Sorted by date Results 3603 - 3627 of 7954
Friends started a GoFundMe campaign Tuesday evening for the Halee Mathis and Darryl Bartlett family after an afternoon fire damaged their trailer home on Shoemaker Loop Road. No one was home at the time of the fire, Bartlett said, except for the family’s pet turtle, Raph, which the fire department saved. This was the second house fire to hit his family in four years, Bartlett said. Fire Chief Tim Buness said the cause of the fire was uncertain, but they believe it had something to do with the kitchen stove. Several of the trailer’s roof sup...
Advocates who wanted to limit cruise ship visits to Juneau failed to gather enough signatures to place three initiatives on the October municipal election ballot. The group, Juneau Cruise Control, needed about 3,000 signatures to put the questions on the ballot, but failed to collect the required amount. Instead, they presented letters June 2 addressed to borough assembly members, asking that they impose limits on cruise ships coming to town, and for the cruise ship companies and tour operators to voluntarily limit their impacts on the communit...
Not surprisingly in a state that hasn’t raised its motor fuel tax rate in 50 years, the Alaska Legislature this session failed to approve a measure to raise the rate, nor did it pass legislation to tax e-cigarettes the same as tobacco products or reinstate the so-called education “head tax” that lawmakers abolished more than 40 years ago. Bills to adopt a state income tax and raise oil taxes made little progress this year, despite the fact that Alaska has drained its savings over the years to cover spending. Legislation that failed to win House...
Wrangell’s first king salmon derby since 2017 is just days away from dropping hooks in the water. The derby opens Tuesday and will run through June 30, ending in time for the start of the long Fourth of July holiday weekend. The community’s 66th king derby had been on hold the past few years, due to weak salmon runs. Derby tickets, at $25 each, and the derby booklet with rules and fishing area map will be available this week at Angerman’s, the Totem Bar, Sentry Hardware and the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce office in the Stikine Inn, said Steph...
Plans are underway for a four-day Fourth of July celebration in Wrangell, with just a few gaps still to fill. Chairpersons were needed as of Monday for the July 3 Big Wheels races and July 4 parade, said Stephanie Cook, of the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce, which runs the annual festivities. Food and game vendors still were needed for the ballpark area during the fireworks the evening of July 3, she said. The fireworks will go off about 11 p.m. July 3, with a couple of warning shots shortly before the first one goes up. This year’s parade g...
In the first reported cases since May 6, borough officials announced two new COVID-19 infections June 2. Both were Wrangell residents, both initially showed no symptoms when they were tested, and one had recently traveled outside of Alaska. Both were isolating after their test results came back positive, the borough reported. The two cases bring to 62 the number reported in town since the pandemic started more than a year ago. In Ketchikan, the COVID case count has decreased in recent weeks from a high of more than 100 active cases in mid-May t...
Todd Torvend and Stacie Bacon will be married at 6 p.m. July 3 on the City Dock. A reception will follow at the Elks Lodge. “Everyone is invited who wants to share our day....
"I always enjoyed reading, I plundered the local library when I was a kid," said Max Florschutz. Florschutz, 35, lives in Utah but grew up in Wrangell. He moved away to attend college at Bringham Young University in Provo, Utah, in 2004, and later decided to stay in Utah, he said, but continues to make regular trips back to Wrangell to visit friends, family and the library. "I do come back and visit Wrangell, I was actually there a few weeks ago," he said. "I was absolutely thrilled during my...
Silversea Cruises, operator of the 600-passenger Silver Muse, last week confirmed its resumption of cruises to Alaska, with its website listing three sailings that include stops in Wrangell. The Silver Muse, with capacity for 400 crew members, will be the largest cruise ship to visit Wrangell this summer. The company on June 1 announced its return to Alaska. It said last month’s congressional action that waived a stop in Canada will allow the cruises to resume. The ship is scheduled to leave Seattle on its first 10-day cruise on July 29, a...
The Petersburg borough is offering $10,000 in prizes during June to encourage residents who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 to get the shot. The Sleeves Up Petersburg drawing is sponsored by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, with money distributed through the Alaska Chamber of Commerce. It’s part of a campaign to increase the state’s vaccination rate by 25%. “That’s the drive from the start, to increase our vaccination rate and get out of this pandemic,” said Petersburg Incident Commander Karl Hagerman. “Let’s ge...
MIAMI (AP) - Royal Caribbean International said it will require vaccinations for passengers 16 and older on cruises to Alaska, and that crew members on all of its ships will be vaccinated against COVID-19 before it restarts cruise operations __next month to Alaska and from ports in Texas and Florida. The vaccination requirement will be expanded to cover Alaska-bound passengers 12 and over starting Aug. 1. Royal Caribbean is the latest of most other major cruise operators to Alaska - in...
JUNEAU (AP) – The state of Alaska has begun offering free COVID-19 vaccines at airports, a move that was planned a month ago for the start of the summer travel season as an additional enticement for visitors to come to Alaska. The state health department said vaccine eligibility was expanded June 1 to include anyone in Alaska who is at least 12 years old, including visitors from other states or countries. In addition to airport vaccination sites in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau, the state has opened up all its other sites around the state for...
WASILLA (AP) - An Alaska bride-to-be mailed out her wedding invitations last month and eagerly waited for friends and family to respond. And kept waiting. ``We were kind of wondering why we weren’t receiving any RSVPs, but we really didn’t think much of it,’’ Crystle Lewis, of Wasilla, told news station Anchorage KTUU-TV. It turns out, they had incorrect postage on their invitations. Their style of invitation, with a wax seal on the back of the envelope, required extra postage. A notice had been sent to the post office box on the return...
Upright pianos in Skagway bars dating from the Gold Rush. Grand pianos worth tens of thousands of dollars in Anchorage and Sitka. Bob Hope's piano while he was on a USO tour in Alaska. Plus private, church and school pianos in Wrangell. Virgel Hale has tuned them all in his 51-year career traveling around Alaska. But now, at age 81, he's retiring, and will be staying home with his wife, Patsy, who has health problems, in Mountain Grove, Missouri, closer to kids and grandkids. "I hate to call it...
The Petersburg borough is offering $10,000 in prizes during June to encourage residents who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 to get the shot. The Sleeves Up Petersburg drawing is sponsored by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, with money distributed through the Alaska Chamber of Commerce. It’s part of a campaign to increase the state's vaccination rate by 25%. "That's the drive from the start, to increase our vaccination rate and get out of this pandemic," said Petersburg Incident Commander Karl Hagerman. "Let's get back t...
A preliminary plat for the first phase of developing the former Wrangell Institute property into residential and commercial lots, known as Shoemaker Bay Subdivision II, was approved by the planning and zoning commission Tuesday afternoon. There is still a lot of work to do, but this is a significant step in the development process, said Wrangell Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore. It may be optimistic, she said, but site work could begin sometime next year. Final plat approval by the commission could be several months away, Rushmore...
"Middle school here I come!" said Silje Morse, one of 15 fifth graders at Evergreen Elementary, during her last day of school. Evergreen marked the end of the school year last Thursday with a celebration on the school playground. Every class, from kindergarten to fifth grade, got a hotdog lunch and cupcakes. They then also got to run, dance, and in some cases cartwheel in a procession across the playground. Afterward, following a brief return to class to wrap up the day, the kids officially...
The number of senior citizens receiving a state-mandated property tax break on their homes continues to climb in Wrangell, totaling 280 homes this year and costing the borough $400,000 in lost tax revenues. Wrangell is not alone in the rising number, as several Alaska communities are seeing consistent growth in their senior citizen population. More than one in five Wrangell residents is age 65 or older, according to state statistics. About 15% of the assessed property value in Wrangell is exempt from borough taxes under the state-required...
The borough assembly has rezoned several lots adjacent to Wrangell’s solid waste transfer site, allowing installation of a cell phone tower on the city-owned land if the developer can obtain a conditional-use permit for such use of the property. A public hearing and further consideration by the Planning and Zoning Commission is required for a conditional-use permit. The assembly, in two unanimous votes May 25, approved rezoning the seven parcels to open space / public zoning, and allowing communication facilities, including cell towers, as a c...
In an effort to reduce waste and provide good soil for gardens, the Wrangell Cooperative Association is encouraging people to bring their compostable waste to the community garden, out by City Park. The WCA took over the composting project about a year ago, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic things got put on hold. “In 2018 Chris Hatton (of WCA) completed a solid waste assessment, and in those findings she discovered that 40% of our waste that is being shipped is compostable,” said Kim Wickman, with the WCA. “We had big plans, then COVID happe...
The borough again this summer will use federal funds to cover the cost of COVID-19 testing for Sea Level Seafoods employees. The borough assembly voted 4-3 at its May 25 meeting to appropriate up to $70,000 in federal funds to pay for testing this year. Testing last year cost the borough about $22,000. “Administration is requesting an amount more than triple last year’s expenditure because it is our understanding Sea Level would like to institute a far more robust testing regime than last year,” Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen briefed the assem...
For the third year in a row, the borough will provide $1.3 million in funding for Wrangell schools, the largest spending category in the municipal budget. About $700,000 of the local contribution to next year’s school district budget will come from Wrangell’s general fund revenues of sales and property taxes, with about $600,000 in federal financial assistance directed to Wrangell under a U.S. Forest Service nationwide program of payments to rural communities. The borough assembly approved the $1.3 million appropriation without opposition May...
Setting the amount of this year's Permanent Fund dividend - and deciding on how to pay the cost - continues to hold up agreement on a state spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The Legislature has been in special session since May 20. The joint House-Senate conference committee that was appointed to settle budget differences has met only a few times, briefly reviewing non-controversial items, with a meeting expected sometime Wednesday. Most legislators have left Juneau to...
Ending a long hiatus of cruise ship visitors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wrangell received its first cruise ship of the season last Friday. The Kruzof Explorer, operated by Sitka-based Alaskan Dream Cruises, delivered about a dozen tourists to town for a day-long visit - the first ship to call on Wrangell since 2019. "We're having a great time with Alaskan Dream Cruises," said Susan Igdaloff, of Newhall, California, one of the visitors. "We're very fortunate we were able to stop in Wrangell."...
The state has paid a cash settlement to a second former employee who alleged her firing early in the administration of Gov. Mike Dunleavy was political, not based on merit or job performance. A former assistant public advocate for the state will receive $75,000 as part of a settlement in a case she brought against Dunleavy, a former chief of staff and the state that alleged wrongful firing. Kelly Parker agreed to drop her lawsuit as part of the agreement, signed last month, the Anchorage Daily News reported last Thursday. The agreement says...
