Sorted by date Results 4440 - 4464 of 7980
School officials held a community meeting Monday to learn more about what the public feels is important for the Wrangell School District. The district is currently undergoing its budgeting process for the new school year. The first draft of the FY 2021 budget has revenues set at about $5.5 million and expenditures of slightly under $6.3 million. About 75 percent of the budget comes from the state of Alaska, according to Superintendent Debbe Lancaster. In a school board meeting on Jan. 20, it...
During their last meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 28, the Wrangell Borough Assembly got to take a look at their financial situation from the past six months. The current budget, for FY 2020, was adopted last June. As of Dec. 31, 2019, total revenue for Wrangell's general fund has been about $3.5 million, and about $2.7 million in expenditures. The general fund is currently sitting at a profit of $869,251. However, for the entire financial year the general fund is expected to bring in a little less...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly held a work session before their regular meeting, on Jan. 28, to review the preliminary results of a compensation study by JB Reward Systems. Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen explained that the study compared the salaries of public employees in Wrangell to those of similar municipalities, to see how they stacked up and whether or not Wrangell is a competitive location for potential hires. "Basically, our three fundamental goals would be to have a structure that was...
The evening of Saturday, Jan. 18, a pipe in the public safety building's sprinkler system broke and caused some flooding. Amber Al-Haddad, capital facilities director, explained that the building, which houses Wrangell's court, police department, fire department, and other entities, has two sprinkler systems: A wet system and a dry system. Somehow, she said that water got into the dry sprinkler system and froze during the cold weather Wrangell experienced this past month. This broke one of the...
Southeast Alaska Power Agency conducted a survey on a damaged cable running between Woronkofski and Vank islands and the board will make a final decision on whether to repair the cable or replace it by March's board meeting. "We could have up to 20 more years," said Bob Lynn, Petersburg's voting member on the SEAPA board. "We don't know, but the risk is very high on that old cable." Lynn gave the Petersburg Borough Assembly an update on the project at an assembly meeting Monday, but data from th...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Substance misuse in Alaska has cost the state about $3.5 billion in 2018 in resulting health care, productivity loss, criminal justice, traffic accidents and other services, a yearlong study said. The McDowell Group, contracted by the state Mental Health Trust Authority, found that $2.4 billion was related to alcohol abuse and $1.1 billion was related to drug abuse, Juneau Empire reported Friday. Health officials define substance misuse as the use of illegal drugs or inappropriate use of alcohol or prescription drugs. “We...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Two environmental groups gave formal notice Friday that they will sue to protect endangered Alaska beluga whales from problems caused by oil and gas operations. The announcement came three days after a federal agency said the population of white whales is declining faster than previously thought. The Center for Biological Diversity and Cook Inletkeeper said they will sue the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for violating the Endangered Species Act by n...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska has encouraged residents with immigration problems to contact Gov. Mike Dunleavy after he asked the president to aid his attorney general's family with their immigration documents. Dunleavy sent an official letter to President Donald Trump in December requesting aid for Attorney General Kevin Clarkson, who is seeking documents so his Colombian wife and stepson can live in the United States, Anchorage Daily News reported F...
Scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have identified a new species of thalattosaur, a marine reptile that lived more than 200 million years ago. The new species, Gunakadeit joseeae, is the most complete thalattosaur ever found in North America and has given paleontologists new insights about the thalattosaurs' family tree, according to a paper published recently in the journal Scientific Reports. Scientists found the fossil near Keku Island near the village of Kake in 2011....
(JUNEAU, Alaska) – The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) is cancelling sailings on the M/V Matanuska through Sunday, March 1. New issues with the reduction gear system have been identified and the manufacturer and contractor need the vessel to travel to the Ketchikan shipyard where it can be inspected in dry dock to determine if further repairs are necessary. The Matanuska returned to service in November 2019 after a complete re-power, and the repairs are covered under warranty. AMHS is a...
Construction of the new Wrangell Medical Center, next to the AICS Clinic on Wood Street, has continued in spite of bad weather in recent weeks, and according to a press release from the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, things are on track for a grand opening in early 2021. According to SEARHC's press release, concrete slabs are complete in the first four quadrants of the construction. However, cold temperatures forced continued concrete work to be put on hold. Mike Pountney, SEARHC...
January 31, 2020 (Juneau, AK) – Today, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy announced his Conversations with Alaskans town hall series, to further engage with the public on their vision of Alaska’s future, beginning Monday, February 3rd. Governor Dunleavy will be holding meetings with community leaders, business groups, non-profits, school districts, tribes, and the general public in communities across Alaska. “I am looking forward to engaging with Alaskans from every corner of our state in the cruci...
Wrangell's census committee, made up of representatives of several organizations across the community, met last Thursday, Jan. 23, to continue their discussion of how to encourage higher responses to the upcoming 2020 census. During the meeting, Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore provided sample copies of the questionnaire people will have the opportunity to answer for the census. There are nine questions, asking for a person's name, age, sex, race, phone number, whether they own or re...
The Wrangell Ranger District of the Forest Service held a workshop at city hall last week to give the public a brief overview of the 2016 Land and Resource Management Plan. The workshop was led by Sue Jennings, forest planner for the Tongass National Forest. The Forest Plan, as it is also known, guides the Forest Service in managing natural resources in the Tongass National Forest. "The Forest Plan is basically a zoning map with management prescriptions," Jennings said. "A zoning map, as you kno...
Petersburg and Wrangell both saw an overall increase in population from 2010 through 2019, but while Petersburg's population rose between 2018 and 2019, Wrangell's population saw a drop in the same timeframe, according to data from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. There were 3,203 residents living in Petersburg in 2010 and in 2019, there were 3,226, according to the ADLWD. Those figures equal to a .08 percent growth for the decade and 1.12 percent growth in the last...
In last week’s story about the Fish and Game Advisory Committee meeting, some errors were made. The committee elected several new members, but this is not the total makeup of the committee. Brennon Eagle opted to not seek re-election, not Bruce Eagle. Dave Rak was made the new secretary of the committee, not Dave Brown....
Montana State University recently released its honor roll for undergraduate students in the fall 2019 semester. According to a press release from MSU, 4,904 students made the honor roll this past semester, either in the President's List or the Dean's List. To be eligible for the honor roll, students must be enrolled in at least 12 college credit hours of classes, and maintain a high grade level. This semester, two former students of Wrangell High School made the honor roll: Kayla Hay and Ian...
As high school draws to a close for senior students, many of them start putting serious thoughts towards the future. For some, pursuing postsecondary education will be their next step. However, there is the question of how to pay for it. As many people know, higher education is expensive. To help students, and parents, better understand the ins and outs of financial aid, the University of Alaska Southeast hosted a workshop at Wrangell High School last week. "I want you to walk away, even if you'...
Wrangell's advisory committee for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game met last Thursday evening, Jan. 16, to cover several important topics. The first of which was the election of new officers to lead the committee. The committee is made up of six seats, along with two alternates. Bruce Eagle, the vice-chair of the committee, had opted to not seek re-election. Nominations for the seats, otherwise, were completely open. Many people were nominated, with Wrangell resident Mike Lockabey...
Due to the rising costs of production and numerous electronic options, Alaska Power & Telephone will stop printing phone books after the 2020 edition that is coming out in March. According to Mary Jo Quandt, vice president of customer operations with AP&T, state legislation in 2015 removed the requirement for telecom companies to produce physical phonebooks. AP&T has still been printing phone books over the past five years but now production costs are just getting too steep. "Many telecom...
The Convention and Visitor Bureau met last Thursday, Jan. 16, to continue discussing their rough draft of their tourism best management practices document. The TBMP document, as covered in previous articles, is a collection of guidelines that tourism-related businesses agree to abide by. This is meant to help minimize the impacts tourism can have on the day-to-day life of a community, as well as to help settle disagreements between tourist organizations. Wrangell has been working on making a...
Nov. 25: Andrea Marrero pled guilty to a charge of theft. Another charge of unauthorized use of an access device was dismissed by prosecution. She was sentenced to 60 days imprisonment, with 60 suspended. She was also ordered to make restitution, write a letter of apology, and to pay a $100 police training surcharge. She will be on probation for one year. Andrew Twyford pled guilty to driving with a cancelled/revoked/suspended license. Another charge of violating conditions of release was dismissed by prosecution. He was sentenced to 60 days...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly met last week, Jan. 14, to discuss the potential establishment of critical habitat areas for humpback whales in Southeast Alaska. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association is proposing these habitat areas be set up all along the Pacific coastline, from Alaska to southern California. NOAA officials held a meeting in Petersburg on Jan. 6 to discuss this proposal. According to a report by the Sentinel's sister-paper, the Petersburg Pilot, these habitat areas...
The Wrangell Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee met last week, Jan. 15, to discuss the recent series of winter activities, as well as to continue planning for the upcoming Helping Our Parks Project. Over winter break, the city and other community organizations came together to put on a series of events to give Wrangell youth stuff to do while school was not in session. According to Committee Member Haig Demerjian, the events were quite successful. "I was just reading the director's report,...
While not originally on the agenda for the night, the Wrangell School Board discussed the potential future of their contract with Etolin Bus Company during their meeting Monday, Jan. 20. The item was brought up by School Board Member Patty Gilbert, who requested an amendment to the agenda. Etolin Bus Company is contracted by the school district to deliver Wrangell's children to school in the mornings, and take them home again in the evenings. They had a three-year contract with the district,...