Week of May 7, 2025
The school board has adopted a budget for the next school year that relies heavily on funds from two different reserve accounts to balance revenue with expenses. By withdrawing $976,000 from its operating reserves — just about emptying the longstanding account — and transferring $250,000 from its capital improvement projects reserves, the school district is able to cover its $5.98 million operating budget. The 2025-2026 spending plan includes two fewer full-time teaching positions than this year. Any increase in state funding for schools...
The borough’s continuing work on its downtown waterfront master plan is ramping up after the community’s nearly 50-year-old freight barge landing was shut down. The assembly will hold a work session on the master plan at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 13, at the Nolan Center. The barge ramp, next to the City Dock, was closed down in mid-March after an engineering report detailed structural and safety concerns about the steel bridge and other components. The closure has prompted the borough to accelerate its quest for a permanent solution. The...
The chamber still needs volunteers - and sponsors - to run events at the town's multiday Fourth of July celebration. And there's just one big, bright, sparkly unknown. "The only worry is the fireworks," said Tracey Martin, executive director of the chamber of commerce, which organizes the holiday extravaganza. Wrangell no longer has a certified pyrotechnician to take charge of the fireworks. "Someone in the fire department is working on passing their state-proctored test so that they can do the...
Amid a severe state budget deficit, the Alaska Senate Finance Committee is proposing the lowest Permanent Fund dividend in five years and — if adjusted for inflation — the lowest dividend ever. On May 1, the committee unveiled a new version of its proposed state operating budget with a $1,000 dividend, a $400 reduction from its first draft. That cut reduces the Senate’s budget draft by $265 million, likely balancing it once additional legislation is considered. The dividend figure is not final: The full Senate will vote on the...
Starting July 1, residents and businesses will be charged higher rates for water and sewer services and trash pickup. Moorage fees and other rates at the port and harbors also will go up. The utility rate increases will be small, adding up to just under $10 a month for a residential account at the minimum level of water use and garbage pickup. The borough assembly adopted the annual rate and fee schedule unanimously at its April 22 meeting. The monthly base rate for residential or commercial metered water service will increase 10%, from...
How do you take an hour's worth of interviews and additional video footage and shape them into a three- to eight-minute film? That's the cinematic goal of the Stikine Stories Film Festival presented by Stikine Middle School and Wrangell High School students on Monday, May 12, at 6:30 p.m. at the Nolan Center. The event is free to the public. The short films cover a wide range of topics, including hooligan fishing, totem carving, the pride and trauma of serving in the military, and bowling....
Whether by land or by sea, everyone is invited to participate in the annual blessing of the fleet, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday, May 12, at the Wrangell Mariners’ Memorial at Heritage Harbor. For those who arrive by sea, “we will broadcast the event on VHF,” said memorial board president Jenn Miller-Yancey. “Having those vessels out there makes the whole experience more meaningful,” she said of the boats that drift in front of the memorial during the ceremony. Wrangell has held a springtime blessing of the fleet for decades,...
For the third time in two years, the Alaska Legislature has approved a bill to increase long-term state funding for the state's K-12 public schools. On April 30, the state Senate voted 17-3 and the House voted 31-8 to approve House Bill 57, which would permanently increase the base student allocation, the core of the state's per-student funding formula, by $700 per student, almost 12%, at a cost to the state of $183 million for the 2025-2026 school year. The increase would send more than...
Creating safe and accessible community playgrounds is not child’s play, and so the Parks and Recreation Department will host consultant Heather Plucinski, of Northwest Playgrounds, as the next step in a planning process to reimagine and recreate Wrangell’s playgrounds. The public meeting is set for Friday, May 9, from noon to 1 p.m. at the Nolan Center. Parks and Rec Director Lucy Robinson said the general worn-out status of Wrangell’s playgrounds has been a community concern for years. She is encouraging community involvement and...
Alaska bars and liquor stores will be required to post signs warning of alcohol’s link to cancer, under a bill that became law on April 25. The new sign mandate, to go into effect on Aug. 1, makes Alaska the first U.S. state to require such health warnings specifically related to colon and breast cancers. The warnings about the alcohol-cancer relationship will be added to already mandated warnings about the dangers that pregnant women’s consumption can lead to birth defects. The requirement is part of a measure, Senate Bill 15, that...
Wrangell police, working with law enforcement personnel from a regional task force, arrested three men on April 30 on felony drug possession charges. Justin G. Churchill, 39, Richard “Daniel” J. Eklund, 38, and Cooper J. Seimears, 39, were arrested after police confiscated a package containing 88 grams of methamphetamine (about three ounces), with a street value of approximately $17,600, according to a prepared statement issued by Wrangell police on April 30. The package had been shipped to Wrangell. Police Chief Gene Meek on May 1...
As Alaska lawmakers confront a major budget deficit, disagreements over how to solve the problem appear likely to lead to a lower Permanent Fund dividend this fall and cuts to services, including public schools. In public statements, members of the Alaska Senate’s majority caucus have said they oppose spending from savings to balance the budget and want to see new revenue bills instead. Meanwhile, members of the state House and Gov. Mike Dunleavy have said they oppose new revenue bills and would prefer to spend from savings. Those different...
At least 87 federally funded AmeriCorps volunteers were notified last week that their current or upcoming service work in Alaska was abruptly canceled. They include local aspiring teachers planning to tutor young Alaskans, out-of-state volunteers set to work at Girl Scout Camps in Chugiak this summer and school and parks workers in Sitka. AmeriCorps is a federal agency aimed at volunteerism that operates a network of local, state and national service programs. But last month, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency began dismantling...
Nine AmeriCorps volunteers serving in Sitka learned on April 25 that they had to leave their jobs by the end of the day April 28. The volunteers, who had been working with the Sitka School District, Mt. Edgecumbe High School, Sitka Parks and Recreation and nonprofit organizations, were notified that their employment was ending by order of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which was closing out $400 million in AmeriCorps grants nationwide. The order terminates more than 1,000 AmeriCorps programs and 32,000 positions across the...
As President Donald Trump marks 100 days in office, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is urging anxious Alaskans to keep protesting against his administration. During an hour-long radio program on April 29, Murkowski expressed deep concerns with Trump’s use of executive power and the priorities supported by his administration and Republicans in Congress. She mentioned the 50501 movement, which has protested against the Trump administration, including with rallies in Alaska. “I think that type of engagement is important, and people shouldn’t feel...
Voters in Alaska, Missouri and Nebraska were asked last year whether they wanted to require employers to provide paid sick leave to their workers. They overwhelmingly said yes. Now some lawmakers in each of those states are trying to roll back the benefits, citing concerns from businesses about costs. The efforts mark the latest attempt by legislators to alter laws backed by the voters they represent. In February, for example, Michigan enacted revisions to a paid sick leave law initiated by voters seven years ago, delaying the date when small...
Wrangell may see a return of track and field for high school athletes. The effort is starting small. Wrangell junior Boomchain Loucks, a standout cross-country runner, competed Saturday, May 3, at the South Sound Classic at Puyallup High School east of Tacoma, Washington. Loucks, who had started practicing in mid-April, was the only Wrangell athlete with enough practices under his feet to qualify for the meet, explained Mason Villarma, who is volunteering as track and field coach this year. “My goal for this year is to get it off the...
May 7, 1925 It’s now an assured fact that Wrangell is to have a hospital. The need for a hospital has been felt for years. When the Arthur Yates Hospital in Kechikan was closed a few weeks ago, it seemed to be the general consensus of opinion that this was Wrangell’s opportunity, and no time was lost in taking up the matter with Bishop Rowe. Bishop stated he was agreeable to the hospital being moved to Wrangell, provided he became convinced that there are enough people who want it to ensure its success. After being advised of the...
Janet Buness, 78, passed away on Oct. 8, 2024. Services will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 18, at the Presbyterian Church. A reception will follow at the Nolan Center, with a dessert bar, coffee and soft drinks. Dessert donations are welcome. Graveside services will be private. Janet was born Nov. 25, 1945, in Willits, California, to Rex and Marian Lamm. She joined an older sister, Patricia. After her father died, the family moved to Brookings, Oregon. Janet attended grade school and graduated...
Earl Nelson Benitz Jr., beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, passed away on April 23, 2025, in Petersburg at the age of 84. He died peacefully with family by his side. Earl was born on Nov. 23, 1940, in Petersburg. He grew up in Petersburg, fishing during the summers on his dad's boat, the Baranof. After graduating from Petersburg High School, he attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he obtained a teaching degree. "He was always proud of his alumnus status,"...
Monday, April 28 Agency assist: Department of Transportation. Papers served. Tuesday, April 29 Agency assist: State troopers. Missing person. Traffic stop. Wednesday, April 30 Dog complaint. Agency assist: State troopers. Parking complaint. Thursday, May 1 Found property. Agency assist: Fire Department. Theft. Disorderly conduct. Friday, May 2 Agency assist: Fire Department. Agency assist: Ambulance. Traffic stop. Traffic stop. Civil matter. Saturday, May 3 Driving under the influence and child endangerment. Driving under the influence....
The Legislature is in its 10th year of struggling to balance Alaskans’ wishes and wants for a large Permanent Fund dividend with the checkbook reality that is much less than the wants. It’s been an annual political and fiscal battle ever since Gov. Bill Walker in 2016 bravely cut that year’s PFD in half after legislators had approved an unaffordable dividend while the state budget was in a deep billion-dollar deficit, dug deeper by low oil prices. Mike Dunleavy, who was then a state senator, vowed to push legislation to undo the...
In poker, four of a kind beats just about everything. But this isn’t about gambling with chips or betting on cards, it’s about gambling with the country’s future. It’s about how four-of-a-kind senators could beat President Donald Trump at the dangerous game he is playing with the nation’s economy and people’s lives. No surprise, it’s just like Trump to gamble with everyone else’s money, livelihood and families but his own. The guy’s been dealing from the bottom, making up new rules as he plays the game from the Oval Office,...
Most folks who ride the ferries have no idea there’s a crew of highly trained engineers, unseen below deck, running complex systems that could run a small city. Marine engineers control ships’ propulsion, power generation and other vital systems. We monitor control systems and ensure all machinery is operating correctly. We not only operate the ferries, we repair and maintain their mechanical and electrical systems and equipment. We’re also the ones called when just about anything goes wrong on the ship, from the elevator breaking down...
