Sorted by date Results 2189 - 2213 of 7954
The borough’s Sunny Bay property, a parcel of land on the Cleveland Peninsula about 37 miles southeast of Wrangell, is a potential candidate for a helicopter logging sale someday, though no definitive plans have been made to harvest timber at the site. On a trip to Sunny Bay with the U.S. Forest Service in late July, Borough Manager Jeff Good learned there are valuable red and yellow cedar trees on the property. However, these trees are sparsely distributed. Helicopter logging, also known as aerial timber harvesting, entails attaching cables t...
Jim LaBelle entered the Wrangell Institute in 1955 at the age of 8. Over the next 10 years, he would lose his hair, large portions of his memory, and the ability to speak Inupiaq. He has spent his life trying to understand what happened, and he will tell his story Saturday morning at the Sharing Our Knowledge conference. For LaBelle, storytelling is an essential part of the healing process. As one of the keynote speakers at this week’s Sharing Our Knowledge conference of Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian tribes and clans, LaBelle will relate his e...
Last Thursday, the port commission unanimously voted down a motion that would have recommended the borough lease a portion of the 6-Mile mill property to Channel Construction. Commissioners said they need more information before forwarding a recommendation. Juneau-based Channel Construction, which is owned by William “Shorty” Tonsgard Jr., requested to lease a parcel of waterfront property at the former sawmill site for scrap metal recycling. According to its application, the company seeks to establish a “prominent recycling yard” at the loc...
As a young teenager growing up in Bethel, Nikki Corbett got her first paid gig from Mary Peltola. "I babysat her oldest," said Corbett, who took care of Peltola's eldest son. Corbett, who lives on the Kenai Peninsula and is raising children of her own now, was one of the many Indigenous Alaskans from around the state who flooded social media with exuberant messages, reflections and recollections in the hours after Peltola's victory in Alaska's special U.S. House election was announced. The...
Incumbent Ketchikan Rep. Dan Ortiz, who also represents Wrangell, grew his lead over Republican challenger Jeremy Bynum, also of Ketchikan, with the final batch of state primary results released Aug. 31. Ortiz leads Bynum 2,174 to 1,812. The latest results include 890 absentee, early and questioned ballots that state election officials had not tallied on the night of the Aug. 16 primary. Ortiz, an independent, is seeking his fifth term representing southern Southeast in the state House. The two will face off in the Nov. 8 general election for...
The story of a 1908 shipwreck near Wrangell that killed 111 of the 138 men on board – mostly Asian cannery workers returning home after the salmon season had ended – is narrated by current and former residents in a five-part podcast series that started last week. Produced by former resident Ronan Rooney, the series will air at 11 a.m. every Thursday in September on KSTK radio, or people can go to Rooney's website wrangellhistoryunlocked.com to hear the episodes. The first episode aired Sep...
Ever wanted to bend light? Build a wall-climbing gecko robot with air-suction toes? Control a bipedal, ultrasonic droid using your smartphone? These activities may sound like the work of a mad scientist, but thanks to the Irene Ingle Public Library, Wrangell youth don't need a subterranean lair and an army of minions to explore the wonderful world of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, also known as STEM. Starting in early 2020, the library began offering STEM kits for kids and families...
Vibrant laughter and fresh scents emanating from the shop on Lynch Street let visitors know this wasn't just a place for cookie-cutter souvenirs and run-of-the-mill art prints. For five and a half years, Shop Groundswell provided residents and tourists with fresh floral arrangements, locally sourced foods and Southeast artistry. Now, the shop and social hub is closing its doors. Though it will be a loss to many in the community, it is a chance for owner Mya DeLong to finish the chapter on what...
In their first time sharing a debate stage, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and her Trump-backed challenger Kelly Tshibaka presented their visions for representing Alaska as Republicans. And the differences were just as pronounced in style as they were in policy. Murkowski highlighted her 20-year tenure as a moderate dedicated to advancing resource development while maximizing federal funding for Alaska. For Tshibaka, it was a vision of resisting the Biden administration’s energy policies and federal largesse, epitomized by this year’s inf...
In Chris Bye’s preferred campaign photo, the Libertarian U.S. House candidate is ripping open his dress shirt to reveal a T-shirt that says, “Do Good Recklessly.” After fourth-place finisher Republican Tara Sweeney abruptly withdrew from Alaska’s November U.S. House race, Bye, who placed fifth in the Aug. 16 primary, moved into the state’s top-four ranked-choice election. That puts him alongside Democrat Mary Peltola and Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich III in the race for a two-year term in the House. Bye, a fishing guide from Fair...
A couple armed with bug nets wading through roadside fireweed were searching for bumblebees in the Chilkat Valley north of Haines earlier this month as part of a research effort to see if the Western Bumblebee’s range includes Alaska. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists are considering proposing that the species be added to the endangered species list. “It’s disappeared over a big chunk of its former range which stretched from California out to some of the western states and all the way up into British Columbia at about 55 degrees north...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly, which is creating a task force to look for solutions to the housing shortage in the community, held a work session Aug. 29 to get a better understanding of the challenges in developing or purchasing homes. Assembly Member Dave Kensinger spoke on changing the zoning codes to make building affordable houses possible, and shared his concern that people cannot move to Petersburg if they do not have a place to live. Some of the potential changes to the zoning codes discussed included allowing the development of more...
With Sitka’s largest-ever tourist season underway – with as many as 400,000 cruise ship passengers this summer – a consultant visited town last month and suggested possible improvements to visitor experiences. A crosswalk at a busy downtown street, more signs and more outdoor seating, and brighter paint colors on buildings would help, he said. Representing an organization called the Destination Development Association, Roger Brooks travels the globe assessing popular tourism sites and reporting his findings to the locals. Brooks was in Sitka...
A shipment of heroin, fentanyl and methamphetamine with an estimated street value of $488,000 was seized by law enforcement in a case that resulted in the arrest of a Ketchikan man on felony drug charges. “It's a lot as far as quantity,” Ketchikan Police Lt. Andy Berntson said about the amount of drugs during an Aug. 31 press conference about the case. “It's a lot anywhere, but (in) Ketchikan, it’s very significant.” Larry P. Mardsen, 40, was taken into custody by Ketchikan Police Department officers on Aug. 29 and charged with one count eac...
There is only one species of abalone native to Alaska waters, and a new project is underway to try find ways to boost its depleted numbers. An Alaska Abalone Recovery Working Group is brainstorming ideas for strengthening the state’s vulnerable population of pinto abalones, also known as Northern abalones or, to the Indigenous peoples of the region, Gunxaa and Gúlaa. The working group includes representatives from state and federal agencies, tribal governments and others, including support from Alaska Sea Grant, a program based at the Un...
THE DALLES, Oregon (AP) - Wilbur Slockish Jr. has been shot at, had rocks hurled at him. He hid underground for months, and then spent 20 months serving time in federal prisons across the country - all of that for fishing in the Columbia River. But Slockish, a traditional river chief of the Klickitat Band of the Yakama Nation, would endure it all again to protect his right of access to the river and the fish that his people believe were bestowed to them by the Creator. "It's a sacred covenant,"...
Beginning Sept. 7, the annual Sharing Our Knowledge conference of Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian tribes and clans will be held in Wrangell for the first time. This five-day event will take place at the Nolan Center and will feature a film festival, a panel discussion and a wide variety of research presentations on subjects ranging from Indigenous history to art. Organizers expect an estimated 200 people to arrive in town for the event. Because the anticipated attendance exceeds the capacity of Wrangell’s hotels and bed and breakfast rentals, conf...
The borough followed through on discussions from earlier this summer and the assembly last week approved a contract for reassessment of the value of all commercial and residential properties in the community. The intent is not to raise revenue — that is determined by the property tax rate the assembly sets every spring as part of the budget process. The reassessment is to ensure that valuations are “equitable across the board,” explained Borough Manager Jeff Good. After the assembly adopts its annual budget, it considers available reven...
Another chapter closed in the long history of City Market last Saturday. Owner Rolland Benn-Ingles Curtis - or just Benn as most people know him - retired after 58 years of serving the community. Curtis, 73, began working at the store in 1964 when he was almost 15 years old after much discussion with his father, Rolland. Had Curtis not agreed to work at the store, its story could be much different today. "He said, 'If you're not going to work in the store, I might as well get rid of it ... and...
With names like delicious milky, hawks wing, chaga, puffballs and fairy farts, mushrooms found throughout Southeast are diverse in shape, color and edibility. Some can be used as fabric dyes, and some can kill a person if eaten. Over the course of last Friday and Saturday, field mycologist and author Noah Siegel educated resident foragers on which mushrooms are safe and which should be avoided. For about 90 minutes last Friday evening, Siegel, of Royalston, Massachusetts, spoke to a group of...
Hannah's Place is situated in a cheerful yellow house, filled with natural light and enough baby supplies to care for a small army of infants, which is exactly what the organization's executive director, Nedra Shoultz, has spent the past 11 years doing. "What we are here for is really education and support," she explained. Along with prenatal and parenting classes, the center distributes clothes, books, diapers and other baby essentials to parents in need. "If someone found themselves in a...
In less than five weeks, voters will decide whether the borough should borrow $12 million to repair the schools and Public Safety Building. On Aug. 23, the borough assembly unanimously approved placing two questions on the Oct. 4 municipal election ballot that will ask voter approval to cover the renovation costs. One of the ballot issues would approve borrowing $8.5 million to repair the water-damaged Public Safety Building, while the other would approve borrowing $3.5 million to help fund repairs at the elementary, middle and high schools....
Whether Alaskans and the other 434 members of the U.S. House will be addressing Rep. Sarah Palin or Rep. Mary Peltola likely will be announced late Wednesday. State elections officials plan to announce that day the final vote tally and election winner under Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting system — it’s the deadline for any absentee ballots from overseas to arrive and be added to the count. In-person voting for the election was held Aug. 16. With a near-final ballot count released last Friday evening, more than 190,000 votes had been cast...
Top: Baylee Daugherty bounds up the stairs for the first day of classes at Evergreen Elementary School last Thursday. Middle: Jayden Mathieu gets some last-minute backpack help from grandmother Nicole Szyller on the first day of school at Evergreen Elementary. Bottom: Lillian Edens heads into Evergreen Elementary for the start of school last Thursday, after saying goodbye to her mother, Laura Edens....
After their last Christmas concert in December 2019, members of the community chorale packed up their music stands and filed away their songbooks, unaware that they would not be meeting again the next year. But now that two Christmases have gone by without this treasured community tradition, Bonnie Demerjian, the group’s longtime musical director, has decided it is time to bring the chorale back. For Demerjian, restarting the community chorale is “a responsibility as well as a pleasure.” She has guided the group through 23 years of conce...
