Site Logo
Teaser

News

Authorities seek to identify man following suspicious fires in Two Rivers area

People with info are encouraged to contact Alaska State Troopers at (907)451-5100.

Insulation can be seen through broken shingles on the Novatney Building’s roof. Funding for maintenance work on the roof was among Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s over $215 million in budget cuts. Design work for the effort has long been completed, said UAS facilities maintenance and operations manager Adam Zenger. The roof does not currently leak, he said, but in light of roof’s condition he said there’s concern that could change. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

News

Scholarships and grants to continue but UAS roof will have to wait

UAS loses out on roof repair.

Gavel (Courtesy photo)

News

Gov reignites fight over judicial picks

Governor asks for new slate of candidates for state high court.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy, seen here speaking at a Jun 17, 2021 news conference at the Alaska State Capitol, announced $215 million in vetoes to the state budget Thursday, and called on lawmakers to come together to solve the state's fiscal issues. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file)

News

Gov announces $215M in vetoes —lawmakers’ per diem payments, PFD are among cuts

Announcement prompts strong pushback.

A C-130J Super Hercules assigned to the 36th Airlift Squadron flies over Fort Greely, Alaska during RED FLAG-Alaska 21-2, June 24, 2021. (U.S. Air Force photo / Airman 1st Class Jose Miguel T. Tamondong)

News

Multinational Air Force exercise wraps up successfully

Three nations and hundreds of aircraft participated.

Rep. Ron Gillham is seen here in this undated photo. (Clarion file/courtesy)

News

Kenai lawmaker shares photo comparing media and medical officials to Nazi war criminals

Republican Ron Gillham represents the Kenai-Soldotna area in the Alaska State House of Representatives.

Gavel (Courtesy photo)

News

Judge to hear arguments in budget case

He’ll hear them on July 23.

Angoon, seen in this Tuesday photo, is one of the nearly 200 communities across Alaska that are served by the Power Cost Equalization program, which reduces power coasts for rural customers. PCE is poised to be unfunded due to a bookkeeping mechanism known as “the sweep.” Legislative leaders have said they intend to vote on the “reverse sweep,” which would fund the PCE among other programs, during a special session in August. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

News

Customers in PCE communities unlikely to see immediate power bill spike

A previous situation where the funds weren’t released occurred three years ago.

Then-Democratic presidential hopeful and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel speaks at the "Take Back America" political conference in Washington, in this June 2007 photo. Gravel, a former U.S. senator from Alaska who read the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record and confronted Barack Obama about nuclear weapons during a later presidential run, has died. He was 91. Gravel, who represented Alaska as a Democrat in the Senate from 1969 to 1981, died Saturday, June 26, 2021. Gravel had been living in Seaside, California, and was in failing health, said Theodore W. Johnson, a former aide. (AP Photo / Charles Dharapak)

News

Mike Gravel, former US senator for Alaska, dies at 91

He read the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record.

Members of the House Republican Minority Caucus talk amongst themselves during an at ease on the floor of the Alaska House of Representatives on Monday, June 28, 2021. House members reached a deal on an operating budget and avoided a government shutdown but members of the minority said they had been repeatedly pushed out of the process. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

Lawmakers pass budget again; send to Gov ahead of shutdown deadline

More work and a work group ahead.

In this October 2020 photo, housing activists erect a sign in Swampscott, Mass. A federal freeze on most evictions is set to expire soon. The moratorium, put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September, was the only tool keeping millions of tenants in their homes. (AP Photo / Michael Dwyer)

News

Will Alaska financing program ease eviction woes?

A federal freeze on most evictions enacted last year is scheduled to expire July 31.

House Speaker Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, told reporters on Friday, June 25, 2021, she was optimistic a deal with the House Minority caucus would be reached by Monday. Both Stutes and Minority Leader Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, declined to give details on the deal. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

Lawmakers say deal seems close at hand

You say you want a resolution.

Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation CEO Angela Rodell speaks to the House Finance Committee on Thursday, June 24, 2021. Rodell urged lawmakers to pass a budget before the state government shuts down on July 1, even though APFC employees are considered essential. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

Lawmakers urged to avoid shutdown but impasse remains

Economy already in recovery.

This image shows treponema pallidum, the bacteria that cause syphilis. Alaska's syphilis infection rates increased by 49% over 2019 numbers, the Department of Health and Social Services reported this week. (Courtesy Photo / NIAID)

News

Alaska’s syphilis infection rate increases

State records 49% more cases in 2020

The Alaska Marine Highway System ferries LeConte, left, Malaspina and Tazlina, hidden from view, are tied up at the Auke Bay Terminal in this July 2019 photo. CoastAlaska reports Gov. Mike Dunleavy offered to give the Malaspina ferry away in a letter last month to the Philippines consul general in San Francisco. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)

News

Alaska offers 58-year-old ferry for free to the Philippines

The state of Alaska is trying to dispose of a 58-year-old ferry.

Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, spoke on the first day of the year's second special session of the Alaska State Legislature on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, but said he was not happy to be there. Gov. Mike Dunleavy brought lawmakers back to Juneau to fix what he called a defective budget but legal questions remain unresolved. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

Lawmakers optimistic but vague about budget negotiations

Avoidable and unnecessary.

Lawmakers will come back to the Alaska State Capitol, seen here on May 28, 2021, for the second special session of the Legislature this summer. Gov. Mike Dunleavy asked lawmakers to resolve what he called a defective budget, leading to a legal dispute between lawmakers and the administration. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire File)

News

Second special session starts as legal dispute continues

Courts asked to advise.

Firefighter medic Andy Tighe snaps a photo of the breakaway plus-class cruise ship Norwegian Bliss while Captain Tracy Mettler operates a fireboat in the Tongass Narrows in Ketchikan, Alaska, on June 4, 2018. President Joe Biden signed into law Monday, May 24, 2021, legislation that opens a door for resumed cruise ship travel to Alaska after the pandemic last year scrapped sailings. (Dustin Safranek / Ketchikan Daily News)

News

Alaska’s cruise season ‘good to go’

Ships expected late July.

A sign invites visitors into the Alaska State Capitol building on Monday, June 21, 2021. Lawmakers will begin their second special session of the year Wednesday after Gov. Mike Dunleavy sent the state’s budget bill back to lawmakers saying it lacked critical components. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

Courts asked to clarify budget dispute

Shutdown remains possible.

A recently released map by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration shows the vast areas of low data speeds and access by broadband users across Alaska and the rest of the U.S. (Screenshot)

News

White House laying groundwork for improved internet infrastructure

In Alaska, providers are looking at their own improvments to access.