Sorted by date Results 4052 - 4076 of 8131
There is a backlog at the driver's license and vehicle registration office in Wrangell, said Police Chief Tom Radke, but they are working their way down the list and hope to have things running smoothly in the near future. The office in the Public Safety Building on Zimovia Highway has been closed or otherwise inaccessible for several months, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and retirement of the only employee. The Division of Motor Vehicles office, a function of the state, is working its way through a backlog of appointments. Radke said there...
SEATTLE (AP) - A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction to stop the sale of the National Archives building in Seattle. More than two dozen Native American and Alaska Native tribes and cultural groups from the Northwest, along with the states of Washington and Oregon, sued the federal government to stop the sale and the relocation of millions of invaluable historical records to California and Missouri. The Seattle Times reported that U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour asked Brian C. Kipnis, an assistant U.S. attorney in...
PORT ANGELES, Wash. (AP) - The crash of a small plane in waters near Port Angeles, Washington, in late January that killed a Kodiak man occurred after the plane apparently ran out of fuel a few miles from an airport, The National Transportation Safety Board said. The agency said in a report of preliminary findings Feb. 18 that the Cessna 170A airplane with only the pilot aboard left Kodiak on Jan. 25, then refueled and departed from Ketchikan on Jan. 26. The man texted his mother that afternoon saying a severe headwind was causing concern...
A federal judge on Feb. 17 dismissed a lawsuit arguing that tribal members of Alaska’s sole Native reserve — on Annette Island, south of Ketchikan — should not need state permits to fish outside the reserve’s marine boundaries. Public radio KRBD reported the story. Metlakatla Indian Community sued Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration last year. Lawyers for the tribe said the 1891 federal law that established the Annette Islands Reserve was intended to create a self-sustaining community — and that the right to fish in waters within a day’s trave...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy said his administration will no longer respond to or participate in hearings led by Sen. Lora Reinbold, telling the fellow Republican in a withering letter Feb. 18 that she has used her position to “misrepresent” the state’s COVID-19 response and that her demands for information are “not based in fact.” Reinbold has criticized the governor’s pandemic disaster declarations and taken aim at health restrictions imposed by local governments, airlines and the Legislature, including mask requirements. She has used social medi...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Alaska public health officials said 58% of residents 65 and older have received at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination since distribution efforts began. State Epidemiologist Dr. Joe McLaughlin said the state hopes to move the process along faster as more contagious and potentially deadly strains of the coronavirus emerge. “Right now, it’s sort of a race against the variants to get people vaccinated,” McLaughlin said Feb. 17. Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink said the state wants more Alaskans 65 and olde...
Free asymptomatic COVID-19 testing will be available to all community members at Wrangell airport this weekend, starting Friday afternoon. In a Facebook post, the city announced that from 2 to 4:30 p.m. today, and from 10 a.m. to noon this Saturday and Sunday, the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium will offer free COVID-19 asymptomatic tests during Alaska Airlines arrivals and departures. The free testing is open to everybody, according to the city’s post, not just travelers. “People who have mild symptoms or who believe they may hav...
Independent travelers and passengers aboard small cruise ships are vital to Wrangell's tourism season, and they're exactly what the community is focusing on - regardless of Canada's decision to keep its waters closed to the larger cruise ships that come to Alaska. "We're moving forward with marketing to independent travelers ... it's huge for us," said Carol Rushmore, the borough's economic development director and head of the Wrangell Convention and Visitor Bureau. "The fact that we don't rely...
Thanks to the use of federal CARES Act funds to offset wages, and not as bleak a year as had been expected for sales tax revenue, the city general fund is projected to close out Fiscal Year 2021 in the black anywhere from about $100,000 to $800,000. However, the next fiscal year starting July 1 is less certain, according to reports at a borough assembly workshop Feb. 9. "This paints a really great picture for FY21, but I need to caution you for FY22," Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen said in the...
Wrangell is one of four school districts in the state to remain open all year through the COVID-19 pandemic, according to school officials. On top of providing a quality education, Alaska's more than 50 school districts have been tasked with keeping their students healthy during the pandemic. Wrangell is one of the few to accomplish this without any pandemic-forced closures, said Special Education Teacher and Teacher's Association President Ryan Howe. "Just about all the other schools, they...
Just shy of 20 months after the groundbreaking ceremony, the new $30 million Wrangell Medical Center is fully operational. The final department to relocate from the old quarters - emergency services - moved in last Friday. Long-term care residents moved in Sunday, said Hospital Administrator Leatha Merculieff. Departments began a staggered move from the old hospital, next to Evergreen Elementary School, to the new building on Wood Street in late January. There was a slight delay in moving he...
Up to $200 million in federal funding is available to help Alaskans who are having trouble paying their rent due to a loss of income during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Alaska Housing Finance Corp., a state agency, is running the assistance program. The corporation is using Alaska's share of federal aid for renters, as allocated under December's congressional pandemic relief legislation. The application period opened Tuesday and will close at 11:59 p.m. March 5. More than 15,000 Alaskans had...
Wally McDonald, who got off the southbound LeConte on Monday to check on his boat in Wrangell's harbor, said he was just thankful the ferry finally got him to town. It is challenging getting to and from places on the ferry system these days, he said. The LeConte was just the fourth ferry visit to Wrangell in the past four months. And even that was a change in plans. The LeConte was filling in for the Matanuska, which broke down last week. The LeConte returned northbound to Wrangell on Tuesday,...
Testing for COVID-19 will continue at the Wrangell airport, and at other airports throughout Alaska, even though the state pandemic disaster declaration expired Sunday. However, the testing will be optional rather than mandatory, except in those communities with their own rules. The Alaska Legislature was unable to agree on a new disaster authorization for the governor, who declined to issue a declaration without legislative action. "As of now we will continue with airport screening and...
More than $6.5 billion in federal funding for pandemic relief has already been authorized for individuals, communities, school districts, businesses, health-safety programs, government agencies, the fishing industry and others in Alaska, with more probably headed this way. Legislators will likely want a say in how any new money coming to the state treasury will be used. The White House and Democrat-led Congress are pushing for additional federal assistance, as much as $1.9 trillion, including...
Wrangell's newest police officer started work last week. Yuriy Bezzubenko, formerly of Hoonah, North Carolina and Ukraine, said he joined the Wrangell Police Department in pursuit of new opportunities. "Wrangell offered more opportunities for training, thus I came to Wrangell and I've decided to stay here," he said. "It was a bigger town, had a lot more people, also the police department was a lot bigger." Wrangell has almost three times the population of Hoonah, about 160 miles to the...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association, Wrangell's tribal organization, and the Salvation Army collaborated last Friday to hand out 50 food boxes to people in need, with a second distribution planned for this Friday. Esther Reese, WCA tribal administrator, said her organization signed up with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to participate in their Farmers to Families Food Box program. It's a nationwide effort to support farmers and families, with the federal government buying the food from...
JUNEAU (AP) - A man in a pickup truck was arrested after the Alaska Transportation Department said he drove past boarding lines to get onto a state-run ferry at the dock in Juneau on Feb. 10 and was heard by crew “muttering about a bomb and firearms.” The Juneau Police Department said the man did not have a ticket to board the LeConte’s morning voyage and “made a comment about a bomb” when confronted by ferry employees. The police department, in a release, said the comment was not a direct threat and the man did not say he had a bomb. But it sa...
SITKA - With protocols for coronavirus mitigation and testing, as well as hope for a more expansive vaccine rollout, Sitka-based maritime tourism company Allen Marine plans to return to form this spring and summer, the company said last week. Bookings on Allen Marine’s subsidiary company, Alaska Dream Cruises, have seen significant demand, Allen Marine’s Zak Kirkpatrick reported in an online press and industry meeting. The Dream Cruises operate solely in Alaska waters, unaffected by Canada’s decision earlier this month to keep its waters close...
HONOLULU (AP) - Senators from Hawaii and Alaska on Feb. 11 were elected the chairperson and vice chairperson of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, will serve as chairperson. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, will be vice chairperson. Both senators emphasized the panel’s bipartisan traditions in their first committee hearing in Washington. Schatz said the federal trust responsibility to American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians should be the guiding light f...
HONOLULU (AP) - Hawaii’s governor has said he is cautious about loosening air travel restrictions for people who have received a coronavirus vaccine, while stressing that new virus variants are not widespread in the state. Democratic Gov. David Ige said researchers are still unclear about whether the vaccine hampers virus transmission. “Until the science (tells) us that those who are vaccinated cannot carry the virus and, I think most important, do not transmit it to other people, I think it would be irresponsible to say that those vac...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - School officials in Alaska’s second-largest municipality implemented a new policy requiring masks at sporting events last week in response to coronavirus outbreaks at a half-dozen Matanuska-Susitna Borough district schools. Three large high schools in the district — Colony, Palmer, Wasilla — are among five facilities closed as of Feb. 12 because of the outbreaks, the Anchorage Daily News reported. It was unclear when they would reopen. Public health officials said some of the confirmed COVID-19 cases started with students mixin...
Without diplomatic intervention, large cruise ships aren’t coming to Alaska this year. Canada closed its waters to foreign ships with more than 250 passengers. That means Alaska’s big-ship cruise season for 2021 is effectively cancelled. Skagway officials unveiled their backup plan Feb. 10. “We can’t cry in our pillow that we’re not a cruise ship destination this year. We need to be excited about what we are,” said Skagway Mayor Andrew Cremata. He told the virtual town hall that 2021 will be about survival. He acknowledged the summer seas...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Three rural Alaska communities have launched a pilot program intended to create more culturally sensitive protocols on how government and law enforcement should respond to cases with missing or slain Alaska Natives. The Curyung Native Council in Dillingham, the Native Village of Unalakleet and the Koyukuk Native Village have launched the program, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska said in a statement. The three will work with state agencies to create a Tribal Community Response Plan that will determine law e...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - An Alaska skier who was injured by a bear when his group accidently disturbed the animal’s den was released from a Juneau hospital. The Chilkat Valley News reported 40-year-old Bart Pieciul was released Feb. 9 after sustaining injuries in the attack during a backcountry ski trip near Haines last Saturday. Pieciul had surgery on a broken arm and will need a second surgery to remove metal pins implanted by doctors. Pieciul and his ski partners, Graham Kraft and Jeff Moskowitz, were going up a mountainside above Chilkoot Lake w...