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Spruce tip fireweed jelly. (Vivian Faith Prescott / For Capital City Weekly)

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Planet Alaska: The magic of jam and jelly

There’s a lot of magic happening around us in nature and even in our kitchens.

Tuesday night at the Juneau School District school board meeting Superintendent Bridgette Weiss presented her formal letter of retirement from her position, prompting the members to give the OK to start the process of finding someone to fill the position come July 1, 2023. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file)

News

Weiss is resigning as Juneau School District superintendent — what’s next?

District begins the process of filling the position by July.

This photo shows a sample ballot asking whether First Judicial District judges should be retained. Based on results released Tuesday and Wednesday, voters on Election Day overwhelmingly voted for retention. (Ben Hohesntatt / Juneau Empire)

News

Juneau’s judges heading toward retention along large margins

Outcomes much closer in the state’s Third Judicial District.

State Sen. Jesse Kiehl of Juneau, right, and lifelong Juneau resident Andrea Ebona Michel monitor election returns Tuesday night at a watch party hosted by U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola’a campaign at McGivney’s Sports Bar Grill downtown. Kiehl, a Democrat, was the lone state senator who was unopposed in his race. Both of Juneau’s Democratic state House representatives also won reelection. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Alaskans embrace red, blue and wait

Voters lean both left and right, with a lot to be decided in two weeks, in ranked choice…

A sign directs early voters to the polling station at the Mendenhall Mall on Monday. The mall is one of two early voting locations in Juneau, but more than a dozen polling locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

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Election Day is finally here

Many winners of Alaska’s first ranked-choice general election won’t be known until Thanksgiving

CCFR firefighters working to extinguish a fire at a mobile home in Sprucewood Park on Monday morning. One man was reported to have escaped the fire with minor injuries and was taken to Bartlett Regional Hospital. (Courtesy Photo / CCFR)

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Person escapes trailer fire with minor injuries

Second fire at Sprucewood Park in a week.

KinderReady Preschool students from Harborview Elementary frolic in a pile of dried leaves at Evergreen Cemetery on Tuesday. The leaf jump is an annual event organized by Linda Torgerson and has been happening in Juneau for around 25 years. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

Piles of fun: Juneau students partake in annual leaf jump

Cannonball!

Claire Richardson, director of constituent services for U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, offers a toast at a watch party McGivney’s Sports Bar & Grill as the incumbent emerges with a strong lead on Election Night. But Richardson said the state’s new ranked choice voting makes it likely the winner won’t be known until second- and third-choice ballots are tallied Nov. 23. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

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Update: Ranked choice seems set to decide congressional races

More to come, but no set schedule, per Division of Elections.

Courtesy / Huna Totem Corp. This rendering depicts a proposed community park that is included in Huna Totem Corp.’s plans to develop a new pier and cruise terminal for the downtown waterfront.

News

Big change could be on deck for Juneau’s waterfront

Huna Totems plan for developing the land is still on track

Democrat Wes Moore, his wife Dawn, and their children, react after Moore was declared the winner of the Maryland gubernatorial race, in Baltimore, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. (AP Photo / Bryan Woolston)

News

GOP, Democrats notch victories in competitive midterm races

WASHINGTON — Control of Congress hung in the balance early Wednesday, with both parties notching victories in some…

Artist Kerry Kirkpatrick answers questions about her latest exhibition “Capturing the Light” at a recent QA held at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum on Saturday. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire)

News

Turning peace into art pieces: Artist’s work takes inspiration from solace of nature

Capturing the Light exhibit runs to Nov. 26

Alison Bremner Nax̲shag̲eit smiles in front of some of her pieces displayed in her new solo exhibit “Midnight at the Fireworks Stand” featured at the Alaska State Museum. Bremner’s 17 piece-collection of contemporary art depicts different stories and aspects of Tlingit and Indigenous life that often go unnoticed, through bright colors, unusual objects and humor.(Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

‘I put everything into the art’: Her work blends bright colors and humor to depict Tlingit life and stories

The exhibit will run until early January

A map showing Alternative 2, the most aggressive of four original options for expanding the Mendenhall Glacier Recreational Area, includes a dock for commercial motor boats that would carry passengers to a new visitor area at the face of the Mendenhall Glacier. That alternative is the “proposed action” by the U.S. Forest Service, but a revised draft Environmental Impact Statement scheduled to be released Tuesday adds three new lower-impact alternatives to three others already being considered. (U.S. Forest Service)

News

Seven up for Mendenhall Glacier expansion project

New alternatives unbottled.

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire A variety of fliers with varying amounts of accuracy from candidates and groups are filling mailboxes leading up to the Nov. 8 general election. TV and other ads also range from pure nonsense to completely accurate, although many fall into the “true from a certain point of view” category.

News

Fact-checking political advertisements

What’s accurate, what’s nonesense and what’s “true from a certain point of view”

Voters cast their ballots at a polling station in Derry, N.H., on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. (AP Photo / Charles Krupa)

News

Vocabulary of voting: A glossary guide to the 2022 midterms

From “advance voting” to “too close to call.”

Thunder Mountain girls varsity volleyball team celebrating their championship victory against JDHS on Saturday, Nov. 5. TMHS now heads to the state tournament in Anchorage to face Colony in the first round on Thursday, Nov. 10. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire)

Sports

TMHS volleyball team advances to state tournament

Falcons will take on Colony in Anchorage Nov. 11

Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire Floyd Dryden Middle School teacher James White poses with seventh graders with mustaches as a way of recognizing Movember, a movement raising awareness of men’s health issues throughout the month of November.

News

Mo’ money, men’s problems: Movember is more than lip service for a good cause

Movember is more than lip service for a good cause.

Alaska State Museum conservator Ellen Carrlee stands in a raised bucket of a truck provided by Alaska Electric Light & Power as she inspects the Yaxté Totem Pole at the Auke Village Recreation Area. (Courtesy / Pete Schneider)

News

Standing strong: Community effort helps inspect 80 year-old totem pole

“We couldn’t have done it without them”

A Juneau Police Department vehicle parks in front of Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalè in early September. Two high school students were arrested Thursday after reports that the students had allegedly communicated a plan to commit acts of violence toward a group of students from JDHS, according to Juneau Police Department. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

Police say no increased threat day after students arrested

The two boys are being held at the Johnson Youth Center

This photo shows downtown Juneau in late October. A recent study looked at the causes of worsening affordability and availability of housing in Juneau and found that demographic change in Juneau’s population is among the largest factors. ( Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

Study suggests demographic change as largest factor in Juneau’s housing shortage

Short-term rentals contribute to shortage, but are not the root cause