected to last 10 days; a start date has not yet been set. “I’m looking forward to it because it’s been a long time, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to clear my name,” LeDoux said last week. State prosecutors have accused LeDoux and two others of encouraging illegal votes in the 2014 and 2018 state legislati...
Gavia Delabrue, and her mom, Corree Delabrue, fish at Pats Lake during Family Fishing Day last Saturday. The day started in 2010 as part of a Boy Scouts event. This year's fishing landed about 16 fish, according to event organizer Shirley Wimberley. There were 27 children and about 28 adults signed up, with 11 staff and volunteers overseeing activities such as making lures and painting T-shirts. Claire Froehlech, an intern with the U.S. Forest Service, guides Wyatt Thomassen, 7, as he fishes at...
A dozen children and two adults were served floor sealant instead of milk at a day care summer program at a Juneau elementary school last week after workers poured from the wrong container. Several students complained of burning sensations in their mouth and throats, and at least one child was treated at a hospital after the incident on the morning of June 14, Juneau Schools Superintendent Bridget Weiss said. Juneau police are leading the investigation of how the mix-up occurred, “not really because we believe there’s anything criminal or mal...
