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The Juneau Skating Club poses for a group photo after taking third place overall in the 2023 Ice Sports Industry West Coast Championship in Tacoma, Washington at the end of April. (Courtesy Photo / Marianne Oelund)

Sports

Juneau Skating Club takes third overall in West Coast Championship

Team Forget-Me-Not takes first in division.

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire State Rep. Andi Story, D-Juneau, explains during Wednesday’s floor session how a bill she is sponsoring will add to the number of Alaska Native languages officially recognized by the state and expand the role of a Native language preservation council.

News

Alaska Native language expansion passes House

Bill by Juneau lawmaker adds more officially recognized dialects, expands preservation council’s role

Members of the Alaska State House vote 35-3 to pass a bill Wednesday expanding Medicaid coverage for new mothers to 12 months instead of 60 days. The Senate has already passed the bill, but must concur with House changes before it is sent to Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who introduced the bill. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Extended Medicaid coverage for new moms passes House

Bill providing one year of care is a proceedural step from being sent to Gov. Mike Dunleavy

State Rep. Mike Cronk, R-Tok, left, confers with Rep. Craig Johnson, during floor debate Wednesday about a bill prohibiting state and local governments from imposing firearms restrictions during disaster declarations. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Ban on gun limits during emergencies passes House

Supporters say it’s about hunting for food during crises, opponents call it reckless and dangerous

Courtesy of the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band Julia Keefe, a Native American singer who has gained national acclaim performing with a wide range of musicians and settings during the past 15 years, is headlining this spring’s Juneau Jazz Classics festival with concerts by her Indigenous Big Band and a Native jazz quintet.

News

A huge Indigenous ‘family’ reunion at Jazz Classics

Musicians with tribal roots from Canada to South America converge for Indigenous Big Band concerts

JDHS junior Ruby Rivas (9) dribbles the ball down field against Grace Christian High School on Friday in Anchorage for a 7-1 victory, non-conference game. (Courtesy Photo / Matt Dusenberry)

Sports

JDHS girls soccer returns from Anchorage with two wins and a tie

The Bears record now sits at 6-1-1 and 4-0 in conference.

Flames are visible from the Beluga Point parking area near Anchorage on July 19, 2016, as a wildfire near McHugh Creek burns. A recent series of wildfires near Anchorage and the hottest day on record have sparked fears that a warming climate could soon mean serious, untenable blazes in urban areas — just like in the rest of the drought-plagued American West. (Marc Lester / Anchorage Daily News)

News

Climate change sparks disaster fears in Alaska’s largest city

This is the new reality.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

News

Police calls for Tuesday, May 2, 2023

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

Courtney Hedger / Unsplash

Opinion

Opinion: Thank you, homemaker-moms

Please value any homemaker-moms you know, and not just on Mother’s Day…

Travel Juneau President Liz Perry (left) and board member McHugh Pierre (right) discuss it’s budget at the Assembly’s Finance Committee Meeting last Wednesday. According to City Finance Director Jeff Rogers, the largest portion of the organization’s annual budget (around 80%) comes from the city’s hotel bed tax revenue. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

City forecasts record-breaking bed tax revenues — again

Assembly discusses reallocating some of the funds for affordable housing.

Opinion

Opinion: Alaska has bright future if we keep oil taxes competitive

It’s time to keep our eye on the future…

This image available under a Creative Commons license shows an AR-15 with magazines. (docmonstereyes / Flickr)

Opinion

Opinion: Interpretation of Heller opinion missed the mark

In his April 17 column in defense of banning modern sporting rifles like the Armalite 15, Rich Moniak…

Signs point to the entrance on the last day of early voting before the midterm election as a man walks out of a polling site in Cranston, R.I., on Nov. 7, 2022. Almost half of all voters in the 2022 midterm elections cast their ballots before Election Day either by mail or through early voting, with Asian and Hispanic voters leading the way, new data from the U.S. Census Bureau released Tuesday, May 2, 2023, shows, even as Republican-led states have tightened rules on voting by mail. (AP Photo / David Goldman)

News

Almost half of midterm voters cast ballots early or by mail

Unusual dynamics drove midterm turnout last year…

State Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, vows a bill boosting state employees pensions will pass “the 33rd Alaska Legislature” during a rally by about 70 union supporters on the steps of the Alaska State Capitol on Tuesday. Kiehl is a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which spent much of Tuesday hearing testimony about a pension bill, but Senate and union leaders acknowledge the proposal will likely have to wait until next year before it has a realistic chance of making it through the full Legislature. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

State pension reform not yet ready for retirement

Legislative and union leaders say boost for public employees unlikely this session, target next year

Bears greet each other on Chichagof Island in this picture from the fall of 2022 that won first prize for best feature photo from the Alaska Press Club during its annual awards banquet in April. It was the main photo for a Planet Alaska feature published in the Capital City Weekly in October of 2022. (Photo by Elleana Elliott)

News

Empire staff and contributors earn 11 Alaska Press Club awards

The Juneau Empire won 11 Alaska Press Club awards at its annual banquet, which took place five days…

Blueberry flowers provide early-season food for bumblebees. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Armstrong)

News

On the Trails: Setting the seasonal clocks

Our spring is slow in coming.

Nevin Overmiller, 78, walks a KFC food delivery to a customer’s door while delivering for Uber Eats, Wednesday, Jan 5, 2021, in Palm Harbor, Fla. Attacks which occurred in Florida last month sent ripples of fear among some app-based drivers, who have long demanded better protection from companies whose safety policies they say are bettered geared toward customers than workers. (Douglas R. Clifford / Tampa Bay Times)

News

Attacks on delivery drivers add fears among gig workers

Recent attacks sent new ripples of fear among some app-based drivers.

President Joe Biden greets people after speaking about health care and prescription drug costs at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Wednesday, March 15, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo / John Locher)

News

Biden’s diverse coalition of support risks fraying in 2024

WASHINGTON — Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut Democrat-turned-Independent long known for his centrist views, voted for Joe…

Captain Joe Emerson catches a salmon aboard his boat the TommyL II using a line-caught method, also known as trolling for his co-owned Southeast business Shoreline Wild Salmon. Shoreline was recently recognized by Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab as one of the best seafood delivery services currently in business. (Courtesy Photo / Joe Emerson)

News

Southeast salmon business hooks national attention

Shoreline Wild Salmon delivery service feted by Good Housekeeping.

JPD Chief Ed Mercer, Officer Kevin Fermin and Deputy Chief David Campbell pose for a group photo on Friday during Fermin’s retirement ceremony at the Juneau Police Department. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire)

News

JPD officer retires from department after 25 years

Over the course of a 25-year career with the Juneau Police Department, Officer Kevin Fermin touched lives inside…