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AK STAR testing results and materials are displayed on a table at the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District office on Monday in Soldotna.. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Statewide test scores ‘unacceptable’

Educators blame COVID and cash, not kids.

A Thanksgiving dinner is displayed on a table in Concord, N.H., on Oct. 22, 2012. While inflation, avian flu and ongoing supply chain strife have costs on the rise, Thanksgiving staples are largely available in Juneau supermarkets. (AP Photo / Matthew Mead)

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Fowl prices, but fair selection for Thanksgiving

Illness and inflation puts turkey prices at all-time high, but stores thankful supplies are arriving

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire Pat Tynan, left, and Tom Melville, review absentee ballots Tuesday at the Division of Elections office at the Mendenhall Mall. The review process is taking place in a separate room from where ballots are being tallied for the official results.

News

Incumbents solidify positions in updated election count

Peltola, Murkowski and Dunleavy likely to prevail when ranked choice ballots are tallied Nov. 23

Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who appears to have won a second term in last Tuesday’s election, answers questions during a visit to Juneau on Sunday about his agenda for the next four years. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

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3 questions for Gov. Dunleavy about 2nd term plans

Presumptive election winner talks about avoiding another recall, lower oil prices and faulty ferries

Rob Smith, left, of the American Legion Auke Bay Post 25, and Dan McCrummen, quartermaster of Veterans of Foreign Wars Taku Post 5559, place wreaths Sunday on either side of a memorial for the soldiers killed aboard the USS Juneau after it was sunk by torpedoes on Nov. 13, 1942. The current memorial site for the ship’s namesake town debuted 10 years ago after it was relocated from its original site near Marine Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

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USS Juneau memorial honors survivors, sacrifice

Gov. Dunleavy, local veterans among those paying tribute on 80th anniversary of ship’s sinking

Stickers for people who’ve voted await Juneau residents at a polling site Tuesday. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

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Juneau voters opt for Walker, Peltola and Murkowski

Here’s how we voted.

Former Gov. Sarah Palin, a Republican candidate for Alaska’s sole seat in the U.S. House, meets with supporters waving signs on Tuesday in Anchorage. Palin, who is trailing Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola in the vote count so far, nonetheless is declaring herself the presumptive winner and has named a chief of staff — despite also claiming the election was rigged against her. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

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Alaska’s Trump-backed candidates take different post-election tracks

Dunleavy’s reelection all but official, while Tshibaka and Palin prepare to fight over “shenanigans”

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire A Capital Transit bus advises riders winter routes are in effect Thursday as the first heavy snowfall of the season limits service to some difficult-to-access streets.

News

First serious snow snarls Juneau

Warming temperatures result in dense accumulations up to 7”; more snow expected this weekend.

Ron Carver, curator of "Waging Peace In Vietnam: The Story of U.S. Soldiers and Veterans Who Opposed the War," explains during a preview of the exhibit Thursday how underground media influenced soldiers during the Vietnam War. The exhibit at the University Of Alaska Southeast library debuts Friday and will remain until Dec. 15, with a series of events featuring veterans and others affected by U.S. war involvement, (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

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Vets protesting past wars are a lesson for today’s, exhibit leader says

Displays, discussions, other events highlighting soldiers opposing Vietnam War debuts Friday at UAS

State Sen. Jesse Kiehl of Juneau, right, and lifelong Juneau resident Andrea Ebona Michel monitor election returns Tuesday night at a watch party hosted by U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola’a campaign at McGivney’s Sports Bar Grill downtown. Kiehl, a Democrat, was the lone state senator who was unopposed in his race. Both of Juneau’s Democratic state House representatives also won reelection. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Alaskans embrace red, blue and wait

Voters lean both left and right, with a lot to be decided in two weeks, in ranked choice…

A sign directs early voters to the polling station at the Mendenhall Mall on Monday. The mall is one of two early voting locations in Juneau, but more than a dozen polling locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

News

Election Day is finally here

Many winners of Alaska’s first ranked-choice general election won’t be known until Thanksgiving

Claire Richardson, director of constituent services for U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, offers a toast at a watch party McGivney’s Sports Bar & Grill as the incumbent emerges with a strong lead on Election Night. But Richardson said the state’s new ranked choice voting makes it likely the winner won’t be known until second- and third-choice ballots are tallied Nov. 23. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Update: Ranked choice seems set to decide congressional races

More to come, but no set schedule, per Division of Elections.

A map showing Alternative 2, the most aggressive of four original options for expanding the Mendenhall Glacier Recreational Area, includes a dock for commercial motor boats that would carry passengers to a new visitor area at the face of the Mendenhall Glacier. That alternative is the “proposed action” by the U.S. Forest Service, but a revised draft Environmental Impact Statement scheduled to be released Tuesday adds three new lower-impact alternatives to three others already being considered. (U.S. Forest Service)

News

Seven up for Mendenhall Glacier expansion project

New alternatives unbottled.

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire A variety of fliers with varying amounts of accuracy from candidates and groups are filling mailboxes leading up to the Nov. 8 general election. TV and other ads also range from pure nonsense to completely accurate, although many fall into the “true from a certain point of view” category.

News

Fact-checking political advertisements

What’s accurate, what’s nonesense and what’s “true from a certain point of view”

Jessica Cook, right, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in Tuesday’s election, shows plans for her visit to Juneau to supporter Monica Southworth at the downtown Heritage Coffee on Friday afternoon. Cook, visiting town Thursday and Friday, was hoping to meet volunteers there to distribute “turf packets” that would assign them neighborhoods for last-minute door-to-door campaigning, but none showed up. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Cooking up the campaign’s final days

Candidates and supporters plot door-knocking, phone-banking and sign-waving for last-minute frenzy.

Two residents stand in voter booths on the first day of early and absentee in-person voting across the state for the Nov. 8 general election. Recent filings for candidates in statewide races shows spending ramping up as the big day approaches. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File)

News

Spending spree as campaigns near end

APOC reports one week before election show ad blitz in governor’s race and by ConCon foes

Mendenhall River and Mendenhall Lake, heavily used by rafters and other non-motorized vessel operators, are the targets of a lawsuit by Gov. Mike Dunleavy that seeks to seize state control of the waters from the federal government. The lawsuit is based on claiming the state owns the submerged lands beneath the waters, which the federal government has failed to recognize. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

Gov sues to seize Mendenhall lake, river from feds

Lawsuit filed a week before election claims state owns submerged land; feds disagree.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski prepares to meet officials at the Sealaska Heritage Institute during a visit to Juneau on Tuesday. She was planning to visit the city on Wednesday, but moved up and rescheduled much of her trip when a stop in Bethel was cancelled due to weather concerns. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Murkowski seeks capital opportunities amid election storm

Senator discusses energy, earmarks and last-minute campaigning during unscheduled stop in Juneau.

A person enters the Division of Election’s office at the Mendenhall Mall, where early voting is taking place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays through Nov. 8. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

Mail-in remains popular for early voters

Half of 30,000 ballots during first week of early arrive via mail, requests far above 2018 midterms

Republican Kelly Tshibaka, center, a Republican, looks on Thursday, prior to a U.S. Senate debate in Anchorage. She faces U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, left, and Democrat Pat Chesbro, right, in the Nov. 8 general election. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

News

Policy divides clear in fiery forum

Murkowski and Tshibaka attack each other as liars and extremists, Chesbro stays relatively low-key