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As winter approaches, the Wrangell parks and recreation department has plans to clear a sledding hill popular with children. The hill is beyond the covered playground near the elementary school. Alder trees are encroaching on the area, limiting the space for play, said Kate Thomas, parks and recreation director, so the public works department is going to help clear those trees. In addition, the parking barriers are due for upgrades, according to a parks maintenance report. “The existing logs that delineate the roadway from the parking area a...
Attorneys general in 11 states, including Alaska, filed suit last Friday against President Joe Biden’s administration, challenging a new vaccine requirement for workers at companies with more than 100 employees. The lawsuit filed in the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals argues that the authority to compel vaccinations rests with the states, not the federal government. “This mandate is unconstitutional, unlawful, and unwise,” said the court filing by Missouri Attorney General and political candidate Eric Schmitt, one of sever...
The Juneau assembly will consider an ordinance that would amend the borough’s sales tax code to collect on goods and services sold aboard cruise ships, whether tied to the dock or anchored in front of town. The ordinance would amend a provision in code that currently exempts sales aboard cruise ships from the borough’s 5% tax. Services sold on board the ships but which are delivered or used on shore, such as bus or whale watching tours, cooking classes and other activities, already are subject to sales tax, but goods or services consumed abo...
JUNEAU (AP) — The state corporation that paid $12 million in public funds for federal oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the final days of the Trump administration is suing federal officials over what it calls improper actions that are preventing activities on the lands. The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority alleges federal officials have overstepped the law in suspending lease-related activities. The lease sale was held in January, shortly before President Joe Biden took office. Soon after taking o...
JUNEAU (AP) — Tribal and municipal government programs are trying to help child care providers in Juneau, but challenges remain even with higher wages and bonuses covered by the financial aid. Little Eagles and Ravens Nest Child Care Center has advertised continuously for positions since opening in February 2020, before the pandemic took hold. Pay starts around $17 an hour, and entry-level jobs come with tribal government benefits. “We now offer professional development courses and classes that we pay for. As well as … university credits that...
By Anita Snow and Terry Tang The Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) - Canadians Ian and Heather Stewart are savoring the idea of leaving behind this winter's subzero temperatures when the U.S. reopens its borders to nonessential land travel this week and they launch a long-delayed drive to their seasonal home in Fort Myers, Florida. Restrictions imposed by both countries during the coronavirus pandemic and their own concerns kept the retired couple and millions of other Canadians from driving south...
After more than 18 months without Canadian visitors, Haines could see an influx of RV traffic and coho fishermen this week. The U.S.-Canada border reopened for fully vaccinated Canadians on Monday. With coho still running and Yukoners long cut off from the sea, the quiet days of the pandemic in Haines could be waning. “Be prepared to maybe see a bunch of RVs,” said Haines Borough tourism director Steven Auch. “We’re looking forward to finally getting to see our friends we’ve been separated from forcibly for so long,” said Alaska Rod’s co-ow...
JUNEAU (AP) — The braking system on a plane carrying 42 people that overran a runway at Unalaska in 2019, killing a passenger, was compromised by anti-skid sensors that were not correctly wired, the National Transportation Safety Board determined. The incorrect wiring likely occurred during an overhaul at the landing gear manufacturer’s facility in 2017, but it was not discovered until after the accident, the Nov. 2 report said. The system “does not generate a fault (warning) based on incorrect wiring,” the report said. Also, the plane was not...
With approval from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaccinations against COVID-19 for children ages 5 through 11 could be available in Wrangell next week. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week approved the vaccine for children, and the CDC late Tuesday also approved the shots. The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, which was waiting on that decision, will soon start opening appointments to administer Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, Maegan Bosak, a senior SEARHC official in Sitka, s...
Jeffrey Good, who moved to Wrangell after retiring from the U.S. Coast Guard, started work Monday as interim borough manager, replacing Lisa Von Bargen until the assembly can make a permanent hire. The borough assembly last Thursday offered the position to Good, who was among five candidates for the job. Von Bargen's last day as manager was Friday. Good, the only local candidate, served as U.S. Coast Guard base director in Kodiak from 2017 to 2020, according to his résumé. He served as public w...
A private donation to St. Frances Animal Rescue has made it possible for the nonprofit shelter to keep operating after a difficult year. The shelter recently received a promise from a private donor to match every dollar donated from Nov. 1 of this year until Nov. 1, 2022, up to $10,000.Joan Sargent, the foster/adoption coordinator for St. Frances, is confident the shelter will be able to raise enough to reach its target of $35,000. That would allow the organization to keep moving toward its...
Alaska Airlines would like to be back to 2019 staffing levels and flight schedules by the end of the year. "That's our goal," Tim Thompson, company spokesman in Anchorage, said Monday. From the worst of the pandemic-induced collapse in air travel in the spring of 2020, when the airline carried 4,000 to 5,000 passengers a day across its entire route system, Alaska was back up to 108,000 revenue passengers a day for the quarter that ended Sept. 30, moving toward its pre-pandemic number of close to 140,000. Carrying all those passengers has meant...
For lovers of the written word, one might argue that walking into a library is like a family reunion, of the senses at least. The smell of paper and ink pulls memories of curling up with a book, no phone to check or competition for attention. Last Thursday, it felt like a reunion of the senses and also a library family reunion. November marks 100 years since the library opened its doors on Oct. 31, 1921. And before the cake could be cut and whittled down, former library director Kay Jabusch...
Women In Safe Homes has transformed a former youth detention center in Ketchikan into a safe haven for domestic and sexual abuse survivors. The new shelter opened Oct. 23, and serves residents of southern Southeast, including Wrangell. “We have people here right now from Wrangell,” Agnes Moran, executive director of WISH, said last week. The nonprofit will pay travel costs for out-of-town residents who need to stay at the facility, she said. About a dozen people a year from Wrangell come to the shelter, Moran said. The organization houses alm...
The Sentinel on Oct. 28 incorrectly reported on the dedication of a bench at the Wrangell Mariners’ Memorial to Ryan Miller, who died in a 2005 commercial fishing accident. The three memorial benches were a 2017 Wrangell High School senior project. The Ryan Miller bench was built by his son, Garrett Miller. The other two benches were built by Garrett’s cousin, Dawson Miller, and their friend, Sam Armstrong....
Rod Rhoades has a sick generator. It's down for the count after mechanical issues this summer, said the superintendent at Wrangell Municipal Light & Power. The generator is one of five that provide backup when Wrangell loses its feed from the Tyee Lake hydroelectric station. After Rhoades started in 2018, he brought a fifth generator online in 2020 to "give me some breathing room." Before that, there would be times when all four generators were running to meet power demand, he said, and for...
This year’s overall Southeast Alaska salmon harvest is headed toward 58 million fish, with pink salmon leading the tally at 48.2 million — more than 40% above the 10-year average for pinks. This summer’s pink catch was six times last year’s measly 8 million, and more than double the brood year of 2019. The numbers for fish tickets are still preliminary, said Troy Thynes, regional management coordinator for commercial fisheries with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Petersburg. “The main thing is the pink salmon run came in a lot stron...
Bob Russell recently returned to Alaska to continue his career pursuits in the technology arena. He started the next leg of his journey on July 2 as the school district's tech director, overseeing all computer equipment, internet connectivity, networking and learning devices. In short, if it's technology-related, Russell is in charge. Before coming to Wrangell, Russell and his wife, Kimberly, and Great Pyrenees dog, Yukon, lived in Tennessee. He had lived and worked in Fort Yukon some time...
The state has submitted for review its plan to spend $50 million in federal funds to help homeowners financially strained during the pandemic by loss of income to pay their mortgages. The U.S. Treasury Department is reviewing Alaska’s plan, along with those from other states. “Our mortgage plan is with Treasury for review and approval,” Stacy Barnes, governmental affairs director at the Alaska Housing Finance Corp., said last week. The $50 million is Alaska’s allocation of the $9.96 billion Congress appropriated for mortgage relief in the Ame...
By Garland Kennedy Sitka Sentinel staff writer Two years ago, a Russian-flagged inflatable catamaran sailed into Sitka, concluding a multi-year voyage from central Russia, through the Siberian river network, across the Bering Sea and along the Alaska coast. The vessel's Siberia-based crew now plans to repeat the voyage in reverse next spring and summer. Owner and captain of the Iskatel, Anatoly Kazakevich, said he had planned to begin the return trip last summer, but the pandemic sank those...
The borough finance department has “found” $2 million to add to its ledger of cash, cash equivalents and long- and short-term investments, boosting the total to closer to $38 million. The money wasn’t lost as much as left off a ledger. Joyce Mason, the finance director in 2020, had transferred $2 million from a UBS operating investment account into a KeyBank account invested in the Alaska Municipal League Investment Pool, said Mason Villarma, finance director. “That $2 million has been sitting in that KeyBank account since May of 2020,...
The Wrangell Senior Center wants to buy another bus for moving people around town, adding a four-wheel-drive vehicle to its operation, but it could be 2024 before the bus gets to town. The senior center already operates two buses, one for people and one for deliveries, but neither is four-wheel-drive, said Solvay Gillen, site manager at the senior center. Buying a four-wheel-drive bus would be helpful in the winter, she said. “Some of those roads are difficult to access in the wintertime,” Gillen said. “It makes a huge difference.” The $135,00...
The borough assembly has approved $75,600 to begin upgrades to the community’s water treatment plant. Assembly members on Oct. 26 agreed with the administration’s recommendation to move forward with the first phase in a multi-part solution to the ailing water filtration and delivery system. The funds would be used to buy two closed-loop cooling systems valued at $37,800 each. Tom Wetor, director of public works, explained that treated plant water is used to cool components within the ozone generators, one of the steps in the filtration pro...
KENAI (AP) — An impromptu fundraiser to allow a Kenai library to purchase books amid accusations of censorship has twice surpassed its goal. The fund was established after the Kenai City Council delayed accepting a federal grant until the library director provides a list of the books that would be purchased with the money. The council voted Oct. 20 to postpone action that would have accepted a grant to buy library materials related to health and wellness, including mental health, suicide prevention, self-care and reference books about Medicare...
Alaska and 17 other states filed three separate lawsuits last Friday to block President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal contractors, arguing that the requirement violates federal law. Attorneys general from Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming signed on to one lawsuit, which was filed in a federal district court in Missouri. Another group of states including Georgia, Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia filed a lawsuit in f...
