Sorted by date Results 4938 - 4962 of 5587
Petersburg district school enrollment numbers have decreased by 44 percent since 1997—almost double that of Wrangell and Sitka. It’s a number that Petersburg Superintendent Rob Thomason has been concerned about for some time. “It’s been a concern in the back of my mind ever since I’ve been here,” Thomason said. “The whole staff knows we’re always looking at the idea that this year does not preclude what it will look like next year. We always have to rethink that.” The district has seen about a two percent decrease in student enrollment each y...
Brandon Estes, 20, plead guilty to six counts of Burglary in the 2nd Degree last Monday after being accused of breaking into multiple businesses around Petersburg late last summer. The six Class C felony charges are connected to AP&T, Wikan Enterprises, the Petersburg Parks and Recreation building, Hammer & Wikan Grocery store, Waterways Veterinary Clinic and Petersburg Motors last August. Police received reports of break-ins and burglaries throughout the day on August 28 from those locations and later obtained search warrants after viewing...
WRANGELL — An Alaska Division of Insurance ruling will effectively cancel a widely used medical evacuation membership plan across Southeast. The ruling, issued in a letter of judgment Nov. 12, effectively invalidates the Airlift Northwest’s Alaska AirCare membership plan. Airlift Northwest is a subsidiary of the University of Washington, and until mid-November the Alaska AirCare membership plan was designed to eliminate co-payments for emergency medical costs in Southeast. Wrangell citizens typically use a combination of plans to cover the cos...
WRANGELL — The council voted 5-0 to approve a resolution that would begin the process of moving the Thomas Bay Power Authority-run Tyee Lake facility over to the Southeast Alaska Power Agency. The resolution reflects a draft resolution approved at the Dec. 3 special assembly meeting, and keeps most of the terms of that resolution intact. TBPA employees would be “kept whole” in terms of wages, benefits, and positions during the conversion process. SEAPA would absorb the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) unfunded liability. Wrangell and P... Full story
WRANGELL — The borough assembly voted 5-0 Tuesday night on a draft resolution which — if approved next week — could begin the process of putting Tyee Lake operations in the hands of the Southeast Alaska Power Agency. Assembly members instructed Borough manager Jeff Jabusch to look through and fine-tune the resolution, which would empower him to enter into negotiations on a formal written offer for the SEAPA transfer “which essentially accepts the terms of the August 19, 2013 memo from the SEAPA CEO to the TBPA President,” the measure reads. Th...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Insurance companies that sent cancellation notices for policies that won't meet requirements of the federal health care law have until Dec. 31 to file and extend those policies in Alaska. State insurance director Bret Kolb said Friday that if carriers opt to do this, coverage would be extended one year under the existing policies. He said by email that the division is working with companies operating in Alaska but did not say if any indicated that they wanted to extend existing plans, recommending instead reaching out t...
Juneau — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announces that the season for the commercial Dungeness crab fishery in Registration Area A (Southeast) will close in most areas by regulation at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, November 30, 2013, consistent with 5 AAC 32.110. Districts 1 and 2, and Section 13-B outside of the Sitka Sound Special Use Area [5 AAC 32.150(10)] will remain open until February 28, 2014. For those areas that close at 11:59 p.m. on November 30, all Dungeness pots must be removed from the water except that pots may be stored on t...
WRANGELL — Wrangell Oil, Inc. officially ceased to exist Friday. Bill Privett, the current owner of the town’s multi-generational oil concern, sold his company to Seward-based Petro Marine Services for an undisclosed sum. The sale is a win-win for the community, based largely on the economies of the scale Petro Marine can provide, Privett said. The Wrangell Distribution plant joined Petro Marine’s Alaskan plants in Ketchikan, Petersburg, Kodiak, Seward, Sitka, Skagway, Whittier, Anchorage, Homer, Juneau, and a Canadian plant in Whitehorse, Yuko...
WRANGELL - The borough's energy committee asked borough administrator Jeff Jabusch to provide the borough assembly with data-driven assessments of options for the future of the Thomas Bay Power Authority. The committee's Monday meeting was largely an informal affair, with most decisions being made by consensus instead of role-call votes. Committee members also honed in on the options for the TBPA, which has been stuck in limbo since the Petersburg borough council voted to withhold their portion...
JUNEAU (AP) — A former president and CEO of Sealaska Corp. was charged with felony theft, accused of embezzling funds from two nonprofit organizations run by an Alaska Native civil rights group in Juneau. Robert W. Loescher is accused of stealing $21,500 from the bank accounts of a legal defense fund to protect subsistence rights and another entity focusing on security of traditional food resources. Loescher could not be reached Monday. It's unclear if he has an attorney. Loescher, 66, chaired both the Alaska Subsistence Defense Fund and the A...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Two environmental groups say the federal government is taking too long to decide whether a subspecies of gray wolf found in southeast Alaska old-growth forests should be considered for endangered species protection. In a letter Tuesday, the Center for Biological Diversity and Greenpeace urged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to decide whether additional protections are needed for Alexander Archipelago wolves, which are found on Prince of Wales Island and are genetically distinct from other wolves in the Tongass National F...
WRANGELL — The Wrangell Borough Assembly’s energy committee met for the second time ever Tuesday night. Committee members took no formal actions, other than to elect assembly member James Stough – the only sitting assembly member on the committee – as chair, and to elect Brian Ashton, a Southeast Alaska Power Agency board member and Thomas Bay Power Authority commissioner. The former energy committee chair, board member Pamella McClocskey, had resigned. However, the committee composed a set of possible recommendations to the assembly to be f...
WRANGELL — A power outage left Ketchikan and Wrangell without power for about an hour Friday afternoon. Lights and signs all along Front Street and throughout town abruptly shut off at about 4 pm. Power had been restored to most of the town by about 5 p.m. Lights remained on at businesses with back-up generators, most powered by either diesel fuel or propane. Petersburg reportedly suffered some temporary fluctuations about the same time, but never lost power entirely. Some businesses, like radio station KSTK, Alaska Island Community S...
KETCHIKAN — The changing face of visitation on the Tongass National Forest, along with the reality of shrinking budgets, has prompted Tongass managers to begin strategically planning for the future of the forest’s 152 recreation cabins. Increasing costs and declining funding resulted in a $600,000 budget shortfall in the forest’s cabin program this year. In the strategic plan, managers aim to identify cabins that are underused, dilapidated, or otherwise unsustainable, and explore how the forest can refocus available funding on those cabins whic...
Seattle — Alaska Airlines jetliners will soon fly more efficiently thanks to a new performance-enhancing winglet the carrier is installing on its Boeing Next Generation 737s, which will reduce fuel consumption be 58,000 gallons a year per aircraft. The split winglet will save the airline $20 million and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 57,000 tons annually, which is the equivalent of taking about 11,900 passenger vehicles off the road each year. “Reducing fuel consumption has been a top priority at Alaska Airlines for years,” said Mark Eliasen,...
The 68th Annual Invitational Gold Medal Basketball Tournament will be held March 16-22, 2014 at the Juneau-Douglas High School gym. Player divisions for the 68th tournament will be “B”, “C”, and “Masters.” Any team that wishes to be considered for sending a B, C, or Masters Team should send a letter or an email that states the community they represent, division they desire to play, name of the team, and the name of one individual who will be the team point-of-contact. The Juneau Lions Club is asking for separate ‘Letters of Interest’ for...
WRANGELL — The two-day Southeast Alaska Power Agency board meeting became in part a prism through which to view debate over the future of the Thomas Bay Power Authority. The TBPA debate has raised hackles both with SEAPA CEO Trey Acteson and board members, particularly the amount of misinformation SEAPA officials claim was circulated during a Sept. 24 meeting of the Wrangell Borough Assembly. Nor are factual inaccuracies limited to that assembly meeting, officials say. They cited a letter from Ketchikan Public Utilities to the Mayor, i...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Alaska’s multimillion-dollar red king crab season opened Tuesday, but most of the participating boats remained at dock because federal managers who are supposed to set individual fishing quotas are among workers still furloughed in the government’s partial shutdown. Only boats representing a tiny fraction of the total harvest will be heading out into the Bering Sea. For that community development program, quotas are assigned by the state, with only seven vessels signed up to fish as of Tuesday. Crabbers in the much large...
SITKA (AP) — The commander of the Coast Guard vessel Maple in Southeast Alaska has been temporarily removed from command because of a “lack of confidence,” an agency spokesman said. Lt. Cmdr. Fred Seaton was removed Oct. 1 after officials received reports of problems on board, KCAW reported Monday. Seaton has served as commander of the Sitka-based cutter since June 2012. Coast Guard spokesman Kip Wadlow said the agency began an investigation last month following reports of a “poor command climate.” While the investigation continues, prelimina...
HONOLULU (AP) — Humpback whales have begun arriving in Hawaii waters for mating season. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Monday that two whales were spotted Oct. 4 off Maui and two more were sighted last week. The first whales were reported by crew from a sailing charter and from a Pacific Whale Foundation vessel. Melissa Glennon, spokeswoman for Kai Kanani Sailing Charters, said one of the Oct. 4 sightings was of a young whale. She said crew members and passengers saw a couple of spouts from the mammal before it did a fluke-up dive, s...
WRANGELL — Local U.S. Forest Service employees express frustration with the ongoing government shutdown this week. The Wrangell Unit of the Tongass National Forest has been closed for 15 days following negotiations between the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives and the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate Oct. 1. The office’s 28 employees have been instructed call a 1-800 phone number each day to determine whether the office will be reopened, according to Forest Service Ranger Bob Dalrymple. Dalrymple himself and one other per...
WRANGELL — Wrangell voters insurmountably rejected a proposal to lower the sales tax, retained their sitting mayor, and removed one member of the assembly in municipal elections Tuesday, officials said. The unofficial results, read aloud shortly after the polls closed at 8 pm, put the vote tally for the contentious tax proposal at 451 votes against lowering taxes from 7 percent to 5.5 percent, and 172 votes in favor of the change. Sitting mayor David Jack tallied 455 votes while Kipha Valvoda sc...
This summer’s warmer than average temperatures could carry over into the winter if current climate trends continue. Two main factors affect winter weather in Southeast Alaska—the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, or PDO, and the El Nino/La Nina Oscillations or ENSO. Each factor has two phases—positive and negative and both affect sea surface water temperatures. The positive PDO phase happens when increased storm activity in the north Pacific blows warmer water into the Gulf of Alaska and raises the average sea surface temperatures. The winds also...
The Petersburg based commercial gillnet vessel Shelo caught fire on September 3 and was recently salvaged in Ketchikan. The incident happened in Nakat Inlet. Ryan Erikson, Chief of Incident Management for the U.S. Coast Guard, said the coast guard wasn’t notified until after the fact. “We know that it did catch fire and caught fire very rapidly,” Erikson said. “It pretty much burned itself out.” Erikson said a Good Samaritan vessel assisted the Shelo crew. The Coast Guard arrived on the site about a week later to observe the scene. Erickson...
WRANGELL — A proposed 1.5 percent sales tax cut in the City and Borough of Wrangell has split the community ahead of an Oct. 1 vote. The borough administration sent out an informational flyer this week outlining the details of cuts approved with the budget May 28, sparking at least one accusation of advocacy against the cuts. Business owners and citizens have taken out an advertisement against the reduction in the Sentinel. Assembly members and citizens have spilled ink for and against the proposal in letters to the editor. The proposal’s autho...
