Sorted by date Results 2568 - 2592 of 7954
The chamber of commerce is planning a welcome ceremony for the first ship on Wrangell's official cruise calendar, which also happens to be a brand new vessel making its inaugural sailing to Southeast. The 186-passenger Ocean Victory, chartered by American Queen Voyages, is scheduled to arrive at 8 a.m. Thursday at the City Dock. Chamber Executive Director Brittani Robbins on Monday said the ceremony is planned for 10 a.m. Thursday and will feature Tlingit dancers, a presentation of a key to the...
What started as the seed of an idea has germinated into a full-grown program to help the community get involved in gardening. Over the past couple months, the Wrangell Community Garden board has been meeting, planning and organizing cleanup days. As such, the garden, located at the old Lions Ball Field at 1.5 Mile, is ready for gardeners looking to grow their own plants and produce. Once overgrown with weeds, the site is now cleaned up, garden beds are set up and soil is piled up and ready to...
The state House has passed legislation that would suspend Alaska’s 8-cents-a-gallon motor fuel tax for a year to help consumers pinched by high prices at the pump. The bill was scheduled for its first committee hearing in the Senate this week as lawmakers push toward their May 18 adjournment deadline. The measure also would suspend to June 30, 2023, the state tax on marine fuel (5 cents a gallon) and aviation gas (4.7 cents a gallon). The legislation says dealers “shall reduce the cost of fuel to the final consumer” by the amount of the tax bre...
A workshop at a Wrangell boat-building company on Case Avenue caught fire and was destroyed in the early morning hours of May 3. A firefighter was hurt in the response to Svendsen Marine at 3:18 a.m. after falling but is OK, Fire Chief Tim Buness said May 3. The firefighter was taken to the hospital and released. An occupant inside the Quonset hut workspace - a half-moon, fabric-covered "tinker shop" - was also unharmed, he said. It took 30 minutes for 18 firefighters to put out the blaze,...
A pair of mobile towers on wheels that were anticipated to arrive this month in Wrangell for a pilot broadband network have been delayed until around September. Chris Cropley, network architect at Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, said delivery is 16 to 18 weeks out. One of the components for the towers got “kicked out” of the global supply chain, Cropley said May 4. The delayed order which Cropley placed in early February for the two mobile cell towers on wheels come from Pierson Wireless in Omaha, Neb...
Six teens returned to Wrangell on May 2 after nine days in Washington, D.C., and New York City. The trip is part of the national Close Up program which aims to get kids more engaged in the political process. Along with chaperone Sarah Merritt, seniors Jimmy Baggen, Sophia Hagelman and Tyson Messmer, juniors Paige Baggen and Ashleigh Loomis and sophomore Sierra Hagelman were able to visit sites of historic interest, meet with and hear from various political leaders, and participate in lively...
Unless the Legislature acts, Alaska nonprofits will have to stop selling raffle tickets online June 30. The state has allowed online sales by registered nonprofits since early summer 2020, as the pandemic shut down or made difficult group events and in-person ticket sales. Temporary legislation allowing charitable groups to sell and draw winning tickets online expires in less than two months, though a bill under consideration would make the provision permanent. The legislation “will modernize Alaska’s charitable gaming program,” Deb Moore, exec...
After less than a month in operation, the River's Mouth Resale thrift store is moving into a new space twice as large. They need more room "due to overwhelming support," owner Kelly Ellis said Thursday. Ellis, who opened the store April 4, said they plan to accept their last donations at the current spot on Lynch Street next to Groundswell on Saturday - the same day River's Mouth plans to open in the Churchill Building, behind Baked for Breakfast. It's the storefront where Silver Liningz Boutiqu...
The Wrangell Sentinel received four awards in this year’s Alaska Press Club contest, including third place for best weekly newspaper in the state. The Nome Nugget was judged the best weekly in the state. The awards were announced April 30, based on work in 2021. Sentinel reporter Sarah Aslam won second place among small newspapers in the best short feature story category for her Oct. 21, 2021, reporting, “Tlingit culture, language lives on through heritage learners.” The judges described it as “an important story told with heart and purpose.” S...
It's time to dust off that Duster and shine up that Chevelle. Proud owners of anything from classic cars and clunkers to tricked-out trikes and awesome ATVs will have a chance to cruise into infamy on July 2. A yet-to-be-named car show is scheduled to be part of the Fourth of July festivities, with prizes awarded to best in show and other categories. Ellen Jellum, a masseuse at Arctic Chiropractic, had the idea for a car show to raise funds for Wrangell's schools. It's something she used to do...
The assembly has raised rates for cemetery plots and other fees to help pay for the expansion of Sunset Gardens. The fee for a full-casket cemetery plot went up by $670 to $1,000, effective April 26. Previously, a grave plot cost $330 and plots for children under six years of age were $150. Opening and closing of the plot during the weekdays remains at $900, but a weekend opening/closing now costs $1,500, an increase of $415. Headstone installation costs $200, an $80 increase. The borough plans to start work later this year to add 50...
SEATTLE (AP) — Passengers on the Carnival cruise ship Spirit that docked May 3 in Seattle say more than 100 people aboard the ship tested positive for COVID-19 and the crew was overwhelmed. Multiple passengers said they were quarantined at Seattle-area hotels after testing positive or being exposed to someone with COVID-19. Carnival Cruise Line would not confirm how many people tested positive but said there were a number of positive cases, Seattle KING5 TV reported. Darren Sieferston, a passenger on the cruise from Miami to Seattle, was in q...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly has voted to write a letter opposing federal legislation that would transfer federal land to new Native corporations proposed for Petersburg, Wrangell, Haines, Ketchikan and Tenakee Springs. The assembly action was prompted by a request from Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski for a Senate committee hearing on legislation to create the corporations as an amendment to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The bill would allow the so-called “landless Native communities” to form corporations and receive 23,040 acres of...
Juneau voters will likely be asked this fall if they’re willing to increase the city’s 5% sales tax to 6% during the summer in exchange for exempting food from sales tax year-round. The Juneau Assembly, meeting as the Committee of the Whole, voted unanimously May 2 to have city administrators draft language for an ordinance that would repeal the food tax if voters approve the summer sales tax increase. But numerous questions were raised about exemptions for nonprofits, effects on businesses that don’t get summer tourists among their custo...
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Nearly 40 law enforcement officials, tribal leaders, social workers and survivors of violence have been named to a federal commission tasked with helping improve how the federal government addresses a decades-long crisis of missing and murdered Native Americans and Alaska Natives, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced last Thursday. The committee's creation means that for the first time, the voices guiding the Interior and Justice departments in the effort will...
Adorned with red handprints across their mouths and carrying signs bearing the faces of the missing, hundreds gathered last Thursday at the Capitol in Juneau. Elected officials and Alaska Native dignitaries spoke before a solemn crowd amid flags bearing the red hand symbolizing the missing and murdered Indigenous persons awareness movement. The rally was held on Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day. “I think the turnout was great. The message was shared across the state. … It’s gaining more attention on national levels through p...
GOULDSBORO, Maine (AP) — A state agency in Maine has terminated an application for a 120-acre salmon farm opposed by lobstermen in Frenchman Bay. American Aquafarms, which was notified of the decision April 19, proposed a pair of 60-acre, 15-pen sites that together could produce 66 million pounds of Atlantic salmon a year. The Department of Marine Resources said the Portland-based company backed by Norwegian investors failed to find a state-approved hatchery for salmon eggs for the operation. The company also failed to prove the hatchery met r...
PORTLAND, Maine (AP)— The owner of hydroelectric dams in Maine has said it’s going to make changes to some of its operations to try to help save the final remaining wild Atlantic salmon in the United States. The country’s last wild populations of the fish are found in a few Maine rivers. Salmon counters found fewer of the fish on one of those rivers, the Penobscot, last year than in any year since 2016. Atlantic salmon were once plentiful in American rivers, but factors such as dams, overfishing and pollution hurt populations, and they are now...
Juneau-based Alaskan Brewing Co. won a platinum and a gold Crushie - symbolized by a crushed beer can in a raised fist - for two of its designs from the Craft Beer Marketing Awards, an international industry award for art and marketing. "To us it's a huge honor because we're trying to put art out," said Ryan Lange, the brewery's digital marketing specialist. The brewery won a gold Crushie for its recently released pilsner and a platinum Crushie for its Island Ale, according to the marketing...
Efforts were underway Monday to clear a road where a 300-foot-wide slide — taking down dozens of fully grown evergreen trees as well as rocks and dirt — toppled into the bay in front of Seward, covering the narrow roadway and cutting off road access for about 200 people. There were no injuries in the Saturday evening landslide about a half-mile south of downtown Seward, City Manager Janette Bower said. A private contractor was handling the removal process and planned to use heavy equipment to clear the debris at the top first, working down to...
The borough assembly has approved a 30% boost to water rates effective May 1 instead of a 21% rate hike with additional smaller, staggered increases until 2026 originally suggested by staff. The assembly approved the increase April 26 after it postponed a decision on the 21% rate increase at its March 22 meeting. Several assembly members including Patty Gilbert said they had wanted to hear more public comment on the issue. At the April 26 meeting where the 30% increase was approved, no one from the public showed up to speak on the issue....
As borough staff finalize the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, the Capital Facilities Department is requesting $350,000 toward a fuel tank project to bring the high school and Public Safety Building into regulatory compliance by replacing underground diesel storage tanks with aboveground tanks. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation inspected the now almost 40-year-old underground tanks in 2020 and determined they were out of compliance with regulations, and recommended they be taken out of service and removed. The Public...
For as long as the Tlingit people have built canoes, they have carved paddles. Just as there are many different sizes and styles of canoes for various purposes, paddles are created to be just as unique to their users. The tradition of carving paddles continues today throughout Southeast for cultural celebrations, dancing, decorations and even paddling canoes. In Wrangell, a workshop held April 22-24 educated about 15 participants on the type of wood to use, how to carve it and properly finish...
High school students were urged to use their smartphones and laptops during an assembly for once. It was announced last Monday that the painted and decorated shoes entered into the Vans Custom Culture design contest had won Wrangell High School a spot in the national top 50 and a chance at $50,000. Staff and students are calling on family, friends, neighbors and the online universe to go to https://customculture.vans.com/, click the "VOTE NOW" button and choose Wrangell. Public voting closes at...
Anyone who wants to get a pizza midweek at the Marine Bar or a steak or burger at the Elks Lodge knows that worker shortages have forced employers to reduce their days and cut back on offerings. “This worker shortage is real, and it’s not going away anytime soon,” Dan Robinson, research chief at the Alaska Department of Labor, told legislators last month. “For nine years in a row, more people have left the state than have come here,” he told the Senate Finance Committee. The population has been stable as births have outpaced deaths, but the y...
