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Juneau Assembly members confer with Bartlett Regional Hospital leaders during a break in an Assembly Finance Committee meeting Saturday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Juneau Assembly begins annual budget process with school district exiting crisis, hospital facing one

Bartlett has lost millions annually since ‘20, will be broke in three years without fixes, CFO says.

The front page of the Juneau Empire on April 4, 2004. (Mark Sabbatini/Juneau Empire)

News

Empire Archives: Juneau’s history for the week ending April 6

Three decades of capital city coverage.

Laurie Lewis, a California bluegrass musician who has been performing for nearly four decades, is the featured guest artist at the 49th annual Alaska Folk Festival that starts Monday. (Photo courtesy of Laurie Lewis)

News

49th annual Alaska Folk Festival returns to its familiar roots at Centennial Hall

More than 130 acts scheduled to perform during week of concerts, dances and workshops.

Emergency lights flash on top of a police car. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Police: Death of man from gunshot wound near glacier not suspicious

Body discovered along roadside on Wednesday morning, with weapon next to him.

Visitors to the Denver Art Museum look at “Drum (Gaaw),” a cultural item from the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, on display in the Northwest Coast and Alaska Native Art Galleries on March 27. The tribes, from Southeast Alaska, have been trying to reclaim their cultural items from the Denver Art Museum for more than 30 years. (RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

News

Tlingit and Haida delegation came to Denver to reclaim their cultural heritage. They left empty-handed.

Tribal representatives say city museum has historic objects that should be returned under 1990 law.

Tourists wait at a Capital Transit bus stop about 1.5 miles from the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center on July 19, 2023. Large numbers of cruise ship visitors taking city buses to get near the glacier last year meant there often wasn’t space for local residents going to other locations. (Photo by Laurie Craig)

News

First cruise ship of season expected to match last year’s record-high traffic arrives Tuesday

Officials say new five-ship daily limit will reduce passengers compared to busiest days last year.

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, speaks during a March 19 news conference. Next to him is Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, a co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

News

Alaska Senate acts to keep cities, boroughs from taxing property sales

Juneau’s Jesse Kiehl among dissenters in 16-3 vote, saying decision should be made locally

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé students, along with a handful of state legislators and staff members, march from the school to the Alaska State Capitol on Thursday morning to protest lawmakers who earlier this year rejected an increase in the state’s funding formula for public schools. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Juneau students take statewide protest for more education funding into the Capitol

Scores of students march from JDHS to the offices of the governor and other lawmakers.

Kaden Ollila, 20, a Washington state resident who used to live in Juneau, was recently indicted in Alaska on cyberstalking and child pornography charges. (U.S. Department of Justice photo)

News

Former Juneau resident indicted on cyberstalking and child pornography charges

Kaden Ollila, 20, is accused of targeting minors in Alaska, Washington and California.

The Tazlina is docked at the Auke Bay ferry terminal in this November 2021 photo. Both the vessel and terminal are scheduled to get upgrades from federal grants that will be matched with “toll funds” from ferry revenues. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Use of state ferry revenues as ‘toll credits’ to secure federal grants for major projects gets OK

Federal government approval will ensure funds for Tustumena replacement vessel, other upgrades.

Lily Hope, winner of the 2023 Marie Darlin Arts and Literature Prize, speaks to a gathering of supporters at a reception hosted by the Juneau-Douglas City Museum on Wednesday. (Photo by Laurie Craig)

News

City museum awards 2023 Marie Darlin Prize to Alaska Native weaver Lily Hope

On Wednesday evening the Juneau-Douglas City Museum hosted a reception celebrating traditional Alaska Native weaver Lily Hope, the…

Cerys Hudson, winner of the Juneau Symphony’s Youth Solo Competition, rehearses for this weekend’s performance with the ensemble at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé. (Mark Sabbatini/Juneau Empire)

News

Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Frankenstein join on stage for Juneau Symphony’s spring concert

Youth solo winner Cerys Hudson featured on cello concerto notable for its splicing of parts.

A maintenance worker cleans the front of the Alaska State Capitol on Tuesday. (Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)

News

Alaska schools could buckle down on civics

Legislative proposal seeks to increase civic engagement

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 rainbow connects with Kajson Cunningham (30) as he connects with the ball for Thunder Mountain High School during Tuesday’s game against Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé at JDHS, the opening match of the season for both teams. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Sports

High school soccer season starts with a spectrum of goals and milestones

JDHS boys begin state title defense with 4-0 victory over TMHS, which is playing its final season.

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…

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 Juneau Police Department vehicle. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Five people arrested in drug bust involving 17,000 fentanyl pills, $23,000 cash, several guns

Arrests stem from investigation that started in early January, according to JPD.