Site Logo
At Monday night’s Committee of the Whole meeting, City and Borough of Juneau Assembly members agreed to take a closer look at the city’s arrangement with Travel Juneau, the private marketing organization for the Juneau area. This photo shows Juneau City Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2020. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire File)

News

City to consider relationship with Travel Juneau

Committee to explore a competitive bid process

Karla Hart, who led the efforts to add a trio of initiatives to limit cruise ships in Juneau, talks about the failed effort at a press conference on June 2, shortly after announcing that the group did not collect enough signatures to move the questions to the October ballot. (Dana Zigmund / Juneau Empire)

News

Cruise-curbing initiatives won’t be on the ballot

Supporters failed to reach the signature threshold but vow to fight on

Pat White (left) and Sue Schrader (right), collect signatures to move a trio of initiatives aimed at curbing cruise ship visits to Juneau onto October's municipal ballot. The pair are members of a group called Juneau Cruise Control. With less than a week until the June 4 deadline to submit signatures for each question, organizers are not releasing the number of signatories to date. (Courtesy photo/Sue Schrader)

News

Cruising to the finish line: Initiative proponents, opponents continue work

Juneau Cruise Control holds numbers of signatures close to the vest ahead of next Friday’s deadline.

Third-generation Alaskan and Juneau-transplant Paul Kelly hopes to join the Juneau City Assembly and has recently kicked off his campaign for the seat. He currently serves on the board for Juneau Public Schools. (Dana Zigmund/Juneau Empire)

News

Kelly launches campaign for CBJ Assembly

He’s a candidate for the October municipal election

Juneauites walking the Airport Dike Trail, seen here on Tuesday, May 25, 2021, probably won’t see the monitoring wells being installed in the area around the Juneau International Airport to test for contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS chemicals. Ground water testing is set to take place over the next few years. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

City testing for PFAS in soil, groundwater around airport

Multi-year process.

Starting next month, new rules will govern the use of fireworks in the City and Borough of Juneau. (Peter Segall/Juneau Empire File)

News

CBJ adopts new fireworks rules

New rules ban mortar-style fireworks in neighborhoods

On Wednesday night, the City and Borough of Juneau’s finance committee voted to keep the city’s property tax mill rate steady amid news of increasing commercial valuations and the associated increased tax revenue as well as an influx of federal money that has buoyed the city’s overall financial situation heading into the new fiscal year. (File Photo)

News

Committee votes to keep property tax rate the same

Finance Committee stands pat on mill rate

Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire A sign reading “Masks Required” lies on the ground near a softball field at Melvin Park on Tuesday morning. In a community briefing, city officials clarified why the mask mandate changed last week and what to expect going forward.

News

Frequently masked questions: City shares information about when and where to wear one

Keep a mask in tow.

Patrick is one of the good boys and girls at Juneau Animal Rescue that need a home. The shelter is dealing with a spike in returns and worries what the return to office work may do. (Courtesy P_hoto / JAR)

News

Animal shelters concerned about returns as workers return to offices

Juneau Animal Rescue has seen a spike in surrenders to the shelter.

A sign like this one, seen on a downtown Juneau business may soon come down as the city announced an end to the mask mandate for people who are fully vaccinated. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

A breath of fresh air

City updates its mask mandate following CDC guidelines

As COVID restrictions ease, assembly members are making plans to move municipal meetings back to the Assembly Chambers in city hall while maintaining the broad public access that Zoom meetings provide. During Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting, pictured here, assembly members discussed the transition in advance of the May 24 regular assembly meeting, which will be the first meeting to take place in person in more than a year. (Screenshot)

News

Lights, camera, government: Assembly prepares for hybrid meetings

In-person meetings poised to resume later this month.

Workers with City and Borough of Juneau Parks and Recreation clear the basin at Cope Park of excess sediment and other material washed down the waterway on Sept. 16, 2020. This work is an example of one of the many varied jobs done by public servants and recognized during Public Service Recognition Week, which ends May 8. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire File)

News

CBJ employees grow, pivot during an unprecedented year

City manager looks back during Public Service Recognition Week

A drop box awaits ballots at Don D. Statter Harbor in late September 2020. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire File)

News

Petition seeks to limit local vote-by-mail options

Group wants voters to weigh in on the future of municipal elections

Peter Segall / Juneau Empire A sign seen on a downtown Juneau business reminds customers that masks are required. On Monday night, CBJ officials voted to add flexibility to the city’s COVID-related ordinances and adopted a tiered mitigation strategy within the lowest risk level that changes as local vaccination rates increase.

News

CBJ adds flexibility, adopts tiered COVID mitigation strategies

Travel-related testing mandate expires Saturday

Maralee Guiher drops off her ballot during the City and Borough of Juneau Municipal Election on Oct. 6, 2020. On Monday, city assembly members decided to follow the 2020 playbook for the 2021 municipal election. Ballots will be mailed to eligible voters and at least two polling places and drop boxes will be available. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire File)

News

Municipal election to be conducted mostly by mail

At least two polling places and drop boxes will be available

Mayor Beth Weldon speaks at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 2019 Community Celebration at St. Paul’s Catholic Church on Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. On Friday, she announced that she is running for another term as mayor. (Michael Penn /Juneau Empire File)

News

Mayor Weldon to run for a second term

She announced the news Friday.

Jeff Rogers, CBJ's finance director, joined the April 22 Greater Juneau Chamber of Commerce Alaska Business Roundtable's Zoom meeting to explain why commercial properties have recently been reassessed and what it means for business and property owners in the borough. (Screenshot)

News

Wrestling with a taxing issue: Increased value of commercial properties could reduce property tax rates

Increasing value for commercial properties could reduce property tax rates

Peter Segall / Juneau Empire At Wednesday night’s budget kick-off, officials said the city expects $12.8 million in revenue from the federal government, based on the American Rescue Plan. While this cash infusion is helping to stabilize the budget, another season without large cruise ship traffic is putting pressure on the sales tax revenue the city collects. In a typical year, businesses would be getting ready for the flood of local tourists but with the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, Alaska’s cruise ship season remains uncertain and Juneau’s downtown waterfront sits empty on Monday, April 5, 2021.

News

City kicks off the budget-review process

Federal money provides relief from lost cruise ship sales tax revenue.

Peter Segall / Juneau Empire File Hundreds gathered at Marine Park in downtown Juneau on June 7, 2020, for a rally and march calling for an end to police violence and systemic racism in America. On Thursday, Juneau’s newly formed Systemic Racism Review Committee held its first meeting.

News

Systemic Racism Review Committee holds organizing meeting

Municipal attorney will guide the group

A new Systematic Racism Review Committee will soon be in place to guide Juneau’s municipal lawmakers as they consider future ordinances. City Assembly members established the committee late last year after racial justice protests took place in Juneau and around the country throughout the summer of 2020. Here, Lacey Davis attends a May 30, 2020, vigil honoring George Floyd, the man whose death while in police custody sparked protests worldwide. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

Juneau seats members of the Systematic Racism Review committee

First meeting on April 1, policy review begins in July.