Site Logo
Juneau's incumbent delegation to the Alaska State Legislature from left to right: Representative Andi Story, D-Juneau; State Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, and Rep. Sara Hannan, D-Juneau. All three lawmakers have filed for re-election and are so far running unopposed. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire, Courtesy photo / Jesse Kiehl, Michael Lockett / Juneau Empire)

News

Local lawmakers all seek reelection

June 1, filing deadline.

The U.S.C.G. cutter Liberty, homeported in Juneau for 33 years, is being re-homeported in Valdez, and as a send-off to the community the ship was open for tours on Thursday, May 26, 2022. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

After 33 years in Juneau, Coast Guard cutter gets a new home

“Always had Juneau to call home.”

Senate President Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna, seen here in this June 16, 2021, file photo, announced Wednesday he will not seek relelection in the Alaska State Senate, where he has served since 2013. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file)

News

Senate president says he won’t run again

“Honor and a privilege.”

Reverend Father Simeon Johnson, the rector for St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, left, stands in the church chapel with the recently enthroned Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sitka and Alaska, the Right Reverend Alexei on Wednesday, May 25, 2022. Alexei was in Juneau to discuss rennovations to St. Nicholas, the second oldest Orthodox church in Alaska. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

St. Nicholas Orthodox Church prepares for a heavy lift

Alaska’s second-oldest Orthodox church.

An old timber dock near the village of Klawock on Prince of Wales Island will soon be renovated to be able to receive cruise ship passengers as soon as next year after several Alaska Native corporations announced a joint-venture to develop the project. (Courtesy Photo / Na-Dena` LLC)

News

Cruise ships are coming to Klawock

Next May.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, left, holds up a copy of Senate Bill 177, easing regulations for nuclear microreactors, with former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter at the first Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (Screenshot)

News

Dunleavy signs microreactor bill at sustainable energy conference

A nuclear option.

Larry Atkinson, left, receives a meal from Erin Youngstrom for the Meals on Wheels program on Monday, May 23, 2022. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

They have the meals, they need the wheels

Volunteer shortage.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy, left, and former Department of Corrections Commissioner Nancy Dahlstrom filed to run on the same ticket for governor and lieutenant governor at an Anchorage Division of Elections office on Monday, May 23, 2022. (Courtesy photo / Andrew Jensen)

News

Dunleavy names Dahlstrom as running mate

Lt. Gov candidates mostly women.

A magnet promoting the Alaska Reads Act released sits atop a stack of Alaskan-authored and Alaska-centric books. Lawmakers passed the Alaska Reads Act on the last day of the legislative session, but several members of the House of Representatives were upset with the bill, and the way it was passed. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

News

In last-minute move, Legislature passes early reading overhaul

Underlying inequities.

Lawmakers from both bodies of the Alaska State Legislature mingle in the halls of the Alaska State Capitol on Wednesday, May 18, 2022, the last day of the legislative session, following the Senate's passing of the state's budget bill. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

Update: Legislature passes budget with minutes to spare

To the governor’s desk.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks with reporters about the state's budget at the Alaska State Capitol on Thursday, May 19, 2022. The governor said lawmakers had sent a complete budget, and that there was no need for a special session. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

Dunleavy: No need for special session

Cuts to come.

From left to right, Nick Begich III, foreground, and John Coghill, state Sen. Josh Revak, R-Anchorage, and Tara Sweeney, all Republican candidates for Alaska's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, were at Juneau's Baranoff Hotel on Tuesday, May 16, 2022, for a debate hosted by local Republicans. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

Republican candidates for Congress make their case in Juneau

Republican roundtable.

t

News

Senate effectively kills restrictive transgender sports bill

Bipartisan group of senators votes to table controversial bill.

Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, chair of the bicameral conference committee tasked with hammering out differences in the state's budget bill, signs the committee report as members finished their work on Tuesday, May 17, 2022. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire

News

Committee compromises on PFD in budget plan

Process moves forward as deadline looms.

Candidate for Alaska's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives Tara Sweeney, a Republican, was in Juneau on Monday, May 16, 2022, and sat down with the Empire for an interview. Sweeney said the three main pillars of her campaign are the economy, jobs and healthy communities. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

Sweeney cites experience in run for Congress

‘An Alaskan for all Alaska.’

Members of the Alaska House of Representatives on Saturday, May 14, 2022, rejected the budget bill passed by the Senate earlier in the week. The bill will now go to a bicameral committee for negotiations, but the end of the legislative session is May 18. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

Update: Budget to be shaped by committee as session nears end

Close vote.

Peter Segall / Juneau Empire Alaskans for Better Government members La quen náay Liz Medicine Crow, Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson and ‘Wáahlaal Gidáak Barbara Blake embrace on the floor of the Alaska State Senate following the passage of House Bill 123, a bill to formally recognize the state’s 229 federally recognized tribes.

News

Tribal recognition bill clears Senate, nears finish line

Senators say recognition of tribes was overdue.

Members of the House Majority Coalition spent most of Friday, May 13, 2022 in caucus meetings at the Alaska State Capitol, discussing how to proceed with a large budget bill some have called irresponsible. With a thin majority in the House of Representatives, there's a possibility the budget could pass. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

House schedules Saturday floor session for budget debate

Close vote expected.

A floor session of the Alaska House of Representatives was delayed Thursday, May 12, 2022, as lawmakers discussed in private how to move forward with a packed budget bill passed by the Alaska Senate. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

With thin margins in the House, floor debate is delayed

Delayed to the call.

Pamela Miller, executive director of Alaska Community Action on Toxics, speaks at a rally at the Alaska State Capitol on Thursday, May 12, 2022, calling on lawmakers to pass legislation regulating PFAS chemicals, so-called 'forever chemicals' that have been found to contaminate water and cause health issues. PFAS contamination has been found at several sites around the state, mainly around airports where the chemicals are used in fire-fighting foams. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

Activists call for PFAS action

Forever chemicals.