Sorted by date Results 4026 - 4050 of 8063
After a seven-week absence, Wrangell's community markets will return this Saturday at the Nolan Center. "We're really excited to have it back," Nolan Center Director Cyni Crary said of the event, planned for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The community markets are an opportunity for enterprising locals to show off their homemade goods for sale. Past markets have seen items ranging from baked goods to artwork to jewelry, and more. The last market was held Dec. 19, Crary said. The event was put on hiatus...
Being creative with food, and providing meals for people, is a passion for Nic Martin. It came from his mother, he said, and further developed during this time on fishing boats. As a kid, his mother would have the family pull together all the leftovers and whatever was left in the pantry once a week and make a meal out of it. As a fisherman, he learned to be creative turning limited ingredients into meals. He is now bringing this passion and creativity to Wrangell's newest pizzeria: Nic's...
Fiscal stability, infrastructure and land development are among Wrangell's priorities for the near future. But it will not be easy. "I'm certain that this involves us purchasing a printing press and having a secret room where we come up with the funds we need to do what's necessary," Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen said jokingly. "As the state continues to face fiscal hardship, as we continue to get downward pressure in a number of different ways, and at the same time the cost of operations is...
The Wrangell community group BRAVE (Building Respect and Valuing Everyone) has embarked on a "revival mode" after slowing down last year for the pandemic. BRAVE, which was founded in 2017, has as its mission statement: "To provide advocacy for healthy relationships in our community through prevention programs, resource referral and community engagement." It has been an unofficial sister organization to WISH (Women in Safe Homes), the Ketchikan shelter for victims of domestic violence which also...
Anti-tobacco advocates thought a little friendly competition between Wrangell and Petersburg might draw attention to their message. "It's been a challenge to reach people because we're not having face-to-face meetings," said Tammi Meissner, Wrangell SEARHC health educator. Organizers put up posters in each town, showing the connection between tobacco use, e-cigarettes and health, and asked people to find and take pictures of the hidden posters, and then put them on the event's Facebook page....
A local tax on tobacco products would be a "win-win-win" for Wrangell, a health educator said. Promoting public health is a win, as is reducing smoking among teens - plus the borough could gain a new source of revenue, SEARHC Health Educator Tammi Meissner told the borough assembly Jan. 26. "Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the U.S.," Meissner said. "One in five adults in Southeast Alaska smoke, and one in three American Indian and Alaska Native adults smoke in...
The city announced a new case of COVID-19 in Wrangell on Saturday morning. It was not related to any travel. This latest case, the 29th for the community, was reported as a local resident infected with the virus. According to the city's press release, the resident had not traveled recently. The person has been notified and is in isolation, the city said. The weekend report was the only active case of COVID-19 in Wrangell. The previous 28 are all reported as recovered. Residents who experience...
VANCOUVER, BC (AP) - Public condemnation has grown over a wealthy Vancouver couple who allegedly flew to a remote Indigenous community in Canada’s Yukon Territory to get vaccinated for the coronavirus. Marc Miller, Canada’s federal Indigenous services minister, said he was “disgusted” by the purported actions of Rodney Baker and his wife, Ekaterina, who have been issued tickets under Yukon’s Emergency Measures Act and face fines of up to $1,000 Canadian (US$783) plus fees. Baker resigned on Jan. 24 as Great Canadian Gaming Corp.’s president a...
JUNEAU (AP) - More people are leaving the city of Juneau than arriving because of state budget cuts and declining state jobs, labor officials said. The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development estimates more than 1,300 people have moved out of Juneau since the city’s population peaked at 33,162 in 2015, public radio KTOO-FM reported. Juneau lost 172 residents from July 2018 to July 2019, and 286 residents from July 2019 to July 2020, officials said. The state population has also declined during that time. Agency economist Sara Teel...
After missing 2020 due to the pandemic, the Southeast Alaska State Fair in Haines plans to return this year. The board voted unanimously last month to put together some version of the annual event, according to the Chilkat Valley News in Haines. But it will not be a normal year. Southeast Alaska State Fair Executive Director Kari Johnson said events are likely to be smaller and will certainly be outdoors. “We are hopeful,” Johnson told KHNS public radio. “Yes, there’s going to be one. It might be big, it might be small. … I think we’re kin...
JUNEAU (AP) - Officials in Alaska’s capital city are working on measures to prevent disruptions of online public meetings that have included verbal abuse of at least one assembly member. The use of videoconferences allows the public to continue observing and participating city government meetings during the coronavirus pandemic, but there have been problems, Juneau public radio station KTOO reported Jan. 26. City officials estimated there have been about a dozen instances of what has become known as “Zoom bombing,” or planned disruptions of me...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Fewer Alaska residents had routine cancer screenings in 2020 than in the year before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, doctors said. There were 330 fewer mammograms and 28 fewer lung cancer screenings last year than there were in 2019 at Juneau’s Bartlett Regional Hospital, said Paul Hawkins, director of the hospital’s diagnostic imaging center. Some medical providers said the screening decrease was likely linked to anxiety related to the virus that has lasted through the pandemic, the Anchorage Daily News reported Jan...
JUNEAU (AP) - Alaska has detected the state’s first known case of the coronavirus variant identified last year in the United Kingdom, officials said Jan. 26. The infected person is an Anchorage resident who had traveled to a state where the variant had already been detected, the Alaska health department said. The person first experienced symptoms on Dec. 17, was tested three days later and received a positive result Dec. 22. The resident lived with another person in Anchorage, who also became ill. Both isolated and have since recovered, o...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Severe child abuse cases in Alaska have increased significantly at times during the coronavirus pandemic, experts said. As students return to classrooms, child welfare advocates are assessing the impact of the pandemic on child abuse, Alaska Public Media reported Jan. 27. Visits by one clinic to children in need of hospitalization for severe injuries because of suspected abuse skyrocketed by 173% in the past year, said Mike Canfield, a spokesperson for Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage. “This absolutely reflects a...
Wrangell schools could receive at least a couple hundred thousand dollars less in state funding for the next school year, due to declining enrollment. The community has seen a sharp decline in enrollment this year, likely due to homeschooling and correspondence schooling because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, about 200 students are enrolled in the district, according to a presentation at a school district town hall budget meeting Jan. 19. Historically, the district has counted about 300 st...
Wrangell would see one northbound and one southbound state ferry each week this summer, under the proposed schedule released Monday. That's one-third the level of service from 2017 to 2019, before the pandemic significantly cut into ferry runs last year. Under the draft schedule for May 1 through Sept. 30, the Matanuska would stop in Wrangell northbound on Sunday mornings and southbound on Friday afternoons on its weekly run to Southeast Alaska from Bellingham, Washington. The Alaska Marine...
The borough assembly on Tuesday evening appointed Bob Dalrymple to fill the unexpired term of member Julie Decker, who resigned Jan. 11. Dalrymple and Jim DeBord both expressed interest in filling the seat to the end of the term in October. DeBord has previous experience with the assembly. He served as a member from October 2018 to 2019, choosing not to seek reelection that year. Dalrymple also has experience on the assembly. He was appointed to sit on the assembly after Assembly Member Mya...
The state of Alaska and the municipality of Anchorage will share in $200 million in new federal funds to help renters who have lost jobs or suffered economic hardship due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Alaska Housing Finance Corp., which operated a similar, but much smaller, federally funded program last summer, is expected to manage the new assistance program outside Anchorage, with more information expected this week and application details possibly later in February. The housing...
The borough assembly on Tuesday postponed an increase to the residential user fee for liveaboard vessels in Wrangell harbors. The ordinance would have raised the fee for water, sewage and garbage services by about $35 a month. The change in municipal code also would have broadened the definition of liveaboard, while boosting the monthly rate to almost $117, the harbor department's Keeleigh Solverson told the assembly. The assembly decided the ordinance still needs some work, directing that it...
"I actually have always loved baking," said Devyn Johnson, of Moody Folks Bakery. "I baked with my mom growing up, and I baked for people all the time. ... It's my happy place." Moody Folks Bakery is one of Wrangell's newer businesses. Johnson was running a child care out of her home before COVID-19 struck. When the pandemic reached Alaska, however, she closed it down out of safety. She found herself with more time, and started filling that time with more and more baking. She was starting to...
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...