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Rep. Genevieve Mina, D-Anchorage, stares at a pile stack of budget amendments on Tuesday. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

News

Alaska lawmakers expand food stamp program with goal of preventing hunger, application backlogs

More Alaskans will be able to access food stamps following lawmakers’ vote to expand eligibility for the Supplemental…

Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, listens to discussion on the Senate floor on Wednesday. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

News

A look at some of the bills that failed to pass the Alaska Legislature this year

Parts of a long-term plan to bring state revenue and expenses into line again failed to advance.

The front page of the Juneau Empire on May 17, 1984. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Empire Archives: Juneau’s history for the week ending May 18

Three decades of capital city coverage.

Members of the Thunder Mountain High School culinary arts team prepare their three-course meal during the National ProStart Invitational in Baltimore on April 26-28. (Photo by Rebecca Giedosh-Ruge)

News

TMHS culinary arts team serves a meal of kings at national competition

Five students who won state competition bring Alaskan crab and salmon to “Top Chef”-style event.

Students and staff play a kickball game on the field between the Marie Drake Building and Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé on Friday afternoon. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

School district leaders debate biggest needs for extra $5.2M approved by Legislature, in hope governor won’t veto it

Staff for special education and gifted students, homeschooling, paying off city loan high on list.

House Minority Leader Calvin Schrage (center), an Anchorage independent, talks with Reps. CJ McCormick, a Bethel Democrat, Neal Foster, a Nome Democrat, and Bryce Edgmon, a Dillingham independent, as a clock shows the midnight Thursday deadline for the 33rd Alaska Legislature to adjourn passed more than an hour earlier. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

33rd Alaska Legislature adjourns well past deadline, due to last-minute rush and disputes by House

Bills on correspondence schools, energy, crime pass on final day; election, other bills cause holdup

Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, speaks Wednesday on the floor of the Alaska House. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

News

Alaska lawmakers unite to stabilize homeschool program in wake of court ruling

Families who use Alaska’s homeschool program will soon have clarity on how they may spend their allotments of…

Shorebirds forage on July 17, 2019, along the edge of Cook Inlet by the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail in Anchorage. The Alaska Legislature has passed a bill that will enable carbon storage in reservoirs deep below Cook Inlet. The carbon-storage bill include numerous other provisions aimed at improving energy supplies and deliverability in Cook Inlet and elsewhere. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

News

Alaska Legislature passes carbon-storage bill with additional energy provisions

The Alaska Legislature has passed a bill that combines carbon storage, new regulation of natural gas storage, state…

Dori Thompson pours hooligan into a heating tank on May 2. (Lex Treinen/Chilkat Valley News)

News

Hooligan oil cooked at culture camp ‘it’s pure magic’

Two-day process of extracting oil from fish remains the same as thousands of years ago.

Nathan Jackson (left) and John Hagen accept awards at the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska President’s Awards banquet. (Courtesy photo)

News

Haines artists get belated recognition for iconic Tlingit and Haida logo

Nathan Jackson and John Hagen created the design that has been on tribal materials since the ‘70s.

Thunder Mountain High School senior pitcher Ashlyn Gates delivers a pitch during the Falcons 10-9 win over the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears on Tuesday at Dimond Park Fields. (Klas Stolpe, For the Juneau Empire)

Sports

Falcons earn wet 10-9 senior night softball win over Crimson Bears

Non-conference crosstown clash has no effect on standings

Sen. Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, speaks on a pension amendment Tuesday. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

News

Last ditch attempt to return Alaska teacher, public employee pensions fails on Senate floor

Proposal would have piggybacked on a bill that aims to remedy the state’s teacher staffing crisis.

An Anchorage store selling a variety of tobacco and electronic cigarette products is seen on April 14, 2023. Cigarette smoking has decreased over the past decades in Alaska, but youth use of electronic vaping products has increased, according to an annual report from the state’s Tobacco Prevention and Control Program. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

News

A quarter of Alaska adults use tobacco products, and vaping is common among youth, report says

Alaska adults’ tobacco use has been unchanged at 25% since 2014, even though they are smoking far fewer…

State Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, discusses his bill banning “forever chemicals” in firefighting foams just before it received final passage by the Alaska Legislature on Wednesday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

New property assessor rules, PFAS firefighting foam ban among proposals by local legislators to pass on final day

Increased state disaster aid eligibility, requiring safety ladders on floating docks also pass.

Thunder Mountain High School’s Miley Andrews (16) clears a ball past JDHS Crimson Bears’ Parker Boman (8) during the Falcons final home game Monday at Falcons Field. (Klas Stolpe / For the Juneau Empire)

Sports

Thunder Mountain High School girls battle for soccer seniors in final game

Falcons fall 5-0 on pitch, but spirits rise in emotional derby against Crimson Bears.

Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, speaks to House Clerk Krys Jones on Wednesday, May 8. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

News

Alaska’s education department does not track homeschool allotment spending, but may have to start

Lawmakers have two days left to stabilizing the state’s correspondence program after court ruling.

Scattered debris remains on a tent platform at the former Mill Campground on March 28, where people experiencing homelessness stayed during recent summers. Officials decided not to open the campground there this summer due to a high amount of illegal activity last year. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Lack of homeless campground means more people are on the streets, Assembly members told

Ordinance authorizing a campground approved Monday night, but where to put it remains elusive.

House and Senate members of a conference committee sign the compromise state budget bill for the next fiscal year after the final provisions were agreed upon Tuesday morning at the Alaska State Capitol. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

House and Senate leaders agree on state budget with estimated $1,655 PFD as Wednesday’s adjournment deadline looms

Major legislation including correspondence schools, energy, elections and crime still pending.

Four cruise ships dock in Juneau on Tuesday afternoon, shortly after the departure of a fifth ship also in town during the day. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Limit of 16,000 cruise passengers most days, 12,000 on Saturdays being discussed by industry and CBJ

Voluntary policy to “get the peak out of the week” targeted for 2026, city’s tourism director says

Jan Bronson of Anchorage and Cathy Walling of Fairbanks, representing the Alaska Friends Conference, apologize to Alaska Native communities for the boarding schools it ran in Alaska and the United States. The apology took place at Sayéik Gastineau elementary school, the former site of a Quaker mission school in Juneau, during Orange Shirt Day, Sept. 30, 2022. (Lisa Phu/Alaska Beacon)

News

Alaska lawmakers support push to investigate, document forced assimilation in boarding schools

The widely supported resolution supports a bill championed by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski in Congress.