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Juneau State Rep. Andi Story and Haines Borough Mayor Douglas Olerud smile for a photo while holding the borough’s first batch of Lingít street signs in early June. (Courtesy / Katie Koester)

Haines raises its first Tlingit street signs — is Juneau next?

Local leaders say they’d like to see the capital city follow its northern neighbor’s lead.

Juneau State Rep. Andi Story and Haines Borough Mayor Douglas Olerud smile for a photo while holding the borough’s first batch of Lingít street signs in early June. (Courtesy / Katie Koester)
Capt. Mark Ellis receives a ceremonial cedar rope alongside other captains during a blessing ceremony at the global launch ceremony of the Moananuiākea voyage at the University of Alaska Recreation Center Thursday afternoon. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

Juneau leaders bless voyagers at launch ceremony ahead of Hōkūle‘a send-off

“I am grateful for all the love and support the people of Southeast Alaska have done for us”

Capt. Mark Ellis receives a ceremonial cedar rope alongside other captains during a blessing ceremony at the global launch ceremony of the Moananuiākea voyage at the University of Alaska Recreation Center Thursday afternoon. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea) hovering over a possible snack at Mendenhall Lake on June 13. (Courtesy Photo / Kenneth Gill, gillfoto)

Wild Shots

Reader-submitted photos of Mother Nature in Southeast Alaska.

  • Jun 16, 2023
Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea) hovering over a possible snack at Mendenhall Lake on June 13. (Courtesy Photo / Kenneth Gill, gillfoto)
Chloey Cavanaugh, owner of Black and White Raven Co., folds a shirt at her downtown studio Monday morning. Cavanaugh’s company is an LGBTQ+ and Indigenous small business based in Juneau. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

Faces of Pride: Chloey Cavanaugh

“I feel really lucky to be so supported by the community.”

Chloey Cavanaugh, owner of Black and White Raven Co., folds a shirt at her downtown studio Monday morning. Cavanaugh’s company is an LGBTQ+ and Indigenous small business based in Juneau. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
Volunteers reset a gravel pile during the men’s hand mucking event of Juneau Gold Rush Days in Savikko Park on June 18, 2022. This year’s events are scheduled Saturday and Sunday. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire File)

New look and sound for Juneau Gold Rush Days

Weekend of traditional mining and logging events will also feature new band, bouncy house

Volunteers reset a gravel pile during the men’s hand mucking event of Juneau Gold Rush Days in Savikko Park on June 18, 2022. This year’s events are scheduled Saturday and Sunday. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire File)
Bartlett Regional Hospital Board President Kenny Solomon-Gross cuts a ribbon in front of the doors to the hospital’s new Aurora Behavioral Health Center unveiled Wednesday evening. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

Hospital unveils $18M behavioral health and crisis stabilization center

Services scheduled to open this fall, interim executive director says.

Bartlett Regional Hospital Board President Kenny Solomon-Gross cuts a ribbon in front of the doors to the hospital’s new Aurora Behavioral Health Center unveiled Wednesday evening. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
Demonstrators stand outside of the U.S. Supreme Court, as the court hears arguments over the Indian Child Welfare Act, Nov. 9, 2022, in Washington. The Supreme Court on Thursday preserved the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which gives preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings of Native children, rejecting a broad attack from Republican-led states and white families who argued it is based on race. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)

Supreme Court preserves law that aims to keep Native American children with tribal families

Law passed due to Alaska Native and other Indigenous children were taken from their homes

  • Jun 15, 2023
  • By Mark Sherman Associated Press
Demonstrators stand outside of the U.S. Supreme Court, as the court hears arguments over the Indian Child Welfare Act, Nov. 9, 2022, in Washington. The Supreme Court on Thursday preserved the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which gives preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings of Native children, rejecting a broad attack from Republican-led states and white families who argued it is based on race. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)
South Franklin Street with the three-story Senate Apartments on the right, circa 1945. In the 1980s, Bruce Denton and the late Larry Spencer purchased the apartments, and gutted the building to remake it into retail and office space, renaming it the Senate Mall. (Photo credit Alaska State Library Historical Collections, Juneau Area Views, Franklin St. 01-2831)

Rooted In Community: The Senate Building and The Denton Family

Buying an aging historic property in downtown Juneau and running the Iditarod have two big things in common: confidence and ability. South Franklin Street’s Senate… Continue reading

  • Jun 15, 2023
  • By Laurie Craig For the Downtown Business Association
South Franklin Street with the three-story Senate Apartments on the right, circa 1945. In the 1980s, Bruce Denton and the late Larry Spencer purchased the apartments, and gutted the building to remake it into retail and office space, renaming it the Senate Mall. (Photo credit Alaska State Library Historical Collections, Juneau Area Views, Franklin St. 01-2831)
Picking spruce tips in Wrangell. (Photo by Vivian Faith Prescott)

Planet Alaska: The best day ever

“This is the best day ever,” Grandson Timothy exclaimed to me once after swimming in the ocean on a kingfisher blue day, then eating potato… Continue reading

Picking spruce tips in Wrangell. (Photo by Vivian Faith Prescott)
The application period for the City and Borough of Juneau’s search for a new city manager is coming to a close June 22. So far the city has seen more than 10 applicants, officials say. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File)

City receives more than 10 manager applicants ahead of deadline

The position has a starting salary of $175,000, according to the city website.

The application period for the City and Borough of Juneau’s search for a new city manager is coming to a close June 22. So far the city has seen more than 10 applicants, officials say. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File)
Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park is set to get new artificial turf despite its link to PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), according to city officials. The project will be designed over the winter, with construction likely beginning in the summer of 2024. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

City moves forward with Adair-Kennedy artificial turf despite PFAS concerns

The project will be designed over the winter, with construction likely beginning in summer of 2024.

Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park is set to get new artificial turf despite its link to PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), according to city officials. The project will be designed over the winter, with construction likely beginning in the summer of 2024. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
A clock ticks away the seconds at Thunder Mountain High School on Tuesday night, where the Juneau Board of Education voted to table a proposal to shorten the school day for students by 30 minutes once a week to free up time for teachers to participate in training and other professional development activities. Some district officials opposed to the delay said it will in effect kill the proposal because the school board’s next scheduled meeting is in August, which will be too late to implement specific policy changes before the school year starts. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Shorter days for students tabled by school board

Proposal would cut 30 minutes once a week to allow teachers time for training and other activities

A clock ticks away the seconds at Thunder Mountain High School on Tuesday night, where the Juneau Board of Education voted to table a proposal to shorten the school day for students by 30 minutes once a week to free up time for teachers to participate in training and other professional development activities. Some district officials opposed to the delay said it will in effect kill the proposal because the school board’s next scheduled meeting is in August, which will be too late to implement specific policy changes before the school year starts. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
This is an aerial picture of the Hecla Greens Creek Mine taken in May 2023. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File)

Hecla Greens Creek Mine agrees to $143K fine after 2019 EPA violations

Mine official say violations have been addressed.

This is an aerial picture of the Hecla Greens Creek Mine taken in May 2023. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File)
The two blocks of South Seward Street between Front Street and Marine Way will be renamed to Heritage Way by November after the City and Borough of Juneau Planning Commission unanimously OK’d the change Tuesday evening. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

South Seward Street to be renamed Heritage Way by November

Planning Commission OKs change Tuesday evening.

The two blocks of South Seward Street between Front Street and Marine Way will be renamed to Heritage Way by November after the City and Borough of Juneau Planning Commission unanimously OK’d the change Tuesday evening. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
An Alaska Airlines plane flies by a cellular tower. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Why did Alaskans statewide get an Amber Alert on Tuesday?

On Tuesday afternoon, cellphones across the state beeped with emergency tones as the Alaska State Troopers attempted to find two-year-old Karma Brown, who briefly went… Continue reading

An Alaska Airlines plane flies by a cellular tower. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
A voter joins a line of voters waiting to cast their ballots on Aug. 15, 2022, at the state Division of Elections office in Anchorage. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

New ballot measure seeks to restrict spending on Alaska elections

A group that brought ranked-choice voting to Alaska is now seeking to restrict big money campaign donations after a federal appeals court erased the state’s… Continue reading

A voter joins a line of voters waiting to cast their ballots on Aug. 15, 2022, at the state Division of Elections office in Anchorage. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Weaver and textile artist Lily Hope shows a group of students how to forage for horsetails Saturday near the Alaska State Museum in Juneau. They boiled the plants to make a natural dye. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska State Museum lesson weaves together art, science and culture

Six pots full of natural dye bubbled on the back patio at the Alaska State Museum in Juneau — deep red beet, yellow wolf lichen,… Continue reading

Weaver and textile artist Lily Hope shows a group of students how to forage for horsetails Saturday near the Alaska State Museum in Juneau. They boiled the plants to make a natural dye. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)
One person was killed and four medevaced out of Juneau following a two-vehicle collision on Egan Drive near Fred Meyer on Saturday afternoon. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
One person was killed and four medevaced out of Juneau following a two-vehicle collision on Egan Drive near Fred Meyer on Saturday afternoon. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
Klas Stolpe / for the Juneau Empire
Bob Barger tips his cap after being honored Saturday, June 3, at the 2023 Alaska School Activities Association Baseball State Championships on Sitka’s Moller Field for his lifetime of sports broadcasting in Alaska.

Bob ‘The Voice’ Barger retires

Announcer of Alaska high school sports ices vocal chords

  • Jun 13, 2023
  • By Klas Stolpe For The Juneau Empire
Klas Stolpe / for the Juneau Empire
Bob Barger tips his cap after being honored Saturday, June 3, at the 2023 Alaska School Activities Association Baseball State Championships on Sitka’s Moller Field for his lifetime of sports broadcasting in Alaska.
Assembly members Maria Gladziszewski, Michelle Bonnet Hale and Greg Smith listen as the City and Borough of Juneau budget for the 2024 fiscal year is finalized and approved after a more than three-hour-long meeting Monday night. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

City approves budget with lower property tax rate and $10M to City Hall

“I don’t think that you can have both…we add to our ongoing costs and we also lower the mill rate.”

Assembly members Maria Gladziszewski, Michelle Bonnet Hale and Greg Smith listen as the City and Borough of Juneau budget for the 2024 fiscal year is finalized and approved after a more than three-hour-long meeting Monday night. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)