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The 2024-25 Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears hockey seniors are (front row l-r) Loren Platt, Emilio Holbrook, Caleb Friend, Dylan Sowa and Zander Smith. (back l-r) Angel Aranda-Jackson, Carter Miller, Luke Bovitz, Matthew Plang and Ike Puustinen. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)

Sports

JDHS hockey team returns to ice seeking championship rinks ahead

Leading scorers, top goaltender, and fast-paced skaters return seeking state title trophy.

The front page of the Juneau Empire on Oct. 20, 1994. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Empire Archives: Juneau’s history for the week ending Oct. 26

Three decades of capital city coverage.

Pershlie Ami, a citizen of the Hopi tribe, shares her experience of attending Phoenix Indian School when she was a kid during the Road to Healing tour hosted by the U.S. Department of Interior at the Gila Crossing Community School on Jan. 20, 2023. (Shondiin Silversmith/Arizona Mirror)

News

‘We have persevered’: Biden will apologize for Native American boarding school history

For the first time in history, a sitting U.S. president is set to apologize to Indigenous communities for…

Mt. Edgecumbe junior Haley Osborne fends off a takedown attempt by Homer senior Jaydin Mann during their 285-pound title match at the 2018 ASAA State Wrestling Championships in Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center. One of the most anticipated and competitive matches this reporter has ever witnessed. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire file photo)

Sports

Pure Sole: Wrestling is hard — as more than 200 grapplers will demonstrate at Southeast Showdown

High schoolers from throughout Southeast will compete in Juneau tournament starting Friday

Jonathan Swinton, executive director of Gastineau Human Services, presides over a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of a remodeled behavioral health clinic at the nonprofit organization’s Lemon Creek campus on Thursday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Gastineau Human Services completes hasty expansion one month after Rainforest Recovery Center closes

Two four-bed apartments added to 19 existing beds for substance abuse recovery at nonprofit’s campus.

JDHS senior Evelyn Richards (8) serves against Wasilla last weekend. The Crimson Bears fell at East Anchorage on Thursday and will play in the Dimond/Service Tournament on Friday and Saturday. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire file photo)

Sports

Crimson Bears spikers fall to Thunderbirds on the road

JDHS swept under East Anchorage power net attack

The Norwegian Jewel begins its departure from Juneau on Thursday evening, marking the official end of the 2024 cruise ship season. (Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire)

News

Cruise ship season dominated by politics ends on a pleasant — and short — day for Juneau visitors

Departure of Norwegian Jewel two hours early due to wind warnings comes in wake of stormy ship debate.

Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas pulls into Icy Point Strait in Hoonah, on Thursday, July 22, 2021. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Douglas cruise port intentionally announced after election, officials say; downtown businesses worry about income loss

Strategy raises questions about citywide cruise tourism economic impacts cited by Ship-Free Saturday opponents.

The lower Stikine River is seen in British Columbia, Canada, in an undated photo. (Photo by Marek Stefunko/Getty Images Plus)

News

Above Stikine River, Canadian government boosts huge mining project you’ve probably never heard of

Road goes along a major salmon bearing river that flows into Southeast Alaska near Wrangell.

A steady procession of vehicles and students arrives at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé before the start of the new school year on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Reported surge of student fights — some filmed and luring kids from other schools — alarm parents and officials

Fights taking place on and off JDHS campus, students say; questions about discipline policy raised.

Students heading to Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé board a bus at Thunder Mountain Middle School on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

State revives effort limiting funds municipalities can give school districts for non-instructional costs

Juneau School District could lose millions for buses, food service, student activities, superintendent says.

Michelle Sparck, director of Get Out The Native Vote, stands by her business’ booth on Saturday at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage. Sparck, wearing a button identifying her as a Cup’ik voter, is urging Alaska Natives to be more diligent about voting in both state and local elections. In addition to her voter-education work, Sparck has a beauty-products business, ArXotica, that she and her sisters founded. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

News

Campaign to boost Native voting combats both apathy and logistical challenges

Advocates are pushing for both engagement and easing of barriers affecting rural residents.

A panel discussion about cultural tourism in Alaska takes place Tuesday between (left to right) Camille Ferguson, economic development director of the Sitka Tribe of Alaska; Zach Dunlap, operations manager for Doyon; Susan Bell, vice president of strategic initiatives for Huna Totem Corp.; Emily Edenshaw, president and CEO of the Alaska Native Heritage Center; and McHugh Pierre, president and CEO of Goldbelt Inc. during the opening day of the Alaska Travel Industry Association convention at Centennial Hall. (Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire)

News

Native cultural tourism is ‘Alaska’s sleeping giant,’ panel tells industry leaders at statewide convention

“Alaska is not ‘The Last Frontier.’ Alaska always has been and always will be a Native place.”

A sign at the end of the publicly accessible road on north Douglas Island on Oct. 16, 2024. (Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire)

News

North Douglas is suddenly hot property for lots of developmental projects

Planning Commission OKs zoning changes as wary locals eye gondola, second crossing, proposed cruise port.

These materials are mailed to Alaska voters who request absentee ballots. Clockwise, from the top left: The envelope from the Alaska Division of Elections, the return envelope, the ballot and instructions. (Andrew Kitchenman/Alaska Beacon)

News

Alaska’s first votes appear to show disproportionately high Democratic interest

Early voting locations opened Monday across Alaska for registered voters to cast ballots in the Nov. 5 general…

Municipal Attorney Emily Wright (left) swears in newly elected Juneau Assembly members Neil Steininger and Maureen Hall as newly reelected Mayor Beth Weldon takes a photo during an Assembly meeting Monday night at City Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Hall and Steininger get sworn in to Juneau Assembly; Hale and Blake get poems as they depart

Newly reelected Mayor Beth Weldon offers tributes; Greg Smith chosen as new deputy mayor

Workers install Hesco Barriers along the Los Angeles River to protect against El Niño flooding in 2016. Similar barriers along the Mendenhall River are being considered by Juneau city leaders. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo)

News

$2M for Hesco barriers OK’d by Assembly, but proposed flood-prevention project far from firmly set

Concerns raised about impacts on properties — and if homeowners will be forced to pay some costs.

An empty classroom at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé in Juneau on July 20, 2022. (Lisa Phu/Alaska Beacon)

News

Alaska Native scholars propose statewide reading standards for the state’s Indigenous languages

Sealaska Heritage Institute working with specialists to develop proposed curriculum.

Celebrity Cruises President Laura Hodges Bethge discusses current and future plans for parent company Royal Caribbean Group during a keynote speech Tuesday at the Alaska Travel Industry Association convention at Centennial Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Royal Caribbean tries to appease angry city leaders with apology after surprise Douglas cruise port announcement

Tensions revived after cruise line president touts project in speech; email apology sent soon after.

Tom Mattice, Juneau’s emergency programs manager, uses a loader to help residents fill sandbags at Melvin Park on Sunday afternoon. The city is distributing 75,000 sandbags for free, with sand available at the park and the Thunder Mountain Middle School parking lot. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Residents spend their hours before peak of flood preparing for worst-case scenario in various ways

Generators, sandbags, hotel stays, backyard river watching keep people active as water rises Sunday.