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The borough assembly has denied the school district’s request for an exemption from Wrangell’s testing and isolation requirements for unvaccinated students who travel. In October, the district had requested students and staff traveling for extracurricular activities, such as sports, be exempt from the borough’s COVID-19 emergency ordinance testing and isolation requirements since it wouldn’t allow students and staff to attend events on back-to-back weekends. The assembly denied the request at its Nov. 9 meeting. “We believed, based on the la...
School board member Laura Ballou has resigned her position, citing the personal responsibilities of her full-time nurse practitioner job and her farm, Oceanview Gardens. The school board accepted the resignation at its Nov. 15 meeting and began the process of filling Ballou’s seat. “I would like to thank Laura Ballou for her service on the board,” board president David Wilson said. “I appreciate all that she does, especially on the board. Working with her was a joy.” In her letter of resignation, Ballou wrote, “It is with a heavy heart that...
It will be spring before the city barge ramp is back in operation, with repairs taking several months longer than expected. Until then, the weekly Alaska Marine Lines freight barges will have to continue to side-tie at the former sawmill dock at the Marine Service Center. The borough assembly at its Nov. 9 meeting authorized $115,000 for the project to fix the damaged barge ramp flotation tank. Workers last month pulled the tank off the end of the barge ramp for repairs of a leak that had reduced its buoyancy. A local contractor, Tim Heller,...
La Niña climate conditions could yield lower-than-normal temperatures in Wrangell and the rest of Southeast this winter. The National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center last month released its 2021 winter outlook for December through February. La Niña climate conditions have emerged for the second winter in a row, according to the National Weather Service. That means there’s a good chance Southeast could receive above-average snowfall and below-average temperatures again this year, said Cody Moore, meteorologist at the Weather Ser...
An all-day boating safety class, Alaska Water Wise, will be offered Saturday at the Nolan Center, presented by the state Office of Boating Safety and volunteers who are working to organize a Wrangell detachment of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. The free class will run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a lunch break, and will cover boat operations, emergencies, cold water survival, navigation rules and boating laws. “It’s a lot of different safety topics,” said Liz Buness, one of the organizers. “Hopefully, we’ll have more programs like this in t...
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A coalition of 10 states, including Alaska, sued the federal government on Nov. 10 to block a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for health care workers, adding to resistance by Republican-led states against the pandemic policies of President Joe Biden’s administration. It’s the third such lawsuit Alaska has joined against vaccination rules. The latest lawsuit filed in a federal court in Missouri contends that the vaccine requirement threatens the jobs of millions of health care workers and could “exacerbate an alarming sho...
A divided Alaska Redistricting Board voted last week on a final map that could give one of the more conservative areas of the state, Eagle River, a second seat in the state Senate. All three board members appointed by Republican elected officials supported the map. The two who were not appointed by Republicans opposed the map. In addition to redrawing the boundaries for the state’s 40 House seats, the board had to decide the pairings of two House districts each to create 20 Senate seats. It was those Senate district boundaries that prompted l...
Loose trash goes in and comes out in compact, 50-cubic-foot bales, strapped up and ready to ship out of state. The combination masher and baler has been at work at Wrangell’s trash transfer station since late October. Rather than shipping out loose garbage in open-top containers, Wrangell can now load the bales into closed containers. Alaska Marine Lines, which hauls trash out of Wrangell and several other Southeast communities, had told the towns that it needed everyone to switch to closed containers after a couple of fires in open containers...
The Ketchikan city council has decided to use the community’s $2 million gift from Norwegian Cruise Line to help cover lost revenue in the town’s ailing port fund. The city finance director reported to the council that port revenues fell by more than 99% when cruise ships stopped calling in 2020 — from more than $10 million in 2019 to roughly $82,000 in 2020. And it wasn’t much better this year: Revenue is expected to come in at about $1.35 million, as a limited number of ships operated in the shortened visitor season. Without an immediate cash...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Alaska doctors plan to ask the State Medical Board to investigate concerns about the spread of misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines and treatments by other physicians. Merijeanne Moore, a private practice psychiatrist, said she drafted the letter out of concern over an event about COVID-19 treatments that featured prominent vaccine skeptics in Anchorage last month. Moore said last Saturday that nearly 100 doctors had signed the letter and more could before she plans to submit the letter this week. “We are writing out of con...
JUNEAU (AP) — Kelly Tshibaka, who is running for the Alaska U.S. Senate seat held by fellow Republican Lisa Murkowski, has announced plans for a fundraiser hosted by former President Donald Trump in February at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. “It’s a great honor to have the endorsement and enthusiastic support of President Trump and I am thrilled that he will be hosting this event,” Tshibaka said in a statement Nov. 3. Tshibaka, a former commissioner of the state Department of Administration under Gov. Mike Dunleavy, announced plans in...
WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who voted to convict President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial and had called for his resignation after the Jan. 6 insurrection, announced last Friday she will run for reelection in 2022. Trump, who has focused on punishing his political opponents, has endorsed top Murkowski opponent Kelly Tshibaka, saying "Lisa Murkowski is bad for Alaska." Murkowski pushed back in a campaign video that promotes her as "independent and tough." "In...
JUNEAU (AP) — Wildlife officials have announced a one-month trapping season for wolves on and near Prince of Wales Island, despite concerns conservationists have raised about the population. A statement from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and U.S. Forest Service announced state and federal trapping seasons will run from Nov. 15 to Dec. 15. The statement cited a fall 2020 Fish and Game estimate of 386 wolves, which it called the most current estimate and one that was higher than expected “considering it followed a reported harvest of...
When Bruce Funk left his Whitehorse home at 8:30 a.m. Yukon time on Nov. 8, he didn’t expect cookies, hot chocolate, a band playing “O Canada,” news reporters, curious residents, a police escort, Haines Mayor Douglas Olerud and a gift basket all waiting for him at the visitor information center. But that’s exactly what welcomed the first Canadian visitor to cross the highway into Haines in nearly two years. The U.S. opened its land and ferry borders to fully vaccinated foreigners on Nov. 8. Funk expected a line of cars when he got to the border...
SEATTLE (AP) — Of the 109 cargo containers that went overboard from a cargo ship that caught fire near British Columbia last month, 105 have not been seen, according to the Canadian Coast Guard. In all, 57 tons of potassium amyl xanthate, used in mines and pulp mills, and thiourea dioxide, used to manufacture textiles, were aboard the Zim Kingston in four containers: two that fell overboard and the two that caused the onboard fire, the Seattle Times reported. The two containers containing hazardous materials are among those that have not b...
A Coast Guard Air Station Sitka helicopter crew rescued four fishermen from a life raft after their 53-foot boat sank late evening Nov. 10 about 55 miles south of Sitka, 90 miles west of Wrangell. The four were in stable condition after arriving in Sitka less than three hours after the sinking, the Coast Guard said. Coast Guard watchstanders in Juneau said the crew of the longliner Julia Breeze radioed for help at 10:40 p.m. Nov. 10, reporting the boat was taking on water and they were abandoning ship near Cape Ommaney. The Coast Guard...
Majestic, increasingly hungry and at risk of disappearing, the polar bear is dependent on something melting away on our warming planet: sea ice. In the harsh and unforgiving Arctic, where frigid cold is not just a way of life but a necessity, the polar bear stands out. But where it lives, where it hunts, where it eats is disappearing underfoot in the crucial summertime. “They have just always been a revered species by people, going back hundreds and hundreds of years,” said longtime government polar bear researcher Steve Amstrup, now chief scie...
While Wrangell has counted 11 new COVID-19 infections in the past week, Petersburg was at 69 active cases as of late Monday, with a mandatory face mask order in place and public buildings closed. Almost 20% of COVID tests administered in Petersburg in the past seven days had come back positive, the borough reported on its website Monday. The active case count set a pandemic record for the community, going past the old record of 68 from March 3. Petersburg was hit with 85 cases from mid-February to the first week of March, its highest numbers...
The finance department has decided the borough will resume collection efforts and power disconnects for severely delinquent residential utility customers after COVID-era payment moratoriums and grace periods have ended. The borough on Tuesday shut off the power to three residences that had failed to make payment or set up a payment plan; two of those account holders paid their bill the same day and had their power restored. Though a state moratorium on utility shutoffs expired a year ago, the borough instituted its own grace period, said...
An addiction recovery center operator is interested in possibly buying the former hospital to open a residential and outpatient treatment center in Wrangell. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida-based Regard Recovery Centers planned to send a representative, Casey Odell, to the borough assembly’s Tuesday meeting this week to introduce the organization, discuss its interest in the former Wrangell Medical Center property, and to schedule a time in the coming weeks for a follow-up visit to Wrangell, Amber Al-Haddad, capital facilities director, reported to t...
Wrangell’s first clinic for children ages 5 through 11 to get vaccinated against COVID-19 is set for Thursday at the Wrangell Medical Center. Additional clinics will be scheduled. Parents and guardians can register online at searhc.org, or call the medical center at 907-874-7000 for more information. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week approved the Pfizer vaccine for young children. “Vaccines will be available by appointment, and a parent or caregiver must accompany the youth,...
Lt. Jon Tollerud and his wife, Rosie, along with a handful of volunteers have begun preparations for The Salvation Army's Thanksgiving and Christmas food boxes and toy drive programs. Depending on the time of year, the Salvation Army's food pantry serves more than 10% of Wrangell's population, Tollerud said. Food insecurities aren't necessarily any worse during the holiday season, he said, but the effort of the food pantry changes as needed to help those in need. Along with the food bags that...
Technology has made access to information and connection with people around the world instantly possible. It’s a valuable teaching tool for educators. But that same technology has a dark side, causing kids to misbehave and use social media inappropriately. It’s led to more parent and teacher oversight and, in some cases, suspension, even in Wrangell. Bob Davis, assistant principal of the high school and middle school, recently has sent out messages to parents letting them know about a slew of TikTok challenges that had made their way to Wra...
A free health screening program for women who are underinsured, uninsured or income-eligible has plenty of spots available. The Wisewoman Women's Health Program was created to establish a tradition of prevention and instill healthy behaviors for women who often find themselves putting everyone else in their life first, and their health last, said Tammi Meissner, Wisewoman program health educator, who took over the program at SEARHC in Wrangell in 2018. "It's a great opportunity for women who...
The parks and recreation department has approved an updated behavior policy, with consequences for violations. The policy was drafted after unruly behavior at open swim sessions led to some participants getting kicked out, Kate Thomas, parks and recreation director, said. The TikTok-inspired vandalism and pranks that school officials have seen were also on the department’s radar, she said. While they haven’t seen anything inspired by those trends, Thomas said parks and recreation wanted to get ahead by warning of the consequences. Those poo...