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Photos by Mari Kanagy/Juneau Empire
Yuxgitisiy George Holly, center, leads a Lingít dance and drumming class at Sít’ Eetí Shaanáx – Glacier Valley Elementary School on Oct. 23, 2025.

Q&A: Lorrie Heagy and Yuxgitisiy George Holly talk language revitalization

The Juneau Alaska Music Matters program uses the power of music to teach language.

 

Yuxgitisiy George Holly and Lorrie Gax.áan.sán Heagy (center left and right) stand alongside Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom (left) and other honorees at the Governor’s Arts and Humanities Award ceremony in Anchorage on Oct. 28, 2025. Holly won the Margaret Nick Cooke Award for Alaska Native Arts and Languages, and Heagy won the award for Individual Artist. (photo courtesy of Yuxgitisiy George Holly)

Two Juneau educators win Governor’s arts awards

Holly and Heagy turn music and dance into Lingít language learning, earning statewide arts awards.

 

Win Gruening (courtesy)

Opinion: The vote is over, but the budget battle is just beginning

Win Gruening weighs in on Monday’s Assembly Reorganization Meeting.

 

Close up view of an adult male mountain goat in late-winter, near Juneau Icefield, Alaska. In the background, steep avalanche prone slopes are visible. (Photo by Kevin White)

Avalanche lessons from mountain goats: A study of ‘Life on the Edge’

Wildlife biologist Kevin White shared the relationship between mountain goats and avalanches.

Close up view of an adult male mountain goat in late-winter, near Juneau Icefield, Alaska. In the background, steep avalanche prone slopes are visible. (Photo by Kevin White)
The Museum of the North in Fairbanks, Alaska, Aug. 2, 2025. Paintings, poems and science are on display at the Museum of the North in Fairbanks, illustrating the shared impact when carbon is released from the permafrost. (Chona Kasinger/The New York Times)

What happens when the ice melts? These women in Alaska are sounding an alarm

When Debbie Clarke Moderow was running the Iditarod — the 1,100-mile sled dog race through Alaska’s frozen interior — she had a moment. Her hands… Continue reading

  • Oct 20, 2025
  • New York Times
The Museum of the North in Fairbanks, Alaska, Aug. 2, 2025. Paintings, poems and science are on display at the Museum of the North in Fairbanks, illustrating the shared impact when carbon is released from the permafrost. (Chona Kasinger/The New York Times)

Rivers in Alaska, Yukon set to warm: how will this affect salmon?

Research coming from the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado Boulder incorporated Indigenous knowledge into their research

  • Oct 15, 2025
  • Talar Stockton Local Journalism Initiative
A photo provided by the National Park Service shows 32 Chunk, a bear at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, Sept. 15, 2025. Fat Bear Week, a bracket-style competition to pick the bear best suited for winter at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, was won by Chunk. (The National Park Service/T Carmack via The New York Times) — NO SALES; EDITORIAL USE ONLY —

Meet this year’s Fat Bear contest winner

After a weeklong battle to the finish, this year’s Fat Bear Week victor has been crowned. Congratulations to 32 Chunk, a brown bear who weighed… Continue reading

  • Oct 2, 2025
A photo provided by the National Park Service shows 32 Chunk, a bear at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, Sept. 15, 2025. Fat Bear Week, a bracket-style competition to pick the bear best suited for winter at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, was won by Chunk. (The National Park Service/T Carmack via The New York Times) — NO SALES; EDITORIAL USE ONLY —
Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks during a press conference at the Alaska State Capitol on Monday, May 19, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)

Opinion: Dunleavy hides in the shadow of Trump’s assault on free speech

Using the power of the presidency to censor anyone who recognizes that is not only un-American, it’s an act of utter cowardice

Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks during a press conference at the Alaska State Capitol on Monday, May 19, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)
Sunlight gleams through the Tongass National Forest in Juneau on Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)

My Turn: An open invitation to Secretary Rollins

I will introduce you to our communities and forests

  • Sep 28, 2025
  • By Marina Keli’ikuli
Sunlight gleams through the Tongass National Forest in Juneau on Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)
Brent Merten (courtesy photo) [USE THIS ONE HE DOESNT LIKE OTHER ONE]

Living and Growing: Touch grass … and people, too

We all need to step back from the virtual world and its endless echo chambers

Brent Merten (courtesy photo) [USE THIS ONE HE DOESNT LIKE OTHER ONE]
Peggy McKee Barnhill (Courtesy photo)
Peggy McKee Barnhill (Courtesy photo)

Gimme a smile: _______ is good for you

We all have different ways to fill in the blank for what is good for you

Peggy McKee Barnhill (Courtesy photo)
Peggy McKee Barnhill (Courtesy photo)
These satisfying spiced bagels aren't sweet on their own, but pair well with a honey walnut cream cheese to please any sweet tooth. (Photo by Tressa Dale/Peninsula Clarion)

The simple joy of pumpkin spice

These spiced bagels are chewy and satisfying and pair well with a honey walnut cream cheese.

These satisfying spiced bagels aren't sweet on their own, but pair well with a honey walnut cream cheese to please any sweet tooth. (Photo by Tressa Dale/Peninsula Clarion)
Win Gruening (courtesy)

Opinion: New city hall plan deserves voter scrutiny

In a Committee of the Whole meeting on Sept. 8, CBJ Assembly members voted to advance an ordinance directing staff to “negotiate and execute the… Continue reading

  • Sep 22, 2025
  • By Win Gruening
Win Gruening (courtesy)
City and Borough of Juneau City Hall is photographed on July 12, 2025, in Juneau, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Juneau Empire file)

My Turn: We know the City’s finances. We think the stakes couldn’t be higher in this year’s local election

The ballot will ask voters three questions that seek to change how Juneau collects the money needed for public services

  • Sep 20, 2025
  • By Christine Woll and Neil Steininger
City and Borough of Juneau City Hall is photographed on July 12, 2025, in Juneau, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Juneau Empire file)
A makeshift memorial on the Utah Valley University campus, where Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated by a gunman a few days earlier, in Orem, Utah, Sept. 14, 2025. (Loren Elliott/The New York Times)

Opinion: Attentive listening humanizes our political adversaries

Today, we Americans are good at talking to like-minded people

  • Sep 20, 2025
  • By Rich Moniak
A makeshift memorial on the Utah Valley University campus, where Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated by a gunman a few days earlier, in Orem, Utah, Sept. 14, 2025. (Loren Elliott/The New York Times)
Courtesy photo
Adam Bauer of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Bahá’í of Juneau.

Living and Growing: The paradox of freedom

Religion teaches that spiritual freedom is found not in the rejection of all limits, but in choosing the right ones

Courtesy photo
Adam Bauer of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Bahá’í of Juneau.
Kate Troll (Courtesy Photo / Kate Troll)

My Turn: The HESCO barriers worked

To keep a responsive CBJ, vote no on Proposition 1

  • Sep 17, 2025
  • By Kate Troll
Kate Troll (Courtesy Photo / Kate Troll)
A man heads to the City Hall Assembly Chambers to cast his ballot on Election Day on Oct. 3, 2023. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File)

My Turn: Promoting affordability, financial common sense, and fairness in Juneau

I am voting YES on Ballot Measures 1 and 2

  • Sep 17, 2025
  • By Tomas Boutin
A man heads to the City Hall Assembly Chambers to cast his ballot on Election Day on Oct. 3, 2023. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File)
A Sitka black-tailed deer peers through the undergrowth of the Tongass National Forest in an undated photo. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)

My Turn: Getting rid of the Roadless Rule is a step in the wrong direction for Southeast Alaska

The Tongass is what we locals call a “working forest”

  • Sep 17, 2025
  • By Bjorn Dihle
A Sitka black-tailed deer peers through the undergrowth of the Tongass National Forest in an undated photo. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
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Police calls, Sept. 9-13

This report contains public information available to the Empire from law enforcement and public safety agencies. This report includes arrest and citation information, not conviction… Continue reading

  • Sep 17, 2025
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