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A sign hangs outside of outgoing City Manager Rorie Watt’s office located in the City Hall downtown. On Monday the Assembly City Manager Recruitment Committee met for the first time to discuss the recruitment process to hire Watt’s replacement by the end of September. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

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City begins search for new manager

Outgoing Rorie Watt is expected to leave his post this fall.

This is a photo of a Capital City Fire/Rescue truck in the Mendenhall Valley in May. CCFR and the Juneau Police Department are investigating a recent blaze Sunday morning as possible arson. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File)

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Doorstep fire investigated as possible arson

The circumstances of the blaze make it unlikely to be an accident, fire marshal says

Hecla Green’s Creek environment/surface operations manager Martin Stearns (left) listens to Angoon resident Floyd Kim express his opposition to the four alternatives for the Hecla Greens Creek Mine North Extension Project, of which includes expanding its 8.5-million-cubic yard disposal facility to hold up to an additional five million cubic yards of tailings and waste rock storage. Kim was among the around 15 residents who joined the meeting held Friday afternoon in Angoon. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

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Angoon residents speak out against Greens Creek Mine expansion

“We have no real power to stop what’s going on — even if we fight it seems to…

Sen. Robert Myers, a North Pole Republican, smiles while on the Senate floor in early May. On Saturday the Alaska House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill he sponsored that would require the state’s Department of Corrections to issue state IDs to anyone leaving the state’s custody who does not have one at the time of their release. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File)

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Bill to offer incarcerated people in Alaska state IDs upon release heads to governor

The House passed the bill unanimously Saturday afternoon.

City and Borough of Juneau Assembly member Waahlaal Giidaak Barbara Blake (left) fans herself while sitting next to Carole Triem (right) during a warm Assembly Finance Committee meeting Wednesday evening. The City and Borough of Juneau narrowly approved funding for a plan that could offer up to six weeks of paid-parental leave to city employees. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

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City funds parental leave incentive for employees

A current proposal suggests six weeks of leaves for municipal parents.

Residents and community leaders fill the Assembly chambers during the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly Finance Committee meeting Wednesday night. The Assembly made decisions on what community funding requests would receive funding and what would not. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

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Asked and answered: Assembly decides on community funding requests

Millions OK’d in the process.

File photo Emergency lights flash on top of a police car. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire File)

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Man arrested after suspected ‘serious’ face and head assault to known woman

Alcohol appeared to be a factor, according to police.

Virginia Behrends, a parent of four student in the Juneau School District, sits next to Ted Wilson, district director of Teaching and Learning Support, as she share’s public testimony as the board of education discussed a proposal for a once-weekly change to school start times beginning in the fall. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

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District considers late start on Wednesdays starting next school year

The 30-minute delay will allow for teacher’s to meet together for professional development.

Angela Harris (center) gives testimony Wednesday on Senate bill 53 to the House Judiciary Committee while she sits next to the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Matt Claman, an Anchorage Democrat (right) and a member of his staff, Emma Potter (left) Harris survived a stabbing by a known offender who was released because of his incompetence to face criminal charges. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

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Bill allowing up to 2 years of involuntary commitment in psychiatric facilities advances in Legislature

Senate passed the bill 14-6 on Monday, House heard testimony on Wednesday.

A line of electric-assisted bicycle sit on display at Juneau Bike Doctor in February. On Monday the Senate passed a bill that would to regulate e-bikes under the same regulations as normal bicycles. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File)

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Senate passes bill defining e-bikes the same as bicycles in Alaska

The increasingly popular way to ride is currently undefined in state law.

Fallen trees line the beginning of the West Douglas Pioneer Road in late April. On Monday evening the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly voted to reject a proposal for the second time from a local company that sought to gain access to provide electric-assisted bicycle tours on the city-owned gravel road. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File)

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Assembly votes down proposed Pioneer Road e-bike tours — again

The proposal was orginally rejected in late April.

Snow covers the gondola that the City and Borough of Juneau purchased from Galsterberg Ski Area in Austria as it sits scattered in the snow outside Eaglecrest Ski Area in February. At Monday night’s Assembly meeting the Assembly approved a deal in which Goldbelt Inc. will invest $10 million toward the installation and construction of the gondola project. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File)

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Gondola project to get $10M boost by July

Assembly OKs revised revenue agreement with Goldbelt, construction expected next summer

This Monday evening photo shows the Savikko Park playground on South Douglas. The playground is set to be replaced throughout the summer as a part of the City and Borough of Juneau’s park improvement project. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

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New playground, improvements slated for Savikko Park

Construction at the park will begin Wednesday and last through August, city officials say.

A breeze lifts flags hanging outside of the Andrew Hope Building in downtown Juneau Monday afternoon. The Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska announced Monday morning its withdrawal from the Alaska Federation of Natives. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

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Tlingit and Haida withdraws from the Alaska Federation of Natives

The move goes into effect immediately, according to the tribe’s president.

A car drives past a Juneau Education Association sign posted next to the North Douglas Highway in early May. On Friday the Juneau District Board of Education voted to accept a three-year contract agreement with Juneau Education Association, which OK’d the contract earlier in the week. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

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School board accepts teachers union contract

Friday marked the end of over a year of drawn-out negotiations

Graduates Emily Hatley, Lara Millette, Autumn Levy, Rosaline Westfall, Rylee Johnson and Jarvis Evans throw their caps in the air after the commencement ceremony held Sunday afternoon at the University of Alaska Southeast. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

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UAS celebrates annual graduation ceremony

Indigenous students were honored in annual Native Graduation Celebration.

Hundreds walk the waterfront near Elizabeth Peratrovich Plaza Saturday afternoon during the 2023 Juneau Maritime Festival. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

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13th annual Maritime Festival welcomes record-breaking number of vendors

Hundreds flocked to Elizabeth Peratrovich Plaza on the Saturday afternoon.

Sven Haakanson Jr. (center) helps unwind the small intestine of a Kodiak brown bear with the help of Peter Otsea (right) while Haakanson leads a bear gut processing workshop Saturday afternoon at the Alaska State Museum. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

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This art form takes guts: Residents invited to participate in bear gut processing workshop

“Ingenious” Indigenous art creates a Gore-Tex like material for raincoats and more.

Catherine Edwards, co-chair of Tlingit and Haida’s Violence Against Women Task Force hugs Áakʼw Ḵwáan spokesperson Fran Houston at at the steps of the Alaska State Capitol Friday evening for a rally and march to recognize Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Awareness Day held each year on May 5. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

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‘This is now a plea’: Rally brings awareness to missing and murdered Indigenous people

“We want answers — our families deserve answers on what happened to our people.”

Senate President Gary Stevens, a Kodiak Republican, listens to Sen. Löki Tobin, an Anchorage Democrat, as she speaks in support of a bill Stevens sponsored that would require Alaska high school students to complete a civics education course or receive a passing score on a civics assessment exam in order to graduate. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

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Senate passes bill implementing new civics requirements to graduate high school

The bill advances as recent national data shows declining test scores on the topic.