Sorted by date Results 801 - 825 of 7939
A Republican legislator from Wasilla has proposed legalizing electronic gambling aboard Alaska Marine Highway System ships to raise money for the state-run ferries. But his proposal encountered rough seas during its first committee hearing as legislators questioned the financial gain and limited opportunity aboard vessels that don’t often travel in waters open to legal gambling. House Bill 197, from Rep. Jesse Sumner, would allow Vegas-style slot machines and other electronic gambling and is envisioned as raising money for the state in the s...
Alaska Airlines has begun flying Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners for the first time since the aircraft were grounded after a panel blew out of the side of one of the airline’s planes. The airline said it resumed flying the Max 9 with a flight from Seattle to San Diego on Friday afternoon, Jan. 26. The Federal Aviation Administration on Jan. 24 approved the inspection and maintenance process to return the planes to service. Technicians at Alaska began inspections that night, the airline said. The airline said they expect to complete inspections by t...
This time of year, we reflect on the past year and look forward to a new year. We look at these moments and events as gifts, mostly because time is a gift, relationships are gifts, being here in Southeast Alaska is a gift. But that doesn't mean life has been easy. Here in Wrangell, we've had a year of both tragedy and joy. Gift of Elders: My dad, aka Mickey of Mickey's Fish Camp, died in September. He would want you to know he's just "gone fishing." He was 83 years old, and his death was...
The Wrangell school district will have to do without federal pandemic-era grants for the next school year, creating a sizable gap in revenues and requiring spending cuts and/or pulling money out of savings to balance the budget. At a work session Jan. 15, the school board reviewed with district business manager Kristy Andrew a draft budget for the 2024-2025 school year. The district has been using the federal aid to cover the salaries of its two school principals, but this is the last year that money is available. “With the exhaustion of our CO...
After two and a half years in Wrangell, Alaska Wildlife Trooper Chadd Yoder is preparing to transfer to Ketchikan. But before leaving, he received an unforgettable send-off from his fellow troopers. Wildlife troopers from the division's Southern Detachment gathered Thursday, Jan. 18, at the Sourdough Lodge to honor their brethren with pins for years of service as well as awards in various categories. Anticipating that he would receive some sort of pin and a visit to his post from command staff...
To ensure that potential buyers know as much as possible before putting in their bids for any of the 20 lots at the Alder Top Village (Keishangita.’aan) subdivision, the borough is putting together an information fair for people to talk with builders, lenders and municipal officials. “You can go around to individual booths and talk with people,” said Kate Thomas, the borough’s economic development director. She described it as similar to a health fair, with information booths — not a set schedule of presentations. “Come as you are, whenever you...
Southeast salmon fishermen say they weren’t surprised by the news that the nonprofit Wild Fish Conservancy has launched a fresh effort that could shut down Alaska’s king salmon fisheries. Last year, Southeast Alaska king salmon troll fisheries were threatened by a lawsuit from the Washington state-based organization in the name of protecting an important food source for Puget Sound killer whales. The latest threat comes from the conservancy’s announcement that it will seek listing of Alaska king salmon under the protection of the federal Endang...
At this time of year, when it's dark for nearly 16 hours a day and temperatures are often below freezing, it's difficult for many to get outside and exercise. Wrangell Parks and Recreation is trying to address that dilemma by encouraging people to exercise indoors. The Winter Workout Challenge is a friendly competition where people self-log their exercises on a board at the community center. Those who log the most exercises will receive prizes like free entry to Parks and Recreation facilities...
Commercial tour operators who take customers to the Petroglyph Beach State Historic Site this summer need to get a state permit and pay a fee. In addition to buying an annual permit in advance, commercial operators are required to pay the state $6 per person for guided tours or $2 per person if they simply drop off customers at the site for an unguided tour. Operators can total up their paying customers and send in their payment after the visitor season is over, as long as they make the Dec. 31 deadline, said Preston Kroes, Southeast Region...
Unless the Legislature decides otherwise by mid-March, Gov. Mike Dunleavy will take over appointment of the entire nine-member Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board. State law reserves four of the seats for appointment by legislative leaders, but Dunleavy on the first day of the legislative session Jan. 16 introduced an executive order that changes the law so that the governor would control all of the appointments. The change will take effect 60 days after the order was issued — unless a majority of the 60 legislators vote in a joint s...
The state ferry schedule is available for bookings for the summer season, May 1 through Sept. 30, though it opens with no stops in Wrangell until May 12 due to crew changeover between vessels. The overall schedule is the same as recent years: A weekly northbound stop in town Sunday afternoon or early evening, and a southbound port call every Wednesday morning. The Alaska Marine Highway System will operate the Columbia, the largest ship in the fleet, on the weekly run between Bellingham, Washington, and through Southeast Alaska up into Lynn...
Throughout her high school years, senior Mia Wiederspohn has been very invested in "everything Tlingit," learning Indigenous studies and its history in Wrangell. She worked with mentor and teacher Xwaanlein Virginia Oliver to learn the language, then assisted Oliver to create the radio show "The Application of Learning Tlingit Language," 41 three- to five-minute episodes teaching words and phrases. She also created and hosted her own five-episode radio program called "Mia's Gift," sharing her...
Wrangell’s public library has two birthdays: It celebrated its 100th birthday with an open house in 2021, and this year the current building will turn 50 years old. Originally opened in October 1921 by the Wrangell Civic Improvement Club in their club room, then moving a decade later to share space in the old City Hall, the city sold $157,000 in bonds to help construct a building specifically designed as a library in 1974. The construction had its beginnings in 1959 when a building fund was created — the occasion was marked by showing of the...
The Alaska Legislature failed on Jan. 18 to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of $87 million in one-time additional state funding for the 2024-2025 school year. The vote was 33-26 and did not fall along party or political caucus lines. Forty-five votes were needed to override. The failed override capped days of legislative maneuvering and months of unsuccessful lobbying by public-education advocates. Attention now switches to a bill that would permanently increase the state’s funding formula for public schools. Unable to agree last year on...
As the Alaska Legislature gets back to work in Juneau, the state population is on the minds of lawmakers. For the 11th consecutive year, more people moved out of Alaska than moved into it, according to new estimates published last week by the Alaska Department of Labor. Though new births over the past year counterbalanced the losses, the state’s population growth was a meager 0.04%, demographers estimate. The state’s new estimated population, 736,812, is below what it was in 2012. While the trend has been building for more than a decade, the...
The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium is offering people the chance to win Alaska Airlines miles for responding to a community health needs assessment survey. The survey is aimed at gathering information about the overall well-being of communities and individuals across Southeast. “Share your thoughts with us on daily living, nutrition, exercise habits and health care access,” the regional health care provider said in its Facebook postings. “The Community Wellness Health Needs Assessment was developed to evaluate the health statu...
Zoey Grace Clark has the honor of being the first baby born this year to a Wrangell couple. She was born Jan. 7 at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, weighing in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces and measuring 21.5 inches for the happy parents, Jason and Michelle Clark. The dad works as a station agent at Alaska Airlines. Mom is a kindergarten teacher and has been with the school district about 10 years. The family returned to Wrangell on Jan. 12, Jason Clark said. "We just beat the weather,"...
Hoonah has submitted a petition to the Alaska Local Boundary Commission to create the state’s 20th organized borough, which would include the city and some lightly populated outlying communities. The Xunaa Borough would include Hoonah, as well as Game Creek, Elfin Cove and Funter Bay — and most of Glacier Bay. The potential borough’s name is a closer match to the Tlingit language word for the community. “Voluntary incorporation is preferable to the potential alternative of either having a different borough government imposed upon residen...
The Juneau school board has approved a series of immediate cost-cutting measures including a hiring freeze, plus exploring the longer-term option of a loan to help deal with an unexpected $9.5 million budget deficit. Members at the Jan. 16 meeting were also presented with large-scale future cuts to consider, including school consolidations, closing the district during the summer and going to a four-day school week. Board members, after learning earlier this month about the substantial deficit for the fiscal year ending June 30, asked Schools...
The Biden administration has taken action to conserve groves of old-growth trees on national forests across the U.S. and limit logging as climate change amplifies the threats they face from wildfires, insects and disease. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the agency was adopting an “ecologically driven” approach to older forests — an arena where timber industry interests have historically predominated. That will include the first nationwide amendment to U.S. Forest Service management plans in the agency’s 118-year history, he said in a De...
Alaskans trying to quit their tobacco habits made some significant progress over the past year, according to the annual report released last week by the state’s Tobacco Prevention and Control Program. The program, which includes the Tobacco Quit Line, helped 1,753 Alaskans stop smoking or using smokeless tobacco or electronic cigarettes in the 12 months ending June 30, the report said. The program gave support to 21 community organizations around the state. The program also produced and distributed an anti-vaping toolkit to the state’s school d...
A Washington state-based environmental group says it’s filing a petition asking the Biden administration to list southern Alaska king salmon as an endangered species — following through on notice of intent it filed last year. The Wild Fish Conservancy’s 68-page petition says the king salmon, also known as chinook, are threatened by climate change and competition from hatchery-raised fish, and that state and federal management plans are failing to stem their decline. The petition targets all populations that use the Gulf of Alaska, inclu...
State lawmakers went back to work this week in Juneau, with two familiar topics likely to dominate the budget-writing work. “The real question is what are we going to do for the Permanent Fund dividend … and what are we going to do for education,” Rep. Dan Ortiz told the Wrangell borough assembly Jan. 9. “That’s what the argument is going to be about.” Ortiz, a retired schoolteacher in Ketchikan, also represents Wrangell and Metlakatla. He’s been in the state House since January 2015 and serves on the Finance Committee, which is in charge of...
The borough will spend about $80,000 for an engineering report, cost estimates and conceptual drawings in hopes of winning a $25 million federal grant to rebuild the Inner Harbor, Reliance and Standard Oil floats. The grant application is due by Feb. 28, pushing the borough and its contractor, PND Engineers, with offices in Juneau and Anchorage, into an accelerated schedule to meet the deadline. If the federal grant comes through, the work will include new floats, ramps, pilings, electrical service and dredging, explained Interim Borough...
Supporters of a ballot initiative that would increase Alaska’s minimum wage, mandate paid sick leave and provide other worker protections submitted more than 40,000 petition signatures to the Alaska Division of Elections on Jan. 9, bringing their cause one step closer to a decision by voters. The group, called Better Jobs for Alaska, brought boxes of signed petitions to a Division of Elections office in Anchorage. The initiative proposes to hike the state’s minimum wage, currently at $11.73 an hour, to $13 an hour next year, $14 an hour in 202...
