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Norwegian Cruise Line was the first operator to resume ticket sales for voyages to Alaska after Congress passed a bill that could help save the state’s annual summer pilgrimage of cruise ship visitors. Norwegian’s sailings will start the first week of August. A few hours after the House approved the measure last Thursday, following earlier passage by the Senate, Carnival Corp. joined Norwegian on the calendar. Carnival’s three largest cruise lines said they would run one ship each between Seattle and the bigger ports in Southeast Alaska start...
Following new federal guidelines, the Wrangell borough has decided that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are no longer required to wear face masks in borough facilities, programs and activities. Individual businesses can set their own policy. The borough issued the change in guidelines on May 18. As of last week, almost 60% of Wrangell residents age 16 and older had received at least one dose of a vaccine. “It’s the honor system,” Mayor Steve Prysunka said last Friday of the mask-free policy that applies only to vacci...
The Wrangell teachers union and school board have agreed on a new three-year contract that starts this summer and includes a 1% raise each year and higher out-of-pocket deductibles for teachers enrolled in the district’s insurance plan. The contract also includes an optional insurance plan with even higher deductibles that would reduce the share of premiums paid by the Wrangell Teachers’ Association. Employers have been increasingly switching in recent years to high-deductible plans in an effort to stem the rising cost of health insurance. The...
The weeks of cleaning up after others and asking pet owners to pick up what their dogs leave behind looks to have made a difference at Volunteer Park. Volunteer picker-upper Joan Sargent was at the park last Friday and said, “It’s so much better. … Right now I’m feeling pretty positive.” Sargent, who serves on the Parks and Recreation advisory board, estimates she collected more than 100 pounds of dog waste at the park this spring. “It was solid. You couldn’t walk across the entry area without tiptoeing.” She had written the borough assembl...
The community swimming pool has had to cancel a couple of sessions due to a lifeguard shortage, but a training class is scheduled for June 1-4 and it’s still open for sign-up. “This year we really haven’t been able to recruit,” said Parks and Recreation Director Kate Thomas. It usually takes about 20 part-timers to staff the pool, some working just a few hours. Many of the lifeguards are high school students or retirees working limited hours, Thomas said, and it takes a lot of juggling to fill all the slots to keep the pool in operati...
The Salvation Army has rounded up enough community donations to provide free lunches for 50 children a week during June and July. Separate donations are funding snacks for 75. “People have donated specifically to make sure kids in Wrangell have food this summer,” said Lt. Jon Tollerud, of the Wrangell Salvation Army. The program is limited and kids will be enrolled on a first-come, first-served basis, so Tollerud advises parents to call the Army at 874-3753 as soon as possible to sign up their children. The meals and snacks will start next Mon...
Not a single legislator voted against the bill to reconfigure the public advisory board for the Alaska Marine Highway System, taking away from governors the power to appoint half the members. The Senate president and House speaker would each appoint two of the nine board members, with the governor naming the other five to the panel that would advise the Department of Transportation on operations and long-term planning for the ferry system. The final decision on the change in state law rests with the governor, who will have until next month to...
Wrangell is one of four Southeast communities selected for a joint U.S. Forest Service and University of Alaska Southeast project to learn more about how the pandemic has affected the tourism industry in the region and what it means for the economy longer term. The other communities selected for the survey and report are Skagway, Hoonah and Angoon. “Each one is very unique,” said Robert Venables, executive director of the Southeast Conference, which is helping to publicize the online survey. “Take a look at Skagway, the biggest small port...
While the Alaska Legislature continues to work in special session this week on the state budget and deciding the amount of this year’s Permanent Fund dividend, lawmakers managed to pass 34 bills before the regular session ended last week — among the lowest number since statehood. Gov. Mike Dunleavy will have at least until sometime next month to decide whether to sign or veto the bills, depending on when the Legislature sends the documents to the governor’s office. Among the bills approved by lawmakers: A measure sponsored by Juneau Rep. Sara...
Wrangell police, assisted by several other law enforcement agencies, arrested Wilson Taylor Boon, 32, on a felony drug charge at the post office May 19. Boon was being held at the Wrangell jail as of Monday on a $10,000 cash bail. He was arrested in possession of 84 grams of methamphetamine, almost three ounces, said Wrangell Police Lt. Bruce Smith. “U.S. Postal Service employees in Wrangell intercepted a suspicious package. A search of the package revealed it contained a controlled substance,” according to a press release from the city. Boo...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency continues to review damage and repair costs after a fire at its Zimovia Highway warehouse and office building May 13. The fire did not affect electrical service to the community. The Sentinel last week incorrectly reported the fire caused “minimal damage.” The news report should have said SEAPA was “appreciative of the rapid response of the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department, which minimized damage to the structure and its contents....
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Alaskans could soon access their vaccination records through their phones and other devices. The state health department is working to adopt technology that would give residents easy access to immunization records, which could also provide proof of COVID-19 vaccinations. The state plans to use the consumer-access portal MyIR Mobile. The technology is already available in Arizona, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Dakota, Tennessee, Washington, West Virginia, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Registration will be...
JUNEAU (AP) - Alaska had 19,100 more jobs in April than it did the same month in 2020, but the numbers still lagged what they were before the pandemic, the state labor department reported last Friday. There were an estimated 297,200 nonfarm jobs in Alaska last month, compared to 278,100 in April 2020 but down from 322,400 in April 2019, the report shows. The unemployment rate in Alaska was 6.7% in April versus the national rate of 6.1%. The unemployment rate in Wrangell was 7.6%, a big improvement from 12.9% a year ago. The report provides a...
JUNEAU (AP) - The state health department website was the target of a malware attack, officials said, weeks after a similar attack affected the state’s court system. The department in a statement May 18 said its website was taken offline the day before, when an investigation started. The statement did not say when the cyberattack was discovered. The department’s website was still offline as of Tuesday. Investigators were trying to determine if any personal or confidential information was compromised. The state’s online COVID-19 vaccine appointm...
TAZLINA — Catholic missionaries first started venturing into Alaskan territory in the late 19th century, not long after Russia sold the land to the United States for two cents per acre. The Catholic Church built missions and churches and, in the 1950s, bought land in the Copper River Valley from the U.S. government at $1.25 an acre for a mission school largely serving Native students. Now, 50 years after the once-thriving school was shuttered, the Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau wants to sell the 462-acre property back to its Indigenous i...
It didn’t work a year ago, but the borough and Wrangell’s state House member are trying again to restore the Alaska Office of Children’s Services caseworker position in the community. Same as last year, the borough is offering to cover half the expenses if the state will pay its half. The community has been without a caseworker for more than a decade due to state cutbacks. Bringing back a caseworker “is absolutely crucial,” said Bob Davis, lead teacher and assistant principal for the high school and middle school. “We’re seeing a huge uptick i...
JUNEAU (AP) - Alaska will stop participating next month in a federal program that provides an additional $300 a week in unemployment aid to thousands of people, the state labor commissioner announced last Friday, saying it’s “time to help people get back to work.” Department of Labor Commissioner Tamika Ledbetter said state participation will end June 12. Alaska joins at least 16 other states that have said they will stop providing the extra benefits paid by the federal government, which was set to expire in September. Ledbetter said many...
Wrangell graduating seniors received scholarships that could total almost $175,000, with many extending through four years of college. The scholarships were announced at the high school awards ceremony Monday. Students received scholarships from 21 different programs. Among the larger awards was the Alaska Pulp Corp. scholarship of $20,000 per student over four years to attend the college of their choice. The former owner of the since-closed Wrangell sawmill started the program in 1992, and sinc...
Wrangell High School graduating class wanted to do something different this year and the students were looking forward to staging the ceremonies on the city dock. But an unkind weather forecast pushed them back into the community gym, where graduation is set for 7 p.m. Friday. “The weather forecast was not so favorable,” Megan Powell, adviser to the class of 2021, said Monday. Though attendance will be restricted only to graduates and limited guests per student, the event will be livestreamed on the school district YouTube channel. The 7 p.m...
uld begin this week, the day after the current regular session of the Legislature is scheduled to end, if lawmakers are unable to finish work on the state budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. He also called legislators back to work to consider his proposals for a much larger Permanent Fund dividend. In addition, he announced a second special session, scheduled to begin Aug. 2, that would address his proposed constitutional spending limit, a constitutional ban on any new taxes without a public referendum, and spending of federal...
The Wrangell Museum has two projects underway, both dealing with wood. One is a new sign, being carved from a 20-foot-long yellow cedar log. The other is the ongoing effort to preserve and display the 96-year-old retired U.S. Forest Service wooden boat, the Chugach Ranger. Wrangell carver Denny Leak started last month stripping the bark off the log and is cutting his way into the design, which will spell out MUSEUM in large block letters vertically, with an eagle and a raven carved out at the...
For not much more money - less than $10,000 - the city is able to add 411 acres at the north end of the island to an aerial imaging project that already covers 957 acres of downtown, Wrangell's water reservoirs, and land south and east of Heritage Harbor. It has been almost 20 years since aerial photography of the community. In addition, the project includes LiDAR, an airborne pulsed laser signal that "sees," measures and produces detailed three-dimensional images of the terrain, ground cover an...
The Mt. Dewey Trail extension project could go to construction next year, including a new trailhead parking area on Bennett Street, just north of U.S. Forest Service offices. The borough assembly May 11 unanimously approved a $69,542 contract with PND Engineers for scoping work to prepare the project for final design, to be followed by construction. Almost 91% of the cost of the scoping contract will be covered by federal funds, with the borough paying the rest. "It's nice to have something in...
After going online last summer, the Irene Ingle Public Library summer reading program for kids is back this year — just like it was for 25 years before the pandemic. “We’re excited to get things a little back to normal this year,” library director Margaret Villarma said. Kids will receive points for each book they read, with more than 100 drawings and a special prize for readers who complete the program. Young readers can register now at the library or call 874-3535 to sign up. The library is open noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturda...