Sorted by date Results 3191 - 3215 of 7954
After no cruise ship visitors in 2020 and this year's pandemic-anemic numbers in the hundreds, Wrangell next year could see ships with berths for close to 20,000 passengers pull into town. In 2019, 21,540 passengers visited Wrangell, according to data compiled by Rain Coast Data for the Wrangell Convention and Visitor Bureau. Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska has released its 2022 calendar for the vessels it represents, mostly larger vessels sailing under a foreign flag. The passenger capacity of...
Lisa Von Bargen is leaving after a little more than four years as borough manager, but that will not stop her from thinking about Wrangell. For now, she needs to help take care of her mother in Valdez, easing the burden on her sister, she said. “I don’t really want to leave Wrangell. I love it here,” Von Bargen said. “If I have an opportunity to do something here in town or Southeast, I would. I’m not giving up my condo right now unless it becomes absolutely necessary. So hopefully I’ll have...
The borough assembly acknowledged the life-giving watershed that feeds the Stikine River, which crosses the U.S.-Canada border, in approving a resolution to support efforts to protect Southeast Alaska’s three transboundary waters from mining pollution. The resolution references the ecosystem, Indigenous people, communities, residents and economies that depend on the health of the Stikine River. The assembly on Tuesday approved a “Wrangellized” version of a resolution that was originally scheduled for consideration Sept. 28. “The assembly furthe...
The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium reports 100% compliance with its policy requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for all employees and contractors. “Very few have left employment due to the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine,” Maegan Bosak, a senior SEARHC official in Sitka, said last week. The health care provider operates in 19 Southeast communities. It has more than 1,500 employees, contractors and travelers, Bosak said, including more than 200 in Wrangell, where it operates the hospital, dental clinic, pharmacy and other services. “SE...
A memorial dedicated to those who made their lives on the sea or perished at sea is in its final stages. The Wrangell Mariners' Memorial at Heritage Harbor is in a last push for funds, said board member Jeff Jabusch, and is taking applications for commemorative plaques that will be installed at the site. People who died at sea will have an anchor insignia on their marker, and people who made their lives on the sea but died on land will not, Jabusch said. The memorial board is holding a...
The borough assembly on Tuesday discussed — but took no action — on Wrangell’s COVID-19 testing and isolation policy as it affects unvaccinated students who travel out of town for sports and activities. The school district had requested a waiver of the policy. The district currently allows unvaccinated students who travel for games or other activities to return to school and practice without isolating until their test results come back, so long as the students follow the school district’s weekly testing protocols and mitigation plan. The sch...
A medical equipment loan closet in Wrangell offers items free of charge for anyone who needs assistance on a short-term basis. Alice Rooney, a retired social worker, volunteers with Hospice of Wrangell, also known as Harriet's Helpers. She has been helping run the closet which stocks wheelchairs, walkers, braces, bedpans, hospital beds, grabbers, commodes and other items. The loan closet is located in a corner of the former Wrangell Medical Center next to Evergreen Elementary School on Bennett...
The six Alaska communities that shared in a $10 million pandemic-relief gift from Norwegian Cruise Line have found various ways to spend the money — or save it for later. Seward committed much of its share to help provide child care services. Skagway set aside nearly half-a-million dollars to pay out as cash to residents this winter. The cruise line in May announced it would donate $10 million to communities that had been on the company’s itineraries and suffered economically with the loss of cruise ship travelers last year and again this sum...
A federal effort to help Southeast diversify its economy includes $25 million to be shared across the entire region — and Wrangell has weighed in with its requests. The U.S. Forest Service launched the Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy over the summer to help promote “a diverse economy, enhanced community resilience, and conserved natural resources.” From Sept. 15 to Oct. 18, the agency sought input from communities and tribes for projects that could fulfill that strategy. Participants submitted 240 project proposals to spend the $25 m...
Imagine performing in a band or choir but not being able to practice with the other performers on the stage. That's how students from Southeast high schools have to approach Honors Fest. Each year, high schoolers from across the region audition for the event, and this year two students from Wrangell were scheduled to perform on Tuesday with 73 other musicians in Ketchikan. The event was supposed to be held at Wrangell High School last year. Normally, about 120 students perform during Honors...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Seeking a 26th term in the U.S. House, Alaska Rep. Don Young will face a Republican challenger in 2022 with strong name recognition in the state. Nicholas Begich III has filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to challenge Young’s hold on the state’s sole seat in the U.S. House. Young is only the fourth person to hold the seat since statehood and won it in a special election a year after Begich’s grandfather, Rep. Nick Begich, was declared dead after his plane went missing while flying to Juneau in 1972. But unl...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — An Alabama man living in Alaska whom a judge alleged was “leading the charge” during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was denied release Oct. 21 in an Alaska courtroom while his case proceeds. Christian Matthew Manley waived his right to preliminary hearing and asked that he be immediately transferred to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the jurisdiction prosecuting those charged in the riot. Manley faces several charges, including assaulting or resisting officers using a dangerous weapon; civil...
The Alaska Legislature is in special session but it’s quiet at the Capitol, where many legislative offices have been dark, floor sessions in some cases have lasted seconds and little progress has been made toward resolving the state’s fiscal issues. Since the session started Oct. 4 in Juneau, House committees have had five meetings on fiscal-related topics, all in Anchorage; the Senate has had no such hearings. “I don’t think it’s making a lot of sense to be here doing what we’re doing right now. If we’re not going to do anything, gav...
The cost of keeping the idled state ferry Malaspina at the dock in Ketchikan is nearly twice as much as reported to the public and state lawmakers. That's according to internal emails obtained by CoastAlaska under state public records law. The nearly 60-year-old Malaspina, one of the marine highway's original three sister ships, hasn't carried passengers in almost two years. It's costing the state almost $900,000 a year to insure and maintain the unused ship. Gov. Mike Dunleavy's administration...
It gets so heavy, sometimes you just want to put it down is how Virginia Oliver describes preserving the Tlingit language. "You want to cry," she said, "because it feels like your brain is going to explode. But then, your Elders just tell you, 'It's too heavy right now, just put it down for a little while and pick it back up.'" The international Endangered Languages Project and a U.N. agency estimate there are 200 fluent Tlingit speakers left, but the majority of the sources for that data are a...
It's like nothing they've ever had to deal with in business. Supply chain disruptions stemming from the pandemic have made it harder and more expensive to get groceries, building supplies, appliances and even flowers, causing Wrangell businesses to wait sometimes more than a year for deliveries. COVID-19 has had crippling effects on the U.S. economy, decreasing the amount of workers and increasing the amount of time it can take to receive goods and services. In a report issued by the White...
A lifeline for food and supplies needs fixing - one of the flotation tanks beneath Wrangell's barge ramp has a hole. Port Director Steve Miller said harbor staff at the end of August noticed the ramp wasn't raising high enough. There are two buoyancy tanks below the ramp. By adding or removing air, the ramp, originally constructed in 1977, can be raised or lowered to meet the deck of the barge to match the tides. A second flotation tank was added in the 1980s to handle the additional weight when...
The borough received five applications for the interim borough manager position: Jeff Good, of Wrangell; Gene Green, of Silverton, Oregon; Mark Lynch, of Stanford, Illinois; Darrell Maple, of Jacksonville, Oregon; and David Palmer, of Anacortes, Washington. Manager Lisa Von Bargen’s last day will be Oct. 29. The interim borough manager will fulfill the duties of manager until a new manager can be hired. The position will be a short-time hire, with an expected commitment of between one to three months, according to the borough's job notice. P...
Moose hunting season came to an end on Oct. 15, and the trend to top 100 kills in the region continued for the eighth year in a row. According to Frank Robbins, Alaska Department Fish and Game wildlife biologist, 85 moose were killed in Unit 3, which includes Wrangell, Mitkof, Kupreanof, Woewodski and Zarembo islands. Of those 76, five were on Wrangell. Unit 1B, which encompasses Farragut Bay, the Stikine River, Thomas Bay and other mainland areas, had 34 legal kills. The Stikine had the...
Skagway’s borough assembly has voted unanimously to work with the Skagway Traditional Council to authorize ground-penetrating radar — and some shovel work — at the former Pious X Mission School site, which operated from 1932 to 1959 and served about 60 Indigenous children. The property is now owned by the municipality, which uses it as a seasonal RV park. The borough in recent years has considered redeveloping the property as a housing subdivision or making utility improvements and continuing RV services for independent travelers. The Skagw...
The borough will be asking for “archaeological proposals” for a ground survey of the former Wrangell Institute property, consulting with state and federal agencies and the Wrangell Cooperative Association on the process before any work begins. The borough had been waiting on guidance from the U.S. Department of the Interior, which has pledged that surveys will be conducted of former Alaska Native and American Indian boarding school sites nationwide. But the department “really doesn’t have any guidance on this,” said Carol Rushmore, Wrangell...
Monday’s state ferry to Petersburg and Juneau was the last northbound sailing scheduled for Wrangell until Dec. 10. With the Matanuska pulled out of service for winter maintenance, the Alaska Marine Highway System will operate at a reduced schedule until the ship returns in December. That means a loss of weekly northbound and southbound stops in Wrangell. The Kennicott is covering Southeast in place of the Matanuska, but the Kennicott also will serve Cordova and Whittier in Prince William Sound, resulting in less time — and fewer port cal...
The borough is moving forward with a much-needed elevator project at the high school. After researching options, it was determined that the entire elevator needs to be replaced rather than repaired. School district staff hopes that, if all goes smoothly, the project will be finished by the start of the 2022/2023 school year. Josh Blatchley, head of the school district maintenance department, said an oil leak was discovered at the bottom of the elevator's hydraulic ram in March of 2020. Any resea...
Wrangell’s vaccination rate continues to improve, while just two new COVID-19 cases were reported in the first 19 days of the month and people continue asking the borough for free face masks. The community’s low numbers are much improved over August and September, which together accounted for almost half of Wrangell’s COVID-19 cases since March 2020. As of Tuesday, 68% of Wrangell residents eligible for a vaccination had received at least their first dose, up from 61% three months ago, according to state health department statistics. Thoug...
JUNEAU (AP) — The longest-serving Republican in the U.S. House is appearing in a new round of ads urging Alaskans to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Ads featuring Rep. Don Young are being paid for by the Conquer COVID Coalition, Young spokesperson Zack Brown said by email Monday. The coalition, which includes businesses and health care and Alaska Native organizations, seeks to educate people on steps to guard against COVID-19. Young, 88, “believes the vaccines are safe, effective and can help save lives,” Brown said in response to quest...
