Sorted by date Results 3937 - 3961 of 7954
Online sales tax revenues brought in more than $90,000 in nine months last year, with receipts continuing to rise, according to Wrangell Borough officials. While the municipality is struggling with rising costs and decreasing revenues, one bright spot has been the collection of sales taxes from online, out-of-town merchants. The borough is budgeted this fiscal year to collect $1.25 million in sales taxes, projected to be down substantially from last year due to the pandemic-inflicted economic...
The new Wrangell Medical Center is nearing the end of construction and will start a staggered opening on Saturday, with the long-term care unit first on the list and the rehabilitation unit scheduled for a Feb. 3 opening. "Departments are currently undergoing a phased relocation as finished punch lists are allowing for staggered staff move-ins," according to a press release Monday from SEARHC. "Patients scheduled for rehabilitation, imaging, laboratory or outpatient services will be contacted...
A Wrangell resident arriving at the airport tested positive for COVID-19 and went into isolation in town, the city reported Jan. 21. The city press release did not specify the date the individual was tested. The last COVID-19 positive case was reported by the city on Dec. 17. The case brought to 28 the total number of Wrangell-related COVID-19 positives since the start of the pandemic. Of those, 18 have been in Wrangell residents; eight were identified as non-locals, and two were Wrangell...
NEW YORK (AP) - Illustrator Michaela Goade became the first Native American to win the prestigious Randolph Caldecott Medal for best children’s picture story, honored for “We Are Water Protectors.” Goade is a member of the Tlingit and Haida Indian tribes in Southeast Alaska. “We Are Water Protectors,” written by Carole Lindstrom, is a celebration of nature and a call for environmental protection that was conceived in response to the planned construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline through Standing Rock Sioux territory. “I am really hono...
JUNEAU (AP) - State wildlife officials have reported that 68 wolves were taken by trappers in 2020 on or near Prince of Wales Island. Conservationists had unsuccessfully attempted to block the 21-day wolf trapping season from November to December. Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials had ruled that trapping would not pose a danger to the overall wolf population. Conservationists had argued that state and federal officials were allowing unsustainable killings. “If you can catch 68 wolves in three weeks,” Schumacher told CoastAlaska pub...
JUNEAU (AP) - Alaska held the enviable position of having the highest rate of coronavirus vaccinations per capita in the nation as of this week, the state said. As of Monday, more than 80,000 Alaskans had received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and nearly 18,000 had received both doses, according to a report in the Anchorage Daily News. That does not include shots administered through the departments of Defense or Veterans Affairs but does include vaccinations handled through Indian Health Service partners. That’s a gain in four d...
The city announced a new case of COVID-19 in Wrangell this morning, reportedly not related to any travel. This latest case, the 29th total for the community, was reported as a local resident infected with the virus. According to the press release, the resident had not traveled recently. The person has been notified and is in isolation, the city reported. This is the only currently active case of COVID-19 in Wrangell. The previous 28 are all reported as recovered....
Wrangell businesses and nonprofits received more than $8 million in federal and state CARES Act funds last year. "It absolutely made a difference, but it still wasn't enough," said Carol Rushmore, Wrangell's economic development director. "It's not making them whole, by any means," Rushmore said Jan. 14. "There are some businesses really hurting." For many businesses that rely on tourism, there is hope that visitor traffic will pick up this year. "We will see visitors coming to help," but short...
The borough will randomly select one resident each month for a one-month rebate of their residential electricity costs. The new program is called "2021: Wrangell's Year of Hope." "We know this is going to be a hard year economically. This program offers a small amount of relief," Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen said in her write-up presenting the idea to the assembly. Assembly members approved the program Jan. 12. "Given the community's economic situation there is great value in the borough...
The borough assembly accepted the resignation of member Julie Decker at its Jan. 11 meeting. Decker has served on the assembly for seven years. Her letter of resignation explained she is stepping away from the position to grieve the loss of her two children. Sig and Helen Decker, 21-years-old and 19-years-old, died in a car accident in Petersburg last July. The tragedy shocked the community, which came together to support the Deckers, to mourn, and to remember Sig and Helen. Decker said that...
Levels of a disinfectant byproduct in Wrangell's water supply are still a little above federal standards, the municipality reported Jan. 11, but are in decline. The presence of haleocetic acids (HAA5) were announced in late September. The levels were triple federal Environmental Protection Agency standards in the regular quarterly test in August, then down to double the standard in a special test in October, the city reported. November's test sample for HAA5 came in at 70 parts per billion...
Acknowledging Alaska's shortage of money, the Wrangell Borough Assembly has put together a list of priority projects for state funding "should the fiscal climate change." Until then, "(the city) understands there is little to no availability of funding for local capital needs," said the backup material for the assembly workshop Jan. 12 to compile state and federal legislative priorities for 2021-2022. In putting together the list - just in case money becomes available -the assembly considered...
The social-distancing protocols of the pandemic severely cut into their petition signature gathering efforts last year, but now the Recall Dunleavy group wants to reengage Alaskans and win a spot on the ballot. The group, which started its effort in July 2019, held a virtual press conference Jan. 19 to start a renewed push to reach the 71,252 signatures of registered voters to force a statewide special election to recall Gov. Mike Dunleavy. The group already has close to 50,000 signatures, and...
"Wrangell has become a center for vessel repair and services with the help of local investment and community support," said the United Fishermen of Alaska's 2020 annual report "Commercial Fishing Facts." The Wrangell boatyard is in its 15th year, and though the pandemic's economic hit to the fishing industry slowed down its business, the community facility continues to get noticed. "We've got a really diverse bunch of skills out there," said Wrangell Harbormaster Steve Miller. In addition to...
The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium is encouraging the public to register for their COVID-19 vaccination shot, as the latest allotment of doses has arrived and more will be on the way. SEARHC is providing vaccines first to people at least 65 years old and to frontline essential workers, according to a Jan. 19 press release. However, anyone can register regardless of where they fit in the availability sequence for their community, and they will be notified when their turn comes up. Mo...
Wrangell schools were continuing to experience internet connection problems as of Tuesday afternoon, after first alerting the public to the trouble in a Facebook post last Friday. Internet and phone systems were affected, according to the post, as was Monday's school board meeting, which endured connection issues at several points through the meeting between board members. According to information on the district's website, a router died. "The primary router for Wrangell Public Schools died...
The first ship built for what would become Alaska's state ferry system sank Jan. 13 in a windstorm and dock collapse in Anacortes, Washington, where the decommissioned Chilkat had been moored to a concrete floating pier. The ship sank about 85 miles north of Tacoma, where it was built in 1957 at a cost of about $300,000 to provide daily service between Juneau, Haines and Skagway. When Alaska entered the union on Jan. 3, 1959, the Chilkat became the first Alaska state ferry, later joined by four...
JUNEAU (AP) - A proposal to split the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services into two organizations has been criticized by health care workers, social service organizations and tribal governments. Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced the reorganization plan last month, saying the department had become too large and its administration too burdensome to operate as a single entity, the Juneau Empire reported Jan. 14. Dunleavy issued an executive order to establish the Department of Health and the Department of Family and Community Services. The...
HAINES – Mark Kelly, 50, manager of the Funny Farm lodge north of Haines relied on a weak Wi-Fi signal and his iPhone’s Siri voice command app to call for help after he was buried and pinned underneath a pile of snow, ice and firewood on Jan. 4. Kelly was listening to a podcast and collecting firewood to feed the boiler of the lodge on Mosquito Lake Road, 30 miles north of Haines, at around 11:30 p.m. Several feet of ice and snow had collected on the woodpile to the point that a cornice had developed. Kelly, a former heliski guide who has bee...
JUNEAU (AP) - Sealaska Corp. has announced plans to get out of the logging business after more than 40 years. The Juneau-based Alaska Native corporation announced the change Jan. 11 in a sign of Southeast Alaska’s economic transition away from logging, CoastAlaska public radio reported. The transition is not expected to affect future profits or dividends, but is part of a long-term strategy to generate ``sustainable value’’ for shareholders, the corporation said. Sealaska CEO Anthony Mallott said in a statement that logging created value for t...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Companies in the oil and gas and other industries will not be held legally responsible for killing migratory birds as long as they did not mean to do it, the Trump administration said, drawing swift condemnation from animal welfare and conservation groups. The Interior Department rule change is a plus for oil and gas companies that sought weakened protections of birds in the administration’s waning days. The rule change came just two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden assumes the presidency, and on the heels of a new bip...
SEATTLE (AP) — More than two dozen Native American and Alaska Native tribes and cultural groups from the Northwest, along with the states of Washington and Oregon, are suing the federal government to stop the sale of the National Archives building in Seattle, a plan that would force the relocation of millions of invaluable historical records to California and Missouri. The Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska is among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, as is the Tanana Chiefs Conference from Interior Alaska. The g...
The coronavirus pandemic has taken away about a third of the nation’s commercial fishing industry’s revenue, according to a federal report released Jan. 15. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said revenues from catch brought to the docks by commercial fishermen fell 29% over the course of the first seven months of 2020. Revenues declined every month from March to July, including a 45% decrease in July, the report said. The NOAA report said the seafood industry at large has been hit hard by restaurant closures, soc...
A Wrangell resident arriving at the airport has tested positive for COVID-19 and is in isolation in town, the city announced today. The state reported the positive case in its statewide numbers on Monday, and Wrangell’s Unified Command was notified today. The city press release did not specify the date the individual was tested. The last COVID-19 positive case was reported by the city on Dec. 17. This week’s case brings to 28 the total number of Wrangell-related COVID-19 positives since the start of the pandemic. Of these, 18 have been in Wra...
Cruise ship companies serving Southeast Alaska are taking reservations for the summer season after losing all of last year to the pandemic - but not all cruise lines will return this year. Windstar Cruises, which brought a 208-passenger ship to Wrangell about 10 times in 2019, had originally planned its first 2021 cruise out of Vancouver on May 20, an 11-day voyage scheduled to stop in Wrangell, Ketchikan, Juneau and Haines. The sailings would have continued throughout the summer with a larger...
