Sorted by date Results 2511 - 2535 of 7954
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Scientists will set about 1,000 traps this year in their quest to wipe out the Asian giant hornet in Washington, the state Department of Agriculture said May 24. Scientists believe the hornets, first detected in the state in 2019, are confined in Whatcom County, which is located on the Canadian border north of Seattle. “We are doing pretty good right now,” said Sven-Erik Spichiger, who is leading the fight to eradicate the hornets for the state Department of Agriculture. “We know about where the nests are located in What...
High oil prices paid the way for legislators to spend more money on public services and construction, a little more on schools and a payout to Alaskans this fall almost triple the amount of last year’s dividend. Legislators and their constituents now wait to see if Gov. Mike Dunleavy decides to veto any of the spending for the fiscal year that starts July 1. Lawmakers went home last week after a late-night session on the final day May 18, when they approved about $2.1 billion — one-quarter of all state general fund spending in the budget yea...
By 8 p.m. last Friday, the Wrangell High School class of 2022 had graduated and each member was embarking on the next chapter of their life. The evening honored the 15 graduates in front of a full auditorium of friends, family and educators with heartfelt speeches and videos showing how far they've come. "This is the first open and normal graduation we've had in ... (three) years," said Kendra Meissner in her salutatorian speech. "(Instead) of watching us take the next steps into our future...
Two of Wrangell's lead educators are closing the books on their lesson plans and graduating to retirement. In June, Bob Davis, assistant principal of Wrangell High School and Stikine Middle School, and Jenn Miller-Yancey, assistant principal of Evergreen Elementary School, will say farewell after more than 30 years each in education. Davis, 64, who was raised in Alaska and came up through the public school system, swore as a young man that he would never set foot into a school again after...
The borough assembly and SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium have come to an agreement of voluntary payments by SEARHC of $45,000 per year for 10 years on property owned by the nonprofit health care provider in town. In negotiations that began in November, the borough had been asking for $225,000 a year, and SEARHC had asked for a refund on a $331,287 property tax bill it paid in full on the new Wrangell Medical Center in 2021. As a nonprofit, SEARHC is exempt under state law from property taxes. In the agreement approved by the...
For more than 50 years, members of the Wrangell Art Gallery have come together once a week to work on projects, give each other feedback, and to spend time with artistic-minded friends. Along with creating one-of-a-kind artwork, they've also created a lot of memories. One of the members who has been with the group since the beginning, Olga Norris, still strives to learn new artistic mediums to work in, even at 93 years old. "There was a group of us that painted together for years, and the main...
The grand prize winner has been announced in the Vans Custom Culture nationwide art contest and, unfortunately, it was not Wrangell High School. Vans announced last Thursday that Moanalua High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, was selected as the grand prize winner, with a $50,000 award. Wrangell was one of four runners-up, winning $15,000 for the high school art program. Wrangell submitted two pairs of decorated Vans shoes back in March under the guidance of teacher Tasha Morse. She didn’t expect what happened next. “I went into this a bit une...
The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium plans to break ground in June on a four-room expansion to the 14-bed long-term care facility at Wrangell Medical Center. The 1,800-square-foot expansion was prompted by the community’s need for long-term care rooms “that are typically hard to come by,” SEARHC spokesperson Lyndsey Y. Schaefer said via email on Friday. SEARHC is adding to the building for the extension, she said Monday, but declined to provide a cost of the construction. “As it’s a pure estimate at this point, I’d rather not...
The borough assembly is looking at updated cost estimates and options to repair or replace the ailing Public Safety Building. If the assembly settles on a plan, it could go to voters this fall to seek approval to issue bonds to pay for the work. Assembly members were scheduled Tuesday evening to review three options presented by the Capital Facilities Department on what to do with the beleaguered, 34-year-old structure that houses the borough’s police department, jail, fire department, indoor shooting range and motor vehicle department, the fed...
The turnout was so nice, they did it twice. Due to the popularity of the Evergreen Elementary art walk held on Dec. 1, the school's social-emotional learning teacher Tawney Crowley worked with staff and students to hold another May 17. Along with art exhibits covering tables, lining walls and hanging from the ceiling, Tracey Martin, the Evergreen Agricultural Testing Site (EATS) garden instructor, was selling plants from the garden to raise funds to keep the project going. "We have tomatoes,...
An award and scholarship ceremony held May 13 at Wrangell High School lauded the achievement of many students and presented seniors with scholarships to further their educations. Teachers Lisa Brooks, Jack Carney, Winston Davies, Ann Hilburn, Donna Massin and Tasha Morse all presented various students with certificates and plaques to commemorate their accomplishments for the year. Community members presented a bevy of different scholarships to the seniors, such as Virginia Oliver, who presented...
A cleanup of abandoned pieces of old harbor floats the tribe was trying to get done this spring may be delayed until October. Project lead Kim Wickman said the high tides they need during daytime hours won't occur until then. Though the full effort will have to wait, Wickman, the Indian General Assistance Program technician at Wrangell Cooperative Association, and Valerie Massie, IGAP coordinator, tied off three large chunks of the old floats at Shoemaker Bay beach on May 18. The pieces are 40-...
By the narrowest of margins, 21-19, the House on the last night of the legislative session passed a bill implementing a statewide approach to how school districts intervene when students have difficulty reading. The session’s original reading legislation had been blocked in the House, opposed by several rural lawmakers and Democrats, but the Senate merged it into another education bill on the next-to-the-last day of session, forcing the House to accept or reject the entire package. The reading intervention bill was a priority of Gov. Mike D...
Port Director Steve Miller pulls newly repaired float tanks from the Marine Service Center to the barge ramp near the City Dock on the morning of May 10. Workers at Dave's Welding and Repair patched and rebuilt the tanks after port staff found a hole in one of the tanks last fall. After the repaired tanks were fully installed, the borough put the ramp back into service last Sunday, allowing the weekly Alaska Marine Lines barge to return to its usual berth instead of temporary unloading quarters...
The borough will be required to pay an estimated $30,000 to $40,000 to fulfill a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers mitigation stipulation in order to obtain authorization to fill wetlands for the Mount Dewey trail extension project. The nearly $1 million trail project will hinge on what is called compensatory mitigation, after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in March found the project will affect 0.55 acres, 0.05 more acres of wetlands than the borough anticipated, Capital Facilities Director Amber Al-Haddad said last Thursday. Compensation is not...
Lawmakers on the final day of the legislative session May 18 passed a bill to impose a tax on electronic smoking products, such as e-cigarettes, vaping sticks and refills. The tax, at 35% of the wholesale price, was in part a compromise between the original version of the bill, at 75%, and opponents who argued against taxing vaping products that could be a healthier alternative for smokers than traditional cigarettes, which are heavily taxed by the state and many municipalities. The new tax will take effect Jan. 1, 2023, unless Gov. Mike...
JUNEAU (AP) — The Alaska Legislature has passed a measure to formally recognize tribes in the state. The House on May 18 voted 37-2 to accept a Senate version of the bill that passed a week earlier on a 15-0 vote. The bill next goes to Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Supporters of the bill say it is an overdue step that would create opportunities for the state and tribes to work together. Putting tribal recognition into law would allow for continuity from one governor’s term to the next so that Alaska could work toward long-term solutions to issues wit...
JUNEAU (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended the search for a 40-year-old Texas woman who fell overboard off a cruise ship in Lynn Canal, north of Juneau. The Coast Guard ended the effort May 17 after searching for Selena Pau Pres, of Houston, for about nine hours, Coast Guard Petty Officer Ali Blackburn said. The search was conducted by boat and a helicopter in the waters near Eldred Rock in Lynn Canal, about 20 miles south of Haines. The captain of the cruise ship Celebrity Solstice reported the missing woman at 3 a.m. May 17, the Coast G...
On June 7, Wrangell Medical Center will hold its annual mass casualty exercise to prepare staff for real emergencies. But they need bodies. “We’re looking for up to 10 volunteers that would be a part of the patient base,” said hospital administrator Carly Allen. “They would play a specific role that would be assigned to them. They would go through a makeup moulage tent, (making ‘wounds’) visually apparent.” A few volunteers have already signed up to participate in the drill, which takes place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., but depending on the roles...
JUNEAU (AP) — The Alaska Legislature has passed a measure to formally recognize tribes in the state. The House on May 18 voted 37-2 to accept a Senate version of the bill that passed a week earlier on a 15-0 vote. The bill next goes to Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Supporters of the bill say it is an overdue step that would create opportunities for the state and tribes to work together. Putting tribal recognition into law would allow for continuity from one governor’s term to the next so that Alaska could work toward long-term solutions to issues wit...
Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced Monday that Nancy Dahlstrom will be his running mate as he seeks reelection this year. Dahlstrom, a former state legislator from Eagle River who has led the state Department of Corrections under Dunleavy, submitted her resignation as Corrections commissioner on Sunday, according to a statement from Dunleavy’s office. The campaign announcement came just over a week before the June 1 filing deadline for the August primary. Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run as a team under a new e...
On May 18, the last day of the legislative session, the House and Senate voted unanimously to change how sexual assault can be prosecuted by modernizing the definition of consent. “Alaska took a gargantuan step forward in updating our laws,” said John Skidmore, deputy attorney general for the Criminal Division of the Alaska Department of Law. He spoke during a governor’s press conference the day after the session ended. Under the bill, consent is defined as “a freely given, reversible agreement specific to the conduct at issue … ‘Freely g...
The body of a man who had gone missing for a day after swimming near a docked cruise ship in Skagway was found in the water Saturday, according to Alaska State Troopers. The man, whom troopers identified as William Anthony Rodriguez, 32, from Miami, had last been seen in the water near the cruise ship dock around 2:10 p.m. Friday, troopers said in an online report. According to troopers, Rodriguez had jumped into the water, swam to the nearby shore and stayed there a few minutes, then swam in front of the bow of the docked cruise ship. “The ind...
Silver Bay Seafoods, which started in Sitka 15 years ago, has connections that reach more than 5,000 miles across the world to Ukraine, prompting the company to reach out with sizable monetary and food donations to help those affected by Russia’s war on its neighboring country. “We were devastated by the reports and knew we needed to help, so we kicked off a donation program,” said Abby Fredrick, Silver Bay Seafoods director of communications. After only a few weeks, fishermen, employees and the company raised $130,000 to donate to the World...
Legislation that creates a roadmap for establishing tribally operated public schools has passed the Alaska Senate and House and is headed to the governor’s desk. Senate Bill 34 directs the state Board of Education to work with Alaska Native tribal entities on an agreement that would formally recognize the tribes’ authority to operate and oversee K-12 schools. “This creates an option for self-governance in the delivery of culturally relevant place-based education in Alaska, essentially empowering tribes and their communities to have a direc...
