Sorted by date Results 351 - 375 of 5979
The state ferry system carried 181,000 passengers in 2023, still short of the pre-COVID numbers in 2019 and down substantially from almost 340,000 in 2012 and more than 420,000 in 1992. Overall vehicle traffic also is down, from more than 115,000 in 2012 to 63,000 last year. Much of the decline corresponds to a reduction in the number of vessels in operation, according to statistics presented to a state Senate budget subcommittee on March 19. The fleet provided almost 400 “operating weeks” in 2012, with each week a ship is at sea counting as an...
Problems with dog waste in town, in parks and ballfields are ongoing. While there has been some improvement in recent years, people not picking up after their dogs continues to be a recurring issue, especially with the coming of spring. “With everything thawing, it’s one of the more gross times of the year,” said recreation director Devyn Johnson of Parks and Recreation. “And it’s a bit of a roller coaster. Sometimes people do better than other times.” Parks and Recreation Director Lucy Robinson and her staff have been working hard to clear pa...
The district’s electric school bus, originally scheduled to arrive in late spring through the federal Clean School Bus program, has been delayed until March 2025 due to a backlog of orders at the bus manufacturer, which could be too late for the terms of the grant’s fall deadline. Schools Superintendent Bill Burr explained the reasons for the delay at a school board meeting on March 18. The delay could pose a problem, as the grant deadline requires the bus to be on the job by October. Burr doesn’t know yet whether the grant can be salvaged. “We...
Almost half of the students enrolled at the school district are counted as Alaska Native. Schools Superintendent Bill Burr confirmed that out of a total of 270 students enrolled in the district, 122 are registered as Alaska Native, while 13 are American Indian. “We’re 50% or really close,” he said. “Some of those might be mixed, depending on which parent filled it out.” Burr added that while Kim Powell, the district’s administrative assistant, had told him that the ratio has always been around that percentage, statistics from the state and f...
Wrangell’s BRAVE has started its running and empowerment program, I Toowú Klatseen (ITK), for kids in third through fifth grades. The program provides free running and exercise activities, lessons in self-respect, community building and healthy decision-making. I Toowú Klatseen means “strengthen your spirit” in Tlingit, or being strong on the inside and the outside — philosophies the program seeks to share with Wrangell’s youth. The program started Tuesday, March 26, and will run to May 9 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 5:30 t...
This is the second year that Wrangell’s Parks and Recreation Department will host an adopt-a-garden volunteer program to help beautify downtown. Though volunteers have maintained the garden beds in years past, last year was the first year that Parks and Rec organized the volunteer program and provided resources. The seasonal garden beds will be opened for work on April 6, when Parks and Rec will host a work party. That will include a meeting to discuss guidelines, available resources and a garden bed care schedule. Opening the garden beds e...
Five Wrangell teens know their books, chapters and verses better than any other team in Alaska, and for the second year in a row Wrangell won the state title at The Salvation Army’s Bible Bowl competition. The team was so dominant and won by such a wide margin at the competition March 16 in Juneau that “Anchorage actually forfeited,” said Capt. Chase Green of The Salvation Army’s Wrangell church. Haines took second and Juneau won third in the four-team contest, he said. With the state title in hand, Wrangell will move on to the nationa...
Kevin Gadsey, hired last month by the Wrangell Cooperative Association to work on domestic violence prevention, said the problem is more traumatic in smaller communities like Wrangell, where survivors often must leave town for support and treatment. Alaska has some of the highest domestic violence rates in the country, especially among Native communities. While more support and resources for survivors of domestic violence are needed, a key piece of the equation is prevention, Gadsey noted. The...
Alaska lawmakers fell one vote short Monday in an attempt to override the governor’s veto of a comprehensive school funding bill, which included a permanent increase in the state funding formula for K-12 education and which could have provided an additional $440,000 for the Wrangell school district. The additional funds would have covered about two-thirds of the deficit in the Wrangell district’s draft budget, reducing the amount of money it will need to pull out of reserves for the 2024-2025 school year. The vote in a joint session of the Hous...
The federal appropriations bill signed into law earlier this month includes a $2.5 million grant for Wrangell's new water treatment plant, which is under construction and scheduled for completion in June 2025. The latest federal grant, added to the budget bill by Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, will reduce the amount of borrowed money the borough will need to repay, Interim Borough Manager Mason Villarma confirmed Friday, March 15. President Joe Biden signed the appropriations bill on March 9, after the measure won approval by wide margins in the...
Ann Hilburn is leaving her job as elementary school principal in Wrangell at the end of the school year when she will move to Tok in Alaska’s Interior to serve as special education director. This was Hilburn’s second year as principal after serving a year as special education teacher at the high school and middle school. The new job with the Alaska Gateway School District in Tok “will provide the opportunity to combine what I enjoy most, serving in special education, with the administrative piece of my educational tenure,” she said in an emai...
Clean water advocates believe a seafood consumption survey among Wrangell residents might help in their push for higher water quality standards. Together, the Wrangell Cooperative Association and the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission will conduct a survey in Wrangell to determine the quantity and types of seafood community members consume. The goal of the survey is to update the region’s outdated fish consumption rate, said Esther Aaltséen Reese, WCA tribal administrator. The metric is used by the U.S. Environmental Pr...
The borough assembly unanimously agreed March 12 to move forward with the sale of six borough-owned lots behind the former hospital property. The six lots will be appraised and sold at market value to Wayne Johnson, a Georgia-based real estate developer. Johnson is planning to build a 48-unit, condo-style housing development with covered parking on the former hospital property and six adjacent lots. The sales of the former hospital property and six adjacent lots are conditional upon each other, as Johnson has said he needs all the parcels for...
The borough assembly narrowed down the field of seven applicants for the borough manager job; a special meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, March 19, to interview the three finalists. The finalists include current interim borough manager and finance director Mason Villarma and two Lower 48 candidates with city manager experience: Jack Harper of Texas and Alan Lanning of Colorado. Lanning has served as city manager in Cordova and interim city manager in Bethel. The applicants were to be interviewed over Zoom in an executive session at the March...
The weights and exercise areas at the swimming pool and community recreation facility have expanded, with more equipment stationed in the converted racquetball court. Parks and Recreation Director Lucy Robinson said the facility has seen an increase in use of weight-lifting and cardio equipment like treadmills and stationary bikes over the past several years, so they wanted to expand to satisfy the demand and encourage people to keep coming back. "We've hustled our little tails off to make sure...
In addition to his duties as activities director, Mike Hoyt will now also serve as the new Indian Education Act director for the school district after the resignation of DaNika Smalley on Feb. 29. Schools Superintendent Bill Burr confirmed that Hoyt started on March 11. Working in cultural education has been Hoyt’s focus since 2011. He worked as a teacher in Nome for five years, and before that worked at culture camps operated by Goldbelt and Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau. “He’s got background in writing grants,” Burr said. “And he...
High school student Cody Eastaugh has worked part time for almost two years at the Bay Company, known as BayCo, which specializes in marine sales and service at its Front Street location. While trying to decide on his senior project, his boss Dave Powell came up with the idea that Eastaugh could assist him with volunteer efforts for two fundraisers and cleanup and repairs at the shooting range. "I thought, that's a terrific idea and I should do that," Eastaugh said. First, he helped Powell with...
Illegal dumping of trash, appliances and whatever else people don’t want to take to the waste transfer station has long been a problem in town. “It’s not just a Wrangell issue,” Police Chief Tom Radke said last week. Radke, who spent almost 26 years in law enforcement in Minnesota before taking the Wrangell job in 2020, said he has seen it many times before. But just because it’s commonplace doesn’t mean it’s legal — it’s not. Illegal dumping of garbage in Wrangell is subject to a $150 fine. “It’s one of those issues we’re trying to get ahead o...
The Wrangell Little League is preparing for a new season on the baseball diamond. But first, they need a few more volunteers. Little League player agent Kaelene Harrison said that while they’ve found almost all their head coaches, there are still a few open spots. “We just need to decide who’s coaching what,” she said last week. The season runs April 1 through June 15. In addition to coaches, the league was looking for volunteers to fill openings for assistant coaches, umpires and scorekeepers, as well as field maintenance and concess...
The borough’s economic development board voted unanimously March 5 to recommend the assembly approve the sale of the former hospital property for $200,000 to Wayne Johnson, a Georgia-based real estate developer. Johnson is planning to demolish the building and construct up to 48 units of condo-style housing, with covered parking. He also wants to purchase six borough-owned vacant lots behind the hospital property, which the borough manager has said would be sold at their appraised value. Regardless of some concerns, economic development b...
With the loss of several cruise ship stops this summer, Wrangell may not exceed last year’s cruise visitor count as had been originally projected. Wrangell recently lost 14 stops from the cruise line American Queen Voyages, which filed for bankruptcy last month, canceling its 186-passenger Ocean Victory to Southeast Alaska. This translates to a loss of $33,000 in port fees and as many as 2,600 summer visitors for Wrangell. The town also lost the stops of three mid-size cruise ships which are now going to Klawock, taking about 2,200 berths o...
After the borough assembly agreed last month that a port commission proposal to require boat owners to carry marine insurance needed a lot more work, the two elected bodies got together last week to workshop changes. The assembly and port commission were generally in consensus over details to be added to the original proposal, like a minimum required coverage, a maneuverability assessment of vessels, a minimum vessel size to require insurance, increased management rights to keep out unseaworthy boats, exemptions for transient vessels and the co...
After filling the job in the past in a temporary capacity, Tory Houser officially accepted the position as U.S. Forest Service Wrangell District ranger on March 4. "It feels great, and a lot of responsibility," she said. Houser has spent 21 years with the Forest Service, including eight years in Wrangell, mostly as recreation officer, although she has filled in before from time to time as acting district ranger. She said that while those previous experiences prepared her in some ways, "I'll need...
Wrangell will go without state ferry service for the last week of March and first week of April as the ships are scheduled to meet other needs across coastal communities. There will be no northbound service to Wrangell between March 22 and April 10, and no southbound stops in town between March 25 and April 12. The schedule will return to normal later in April, with a weekly northbound sailing on Fridays and a weekly southbound stop on Mondays. That will switch to southbound on Wednesdays and northbound on Sundays with the start of the summer s...
There’s a new solution in the works to deal with the large pile of tires at the solid waste transfer station, often referred to as “Mount Tires.” This new solution would include moving the tires to the former 6-Mile sawmill property and then shipping them out of town as part of a deal with the tenant at the borough-owned waterfront site. The borough manager is negotiating on a longer-term lease or rental agreement at the former mill site with Channel Construction. If they can reach a deal, ideally Channel Construction would remove the tires...
