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Hazel Sutton, 13, pauses at Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge at the end of her shift monitoring tree swallow nest-boxes. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)

News

Alaska Science Forum: A new teenager and her unusual bird

Hazel Sutton was eating lunch on an island at Tanana Lakes Recreation Area in Fairbanks with her family…

The author’s wife hikes down the ridge of a still snow-covered mountain. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)

News

I Went to the Woods: The summer bod

It’s summer bod time.

News

On the Trails: A mallard family, juncos, and tadpoles

One evening in late May, long after most female mallards had gone off to incubate their eggs, a…

A polar bear feeds near a pile of whale bones north of Utqiaġvik. (Courtesy Photo /Ned Rozell)

News

Alaska Science Forum: Polar bears of the past survived warmth

In a recent paper, scientists wrote that a small population of polar bears living off Greenland and Arctic…

Jane Hale (Courtesy Photo)

Neighbors

Coming Out: Partial Reflections

Let your verses be an adventure

Jacque Tagaban (left) and Adam Bauer (right) smile for a photo at the Alaska Bahá’í National Convention in late May. (Courtesy Photo / Adam Bauer)

Neighbors

Living & Growing: Justice proceeds from unity which comes through consultation

Before I proceed, I wish to thank Áak’w Kwáan and T’aaku Kwáan clans of the Tlingit people who…

A newly hatched bald eagle chick is attended to by an adult. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Armstrong)

News

On the Trails: Springtime fun and signs of new life

When spring finally came, it came in a rush. Cottonwood and alder leaves fairly leaped from the buds…

Jane Hale

Neighbors

Coming Out: Ch- ch- ch- ch- changes

It’s always a gamble, a risk, a chance. We should be stuttering.

Feltleaf willow leaves emerge beneath where a moose nipped off buds during winter of 2022-2023 in Fairbanks. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)

News

Alaska Science Forum: Feltleaf willows — Alaska’s most abundant tree

Imagine being a moose in late May…

Geoff Kirsch is an award-winning Juneau-based writer and humorist.

Neighbors

Slack Tide: There’s More to Memorial Day than Bermuda shorts and potato salad

Break out the white shoes and cabana wear…

This combination images includes a picture of Larry chopping ice for water in Brevig Mission 1972, a picture of Mark and Laura watching seal skin preparation 1972. A picture at Fish Camp in 1972. (Courtesy Photos / Laura Rorem)

Neighbors

Living & Growing: Beyond what we know

“You stupid white people, you have no business trying to come ashore like that. You don’t know what…

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Neighbors

Gimme a Smile: AI is coming—oh wait, it’s already here

AI is on everyone’s radar these days. Artificial Intelligence — it can either make your life easier or…

Nature often provides an escape from the brutality of modern life, but it can’t always provide the answers we seek. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)

News

I Went to the Woods: Into the maze

“Into the Wild” and “The Grizzly Maze” are complex reads.

Thunder Mountain High School senior Chase Darbonne wins the Division I boys long jump during the Region V Track & Field Championships, Saturday, at TMHS. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)

Sports

Pure Sole: To his father

You sir have a fine young man.

A family of orcas swam along the shore (Courtesy Photo / DJ Kyser)

News

On the Trails: Orcas, sand lance, and a junco

The highlight of our Berners Bay cruise…

Ryan Becker, a teacher at the Eagle school, takes a photo of his students as part of a continuing Yukon River ice study on May 12, 2023. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)

News

Alaska Science Forum: When river breakup came to Eagle

the Yukon River’s solid sheets were breaking into smaller pieces.

By 1914 when this photo was taken, Juneau had developed into an established city. The Victorian era turreted Alaska Steam Laundry (built 1901) is seen on the left, while other buildings such as the Alaskan Hotel and Central Rooming House are on the right. The rooming house was reconstructed in the 1980s. It is now the Senate Mall. (Alaska State Library-P31-021).

Neighbors

Rooted in Community: Alaska Steam Laundry and the MacKinnon Family

Perhaps sharing the leading roles in Juneau High School’s 1915 theatrical play clinched the relationship that bloomed into…

A skunk cabbage inflorescence shows the pointed stigmas of the female phase and the beginning of pollen presentation for the male phase. (Mary F. Willson / For the Juneau Empire)

News

On the Trails: Spring has sprung

Early avian harbingers have been joined by lots of other species…

Artist Liza McElroy of Seward, Alaska, recently sketched two moose in their summertime aquatic environment to illustrate this story. (Courtesy Image / Liza McElroy)

News

Alaska Science Forum: Why is a moose’s nose so big?

The more you nose.

Klas Stolpe

Neighbors

Pure Sole: A remembrance of my mother

The aroma of lupine lingered in the air at my mother’s deathbed.