Site Logo
Patrick Sullivan stands by an acid seep on July 15,2023. Sullivan is part of a team of scientists who tested water quality in Kobuk Valley National Park’s Salmon River and its tributaries, where permafrost thaw has caused acid rock drainage. The process is releasing metals that have turned the waters a rusty color. A chapter in the 2025 Arctic Report Card described “rusting rivers” phenomenon. (Photo by Roman Dial/Alaska Pacific University)

News

Ecosystem shifts, glacial flooding and ‘rusting rivers’ among Alaska impacts in Arctic report

NOAA’s 2025 report comes despite Trump administration cuts to climate science research and projects

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 1, 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

News

Moderate US House Republicans join Dems to force vote on extension of health care subsidies

WASHINGTON — Republican leaders in the U.S. House will face a floor vote in early 2026 on Democrats’…

The National Weather Service Juneau issues a high wind warning forDowntown Juneau, Southern Douglas Island and Thane due to increased confidence for Taku Winds this afternoon. (National Weather Service screenshot)

News

Taku winds and dangerous chills forecast for Juneau

Gusts up to 60 mph and wind chills near minus 15 expected through the weekend.

Chloe Anderson for the Juneau Empire
Fallen trees are pictured by the Mendenhall river on Aug. 15, 2025. Water levels rose by a record-breaking 16.65 feet on the morning of Aug. 13 during a glacial outburst flood.

News

Lake tap chosen as long-term fix for glacial outburst floods

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Juneau leaders agreed on the plan.

Gift card displays, such as this one in a CVS in Harlem, N.Y., have been a source of concerns for lawmakers hoping to combat gift card fraud. “Card draining,” or stealing numbers from poorly packaged cards, is one of the costliest and most common consumer scams, and states are trying to combat it with consumer alerts, arrests and warning signs on store displays. (Photo by Robbie Sequeira/Stateline)

News

Alaskans targeted by scammers posing as government officials, FBI warns

The FBI reports Alaskans lost over $26.2 million to internet-based scams in 2024, with $1.3 million of those…

A buck enters the view of an Alaska Department of Fish and Game trail camera on Douglas island in November 2020. (Alaska Department of Fish and Game courtesy photo)

News

Douglas deer: The island’s hunt faces calls for new rules

Board of Game is seeking public comment on regulation changes that would affect Juneau.

A cat says hello at Juneau Animal Rescue in February 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

New animal shelter site approved by Juneau Assembly

Juneau Animal Rescue secures eight-acre lease, but fundraising remains.

The trans-Alaska pipeline, seen on Oct. 8, 2008, threads over snow-covered terrain in the Brook Range foothills. A gryfalcon is perched on one of the pipeline’s thermosphyons in the lower center of the photo. (Photo by Craig McCaa/U.S. Bureau of Land Management)

News

Alaska revenue forecast predicts more oil, but its importance to the state budget is declining

The Permanent Fund, not oil, is Alaska’s No. 1 source of general-purpose money and has been for years

A mound of a snow obscures a “student drop off” sign near Sít’ Eetí Shaanàx-Glacier Valley School. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Juneau schools closed, city facilities delayed Monday due to weather

NWS released a weather warning in effect through the evening.

The emergency cold-weather warming shelter is seen in Thane on Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Man charged for alleged rape at warming shelter

Staff have increased the frequency of safety rounds, and are discussing potential policy changes.

Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon 
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks during a news conference in Juneau on Thursday, April 27, 2023. To his side is a screen displaying significant budget deficits and exhausted savings accounts if oil prices perform as expected.

News

Disasters, dividends and deficit: Alaska governor unveils first-draft state budget

In his final year, Gov. Dunleavy again proposes to spend from savings in order to pay a larger…

Eaglecrest Ski Area photo 
Eaglecrest Ski Area as seen in a photo posted to the hill’s Facebook page on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2025.

News

Eaglecrest boots up for a limited opening this weekend

15 degree highs usher in the hill’s 50th season.

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, speaks Wednesday, April 23, 2025, on the floor of the Alaska Senate. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

News

State senators express skepticism about proposed Juneau ferry terminal backed by Dunleavy

In a Friday hearing, members of the Alaska Senate spoke critically about a proposed new ferry terminal in…

Gulls hunting seeking scraps of fish swarm the docked fishing vessel Gold Rush, which harvests pollock and other groundfish, and Trident Seafood's Kodiak plant on Oct. 3, 2022. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council set 2026 Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska ccatch limits for pollock and other groundfish species, but the prolonged federal government shutdown interrupted the flow of information that would normally be used to set those harvests. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

News

Without completed 2025 reports, federal fishery managers use last year’s data to set Alaska harvests

Lacking the usual amount of data to guide them, federal fishery managers relied on last year’s reports to…

SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium is one of the primary health care providers in Juneau, accepting most major public and private insurance plans. (Mari Kanagy / Juneau Empire)

News

Marketplace health premiums set to rise in 2026

Here’s what you need to know about how coverage is changing, and for whom.

Capital City Fire/Rescue completes last season’s ice break rescue training at the float pond near Juneau International Airport. (photo courtesy of Capital City Fire/Rescue)

News

On thin ice: Fire department responds to season’s first rescue at Mendenhall Lake

This week’s single digit temperatures have prompted dangerous ice ventures.

Brenda Schwartz-Yeager gestures to her artwork on display at Annie Kaill’s Gallery Gifts and Framing during the 2025 Gallery Walk on Friday, Dec. 5. (Mari Kanagy / Juneau Empire)

News

Alaska artist splashes nautical charts with sea life

Gallery Walk draws crowds to downtown studios and shops.

A totem pole, one of 13 on downtown’s Totem Pole Trail in Juneau, Alaska, Nov. 27, 2024. (Christopher S. Miller/The New York Times)

News

Weekly guide: Community calendar for Dec. 8-12

Visit Juneau Arts and Humanities Council for more details on this week’s happenings.

Holiday lights decorate the Governor’s House on Dec. 4, 2019 before the Governor’s Open House on Dec. 10. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Cookies, cider and a 12-foot spruce: Governor’s Holiday Open House returns

The century-old tradition continues Tuesday.

Downtown Juneau experiences its first significant city-level snow fall of the season as pictured on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (Mari Kanagy / Juneau Empire)

News

Sub-zero temperatures to follow record snowfall in Juneau

The National Weather Service warns of dangerous wind chills as low as -15 degrees early this week.