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Brenda Josephson, a Haines resident, testifies in favor of a bill setting statewide standards for municipal property assessors during a state Senate Community and Regional Affairs Committee hearing Feb. 29. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)

Opinion

Opinion: Taxpayers revolt over property tax assessments

While we all have different ideas on how our tax money should be spent, it’s important to put…

Looking south from downtown Juneau in December 2023 with buildings and docks in the foreground, the rock dump can be seen jutting into Gastineau Channel and providing a weather-protected harbor for Juneau. (Photo by Laurie Craig)

News

Juneau rock dump’s history: From waste site to ‘Million Dollar Golf Course’ to industrial hub

Area now targeted for possible homeless campsite surrounded by bustle of past and present activity.

A statue of Charles Bunnell, the first president of the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, as the University of Alaska Fairbanks was once known, is seen on Sept. 18, 2022, on the UAF campus. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

News

Standardized tests still required for Alaska’s college scholarship program, state tells confused families

The agency in charge of Alaska’s merit scholarship program for high school students is advising them that they…

This July 28, 2022, photo shows a person completing a ballot in a mock election at Cafecito Bonito in Anchorage, where people ranked the performances by drag performers, one of the education efforts about ranked choice voting in elections that year. (Mark Thiessen/AP file photo)

News

Lawsuit asks judge to disqualify ballot measure that seeks to repeal Alaska’s ranked voting system

Three Alaska voters have filed a lawsuit seeking to disqualify a ballot measure that aims to repeal the…

(Photo by Gina Delrosario)

Neighbors

Living and Growing: Divine Mercy Sunday

Part one of a two-part series

An outdoor basketball hoop is seen in Bethel in October 2022. A bill advanced in the House Education Committee on Wednesday would expand limitations for trans girls on sports teams. (Claire Stremple / Alaska Beacon)

News

Bills targeting trans people are on the rise nationwide and in Alaska — most focus on children

“I guess we’ll have to go do this again,” Starla Miller said as the committee room cleared.

A northern red-backed vole scampers through a forested area of the Kenai Peninsula. These small mammals, found in almost all parts of Alaska, are known carriers of the virus that causes the disease being renamed borealpox. The borealpox virus — known up to now as the Alaskapox virus — appears to be more widespread in the environment than previously understood. (Photo by Colin Canturbury/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

News

Alaskapox no more: Newly discovered disease and virus is to be called ‘borealpox’

The viral, rash-causing and headline-grabbing disease that was first diagnosed in Fairbanks in 2015 is getting a new…

A male rusty blackbird in breeding dress. (Photo by Bob Armstrong)

Sports

On the Trails: A hungry goshawk and some early spring observations

Every late afternoon, a bunch of mallards is in the habit of coming to snack on fallen birdseed…

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Police calls for Saturday, March 30, 2024

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

(Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Aurora forecast for the week of April 1

These forecasts are courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute and available online, along with more…

Artwork by Eric Bealer, seen here, and his wife, Pam, will be featured at Alaska Robotics Gallery as part of first Friday in April. (Sitka Conservation Society photo)

News

Here’s what’s happening for First Friday in April

Annual UAS student ceremics show, Folk Fest sneak peak and art exhibits in full bloom.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Police calls for Sunday, March 31, 2024

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

Alwen Carrillo, a senior at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé, signs a letter of intent on Monday to play college basketball at Edmond College in Lynnwood, Washington. (Photo courtesy of Annie Lazo-Chappell)

Sports

Alwen Carrillo signs letter of intent to play basketball for Edmond College

All-state JDHS guard averaged 16.2 points, 5.2 assists during senior season.

The Kuskokwim River is pictured. (Photo by Peter Griffith/NASA)

News

Federal judge sides with Biden administration, rejects Alaska bids to expand Kuskokwim fishing

Rejects Dunleavy effort to expand salmon fishing opportunities beyond federal government limits.

Alaska Department of Transportation program manager Ryan Marlow demonstrates the agency’s robotic dog in Anchorage on March 26. The device will be camouflaged as a coyote or fox to ward off migratory birds and other wildlife at Alaska’s second-largest airport, the DOT said. (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

News

Robot disguised as a coyote or fox will scare wildlife away from runways at Alaska airport

A headless robot about the size of a labrador retriever will be camouflaged as a coyote or fox…

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Police calls for Thursday, March 28, 2024

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Police calls for Friday, March 29, 2024

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

In this Sept. 29, 2023, photo at the grave of Lucky Pitka McCormick, her granddaughter Kathleen Carlo, left, and McCormick’s great-great-grandchildren Lucia, center, and Addison Carlo place candles and stones on the grave during a reburial ceremony in Rampart, Alaska. Pitka was one of the Lost Alaskans sent to a mental hospital in the 1930s. Her grave was recently discovered, and family members brought her back to Alaska for a proper burial. (Wally Carlo via AP).

News

Volunteers uncover fate of thousands of Lost Alaskans sent to Oregon mental hospital a century ago

Lucy Pitka McCormick’s relatives cooked salmon, moose, beaver and muskrat over an earthen firepit on the banks of…

Fishing boats are lines up on Oct. 3, 2022, at a dock at Kodiak’s St. Paul Harbor. Commercial fishing injuries and illnessness are not covered by workers’ compensation, so a state-managed Fishermen’s Fund serves as backstop payor for medical costs. A newly passed bill, if signed by the governor, would increase maximum allowable payments from the fund. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

News

Alaska Legislature boosts allowable payments from fund that covers fishers’ crew medical costs

Maximum payouts from a fund that covers medical costs of injured seafood harvesters would be boosted under a…

(City and Borough of Juneau photo)

Neighbors

Neighbors Briefs

Registration for Parks & Rec summer camps opens April 1