Sorted by date Results 2 - 26 of 1098
Fiscal conservatives like to say that Alaska has a spending problem. Solve it, cut programs, and the good tax-free life can continue — along with a fat Permanent Fund dividend every fall. The other side in the budget debate says the state has a revenue problem. They cite the political refusal to consider changes in oil taxes, mining taxes or corporate taxes, the rejection of a return to the pre-oil-days personal income tax, even the denial of an increase in the lowest-in-the-nation motor fuel tax rate. They say raise new revenues and a good l...
Wrangell is big on annual traditions. The Fourth of July, salmon fishing, high school homecoming basketball games, Christmas tree lighting, tax-free shopping days and putting away the snow shovels and ice melt. Of course, there are the less welcome yearly traditions, such as paying property taxes, getting an annual physical and digging through the final packages of last year’s frozen fish. The annual spring cleanup is sort of a mix of the eagerly awaited and the yearly event that feels good even if it requires some manual labor. Kind of like e...
I figured all terrorism was equally bad. No distinctions allowed. Aiding in the murder — stealing of life, liberty or property — from innocent people deserved strong punishment. Terrorism by the far-left or far-right, foreign-born or U.S.-born, religious zealots or atheists, rich or poor, people wearing burkas, balaclavas or Brooks Brothers suits are all equally punishable under the law. Anyone and everyone who encourages or helps terrorists belongs in prison for the public’s protection. Except in the Trump administration, where who you know,...
There is growing concern among Alaskans that oil and gas revenues to the state general fund will be insufficient to satisfy programs such as education, law enforcement and transportation, as well as to continue to pay a reasonable Permanent Fund dividend. The Alaska Department of Revenue Spring 2025 Forecast projects oil and gas revenues declining over the next decade, dwindling from 37% of general fund revenues for fiscal year 2024 to 25% by fiscal year 2035. The primary components of oil and gas revenues are royalties, production taxes and...
No one likes another requirement to pass through security before boarding a flight to see family or friends, visit a medical specialist, attend a business meeting or, even better, take a vacation. But the federal requirement that travelers on domestic flights must show a REAL ID, or other approved enhanced-security photo identification, will take effect on May 7. The deadline comes 20 years after Congress approved the law. Over those two decades, the frequently criticized law has been postponed several times, same as the morning northbound...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has been traveling a lot to Asia, Houston and Washington, D.C., working hard to sell government officials and the private sector on the decades-old vision of an Alaska North Slope natural gas pipeline to make the state rich again. But while peddling the dubious prospects of a megaproject — one of the most expensive natural gas developments anywhere in the world — the governor has been absent from his day job. He hasn’t been fiddling, and the state isn’t burning like it does during the wildfire season, but he has been playing...
Our family-owned and operated small business provides 140 jobs on Prince of Wales Island. With 30 years in operation, we know that year-round jobs in rural communities keep grocery stores and schools open. Viking Lumber employs 46 Alaskans living in rural communities like Craig and Klawock. Employees at Viking Lumber receive family wages, health care, dental, vision, life insurance and a retirement plan. School-age children of Viking employees are equal to one full class of students in our already shrinking schools. Viking’s operations also s...
In today’s world, many feel concern, anxiety and cynicism. Yet there are countless reasons to remain hopeful. A gathering in Anchorage on March 29-30 and open to all, explored how we can unite to create a more peaceful and prosperous world for every member of the human family. Among the 140 attendees with diverse backgrounds were three adults and one youth from Wrangell, all eager to reflect on this question. Through devotional gatherings, large and small group discussions, the arts and shared meals, we explored the teachings of B...
North Slope oil production has been in steady decline since 1988. The trans-Alaska oil pipeline is more than three-quarters empty. It’s no one’s fault, that’s just how oil reservoirs behave. They are not some kind of eternal spring that replenishes itself. Even as companies work hard to find new oil fields and increase production from the older reservoirs, it’s not enough to permanently reverse the inevitable. And with that decline, so goes state revenues. Even today, in its diminished capacity, oil remains the single largest source of tax rev...
I’m not an attorney and I never took a law school class, though I have walked past law school campuses in three states. I’ve also walked past medical schools and lots of banks, but I am not a doctor and I am not rich. I have learned that proximity does not mean success. You have to work at making good decisions. Or, in the case of the nation’s capital these days, you have to work to be so dishonest with a straight face. Even when caught with the evidence on their phones, officials deny their own typing and emojis. They need to learn when to pl...
Article VII of the Alaska Constitution requires the Legislature to “maintain a system of public schools open to all children of the state.” Alaska statute, in the Alaska Students’ Educational Bill of Rights, states: “A quality education for students of all ages is a concrete investment that vastly improves the future prosperity, welfare, productivity and vitality of society.” The indisputable, mathematical fact is that at least for the past 10 years; (years in which I served in the Alaska State House), the Legislature and the executive...
Alaskans won’t turn into a pumpkin at midnight the evening of Monday, March 31, but they could lose out on a chance to be richer. The deadline to file for this year’s Permanent Fund dividend is 11:59 p.m. March 31. Complete the online application by then and, come the first week of October, the state will deposit the PFD into your bank account. If online is not your thing, head to the Legislative Information Office upstairs at the Kadin Building on Front Street, above the Tongass Federal Credit Union office, pick up a paper application, get...
Alaska’s two U.S. senators both believe that President Donald Trump’s pro-development administration will be good for the state’s natural resource economy, creating jobs, boosting tax revenues and building long-term prosperity. Both support the president’s initiatives to unlock resources that had been placed off-limits by the administration of Joe Biden and others before him. And both want the federal government to operate efficiently and reduce spending. Beyond those shared beliefs, however, the two came across as worlds apart in their a...
It’s a two-sided coin, this. An opportunity to say goodbye to an entire community but also something that can only be written in broad strokes, absent the hugs and the clasping of hands that I usually prefer for my goodbyes. The reason is that today was my last day at the Wrangell Sentinel. I start my new job as a food and culture writer with the USA Today network in Boston in just five days. So, to all those who’ve been kind to me at any point in the past nine months — even if it was just a tiny little moment — I’m clasping my hands together,...
The federal and state stars are not lining up well for Wrangell’s budget future, at least not for the next few years. And that will mean some hard choices for the community, particularly when it comes to deciding the future of its schools and how to pay for that future. The borough has been using money from a federal program that dates back to 2000 to cover much of its annual contribution to the school district operating budget. But Congress failed to appropriate the money last year — the Republican-controlled U.S. House declined to take up...
I am having a problem as I age. Well, sure, lots of problems, like my legs moving about as smoothly as an engine with cold motor oil on a winter day. Or a memory that drains faster than a smartphone left on video streaming overnight. Or an arthritic neck that moves about as easily as a frozen, rusted bolt. But I can handle those. They are physical reminders of aging. I know they are inevitable and cyclical, like the tides. So I just wait for the tide to change and go about life, though I did add a second handrail to the staircase at home. But...
I know I’ve made it home when I step off the plane and a rush of cedar bark invades my senses. As I step onto the airport tarmac, I see the Stikine River and the tiniest airport terminal I have ever laid eyes on. I’ve returned for my annual summer vacation in Wrangell. Once a small yet vibrant logging and fishing community which has long since diminished, leaving a population of roughly 2,000, what could make a town double in size for two weeks out of the year? That’s simple, the best Fourth of July celebration of my life. The Fourth is the t...
Going on attack against Canada makes as much sense as picking a fight with your best friend and neighbor, the one you share holiday meals with, the one who steps up when disaster hits the neighborhood, the one who helps make sure you and your family are safe. Which is to say it makes no sense whatsoever. President Donald Trump says Canada should become the 51st state. Canadians have declined. If the tiff would have ended there, no harm, no foul. But it hasn’t ended, and the fight could soon cost Alaskans money. Trump is throwing tariffs at Cana...
Elon Musk is right, there is waste in government. No question about it. Just as there is waste in most every household and every business in America. There is no such thing as 100% efficiency. Not everyone gives 110%. Not every good idea, new product or well-intentioned program bats a thousand. And not every kid eats everything on their dinner plate, including the green vegetables. That doesn’t mean you get rid of your kid, close down every business, cancel every project or fire every worker. A responsible leader would look, learn and listen be... Full story
I was surprised to learn of the procedure that has been evidently adopted by the Trump administration which allows high-level advisers like Elon Musk to maintain multiple private income sources that could benefit them substantially from the advice they are giving to our president. Musk is reported to have already received $38 billion in contracts, tax credits and loans from the federal government. He is reported to be seeking the federal government’s underwriting of a SpaceX voyage to Mars. Musk should be required to separate the benefits his b...
The borough received two proposals in the past few months to buy some of its land at the former 6-Mile mill site. One was a pretty firm proposal. The other was a concept. Tideline Construction, part of the half-century-old Juneau-based Channel Construction operation, applied in January to buy more than nine acres of borough-owned land at 6-Mile. Tideland offered to buy two parcels at the assessed value of about $250,000 and would like portions of three neighboring lots. It wants to grow its scrap metal recycling operation and expand into...
Tumultuous certainly applies to the goings-on in the nation’s capital. And not in a good way. While in Alaska’s Capitol, the goings-on are surprising too, but most definitely in a good way. Unlike congressional leadership, which is putting up no public resistance to the Trump/Musk dishonest assault on public services, people’s lives, the rule of law and human compassion, Alaska’s legislative leaders are standing up to do their job. And they are doing it honestly, unlike the deceitful duo of Trump and Musk who seem to be vaccinated against... Full story
In 1975, Gerald Ford, a Republican, was president of the United States. 1975 was 50 years ago — a half century. The U.S. civilian federal workforce was approximately 2.1 million. The population of the United States was 216 million. This made the federal workforce 1% of the U.S. population. In 2024, Joe Biden, a Democrat, was president of the United States. The U.S. civilian workforce was 2.2 million. The population of the United States was 336 million. This made the federal workforce 0.66% of the U.S. population. Over the past 50 years the U...
I love the fact that I can access all the Wrangell newspapers published back to 1898 through the Irene Ingle Public Library’s website. I recently searched the keywords “Bradfield road” and found these articles extremely interesting. Would you please consider reprinting all the Bradfield road articles on a weekly basis? I recently moved back to Wrangell. I was very disheartened about the lack of growth in our economy. City Hall’s archives are full of economic development studies. Instead of wasting money on another study, the community should...
The school district and borough share a money problem. And it’s a community problem that needs an answer this spring. The schools need more money to continue even the basic programs for Wrangell’s 260 students. The state funding formula over the past eight years has been flat, which is to say far short of keeping up with inflation, which is to say wholly inadequate. The borough assembly has tried pitching in, but its check-writing ability is limited by two factors: A state law that puts a cap on local contributions to school district budgets, a...