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The Mount Juneau Counseling and Recovery facility is one of several programs operated by Gastineau Human Services at its campus in Lemon Creek. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Rainforest Recovery Center closure stands as Gastineau Human Services fires back at critics about its program

Accusations about closure prompt hospital, GHS, city leaders to meet about local substance abuse care.

Cast members of “Henry V” rehearse Wednesday at the Filipino Community Hall for the Theater Alaska production opening Friday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

“Henry V” forcefully brings battlefield leadership issues to the stage during election season

Theater Alaska offering free and pay-as-you-want performances until Oct. 20.

Rainforest Recovery Center at Bartlett Regional Hospital officially closed Tuesday. (Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Closure of Rainforest Recovery Center gets another look as decision called ‘medically irresponsible’

City, hospital leaders to consider options Thursday; halt to other services also discussed by board.

Rush-hour traffic backs up at a traffic light on Mendenhall Loop Road at the intersection of Valley Boulevard and Mendenhall Boulevard on Oct. 11, 2023. The Juneau Planning Commission approved a roundabout for the intersection on Tuesday night. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Third roundabout on Mendenhall Loop Road gets planning commission OK despite mound of controversy

Supporters say it will improve safety; opponents say obstructed driver views will increase risk.

Mike Lane (left), talks to guests Brandi Billings (wearing pink) and Jessica Geary minutes before the first live broadcast in eight months of KINY-AM’s “Problem Corner” on Monday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

‘Problem Corner’ returns to KINY with talk of elections, safe graduations and ‘squishy’ kittens

Station revives live weekday program eight months after halting Alaska’s longest-running radio show.

Andy Park, a National Weather Service Juneau meteorologist, shows U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski equipment at the weather station near the Mendenhall Glacier on Friday. (Photo courtesy of Lisa Murkowski)

News

Assembly OKs $3M for flood study as Corps of Engineers experts arrive to consider near-term options

Two straight years of major floods “has got the attention” of federal officials, Murkowski says.

Pie charts published in the “Southeast Alaska by the Numbers 2024” report released Tuesday show jobs and earnings by industry in Southeast Alaska in 2023. Among the notable discrepancies are tourism with 18% of jobs and 13% of wages, while mining provided 2% of jobs and 5% of wages. (Rain Coast Data)

News

Study: Southeast tourism thrives, seafood suffers during record year in 2023 for both industries

Largest seafood harvest in a decade results in less income due to low prices, annual study finds.

Caleb Ziegenfuss rolls out to pass for Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé during Saturday’s game against Dimond High School in Anchorage. (Screenshot from Juneau Huskies Football livestream)

Sports

Juneau Huskies can’t unearth Dimond, fall to undefeated Lynx 45-8 in Anchorage

Dimond QB Cayden Pili keeps up family tradition of big performances; Huskies’ home finale next Saturday.

A Hoonah High School runner splashes through a puddle on the Treadwell Mine Historic Trail during the Capital City Invite 5K on Saturday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Sports

A big splash in the mud for about 200 Southeast cross-country runners at Capital City Invite

Sitka makes clean sweep of individual races; JDHS wins both team categories

Alaska Army National Guard aviators depart Bethel in a UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter on Sept. 23, 2022. Such a helicopter will be stationed in Juneau, officials announced Friday. (Balinda O’Neal / Alaska National Guard)

News

Alaska Army National Guard stations a Black Hawk helicopter in Juneau

Primary purpose is federal training requirements, but it will be available for emergency operations.

A courtroom at the Juneau Courthouse. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Juneau man gets 27 years in prison in plea deal after indictment on 75 child sex abuse and assault charges

Steven Littlefield, 33, abused two children at home between 2016 and 2021, officials say.

Vincent Colliard (left) and Børge Ousland examine a map of the Juneau Icefield at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center on Friday night before giving a presentation about their planned crossing of the icefield. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Two famed polar explorers crossing Juneau Icefield to prove large point about shrinking glaciers

Børge Ousland and Vincent Colliard attempting to cross Earth’s 20 largest icefields in climate campaign.

The Tlingit and Haida Elder Dance Group performs during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Áakʼw Tá Hít building at the University of Alaska Southeast on Friday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

New Áakʼw Tá Hít building at UAS seeks state-of-the art science with traditional wisdom

Building that hosted ribbon-cutting Friday is first at Juneau campus with a primary name in Lingít.

Uhtred Permanentfundsen, the “defender of the Permanent Fund,” occupies a shelf near the head of the table in the Senate Finance Committee room at the Alaska State Capitol. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

This year’s Permanent Fund Dividend is $1,702, with first payouts scheduled Oct. 3

Amount includes $1,403.83 from Permanent Fund earnings and $298.17 “one-time energy relief payment.”

Rainforest Recovery Center is seen during its final week of operation Wednesday as Bartlett Regional Hospital officials have said the residential substance abuse treatment program will close next Tuesday. (Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire)

News

Giving up to $500K to expanding nonprofit rather than soon-to-close Rainforest Recovery gets Assembly nod

Gastineau Human Services hoping for eight new residential substance abuse treatment beds by Oct. 14.

The front page of the Juneau Empire on Sept. 21, 1984. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Empire Archives: Juneau’s history for the week ending Sept. 21

Three decades of capital city coverage.

The Alaska Division of Election’s director’s office in Juneau on Nov. 22, 2022. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Elections office in Juneau among those in more than dozen states to be mailed suspicious packages

Package for Juneau intercepted before delivery, no hazardous materials reported in incidents.

Cruise ship tourists watch floatplanes taxi out in Gastineau Channel on Monday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Cruise industry giving opponents of Ship-Free Saturday a dominant campaign cash advantage

Three cruise companies, Goldbelt give $275,000 of more than $300,000 raised; supporters raise $380.

Students arrive at Thunder Mountain Middle School on Aug. 21. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Threat of school shooting posted widely, including in Juneau, does not appear credible, district says

Extra police at Thunder Mountain Middle School on Monday morning a precaution, according to notice.

Sonya Taton, center, listens to the verdict as she is found guilty on all five counts, including second-degree murder, during her trial in Superior Court in Juneau on Nov. 17, 2023. (Meredith Jordan / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Sonya Taton gets 50-year prison sentence for fatally stabbing one boyfriend and wounding another

Judge calls Taton “an enormously dangerous woman” after convictions for attacks in 2016 and 2019.