Sorted by date Results 3451 - 3475 of 7954
Progress on transitioning from moving Wrangell’s trash in open-top containers aboard barges to bales of shredded and compressed waste in closed containers is moving slower than expected due to equipment delivery delays, said Capital Facilities Director Amber Al-Haddad. “We can anticipate all the baler equipment to arrive by next week,” she said, adding that there are several other pieces that will take longer to arrive. Due to staffing and material shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Al-Haddad said, manufacturers worldwide have exper...
The marine work is done and all that remains are the final shoreside connections and testing, and a new undersea power cable between Woronkofski and Vank islands will be ready to carry electricity. The cable repair barge that pulled up the broken line and laid down 3.5 miles of new cable has left, with the onshore work expected to take until about mid-August, Trey Acteson, chief executive officer of the Southeast Alaska Power Agency, said July 29. At its deepest, the crossing is about 700 feet,...
The Alaska Supreme Court has upheld the $20,000 fine imposed on a Metlakatla commercial fisherman who took coho salmon in 2014 in a closed area, without a state fisheries permit. In a 4-0 ruling, the justices rejected the appeal filed by the fisherman and the Metlakatla Indian Community, which had argued the state lacked jurisdiction in the waters around Alaska’s only Indian reserve. John Scudero Jr. was cited for three commercial fishing violations and fined $20,000 after a one-day trial in 2015. The U.S. Coast Guard in 2014 reported the v...
In an effort to stay within the sportfishing catch allocation, the state has ordered that nonresidents may not take king salmon anywhere in Southeast Alaska this month. The catch limit for residents will remain at generally one king in possession. Last week’s order took effect Sunday. The restriction on nonresident sportfishing probably will not mean too much to most visitors, said John Yeager, of Alaska Charters and Adventures. “I don’t think it’s a big surprise for anybody,” he said. The king run “is pretty well over.” From now into Septembe...
Robert Johnson has made a living as a professional photographer for about 20 years, and found time again this year to share tips at a workshop as part of Wrangell's annual Bearfest. He advised people not to worry too much about the equipment they are using and to just find what they are comfortable with and what complements their creative process. Modern cellphones take amazing pictures, he said. It isn't necessary to have an expensive setup to get a good photo. Another piece of advice was to...
The borough received just one bid for the unused National Guard armory on Second Avenue. It had set an asking price of $110,000 for the 1,200-square-foot structure, and that was the amount offered by the only bidder: Tim Gardner, of Oregon. Bids closed last Friday. “It would have been nice for it to go up, but that’s OK,” Borough Clerk Kim Lane said of the minimum bid. The borough is waiting to receive Gardner’s final payment before signing the deed and officially transferring the property to him, Lane said.. The armory, built in 1982, sits on...
The Wrangell Sentinel in its July 29 issue misspelled the name of Brittani Robbins, the new executive director of the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce....
JUNEAU (AP) - Gov. Mike Dunleavy has delayed until Aug. 16 the start of the next special session of the Legislature, following a request by legislative leaders for more time to find a compromise on the state’s fiscal future. The special session had been set to begin Monday. Special sessions can last up to 30 days. The letter requesting that the governor postpone the session was signed by Senate President Peter Micciche, House Speaker Louise Stutes, Senate Minority Leader Tom Begich and House Minority Leader Cathy Tilton. The Republican and D...
JUNEAU (AP) - A divided federal appeals court panel has struck down several campaign contribution caps in Alaska, including a $500-a-year limit on what an individual can give to a candidate for the Legislature or governor. The decision, released last Friday, also struck down a $500-a-year limit on individual contributions to non-party groups and the $3,000-a-year cap on total nonresident donations a legislative candidate can raise. It upheld as constitutional a $5,000 limit on what political parties can contribute to municipal candidates. A...
JUNEAU (AP) - An assistant state attorney general identified by a news outlet as the person behind a social media account that posted racist and antisemitic comments no longer works for the state Department of Law, an agency spokesperson said. Grace Lee said that Matthias Cicotte’s last day with the department was July 27. She declined to say if he resigned or fired. The department last week said it had assigned Cicotte’s cases to other employees while it investigated the matter. Attorney General Treg Taylor, in a statement, cited con...
JUNEAU (AP) – Absent an appeal and reversal by the state Supreme Court, Alaskans next year will select candidates for governor, Legislature and Congress without partisan primary elections. A state court judge on July 29 upheld a new voting process set to take effect for next year’s elections. Superior Court Judge Gregory Miller said, “that the voters in November 2020 chose one system over the other does not make the new law … unconstitutional.” Voters last year approved a system that will end party primaries and institute ranked-ch...
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Baby salmon are dying by the thousands in one California river, and an entire run of endangered salmon could be wiped out in another. Fishermen who make their living off adult salmon are sounding the alarm as blistering heat waves and extended drought in the U.S. West raise water temperatures and imperil fish from Idaho to California. Hundreds of thousands of young salmon are dying in Northern California's Klamath River as low water levels brought about by drought allow a...
Wrangell’s half-dozen new COVID-19 cases July 15-27 are a small piece of a wave of infections spreading across Alaska, with more than 2,200 cases reported statewide during that same period. Most of the new cases are people who have not been vaccinated, state officials said. The hardest-hit communities have been Sitka, the Kenai Peninsula, Cordova, Anchorage, Fairbanks, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and Juneau, though almost all of Alaska is at high alert this week based on rising case counts. There were 95 COVID patients in Alaska hospitals a...
The borough’s plans to subdivide the former Wrangell Institute Native boarding school property will wait until a thorough inspection of the site is conducted for cultural artifacts and remains. “We are working with both the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and working with the tribe (Wrangell Cooperative Association),” to ensure the property is searched “before any activity takes place,” Mayor Steve Prysunka said last week. “It is incredibly sensitive that we do it really well,” Prysunka said. “What I care the most a...
"Mostly what I do, when I'm not busy, is I mostly sit inside and ... just think about what I'm going to do," Jonah Hurst said. Jonah, 8 years old, is the young entrepreneur behind Jonah's Lobtail Lemonade, a lemonade stand he set up along the driveway at Panhandle Trailer Court. Jonah said the name came from the whales that swim around Wrangell Island, sometimes beating the top of the water with their tails. With his lemonade stand, he is making money and learning more about running a business....
The borough assembly Tuesday evening approved a lease amendment for a new cell tower at the Shoemaker Harbor, which the developer said will bring improved cell service to the island. Action on a second agreement to lease borough land for a new tower next to the landfill at the north end of the island was postponed to the assembly’s Aug. 10 meeting, waiting for a property appraisal. The Shoemaker tower will replace a shorter pole installed in 2007 near the parking lot. The new 125-foot-tall tower will be capable of providing improved cell s...
Some of the key players in legislative efforts to reach a compromise on a long-term fiscal plan for the state — in addition to settling on an amount for this fall’s Permanent Fund dividend — say growing regional, political and economic differences, plus a large number of first-term legislators, make the effort harder. “To find a common ground means people have to give up something,” said Anchorage Sen. Natasha von Imhof. That compromise of spending versus revenues versus dividends has to add up to a solution that balances the checkbook...
The Sentinel on July 22 incorrectly reported that Baked for Breakfast plans to add something similar to “Diamond C hash browns” to its menu. The news story should have reported the dish would be similar to “Diamond C hash.” The Sentinel apologizes for not hashing out the difference before publication....
Salmon harvests are coming in slowly in the Wrangell-Petersburg area, according to Sea Level Seafoods and the state fisheries biologist out of Petersburg. Though it’s too early for a lot of specific numbers, both report catches have been lower than in previous seasons. “It’s going pretty slow,” said Nik Morozov, manager at Wrangell’s Sea Level plant. “We’re close to half of what we normally do.” Morozov said he has three tenders out right now, and had been assuming they would fill up and bring back loads of fish quickly, but that is not hap...
Sigrid Vanek, driftwood sculptor, "raises wildlife" on her Wrangell beachfront property. This summer, a curious bear made an appearance for Bearfest, the annual event now underway in town. For years, the life-size, captivating animals have delighted family members and neighbors, startled tour ship passengers, and amused visitors from around the world who ask permission to photograph the wooden zoo. Born and raised in Palmer, Vanek was introduced to Wrangell by Ken Lewis. Their annual Wrangell...
The U.S. Postal Service will officially release the "Raven Story" stamp at 11 a.m. Friday at the Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau. The stamp, designed by Juneau-based Rico Lanáat' Worl, a Tlingit and Athabascan artist, depicts Raven freeing the sun, stars and moon. The ceremony will be streamed live through the heritage institute's YouTube channel. The Postal Service said Antonio Alcalá, who served as art director on the project, reached out to Worl about creating the stamp after seeing h...
There's some new leadership at the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce, but the organization's mission is still the same: To promote and support local businesses. To do so, said the new executive director Britani Robbins, there are big but currently secret plans for the future. "I have lots of new ideas, but they're secret," she said. "I plan on having a fair amount more events following COVID. Everything's opening back up. When I was a kid Wrangell was all about events and community gatherings, and I...
The Della G, a Wrangell fishing vessel owned and operated by the Churchill family, was lost to a fire in Juneau on July 13. Nobody was on board the 32-foot boat at the time of the fire, according to news reports in Juneau. The Wrangell community has started to come together to help the Churchills. According to news reports, the Della G was in Gastineau Channel near the Juneau airport. Reports of the fire came in before midnight, but the response was delayed. “Initially unable to get through the wetlands to the fire from the airport side, Juneau...
The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium has joined the list of health care providers encouraging Alaskans to participate in the potentially money-saving special enrollment period for insurance offered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The latest round of federal aid for people hurt by the pandemic’s hit to the economy, the American Rescue Plan Act, includes “additional insurance subsidies and (ACA) plan options for individuals and families,” SEARHC explained in a prepared statement July 22. “During this one-time special enrollm...
Although the directional signs for each hole have not yet arrived, eager disc golf players are tossing their way through the 18-basket course at Muskeg Meadows. "People are playing, it's just not well marked yet," said Kristi Woodbury, board president for Muskeg Meadows Golf Course. After a couple of years of work, the baskets went in last fall, she said. The baskets were delayed by COVID-19. The manufacturing plant closed down at the start of the pandemic last March, pushing off delivery until...
