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Juneau Assembly candidates discuss a range of issues during a forum Tuesday night at the KTOO studio. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Watch the 2023 Juneau League of Women Voters forum for Assembly candidates

14 candidates discuss cruise tourism, homelessness, child care and proposed new City Hall.

The front of the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau is seen on Wednesday, April 12, 2023. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

News

Two more Alaska ballot measures pass legal muster, but another is disqualified

Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom on Friday approved two ballot measures and disqualified a third from advancing into…

A plot of land at 450 Whittier St. is the preferred site for a new City Hall building. (Photo courtesy of the City and Borough of Juneau)

Opinion

My Turn: Support for a new City Hall

This article has been updated to replace an incorrect image purportedly depicting the proposed new City Hall.

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire Sterling Salisbury (right), president of the Juneau Police Department Employees Association, and Travis Wolf, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 4303 in Juneau, explain the format and rules of a Thursday night debate at the KTOO studios about public safety by 13 candidates seeking four open seats on the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly.

News

Assembly candidates debate public safety issues

Wages, affordable housing, other possible remedies for workforce shortages discussed by 13 hopefuls.

Kelly Tshibaka speaks at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in October 2022. A group led by the former Republican U.S. Senate candidate has been accused of violating state campaign finance laws. (Photo by Yereth Rosen./Alaska Beacon)

News

Report from Alaska campaign regulator says Tshibaka-linked group violated state law

Staff for the Alaska Public Offices Commission have recommended a $16,450 fine against Preserve Democracy, a group led…

Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom is seen during the governor’s annual holiday open house on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2022 at the Governor’s Mansion in Juneau. (James Brooks / Alaska Beacon)

News

Alaska lieutenant governor disqualifies legislative term-limits ballot measure

Alaska Supreme Court ruled in 1994 legislative term limits require a constitutional amendment.

A table in the Juneau city clerk’s office with forms for residents wanting to file as candidates for the Oct. 3 municipal election is unoccupied one minute before Monday’s 4:30 p.m. deadline. While there were no last-minute candidates, several people registered during the day, resulting in a total of 14 people seeking four available Assembly seats and four people seeking two Juneau Board of Education seats. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

All local election races set to be competitive this fall

After a year of controversies, 14 people seek four Assembly seats, four seek two school board seats.

Kelly Tshibaka waves at passing motorists in Midtown Anchorage on Aug. 16, 2022. The former U.S. Senate candidate, now head of a nonprofit opposing ranked choice voting, is the subject of a new campaign complaint. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

News

Another campaign complaint filed against opponents of Alaska ranked choice voting

Former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka among targets

A ballot for Alaska’s Nov. 8, 2022, general election is seen on Monday, Oct. 24, 2022, the first day of early voting. (Photo by James Brooks / Alaska Beacon)

News

Questions on minimum wage, paid sick leave and campaign funding could be heading to Alaska voters

Lt. Gov. Dahlstrom has until early September to certify proposals for petition-gathering stage

A complaint filed Wednesday with the Alaska Public Offices Commission alleges advocates of repealing the state’s open primary elections and ranked choice voting are violating numerous campaign disclosure laws. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File)

News

Ranked choice repeal ‘church’ violating campaign laws, complaint alleges

Four organizations and two people leading repeal effort accused of “laundering donations”

Carol Beecher, the new director of the Alaska Division of Elections, answers questions from reporters on Feb. 16. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

News

Alaska to stay with voter fraud prevention network as other Republican states drop out

Other states are leaving ERIC, often based on unfounded 2020 election allegations

Dozens of Juneau teachers, students and residents gather at the steps of the Alaska State Capitol on Jan. 23 in advocacy for an increase in the state’s flat funding via the base student allocation, which hasn’t increased sizeably since 2017 and has failed to keep pace with inflation during the past decade. A one-time funding increase was approved during this year’s legislative session. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

What’s next for the most debated bills pending in the Legislature?

Education funding increase, “parental rights” and other proposals will resurface next year.

`Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire James and Claudia Criss of Juneau testify Tuesday during a House State Affairs Committee meeting in opposition to a bill that would repeal ranked choice voting and open primaries in Alaska.

News

Will elections bills get a vote this session?

Repeal of ranked choice voting appears doomed to defeat, far-ranging procedural changes still viable

Signs point to the entrance on the last day of early voting before the midterm election as a man walks out of a polling site in Cranston, R.I., on Nov. 7, 2022. Almost half of all voters in the 2022 midterm elections cast their ballots before Election Day either by mail or through early voting, with Asian and Hispanic voters leading the way, new data from the U.S. Census Bureau released Tuesday, May 2, 2023, shows, even as Republican-led states have tightened rules on voting by mail. (AP Photo / David Goldman)

News

Almost half of midterm voters cast ballots early or by mail

Unusual dynamics drove midterm turnout last year…

From left to right, City and Borough of Juneau Assembly members Carole Triem, Alicia Hughes-Skandijs and Wade Bryson listen to City Clerk Beth McEwen as she speaks about election code changes Monday night at the Assembly Committee of the Whole meeting where member’s OK’d the city to move an ordinance to make vote-by-mail elections the default in Juneau. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

City moves to make vote-by-mail elections the default in Juneau

The ordinances are set to be introduced in May and open for public hearing in June.

President Joe Biden speaks from the Treaty Room in the White House on April 14, 2021, about the withdrawal of the remainder of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. (AP Photo / Andrew Harnik)

News

Biden announces 2024 reelection bid

“Let’s finish this job,” he said.

A by-mail general ballot is sent to an Alaska voter in October of 2020. Concern is being expressed by some state lawmakers about such ballots frequently being received and used by people who became residents of other states many years ago. Officials with the state Division of Elections said keeping such people on voter rolls is based on an intention to return to Alaska, which often cannot be definitely determined. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire file)

News

State may end membership in voter anti-fraud organization

Group falsely attacked by Trump is costly, better options may exist, new elections director says

“I voted” stickers await voters on Election Day 2022. That election was the first regular general election in Alaska to include ranked choice voting, which was narrowly approved by voters in 2020. Bills to do away with ranked choice voting have been introduced in the Legislature and a petition to put the matter before voters is circulating. However, a pro-ranked choice petition has been launched to show support for the state’s current elections system, which also includes open primaries. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire File)

News

Pro-ranked choice petition launched

Signatures sought to persuade Legislature not to overturn RCV and open primaries.

Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor-elect Peter Micciche testifies before the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly during a meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2022 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O'Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Former Senate president now Kenai Peninsula Borough mayor

Peter Micciche is the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s new mayor.

Signs supporting Kenai Peninsula Borough mayoral candidates Peter Micciche and Linda Farnsworth-Hutchings are staked in the snow at the intersection of the Kenai Spur and Sterling highways on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Former state Senate president leads in Kenai Peninsula Borough mayor race

A runoff is still possible with 1,700 ballots uncounted.