The Valdez Star - Serving Prince William Sound and Copper River Basin

The US Coast Guard has disputed last week’s report from the Valdez Fire Dept. that stated a large amount of oil-contaminated water had overflowed into the waters of Port Valdez when the crew of the...

The Valdez City Council voted 4-2 last Thursday to raise the property taxes to 20 mills. The move came during a special meeting held Thursday, June 6. Last year, council lowered the rate to 18.3 mills for 2012. Council members Donna Schantz and...

The trans-Alaska pipeline system (TAPS) has been accessed at a taxable value of $11,874,014,300. Yes, that’s in billions. And well over $2 billion of that property is located within the city limits of Valdez. Oil property taxes pay for the...

Old man winter is not yet done frustrating Alaskans; ice conditions upstream from the Miles Lake was blamed for a low salmon count late last month for sockeyes returning to the Copper River. This caused a one-week delay in the long-anticipated openin...

The Friends of the Valdez Animal Shelter (FVAS) had been planning to hold a much-needed mobile clinic to spay and neuter dogs and cats in the Copper Basin for a long time. The need was there, but...

Valdez police chief Bill Comer said he does not believe the student accused of bringing a loaded handgun to Gilson Middle School earlier this month intended to harm anyone. “I don’t think there was a lot of malicious intent,” he said, noting...

Calm prevailed during a lockdown of all three schools in Valdez a week ago Tuesday after a loaded handgun was found in a student restroom at Gilson Middle School. “It was discovered by a student,” Jacob Jensen, district superintendent, confirmed...

Valdez police will be spending a night searching all three Valdez schools tonight after a loaded hand gun was found in a student bathroom at Gilson Middle School earlier this afternoon. As a...

Late last night, Valdez police reported that a student who brought a loaded firearm to Gilson Middle School Tuesday has been identified and interviewed. All three schools in Valdez were put on a lockdown status around 2 p.m. Tuesday afternoon after...

After years – some say decades – of planning, delays, and two municipal votes, the project that will result in a new middle school in Valdez has taken on a sense of urgency, as school officials begin scrambling to prepare to hand the keys of the...

Valdez man Nicholas Huff was arrested by Anchorage police last Wednesday following his release from Alaska Native Medical Center where he had been hospitalized since April 22, receiving treatment for a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Huff had been in...

Devon Totemoff was indicted by the Palmer grand jury after Valdez police filed formal drug charges against the 28-year old woman following a police investigation that began when large quantities of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine were found in a...

Anyone that has started but not finished the rounds of testing needed to earn a general education diploma, commonly called the GED, should get back on track and finish the testing well before the end...

Bill Walker is taking a second shot Alaska’s governor’s seat. Walker made the announcement during a press conference Thursday from his home in Anchorage. Surrounded by family, including his wife...

Valdez police arrested Timothy Miller, age 24, charging him with two felony counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance. Miller came to police attention after receiving a tip that Devon Totemoff, who had two outstanding Anchorage warrants,...

Valdez High School students may need to hit the books a little harder in the coming years if the school’s principal, Dr. Elizabeth Balcerek, has her way. Balcerek asked the board of education to back a review the school’s current class...

Valdez man Nicolas Huff was air-flighted to an Anchorage hospital Monday after he apparently shot himself in the chest with a small caliber firearm during a two-hour standoff with police. Police...

Dr. Lisa Stroh will take over as superintendent of Valdez City Schools July 1. The board of education unanimously offered the Montana administrator the position last week after a two-day interview process in Valdez. Stroh was offered a two-year contr...

Copper Valley Electric Association CEO Robert Wilkinson was not kidding when he announced he had bad news for cooperative members during the annual membership meeting in Valdez last Thursday....

Bill Walker is taking a second shot Alaska’s governor’s seat. Walker made the announcement during a press conference Thursday from his home in Anchorage. Surrounded by family, including his wife...

City officials took a deep breath to regroup Monday night after HB4 passed in the State Senate Friday night. Bill Walker, the city’s attorney who is also legal council for the Alaska Gasline Port Authority, said reviewing the city’s press...

A shortlist of candidates hoping to be the next superintendent for Valdez City Schools was published late Tuesday morning. The list was revised Wednesday, after one candidate name, Ron Saari, current superintendent of the Black Falls School District...

The board of education passed the school district’s FY2014 budget Monday night, after several hours of heated testimony from concerned coaches, athletes, parents, and educators. The $12,100,000...

Lori Clum, former president of the Tatitlek Village IRA Council, was arrested by the FBI last Wednesday after being indicted on theft charges. Clum’s brother, James Kramer of Valdez, was also named...

The Valdez City Council approved a new bear management plan Monday night during its regular meeting. The new policy comes with a mission statement: The Valdez Bear Working Group will develop a Bear...