Sorted by date Results 2495 - 2519 of 7954
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...
The U.S. Coast Guard will conduct operations with a couple of smaller boats for a few months between Wrangell and Petersburg, with an emphasis on safety checks. From June until August, two 29-foot Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security boats will patrol the region for search-and-rescue missions, vessel inspections and protecting marine life. The two smaller vessels will be handling operations since Coast Guard Cutter Anacapa, which usually patrols the area, is being relocated to Washington state. There will be a gap in coverage until...
Months before Alaska’s state elections, the Legislature is set for major turnover. At least 17 of the Legislature’s 60 members will be in a new position or out of office entirely by next January — and that doesn’t count anyone who loses their seat in this fall’s elections. The deadline to file for this year’s legislative elections is June 1, but many candidates have already made up their minds. Because a steep learning curve awaits new legislators, several departing incumbents said the turnover will slow the progress of complicated legislation,...
JUNEAU (AP) — The Alaska Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court ruling that the board tasked with redrawing the state’s legislative district boundaries “again engaged in unconstitutional political gerrymandering” and ordered the use of a new map for this year’s elections. Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews in his ruling last week said it appeared that the majority of the Alaska Redistricting Board’s members had adopted a map splitting the Eagle River area into two state Senate districts for “political reasons.” Opponents of the board map sa...
JUNEAU (AP) — A special prosecutor has filed charges of sexual abuse of a minor in the third degree against former Alaska Attorney General Clyde “Ed” Sniffen. Third-degree sexual abuse of a minor is a felony punishable by two to 12 years in prison. The charges are related to Sniffen’s alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl in 1991, when she was a high school student and he was the coach of her school’s mock trial team. Sniffen was 27 at the time. Sniffen was a longtime attorney with the department who was appointed attorney...
Ketchikan saw an upswing in reported COVID-19 cases in May, with 341 infections recorded during the past 30 days as of May 25. In addition, the number of active cases involving the Ketchikan Pioneer Home stood at 21 on May 25. The cases involved 18 residents and three staff members at the facility, according to state Health Department spokesperson Clinton Bennett. The home is at “red-alert” status, indicating that at least one resident has tested positive in a ”neighborhood” or a floor. All of its floors had been affected by COVID, accordi...
Juneau has a new housing rental crisis. The community invited 5,000 people to come for an Ironman race. With only around 1,000 hotel rooms, the city proposed a creative solution: Encouraging Juneau residents to go on vacation and rent their homes to athletes for a week. The race is Aug. 7. One athlete, Michael Bissell, of Alabama, said he was late to the game when looking for a place to stay, but he got something arranged fairly painlessly. “I was looking at hotels for about two weeks,” Bissell said. “And after no luck there like, serio...
JUNEAU (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on May 25 proposed restrictions that would block plans for a multibillion-dollar copper and gold mine in Alaska’s salmon-rich Bristol Bay region, the latest in a long-running dispute over efforts by developers to advance the mine. Critics of the Pebble Mine project called the move an important step in a years-long fight to stop the mine. But John Shively, the CEO of the Pebble Limited Partnership, which is pursuing the mine, called the EPA’s proposal a “political maneuver” and a preemptiv...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Former President Jimmy Carter has taken the unusual step of weighing in on a federal court case involving his landmark 1980 lands conservation act and a remote refuge in Alaska, arguing against a road through the area. Carter filed a brief on May 9 in the longstanding legal dispute over efforts to build a road through the refuge at the western end of the Alaska Peninsula, worried that a recent ruling in favor of a proposed land exchange for the road across the Izembek National...
SEWARD (AP) — In the cold, choppy waters of Alaska’s Resurrection Bay, all eyes were on the gray water, looking for one thing only. It wasn’t a spout from humpback whales that power through this scenic fjord in front of Seward, or a sea otter lazing on its back, munching a king crab. Instead, everyone aboard the Nanuq, a University of Alaska Fairbanks research vessel, was looking where a 5-foot long, bright pink underwater sea glider surfaced. The glider — believed to be the first configured with a large sensor to measure carbon dioxide...
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...
