Sorted by date Results 701 - 725 of 6202
The primary election for the Alaska House of Representatives is more than nine months away and already five-term incumbent Rep. Dan Ortiz has at least two challengers for the District 1 seat that represents Ketchikan, Wrangell and Metlakatla. Robb Arnold, a chief purser aboard the state ferries who ran unsuccessfully for the Ketchikan city council and Ketchikan school board last year, has filed for the state House. Arnold is running as a Republican, as is fellow Republican Jeremy Bynum, who serves on the Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly....
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has released its forecast of the number of king salmon that could return to the Unuk, Taku and Chilkat Rivers in the summer of 2024. The department did not release a forecast number for the Stikine River, citing insufficient data. “However, the terminal run is expected to be well below the escapement goal range of 14,000 to 28,000,” it said. Stikine River king salmon returns fell below the lower bound of escapement goals each year from 1975-1979, as well as 1983, 1984 and 2009, and each year from 201...
Seattle-based Trident Seafoods will scale back its operations in an economically challenging global market and wants to sell several of its facilities in Alaska, including processing plants in Petersburg and Ketchikan, but the company plans to keep its Wrangell operation. "Wrangell is a highly efficient plant that makes products that feed our value-added salmon operations," Alexis Telfer, vice president for global communications at Trident, reported in an email Dec. 12. "Petersburg is a...
The cost of clearing landslide debris, digging up the roadbed to install three large culverts to carry runoff from the mountainside, building up a new base and shoulders, and then paving the rebuilt section of Zimovia Highway with concrete will exceed $1.2 million. It could be another couple weeks before the work is finished and the highway restored to two-lane traffic, said a state official. Fortunately, the Alaska Department of Transportation had enough sections of 36-inch-diameter culvert on...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed state budget for legislative consideration starting in January includes $5 million to strengthen the century-old earthen dams that contain Wrangell’s water reservoirs. The state grant would pay to “reinforce both these dams with buttresses,” likely concrete, Interim Borough Manager Mason Villarma said Dec. 15. The governor released his version of the budget on Dec. 14. Lawmakers will reconvene in Juneau on Jan. 16, with the state spending plan likely to dominate the 121-day session. Villarma and other borough...
After a yearlong effort spanning two economic development directors, accessory dwelling units are now permissible under borough municipal code. At its Dec. 12 meeting, the assembly unanimously approved a code change that will allow self-contained, smaller apartments or rentals to be built on the same piece of property as a single-family home. The goal, wrote Economic Development Director Kate Thomas, is to “expand industry, bolster our economy and ensure that interested persons and residents can build their lives here.” Wrangell’s housi...
After decades of helping people remember birthdays and anniversaries, the printed community calendar may be going the way of phone books. There will be no Wrangell Birthday Calendar in 2024. The chamber of commerce decided to drop the project from its work list. The last Wrangell phone book was printed in 2020. The chamber had used the calendar as a fundraiser to provide an annual scholarship to a graduating high school senior. Last year’s scholarship was $1,500. “It was discussed and we’re somewhat short-handed over the last few years...
For years, St. Frances Animal Rescue has connected the community's cats and dogs with warm, loving homes. But after its cat shelter on private property closed in 2020, the nonprofit has been searching for a new location. After three years of collaboration between St. Frances and the borough, the assembly approved a 21-year lease Dec. 12 on an industrial lot near the junction of Bennett Street and Ishiyama Drive. The nonprofit requested - and was awarded - the borough's longest available lease...
A U.S. Senate committee last week advanced legislation to create Native corporations in Wrangell, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee and Haines — if it can win Senate and House approval in the next 12 months. The five “landless Natives” communities were left out of the 1971 Alaska Native Lands Claims Settlement Act, which created regional, urban and village corporations across the state. Legislation to grant lands to the five communities has been introduced to Congress multiple times over the decades, but this year is the first time any landl...
’Twas the week before Christmas and in the inky black night, Wrangell’s houses all shone with twinkly lights. But whose halls are the best-decked? It’s deadline time to register for the annual home decorating contest sponsored by the chamber of commerce. ’Twas the week before Christmas and it’s deadline time to register for the annual home decorating contest sponsored by the chamber of commerce. Judging is set for Thursday, Dec. 21. The winners will be announced the next day. Residents who want to enter the contest need to call the chamber a...
The borough has gone out to the public for a second time to survey their opinions on how to sell the first 20 lots of the Alder Top Village (Keishangita.’aan) subdivision, in advance of a decision by the Economic Development Board at its meeting set for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 20, at City Hall. The board is scheduled to make a recommendation to the assembly for how the lots should be sold, with the assembly expected to take up the issue in January. According to the Economic Development Department’s proposed schedule, the borough would hol...
The school district has pulled money from reserves and other accounts to cover a $46,000 accumulated deficit in the account that pays for students to travel to state competition. Covering this school year’s state travel expenses and future years is still unresolved. As students already have traveled to several state competitions this school year, including volleyball, cross country and wrestling, the account for 2023-2024 is back in a deficit until a consistent funding stream is determined. The school board voted Nov. 20 to take money from r...
In the coming days, weeks and months, the borough and state will continue the multi-agency effort to repair Zimovia Highway, gather data about landslide risks and connect eligible community members with financial assistance. Highway repairs are underway, though the remainder of the project could last an additional three weeks. On Saturday, local and state Department of Transportation crews completed installation of a 36-inch-diameter culvert under the road, allowing water and debris from the...
From remote weather stations to laser imaging to autonomous drones, the state and borough are working together to deploy cutting-edge monitoring technology at the 11-Mile landslide site. LiDAR maps that were created before and after the slide will help geologists study potential landslide risks on the island. LiDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is a laser-based imaging method that creates detailed, three-dimensional maps of the Earth’s surface. LiDAR instruments consist of a laser, a scanner and a specialized GPS receiver to e...
After the 11-Mile landslide missed their home by about 600 feet on Nov. 20, Mandy Simpson and her family have been faced with a barrage of decisions — none of which are easy to make. On top of the pressures of evacuation, and of attempting to prove to the state that her household merits financial assistance, Simpson has to figure out what to do with her home. Living under a potentially landslide-prone slope — especially with a child and another one on the way — is too stressful, she explained. “I don’t want to run out of the house every tim...
The borough on Dec. 6 announced the suspension of the search for Derek Heller, 12, missing since a Nov. 20 landslide took out his family’s home at 11-Mile Zimovia Highway. “The decision to end the active search comes after 15 days of tireless and exhaustive efforts by the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department Search and Rescue teams,” the borough’s announcement said. “The untiring efforts to locate 12-year-old Derek Heller extended to all accessible areas above and into the intertidal zone,” the borough’s statement said. Wrangell Volunteer Fir...
Therapy dogs Cupid and Tia calmly waited with their handlers Margaret Griffo and Terry Yeomans, greeting arrivals before class in the high school courtyard on Friday, Dec. 8, after starting their morning with the coffee crowd at the Stikine Inn and Restaurant. The dogs had arrived in Wrangell the day before, coming to town from their Anchorage-area homes for a few days to help people coping with the tragedy of the deadly landslide and the stress of the search and uncertainty, the loss and the...
A dozen Wrangell households had applied as of Dec. 7 for state financial aid to help them recover from the Nov. 20 landslide. The deadline to apply is not until Jan. 27, and an official with the state emergency management agency is encouraging anyone who believes they were directed affected by the slide to fill out an application. “We want people to apply,” said Jeremy Zidek, with the state’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The division will review the applications and give priority to people who have the greatest needs...
More than 140 miles away in Juneau, Sylvia Heinz picked up her phone and read the news of the fatal landslide in Wrangell. "I put my phone down. I couldn't read it. I couldn't think about it. I felt sick to my stomach," Heinz said. "My second thought was, 'I wish I was there because now I have all of this experience and resources and I hate for that to go to waste.'" She's not alone. Several people in Haines said hearing about Wrangell's Nov. 20 landslide triggered memories and emotions they're...
With the rusty Matanuska out of service pending repairs, the Kennicott scheduled for tie-up due to lack of crew and the Tazlina in the shipyard to add crew quarters, the state ferry system’s draft summer 2024 schedule is limited by the number of vessels in service and looks about the same as this past summer. The Columbia would make a weekly northbound stop in Wrangell on Sundays and a weekly southbound visit on Wednesdays on its run between Bellingham, Washington, and Southeast Alaska. The marine highway system released its draft schedule D...
As two students on the far left of the stage narrated, fourth grade students silently enacted the scenes in front of a bright light and behind a white screen, allowing their shadows to tell the story of a young hero who takes his revenge on a fearsome cannibal for the murder of his older brothers. After the cannibal is killed and his body is burned, his scattered ashes become mosquitoes, inflicting painful bites in revenge. The fourth graders, with help from students in the high school Tlingit...
Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor sent letters to libraries and school districts throughout the state in mid-November, warning that minors should not have access “indecent materials” at libraries and that parents must be given two weeks notice about any instruction related to “human reproduction and sexual matters.” The topic of gender identity, Taylor said, falls under this category. The letters align with a parental rights bill proposed this year by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, which would require parental approval for classes, textbooks, lessons an...
Response to the deadly landslide continues, with extensive clearing work to remove debris from along the highway to increase safety and with fundraising for families affected by the disaster, particularly the Heller and Florschutz families that lost loved ones. More than $43,000 from 342 donations had been raised in a GoFundMe campaign for the two families as of Monday, Dec. 4. Almost $20,000 had been raised in another account to help families who were displaced or whose lives were disrupted by...
For the past three years, the Evergreen Elementary School art walk has created a platform for students to share their artwork with the community. This season's walk, which is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 12, at 5:30 p.m., will feature elaborate interactive displays and a series of holiday-centric projects. "We've been cranking stuff out," said art teacher Tawney Crowley. Each of the projects she assigns has an educational component. For Veterans Day, the students discussed the origins of the...
Interim Borough Manager Mason Villarma and other local officials were in Washington, D.C., last week to ask for federal help for the community after its deadly landslide. “In terms of impact, the community is scared, I think, and rightfully so,” Villarma said in an interview with Anchorage TV station KTUU. “We’ve lost six of our community members of a town of 2,096. … That’s proportionate in Juneau of over 80 people. In Anchorage, that’s 800. ... It’s very personal.” The borough team met Nov. 28 with U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who attended midd...