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One person was killed and four medevaced out of Juneau following a two-vehicle collision on Egan Drive near Fred Meyer on Saturday afternoon. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

3 people now in stable condition after two-vehicle collision; man killed in crash identified

Police say fault in crash still being determined

Heidi Teshner, acting commissioner of the Department of Education and Early Development, discusses proposed legislation during a House Education Committee hearing March 29. Teshner is among four Juneau residents named to a Child Care Task Force announced in April by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, which currently has 13 members and is scheduled to release a report of recommendations in July of 2024. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire File)

News

Four Juneau residents named to governor’s Child Care Task Force

Locals say progress at community level will help with study of problems statewide.

A police vehicle blocks the left turn lane from Egan Drive into Yandukin Drive on Saturday after a two-vehicle collision killed one person and seriously injured four others. Changes intended to improve drivers’ line of sight when making left turns on both sides of Egan Drive are scheduled to be complete by October. But state officials said Monday more significant changes recommended in a 2021 study, including a traffic signal and an alternative detour lane, are still on hold and will likely take a long time to get through the regulatory process. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

Limited safety changes planned soon at Fred Meyer intersection

Traffic light and detour route not part of upcoming work as fatal crash revives call for action

State Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, addresses a crowd during a May 7 rally at the Alaska State Capitol calling for public employee pension reform. Kiehl received the second-highest score in an annual online survey ranking legislators released Friday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire File)

News

Kiehl finishes second in annual survey ranking legislators

Juneau state senator finishes behind Sen. Bill Wielechowski; Rep. Jamie Allard finishes last

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire File Girls teams face off on the twin courts of the main gym at Juneau-Douglas Yadaa.at Kalé High School during the Juneau Invitational Volleyball Extravaganza on Oct. 15, 2022. A proposal being considered by the Alaska State Board of Education and Early Development to ban transgender females from participating in girls high school sports could take effect before this year’s fall sports season.

Sports

Public comment open for statewide transgender sports ban

Proposal barring transgender girls from girls’ high school sports teams to be reconsidered July 26

Annie Bartholomew plays a song from her upcoming debut album “Sisters of White Chapel” on a clawhammer banjo on a bench at Mayor Bill Overstreet Park on Thursday. The longtime local folk musician said she learned the instrument specifically for the project, and both the character of the instrument and women who played it during the Klondike Gold Rush helped inspire the mostly original songs she performs on the album. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Musical revelations of the Klondike’s ‘White Chapel’

Annie Bartholomew’s new album shares surprising untold stories of sex workers during the gold rush

J. Allan MacKinnon performs his first concert in more than three years on the 1928 Kimball Theatre Pipe Organ in the Alaska State Office Building during the noon hour on Friday. Weekly concerts on the instrument were a hallmark of the building for decades, but were halted in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The inactivity left the organ unplayable until technicians from Oregon tuned and restored the instrument the week before MacKinnon’s performance. Additional concerts are scheduled weekly through August. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Kimball Theatre Pipe Organ concerts return to State Office Building

Longtime local fans and first-time visitors hear first performance in more than three years.

Wanda Fleming, a Juneau resident since 1973, eats dinner Wednesday with other new residents at the Riverview Senior Living complex. Fleming said she has been following the facility’s progress since she first read about it in 2021 and was among the first four residents to move in. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Riverview Senior Living complex opens

Initial group of residents and staff bond quickly, say facility helps address a critical shortage

A graph shows how Southeast Alaska businesses feel about the region’s business climate in surveys conducted since 2010. Meilani Schijvens, owner and director of Rain Coast Data, said the survey she conducted this year shows the most optimistic responses in the annual survey’s history. (Rain Coast Data)

News

Optimism of Southeast Alaska businesses hits 14-year high

Annual survey shows 73% of businesses positive about business climate, but some sectors less hopeful

A lifeboat from the Sapphire Princess cruise ship loads passengers and crew from the Wilderness Discoverer after an engine fire on the vessel Monday morning. No significant injuries were reported and U.S. Coast Guard officials said the disabled vessel will be towed to Ketchikan. (Photo by Dan Reilly)

News

Nearly 70 people rescued after engine fire aboard small cruise ship in Glacier Bay

No significant injuries reported as large cruise ship, Coast Guard respond to disabled vessel Monday

The Yées Ḵu.Oo Dancers perform at the end of the Celebration of Life Walk on Sunday at Bill Overstreet Park. The walk, hosted locally by Cancer Connection for more than two decades, occurs on National Cancer Survivors Day. This year’s local celebration featured the first bagpiper, Alaska Native dance group and Native land acknowledgement. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Bagpipes and dancers bring new life to annual cancer survivors walk

“Everyone is touched by cancer,” organizer says at Sunday event.

The City and Borough of Juneau Harbormaster Enforcement vessel drives past the Dusky Rock which sits at Aurora Harbor. The vessel was towed there from Sandy beach Friday evening after three people died within a three-day period aboard the vessel while anchored offshore. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

Three people found dead on boat anchored off Sandy Beach

Drug use a possible factor in deaths of one man and two women during three-day span

Chris Meade, a board member of Trail Mix and Juneau resident since 1991, uses a vibrating plate compactor to compress gravel leading to a viewing platform along the Kingfisher Pond Loop Trail on Saturday. (Mark Sabatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Trail Mix celebrates wild 30th birthday

Birds and the bears add ardor to outdoor trail improvement and cookout gathering.

The Mendenhall Glacier and surrounding area is seen under an overcast sky on May 12. A federal order published Friday bans mineral extraction activities such as mining in an expanded area of land surrounding the glacier for the next 20 years. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire File)

News

Feds expand ban on mineral extraction near Mendenhall Glacier

20-year prohibition on mining, oil drilling applies to newly exposed land as ice continues retreat

Michael Ruppert inspects percussion instrumentation that’s part of the setup for the 1928 Kimball Theatre Pipe Organ in the State Office Building. Ruppert, co-owner of Rose City Organ Builders in Oregon, spent two days this with with fellow co-owner Christopher Nordwall tuning and restoring the organ to playable condition. The instrument has not been played since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but local officials and musicians are hoping to schedule a lunchtime concert during the next couple of weeks. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Clearing the old pipes in the Kimball organ at the State Office Building

Tuners revive 1928 organ that’s been idle for three years; lunchtime concerts may resume next week

Christopher Koch, music director of the Juneau Symphony, conducts a rehearsal of the theme from the 1989 “Batman” movie in the auditorium at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé in preparation for two concerts this weekend at the school featuring familiar soundtrack compositions from films with “showdown” plot lines. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

A final ‘Showdown’ for Juneau Symphony’s 60th season

Songs from epic confrontation films and an original by Taylor Vidic scheduled this weekend at JDHS.

Tuckerman Babcock hosts a rally in Soldotna during his campaign for state Senate in October of 2022. On Wednesday he was appointed to the University of Alaska’s Board of Regents by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Babcock has a long and controversial political history in Alaska, including illegally demanding hundreds of state employees sign loyalty oaths to Dunleavy or be fired. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Tuckerman Babcock gets recess appointment to UA board by Dunleavy

Selection of controversial political strategist comes after Legislature’s rejection of Bethany Marcum.

A troller fishes in Sitka Sound on Feb. 2, 2021. A charter fishing vessel sank in the area Sunday, resulting in one person dead and four missing. The U.S. Coast Guard called off a search for the missing persons Monday night. (James Poulson / Daily Sitka Sentinel)

News

1 dead, 4 missing after fishing charter boat sinks near Sitka

Coast Guard calls off search Monday night after company reports vessel overdue Sunday.

Kaydence Ernzen sheds tears of joy after getting a surprise call from her father minutes after she graduated from Yaakoosgé Daakahídi High School on Sunday. Her father was in the Philippines on the day of the ceremony as Ernzen graduated months earlier than originally anticipated. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Yaakoosgé Daakahídi graduation: ‘Small and mighty’

Stories of all 31 seniors at alternative high school shared by staff who know them best

A student touches her tassel as she greets family members during the entrance procession of the graduation ceremony at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé on Sunday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

‘We figured out how to stay together’: Commonalities at core of JDHS graduation

Ceremony was a show of promise for JDHS graduating seniors.