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Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé senior Evelyn Richards (8), sophomore Leila Cooper (7), senior Tatum Billings (3) and junior Cambry Lockhart (4) await a serve against Wasilla in a game earlier this season at the George Houston Gymnasium. The Crimson Bears season ended with two losses in the state tournament this weekend. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire file photo)

Sports

Crimson Bears fall under Stars at state volleyball tournament

JDHS loses three straight sets to Soldotna in elimination match.

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé junior Hunter Lingle, junior Nolan Cruz and sophomore Stahly Sheehan work the ice Wednesday at Treadwell Arena before a JDHS practice. The Crimson Bears varsity hosts the North Pole Patriots Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)

Sports

Crimson Bears welcome Patriots to first home rink battle of the season

Treadwell Ice Arena will feature rematch of last year’s final JDHS game at state tournament

A map shows Alaska had the largest increase in drug overdose deaths among the five states reporting increases during the 12-month period ending in June. Overdoses nationally declined for a second straight year. (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention map)

News

Drug overdose deaths in Alaska jump 38.68% in a year as nationwide rate drops 14%

National experts see hope in second annual decline as Alaska officials worry about ongoing crisis.

The front page of the Juneau Empire on Nov. 14, 1994. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Empire Archives: Juneau’s history for the week ending Nov. 16

Three decades of capital city coverage.

Wrangell’s Artha DeRuyter is one of 300 volunteers from around the country who will go to Washington, D.C., later this month to help decorate the White House for the Christmas season. (Sam Pausman / Wrangell Sentinel)

News

Wrangell florist invited to help decorate White House for Christmas

For Artha DeRuyter, flowers have always been a passion. She’s owned flower shops in Fairbanks and now Wrangell.…

City officials pose with a gold shovel at the location of a new marine haulout Friday at the Gary Paxton Industrial Site. Pictured are, from left, Assembly member Kevin Mosher, GPIP Board of Directors members Chad Goeden and Lauren Howard Mitchell (holding her son, Gil Howard), Municipal Engineer Michael Harmon, Assembly member Thor Christianson, Municipal Administrator John Leach, Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz, Sitka Economic Development Association Executive Director Garry White, and GPIP Board of Directors Chair Scott Wagner. (James Poulson / Sitka Sentinel)

News

Sitka Assembly approved memorandum of understanding on cruise ship passenger limits by 4-3 vote

MOA sets daily limit of 7,000, guidelines for docking bans for ships that would exceed that total.

Maple the dog leads Kerry Lear and Stephanie Allison across the newly completed Kaxdigoowu Heen Dei (also known as the Brotherhood Bridge Trail) over Montana Creek Monday, November 11. (Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire)

News

Reconnected: New bridge over Montana Creek reopens portion of Kaxdigoowu Heen Dei

People again able to walk a loop on what’s commonly known as the Brotherhood Bridge Trail.

Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota speaks to reporters at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia in advance of the presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, Sept. 10, 2024. President-elect Trump has tapped Burgum to lead the Interior Department, leading the new administration’s plans to open federal lands and waters to oil and gas drilling. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)

News

Trump nominates governor of North Dakota — not Alaska — to be Interior Secretary

Doug Burgum gets nod from president-elect, leaving speculation about Dunleavy’s future hanging

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé junior Lavinia Ma’ake serves in a game against Wasilla earlier this season. Ma’ake was chosen player of the game on Thursday in the Crimson Bears opening loss to Service in the 2024 ASAA Volleyball State Championships at Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire file photo)

Sports

Crimson Bears volleyball team drops first match at state tournament

JDHS will play an elimination match at 11:45 a.m. Friday against Soldotna.

Juneau senior Jayden Johnson (4) brushes off a tackle by West Anchorage junior Talon Copeland (12) during a state playoff game at West Anchorage. Johnson was selected the All-State utility player of the year and a first-team all-state receiver. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire file photo)

Sports

JDHS’ Jayden Johnson voted Utility Player of the Year by D1 football competitors

Crimson Bears senior also named First Team All-State receiver while playing multiple other positions.

Students arrive at Thunder Mountain Middle School on the first day of school Thursday, Aug. 15. The school now houses all students in grades 7-8, who were in two middle schools last year, and the students at Thunder Mountain last year when it was a high school have been consolidated into Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé. (Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Report: 11 high school fights during first quarter of school year, up from 3 each of past two years

Consolidation seen as possible factor; middle school incidents more typical compared to recent years

Dan Allard (right), a flood fighting expert for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, explains how Hesco barriers function at a table where miniature replicas of the three-foot square and four-foot high barriers are displayed during an open house Thursday evening at Thunder Mountain Middle School to discuss flood prevention options in Juneau. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Residents express deluge of concerns about flood barriers as experts host meetings to offer advice

City, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers say range of protection options are still being evaluated

Gov. Mike Dunleavy poses with then-President Donald Trump during a refueling stop by Air Force One at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in February of 2019. (Official White House photo)

News

Update: Dunleavy and Dahlstrom plan, cancel live Tuesday night announcement as Trump post for governor rumored

Dunleavy being considered for Interior secretary; also backs Trump on eliminating Dept. of Education

A sign welcomes visitors to Hoonah on Aug. 7, 2021 just outside the Icy Strait cruise ship port. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

News

State commission approves new Xunaa Borough government in northern Southeast Alaska

Area would include Hoonah and much of Glacier Bay National Park, exclude three nearby small towns.

Letters of support are posted to the window of the Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, following a shooting incident on Monday, Nov. 11 at 5:45 a.m. in Homer. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)

News

Man arrested for three shooting incidents at reproductive clinic, recovery organization in Homer

Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic was targeted twice Monday, suspect cites “religious beliefs.”

Nick Begich, center, the Republican candidate for Alaska’s lone U.S. House seat, talks with supporters during a meet-and-greet Oct. 12 at the Southeast Alaska Real Estate office near the Nugget Mall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Begich, repeal of ranked choice voting still lead in latest vote counts, by slightly smaller margins

All precincts have reported, but up to 35,000 ballots still uncounted with final results due Nov. 20.

President Donald Trump and Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy pose for a photo aboard Air Force One during a stopover at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage in 2019. (Sheila Craighead / White House photo)

News

Alaska Capitol’s ‘worst-kept secret’ is that Gov. Dunleavy may leave office to join Trump

Some lawmakers believe governor may not be in office when new Legislature convenes in January.

Juneau Douglas’s Colton Cummins pins Wrangell’s Copper Powers during the Bill Weiss Wrestling Tournament at the Clarke Cochrane Gymnasium at Ketchikan High School on Friday. (Christopher Mullen / Ketchikan Daily News)

Sports

JDHS grapplers work the mats at Ketchikan

Crimson Bears in the final mix for team title in Bill Weiss Invitational

Juneau Assembly Member Ella Adkison (center) helps state Sen. Jesse Kiehl load donated groceries into a van on Saturday during a food drive at Super Bear IGA Supermarket hosted by the Juneau Central Labor Council. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Nonprofits say need is high as collections for annual Thanksgiving events approach

Food bank, other agencies say number of people seeking help is rising due to cost, other factors.

People gather outside Resurrection Lutheran Church as it hosts its weekly food pantry on Tuesday afternoon. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Resurrection Lutheran Church leadership dispute intensifies with accusations of assault, theft, sabotage

Pastor removed, lawsuit lingers as competing groups try to continue worship services, food pantry.