Sorted by date Results 3023 - 3047 of 7954
SEARHC soon will move into its second year of providing free COVID-19 testing for Wrangell residents and visitors to the community. The testing is covered under a state contract that had been scheduled to stop Dec. 31 but which has been extended to the end of the state budget year June 30, said Carly Allen, hospital administrator for the SEARHC-operated Wrangell Medical Center. The state-funded tests for travelers and community members who are not showing any symptoms of the virus are available from noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday at...
The out-of-commission barge ramp where Wrangell usually unloads its freight needs to be replaced. Until that happens, repairs will suffice. A 2011 condition assessment of the barge ramp estimated it had another 10 to 15 years of useful life remaining before reaching a point where it would have degraded enough that it may no longer be considered safe to use, Port Director Steve Miller wrote in his report to the port commission’s Dec. 16 meeting. Miller estimates replacing the ramp could cost $2 million. A timeline will be dependent on f...
The results of a $7,300 study the borough commissioned in October to take a closer look at the cost of shipping goods by barge to Wrangell shows the average annual increase in marine freight costs from Seattle to Southeast Alaska from 2006 to 2021 was 4.5%, based on published rate tariffs. The global cost of marine freight has increased at an average rate of 5.7% annually, excluding 2021, while the Consumer Price Index has increased at 2.3% annually. The 12 Wrangell businesses Rain Coast Data surveyed for the report, representing some of Wrange...
The contractor hired by the borough for survey and design work of the former Institute property has signed up a subcontractor to advise on historical and archaeological ground searches, which are required before the borough can move ahead with permitting for residential development of the 134-acre site. Interim Borough Manager Jeff Good and Trevor Sande, principal at R&M Engineering, in Ketchikan, which is doing the survey work, have met with representatives of the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to...
UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — Emma Broyles, of Anchorage, was crowned Miss America at an event Dec. 16, marking the competition’s 100th anniversary and the first time an Alaskan has won the award. Broyles, 20, won the centennial crown and a $100,000 college scholarship. She emerged as the winner out of 51 contestants representing the 50 states and the District of Columbia at the competition at a Connecticut casino. She is a junior honors student at Arizona State University, where she is majoring in biomedical sciences, according to a report in the...
Greater access to COVID-19 home testing kits, changes to the state statistics dashboard, and the arrival of the Omicron variant in Alaska were among the topics covered by Dr. Anne Zink in a report to the Sitka Assembly on Dec. 14. “I know the last thing we want is COVID,” said Zink, the state’s chief medical officer. “Man, we are all done with it. Unfortunately, it’s just not done with us.” She said the state’s role is “to provide tools for Alaskans to keep themselves, their families and their communities healthy.” Zink attended the meet...
TAUNTON RIVER, Mass. (AP) — Far away from its home in Asia, a rare Steller’s sea eagle was spotted by 200 bird watchers around Taunton River, Massachusetts on Dec. 20. The eagle is reportedly the same one that went off course a year ago and has been spotted in Alaska and Canada. Flocks of bird watchers in the Northeast said they traveled hours to the river to catch a glimpse of the eagle in what they said was once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Steller’s sea eagles, native to Russia, China, Korea and Japan, have wingspans of up to 8 feet and weigh...
Halibut bycatch by the Bering Sea trawl fleet could be reduced by up to one-third following a vote by the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council. After days of deliberation and public testimony at the online council meeting, the members voted 8-3 on Monday to link the prohibited-species catch limit of Bering Sea halibut to the abundance of the fish, thereby lowering trawl fleet bycatch when there are fewer halibut. Fishermen and stakeholders from across coastal Alaska testified in support of a steep reduction in the allowed halibut...
Internet service provided by GCI was knocked out when Wrangell was pummeled by a gusty storm on Nov. 30. Technicians were able to restore service to customers by Dec. 3, however, there have been complaints in recent days that the service comes and goes. Residents have taken to the Wrangell Community Group on Facebook to ask if others were experiencing outages — and to complain. Some were seeing disruptions every day, sometimes up to five hours with no service. “It’s my understanding that sever...
Like eight-track, cassette tapes and VCRs, cable TV will soon be a piece of entertainment nostalgia — in Alaska anyway. GCI announced a year ago that it would cease providing cable television service, and has introduced its streaming app, Yukon TV, to replace it. The company had set Dec. 31 as the deadline for customers to turn in their cable boxes and sign up for the new service, but later extended the deadline to March 31 — though fewer channels will be available on cable as the company transitions its service. “The whole industry is movin...
As the holiday season is upon us, people who leave town or receive visitors are hoping for an easy, breezy ride. No overheads or ferry breakdowns. But it doesn’t always go that way. Residents were happy to share their holiday travel stories, from heartwarming to humorous. Brittani Robbins, executive director of the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce In 2013, her grandmother Marian Robbins, in her 70s at the time, came to visit for Christmas from Tacoma, Washington. There had been a blizzard the day before and she overheaded Wrangell to Ketchikan. J...
The board that oversees Alaska’s multibillion-dollar investment portfolio has fired Angela Rodell as chief executive officer of the Permanent Fund Corp. Legislative leaders and Finance Committee members are upset at the surprise decision and plan to hold hearings to ask questions. The fund this past fiscal year grew more than 25%, with record returns on its investments. The board on Dec. 9 voted 5-1 to remove Rodell. The five votes came from members last appointed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. The board did not disclose a reason for the decision, whic...
Responding to the loss of power at the airport during the windstorm which tore through the community on Nov. 30, the borough assembly has voted to spend $80,000 in federal funds to install a backup generator for the airport runway lighting. At its Tuesday meeting, assembly members approved using money from a CARES Act grant fund for the generator purchase and installation. The capital facilities department will order the generator this week, and expects delivery in four to five months. The generator would solely be for the runway lighting,...
Wrangell's community garden has a chance to grow once more. On Dec. 8, eight people gathered in the community gym classroom to discuss forming a committee to oversee the direction the project will take. "That's really what tonight is all about, is not making any decisions or appointing anyone to a position exactly, but we really just want to find out who is serious about being on the committee and if you don't want to be on the committee, that's OK, there's plenty of volunteer (opportunities)...
Bob Davis, assistant principal of Wrangell’s high school and middle school, has submitted his resignation and plans to retire at the end of the school year. The resignation was on the agenda for Monday’s school board meeting and will take effect next June. “When I took this job, I made it clear that I had a maximum expiration date of three years,” Davis said. “This is my second. From the time I signed my contract this last spring, I’ve made it clear that this would be my last year.” Davis has been a teacher at the middle school since 1994. He b...
Julia Ostrander was voted in to fill a short-term vacancy on the school board on Monday. The vacancy was created when Laura Ballou resigned from the board in early November. The board received two applications to fill the position — from Ostrander and Alexandra Angerman, both of whom ran for seats on the board in the October municipal election but lost. At Monday’s meeting, board president Don Wilson announced that Angerman had withdrawn her submission, citing other responsibilities. Ostrander, a parent and small business owner, was asked to...
It’s the holiday season and all through town, more people need to get a-stirring and pick up their packages. That’s the word from the post office. Postmaster Dorothy Gladsjo declined an interview last week, and said another time maybe, when she wasn’t “covered in sweat.” Gladsjo and a co-worker had just dumped another orange bag full of packages flown into town onto a pushcart at the post office. The shelves were already stuffed full, but they had to find room to add the latest additions. Tommy Brown, who has lived in Wrangell for 18 years, ca...
Friday night drumming at the Wrangell Cooperative Association's carving shed on Front Street brings together Tlingit elders and teens, different generations forming a circle around an overhead projector as instructor Virginia Oliver guided the group through the pronunciation of Tlingit song lyrics. Oliver's son Tommy Rooney Jr., Luella Knapp and Tom Gillen Sr. were among the adults on drums, accompanied by children that included 14-year-old Keaton (Saak, "hooligan") Gadd, 13-year-old Boomchain...
The annual Elks Hoop Shoot is back on schedule this year. The event is set for Saturday morning at the community gym, with staggered times for different age groups. Last winter’s shoot was postponed to January, to stay away from holiday events amid concerns over COVID-19’s impact on the community. Each participant Saturday will receive a free basketball to use in the Hoop Shoot — and will get to keep the ball. A hamburger lunch at the Elks Club for all participants will follow the competition. Boys and girls ages 8 and 9 will shoot at 9 a.m.,...
When Amber Al-Haddad inherited the public safety building project as the borough’s capital facilities director in 2018, she was told the building simply needed a paint job. The now 34-year-old building needed, and still needs, much more than that. The assembly convened in a work session Monday night to discuss a phased rehabilitation plan for overhauling the water- and rot-damaged building, a plan it had requested of Al-Haddad at its Nov. 9 assembly meeting. The latest proposal comes with an estimated price tag of at least $14.7 million, in t...
JUNEAU (AP) — The U.S. House has passed legislation to extend a year-end deadline for Alaska Native corporations to use federal coronavirus relief funds. The U.S. Supreme Court in late June ruled the corporations were entitled to receive the CARES Act funds, but delays in disbursing the money have been many corporations in a bind to spend the funds by Dec. 31. The House bill, however, isn't the same measure that earlier passed the Senate. For the bill to become law, the same version has to pass both chambers before going to the president for s...
The first known case of the Omicron variant in Alaska was reported on Monday, according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. The variant case was identified in an Anchorage resident. “The case was identified today through genomic sequencing performed at the Alaska State Public Health Laboratory from a person who recently tested positive in Anchorage following international travel in November,” the statement read. “Alaska now joins at least 30 other states and more than 60 countries that have already identified the varia...
Wrangell Medical Center will get an extra month of help from three traveling health care professionals, as the state has extended its contract for the workers. Alaska is adding to its $87 million contract that brought in about 470 out-of-state health care workers to assist hospitals, clinics and schools stressed this fall by the heavy workload of COVID-19 patients and testing, and to provide relief for overwhelmed medical staffs in multiple communities. In September, the state signed up Atlanta-based DLH Solutions to bring the workers to...
JUNEAU (AP) — A U.S. District Court judge has rejected a challenge by Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration to a special subsistence hunt authorized for a Southeast Alaska tribe by a federal board last year. The Organized Village of Kake in spring 2020 requested an emergency hunt, citing food security concerns amid the pandemic. The Federal Subsistence Board granted a limited season of up to 60 days, and the harvest was distributed to 135 households in the village, according to filings with the court. The normal hunting season doesn’t begin...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly has voted to extend an emergency ordinance requiring masking in indoor public buildings. The Petersburg hospital reported 230 COVID-19 cases in November — infecting more than 7% of the community’s population. An emergency face mask ordinance adopted Nov. 5 was set to expire Dec. 6. The assembly voted 6-1 on Dec. 6 to extend the masking requirement to Jan. 3. The ordinance requires masking in public and communal spaces, other than private residences. Phil Hofstetter, chief executive officer of the Petersburg Med...
