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This photo shows the Juneau Police Department station in Lemon Creek. Juneau Police Department Employees Association Board on Thursday made public its concerns with the city's ability to recruit and retain sworn officers. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

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Police union urges city action amid dwindling number of officers

City leaders acknowledge challenges, seek solutions.

Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire Santa steps off of a helicopter at Juneau International Airport for Christmas Light Flights. This year marked a triumphant return for the event which offers people an aerial view of Juneau during the holiday season. Flying time and staffing are donated by Coastal Helicopters and fuel from Petro Marine Services for the event.

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Santa has landed

Usually it’s the reindeer who soar the sky during the holiday, but this time, it was a helicopter.

While nearly $8 million for state disability access projects are proposed on paper for Juneau in Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget for next year, in reality those funds are for statewide items administered through a local office. It is among a number of regional budget items where, to the naked eye, money isn’t necessarily going where it first appears. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

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Mixed feelings on local items in state budget

Flat funding of ferries, education not a big hit, but governor’s appaent willingness to negotiate is.

Courtesy Photo / JR Ancheta, UAF Matthew Wooller kneels in the mammoth tusk collection at the University of Alaska Museum of the North in 2021. Wooller is leading the museum’s Adopt a Mammoth program, which will date and identify specimens at the museum.

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UAF partners with Alaska students for a mammoth of a project

“De-extinction” company adopts fossils for Alaska school districts.

Ashlyn Gates and Cailynn Baxter practice boxing out during practice at Thunder Mountain High School. Gates and the Baxter twins are among the athletic core that gives coach Andly Lee confidence that TMHS can compete with any team on its schedule. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

Sports

‘Dangerous’ TMHS girls basketball team readies to start season

Tough schedule, young roster, but optimism abounds.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus stop to visit families at Cedar Park during the annual Capital City Fire/Rescue Santa Parade in December 2018. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

News

Santa rides and chopper guides

Holiday happenings planned for Friday and Saturday.

This photo shows the TikTok icon on a phone screen. University of Alaska and travel industry officials recently joined forces to attract potential students to employment and learning opportunities in Alaska through the popular app. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

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New kids on the Tok

University uses popular app to reach new students as states move to ban it from government devices.

FILE - Alaska state Rep. David Eastman, R-Wasilla, sits in the House on April 29, 2022, in Juneau, Alaska. Eastman, accused of violating the state constitution's disloyalty clause over his lifetime membership in Oath Keepers, has not condemned the organization in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S Capitol. "No, I generally don't condemn groups," Eastman, a Wasilla Republican, said during his bench hearing on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022, his second day on the witness stand. (AP Photo / Becky Bohrer)

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Alaska lawmaker won’t condemn Oath Keepers in Capitol riot

“No, I generally don’t condemn groups.”

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire Gov. Mike Dunleavy discusses his proposed budget for the 2024 fiscal year during a press conference Thursday at the Alaska State Capitol. He said it features no major increases or reductions compared to the current year’s budget, incurs about a $265 million deficit covered with reserve funds, and includes a “full PFD” projected to be about $3,800

News

Governor’s budget calls for no major cuts, no major adds and a big new revenue plan

Governor says no major increases or cuts, “full PFD”; bets long-term stability on carbon credits

Tlingit playwright and teacher Frank Henry Kaash Katasse poses for a photo on Tuesday during a welcoming home ceremony at Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School. Katasse just returned from attending the Emmy Awards where the show he writes for “Molly of Denali” was nominated for two awards. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire)

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‘Molly of Denali’ writer walks the red carpet…twice

A Q&A with Frank Henry Kaash Katasse.

Surrounded by other supporters, Jess Cobley, Juneau Education Association middle school representative at large, speaks to the Juneau District School board about the current status of the contract negotiation cycle between the pair at the board’s Tuesday evening meeting at Thunder Mountain High School.(Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

‘How dare you?’: Teachers union rebuffs contract proposal during meeting

This follows an impasse declared by JEA a week earlier.

Members of the Glacier Swim Club pose for a photo at Ketchikan meet over the weekend. (Courtesy Photo / Shireen Taintor)

Sports

Glacier Swimming Club comes up big at Ketchikan meet

Club and state records broken.

Juneau School Board President Deedie Sorensen and Vice President Emil Mackey discuss ‘milk’ incident investigation bid and extending food vendor’s contract with board members Tuesday evening. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

District discusses ‘milk’ incident investigation bid, extends food vendor’s contract

Juneau School Board discusses third-party bid, allows NANA to serve food for six more months

Courtesy / Judy Campbell The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears Varsity hockey team poses with Santa after sleighing the competition during the team’s weekend stint in Kodiak.

Sports

Juneau hockey team takes home the win in a battle of bears

The team headed to Kodiak for weekend games

A map shows the planned phases for the Ridgeview subdivision, which as proposed will have up to 444 housing units upon completion. The Juneau Planning Commission approved 96 units as Phase 1 of the project, highlighted in the lower right, at its meeting Tuesday. (Rooftop Properties, LLC)

News

First 96 homes of 444-unit Ridgeview Subdivision OK’d

Planning Commission unanimously approves initial phase of complex, despite traffic volume concerns

The Aiviq icebreaker, seen here towing a mobile drilling rig about 100 miles southwest of Kodiak, is the privately owned vessel likely to be purchased with a $150 million allocation in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. Juneau is the preferred home port for the icebreaker, which would be the only such ship stationed in Alaska and would result in about an additional 190 personnel in the city. (U.S. Coast Guard)

News

Juneau-based icebreaker in final NDAA bill, Sullivan says

Purchase of private ship, which may bring 600 people to Juneau, gets warm support from local leaders

In this Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 file photo, dead common murres lie washed up on a rocky beach in Whittier, Alaska. Arctic seabirds unable to find enough food in warmer ocean waters are just one sign of the vast changes in the polar region, where the climate is being transformed faster than anywhere else on Earth. An annual report, to be released Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022 by U.S. scientists, also documents rising Arctic temperatures and disappearing sea ice. (AP Photo / Mark Thiessen File)

News

Starving seabirds on Alaska coast show climate change peril

The seabirds are struggling because of climate-linked ecosystem shifts…

Wilson's warblers are sometimes seen in early winter (Courtesy Photo / Gus van Vliet photo)

News

On the Trails: Surviving winter is no small feat

Here’s how some diminutive vertebrates do it.

Steve Noble, senior project manager for Dowl, discusses new options for a second Douglas crossing during an open house as part of the evaluation process Monday at the Juneau Arts Humanities Council building. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

New airport, Fritz Cove sites add dimensions to second Douglas crossing

Proposed subsurface route by runway, long bridge across path of incoming planes may be short-lived

President Joe Biden signs the Respect for Marriage Act, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo / Andrew Harnik)

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Gay marriage bill signed at White House ceremony

“This law and the love it defends strike a blow against hate in all its forms,” president says.