Sorted by date Results 2477 - 2501 of 7954
About one-third of Alaska’s legislators could be new to their job next year as multiple incumbents have decided to retire or seek higher office. The candidate filing deadline for the Aug. 16 statewide primary election was June 1. In addition to the state Senate president, Soldotna Republican Peter Micciche, and Senate Democratic minority leader Tom Begich, of Anchorage, eight other legislative incumbents have decided it is time to retire or take a break from elected office. In addition to those 10 who decided not to seek reelection, eight m...
JUNEAU (AP) — Alaska voters are facing an election unlike any they have ever seen, with 48 candidates running to succeed the man who held the state’s only U.S. House seat for 49 years. While some of the candidates in this week’s special primary have name recognition, including former Gov. Sarah Palin and Santa Claus — yes, Santa Claus, and he lives in North Pole, outside Fairbanks — many are relative unknowns or political novices — a fishing guide, a contractor, a gold miner who went to prison for allegedly threatening federal land managers. T...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — The only oil company to bid in last year’s controversial federal lease sale for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has canceled the lease it bought and asked for a refund of its almost $800,000 payment. Regenerate Alaska, a subsidiary of Australia-based 88 Energy, was one of three bidders that won leases during the rushed sale held in the waning days of the Trump administration. It was the first-of-its-kind sale for the refuge’s coastal plain. Activity on the leases has been held up by a Biden administration envir...
Devyn Johnson watches as her son, Nolan, 5, steps down from the cab of a Hitachi backhoe during the Touch a Truck event at Volunteer Park last Saturday. Johnson began the event a few years ago, getting the idea from her sister, who takes her children to a similar event in eastern Washington state. "I figured, my husband is on the fire department and does construction, so my kids have the opportunity to check those vehicles out all the time," she said. "We know kids in town who don't have that...
NEW YORK (AP) — The judge who presided over Sarah Palin’s libel case against The New York Times denied her request May 31 for a new trial, saying she failed to introduce “even a speck” of evidence necessary to prove actual malice by the newspaper. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff made the assertion in a written decision as he rejected post-trial claims from Palin’s lawyers. Her attorneys had asked the judge to grant a new trial or disqualify himself as biased against her, citing several evidentiary rulings by Rakoff that they said were errors. T...
PHOENIX (AP) - Mary Francis had no qualms about being a poster child for COVID-19 vaccinations on the Navajo Nation, once a virus hot spot. The Navajo woman's face and words grace a digital flyer asking people on the Native American reservation to get vaccinated "to protect the shidine'e (my people)." "I was happy to put the information out there and just building that awareness and in having folks feel comfortable enough, or curious enough, to read the material," said Francis, who lives in...
The issue of whether public school funds can go toward private education is currently being reviewed by the Alaska Department of Law. Specifically: Can families enrolled in a state-funded correspondence program use their allotment to pay for private school classes? A state statute paves the way for it, there are families in Alaska excited about the option, and at least one correspondence school in the state already allows it. But the Department of Education is unclear if it’s allowed under state law, and opponents of the practice say it v...
Claire Houlton, of Tucson, Arizona, prepares to paint a portion of the seiner Norsel in Heritage Harbor last Friday. Houlton, 28, has worked on tenders and other fishing vessels in the past but this is her first time on a seiner. Skipper Amy Schaub said she and her four crewmembers will set out for Sitka to pick up the Norsel's skiff, net and power block before going out fishing....
Above: Caroline Bangs, left, narrowly avoids Mitchell Ludwig as he slides into second base during the next-to-last adult softball game of the season last Friday. Tristan Botsford looks on from the outfield at the Volunteer Park baseball field. Right: Issabella Crowley, of team Slug-n-Chug, swings at a pitch last Friday during their final game of the adult softball season against Wrangell IGA, which won the game 13-4. IGA then played Vicious & Delicious, which defeated the grocers...
For the first time in four years, Celebration, one of the largest gatherings of Southeast Alaska Native peoples to celebrate their culture, will be held in person in Juneau from June 8-11. The gathering, sponsored by Sealaska Heritage, drew about 5,000 people pre-COVID, including more than 2,000 dancers. The Wrangell tribe will lead the way next week. Every Celebration features a lead dance group and this year it will be Shx'at Kwáan (People Near the Mainland) of Wrangell, Sealaska Heritage...
Residents will see higher fees for trash pickup on their June bill. The rate for a typical 48-gallon trash can will go up from $28.60 to $43.20 a month, with rate increases for trash containers of all sizes. Landfill fees also increased. The borough assembly approved the higher rates May 24, which took effect immediately. Public Works Director Tom Wetor last Wednesday said the rate increase has been long overdue. “Our sanitation department has broken even for the last number of years,” Wetor said. “We’re not putting any money in the bank fo...
Pickling and fermenting, pressure-canning and freezing were among the topics covered over three days of courses last week as members of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service taught food preservation classes in Wrangell. Wrangell Extension Days were held from May 24 to 26 and offered nine workshops and a Certified Food Protection Manager exam. Attendees at each workshop varied in skill level, with some just beginning their preserving journey to others who have been...
It's a story more than 100 years in the telling. Finally, a book that started being written last century is finding new progress at the hands of an Anchorage author. Patricia Neal is undertaking the publishing of a book that the late Joel Wing began writing about his family's adventures at the Cassiar Mining District before he retired as the Wrangell magistrate in 1973. Neal, who's written books about Wrangell history, met Wing in 1981 when she was the curator for the museum. As they got to...
If oil prices stay above $100 a barrel for the next 12 months, the state could end the fiscal year in June 2023 with about $2.3 billion in its savings accounts, not counting the Permanent Fund. It hasn’t had that much in savings since 2018. “That’s not enough cash,” Sitka Sen. Bert Stedman, co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said last Friday. The state treasury needs a healthier shock absorber to cushion against the inevitable periods of low oil prices, he said. It all depends on oil markets and prices. Alaska North Slope crude has ave...
This is the first year for ranked-choice voting in Alaska, and the changeover will start next week. Voting in the primary election to choose from among 48 candidates to fill the unexpired term of the late U.S. Rep. Don Young will close June 11. The top four vote-getters in the primary will advance to the Aug. 16 election, though voters need to remember they can cast a ballot for only one candidate in the primary. The general election is when voters will have the option to rank their top choices among the final four as 1, 2, 3 and 4, or just 1...
About 1.75 acres of a former junkyard will be put up for auction for residential development by the borough this summer. The borough-owned lots at Mile 4 Zimovia Highway will be listed on publicsurplus.com, a privately owned online auction service that handles government property sales nationwide. The entire 2.5-acre property was valued at $205,000, according to an April 27 appraisal report from Roger Ramsey at Ramsey Appraisal Resource, of Juneau. However, a portion was carved out to be sold to an adjoining property owner. The appraised value...
Alaska Seaplanes landed on the idea of offering service to Wrangell about two years ago, and its inaugural flight touched down last Thursday. "One of our anchor (clients) is SEARHC," said Andy Kline, marketing manager for Juneau-based Alaska Seaplanes. "They've been wanting to have more connectivity between Wrangell and Sitka, especially with the new (medical) facility here." The airline will run an afternoon flight from Sitka to Wrangell and back, seven days a week. Kline said the airline...
Three crew members aboard the 62-passenger National Geographic Sea Bird operated by Lindblad Expeditions were quarantined with COVID-19 at the Stikine Inn. The three were brought to Wrangell from Petersburg after the ship docked there on May 15, due to a lack of accommodations in Petersburg during the Little Norway Festival May 19-22. “Three asymptomatic crew members tested positive for COVID-19 during routine screening,” spokesperson Patty Disken‐Cahill at Lindblad Expeditions, said Sunday via email. “Due to space constraints onboard, they we...
Wondering if that cluster of mushrooms found on the roadside are safe to pick and eat? Odds are they're OK, and so are others. To that end, the Friends of the Library is holding an event Sept. 9 to 11 at the Irene Ingle Public Library to inform foragers what mushrooms can be eaten again and again, and which ones should not be eaten even once. Kitty LaBounty, a Sitka-based professor with the University of Alaska Southeast, is scheduled to share her knowledge on safe versus unsafe mushrooms when...
The U.S. Forest Service on Thursday awarded a parking area restoration project at Roosevelt Harbor on Zarembo Island to Ketchikan Ready-Mix & Quarry, with work expected to begin in early June. About 70 vehicles in various stages of decay going back a couple of decades at the site about 12 miles southwest of the Wrangell City Dock has made Roosevelt Harbor vulnerable to pollutants and sediment from runoff. District Ranger Clint Kolarich of the Wrangell Ranger District on Friday said work will begin by June 8 — and it’s now the last call for peo...
At the assembly’s May 24 meeting, members unanimously approved a resolution setting the property tax levy for this year at 12.75 mills, which is $1,275 on every $100,000 in assessed value, the same rate as last year. The tax rate is 4 mills for property outside the borough’s service area, such as Thoms Place toward the southern end of Wrangell Island and Meyers Chuck. Property tax payments are due by Oct. 15. The borough estimates it will collect almost $1.8 million in property taxes in the fiscal year that starts July 1, with more than 96%...
SEATTLE (AP) — Alaska Airlines pilots have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a future strike if current contract negotiations with management and federal mediation efforts fail. The Air Line Pilots Association said May 25 that almost 96% of its members cast mail-in votes and that 99% of those authorized the union’s leaders to call a strike if necessary and when permitted after a prolonged process managed by the National Mediation Board, The Seattle Times reported. Following by two months an informational picket in April by off-duty pilots, the...
An order for cashless machines for the public to pay for use of the four dock hoists at the Port and Harbors Department is delayed — the manufacturer is still waiting on parts. Port Director Steve Miller said they ordered four credit card readers for $11,000 from El Dorado, Arkansas-based manufacturer IDX this winter and were going to work with electricians in Wrangell for installation before the start of the summer season, but it’s looking like the order won’t arrive until June. And there could be further delays because local electricians are...
Na-Dena`, a joint venture between two Alaska Native corporations, is working with Klawock Heenya, the village corporation for the Prince of Wales Island community of about 800 people, to make Klawock a cruise ship destination. Juneau radio station KINY reported last week of the development plan between Huna Totem Corp., the village corporation for Hoonah, about 200 miles north of Klawock, and Doyon, the Fairbanks-based regional corporation for Alaska’s Interior. Klawock is on the west side of Prince of Wales, about 70 miles southwest of W...
The Alaska Legislature failed to pass new restrictions on financial donations to candidates for state office. Because a federal court threw out Alaska’s old limits, the Legislature’s failure means candidates may accept unlimited amounts of money from donors inside and outside the state. “It was probably one of the most disappointing nights of my time in the Legislature to not get to see that happen, because it should have happened,” said Anchorage Sen. Bill Wielechowski. Legislative drafters finished work on a critical amendment in the closing...
