Anchorage news

• Snow falls in Anchorage with more on the way

  01-12-2016 18:35
  
  Snow moved into Southcentral on Wednesday afternoon, and began falling in the Anchorage bowl after 9 p.m. Wednesday. The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Sand Lake recorded 0.1 inch of snow before midnight, which brings the November snowfall total to 1.3 inches, making it Anchorage’s third least-snowiest November.
  Snowfall increased during the overnight hours, with more than 3 inches recorded at the NWS office since midnight Thursday.
  As of 8 a.m. Thursday, a release from the 
  
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• Alaska Senate Republicans pick Tok Sen. Mike Cronk as new minority leader

  17-12-2025 03:01 via ktoo.org
  Tok Republican Sen. Mike Cronk speaks during a news conference on January 21, 2025. (Eric Stone/Alaska Public Media)
  Tok Republican Sen. Mike Cronk is the state Senate’s new minority leader. The six-member minority caucus in the state Legislature’s upper chamber announced Tuesday its members had elected Cronk to replace former Wasilla Republican Sen. Mike Shower, who resigned to run for lieutenant governor earlier this year.
  Cronk is a former schoolteacher and construction worker who
  
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• Newscast – Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025

  17-12-2025 03:00 via ktoo.org
  
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20251216-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:Juneau Animal Rescue has finally secured a location for its proposed new animal shelter,
  The state of Alaska is considering opening up a new ferry terminal in Southeast Alaska that would connect Alaska’s ferries to the Lower 48 road system without going through Canada,
  What could be Alaska’s first official hybrid electric fishing boat is one step closer to hitting the water
  
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• Juneau Animal Rescue’s long-sought new shelter secures location from Assembly

  17-12-2025 01:12 via ktoo.org
  Rick Driscoll, Juneau Animal Rescue’s executive director, holds a puppy at the shelter on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024. (Photo by Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  Juneau Animal Rescue has finally secured a location for its proposed new animal shelter.
  On Monday night, the Juneau Assembly unanimously approved leasing a parcel of city property in the Mendenhall Valley to Juneau Animal Rescue to serve as the site of a larger facility for rescued animals. 
  Rick Driscoll, the shelter’s executive dire
  
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• Advocates push for drastic measures, as the Western Arctic Caribou Herd drops to a new low

  17-12-2025 00:08 via ktoo.org
  Caribou crossing the Kobuk River as it freezes up during the fall migration. (Used with permission from Jim Dau)
  The latest estimate for the Western Arctic Caribou Herd is 121,000, a steep drop from 2023. The last time the herd’s numbers were this low, Jimmy Carter was president — almost 50 years ago.
  Once one of the world’s largest herds, its range is the size of California, stretching across a large swath of Northern and western Alaska. For the remote communities of the regio
  
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• Disaster aid deadlines extended into 2026 for those affected by Western Alaska storms

  16-12-2025 19:37 via ktoo.org
  Alaska Organized Militia members, assigned to Task Force Bethel, survey Nightmute, Alaska, while conduct post-storm recovery efforts for Operation Halong Response at Oct. 27, 2025. (Courtesy photo by the Alaska National Guard)
  The State of Alaska and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have extended their deadlines to apply for individual disaster assistance for those impacted by storms in Western Alaska, including Typhoon Halong.
  How to apply for State of Alaska or FEMA individual assistanc
  
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• Juneau school board contracts with national search firm to find new superintendent

  16-12-2025 03:31 via ktoo.org
  From left, Juneau School Board member Jenny Thomas, Juneau School District Superintendent Frank Hauser and Administrative Assistant Jessica Richmond listen to public testimony during a school board meeting at Thunder Mountain Middle School on Nov. 18, 2025. (Photo by Jamie Diep/KTOO)
  The Juneau School District Board of Education took another step toward finding a new superintendent. 
  At a special board meeting Monday, the board approved a contract with a national search firm to find its nex
  
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• After veto overrides, Alaska Gov. Dunleavy drops push for major education reform

  16-12-2025 03:15 via ktoo.org
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks to reporters ahead of his annual holiday open house on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024 in Juneau. (Eric Stone/Alaska Public Media)
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy is dropping a longtime priority ahead of next year’s legislative session.
  At his annual holiday open house on Dec. 9, the Republican governor told reporters he isn’t planning to revive his push to reform the state’s schools.
  “I’ve always said this, for year after year after year, that once the issue of
  
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• Newscast: Monday, Dec. 15, 2025

  16-12-2025 03:13 via ktoo.org
  
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20251215-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:The Juneau School Board took another step toward finding a new superintendent.
  Eaglecrest Ski Area’s gondola cabins are headed to Colorado next month for repair and paint job.
  An Alaska Airlines flight headed from Juneau to Sika this morning was struck by lightning just before landing.
  Congress approved critical funding for rural schools last week with the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act.
  G
  
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• Lighting strikes milk run flying from Juneau to Sitka Monday morning

  16-12-2025 03:08 via ktoo.org
  An Alaska Airlines plane prepares for take off at the Juneau International Airport on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Photo by Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  An Alaska Airlines flight headed from Juneau to Sitka on Monday morning was struck by lightning just before landing. 
  Passenger Kathy Fitzgerald was on board the 27-minute flight. She said the plane was briefly engulfed in a bright orange and gold flash.
  “It was like a giant flashbulb going off throughout the whole plane, coming from outside,&r
  
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• Eaglecrest Ski Area’s gondola cabins are headed to Colorado for refurbishment

  16-12-2025 01:59 via ktoo.org
  Eaglecrest Ski Area’s gondola in its parking lot on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (Photo by Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  Eaglecrest Ski Area’s gondola cabins are headed to Colorado next month for repairs and a paint job. Cost for the work and shipping is expected to be around $450,000. The cost to bring other gondola parts to Juneau is expected to be even higher with tariffs. 
  It’s been more than three years since the city bought the used gondola system from Austria. The plan is to have
  
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• Report documents racial disparities in pandemic death rates in Alaska

  15-12-2025 23:50 via ktoo.org
  A patient receives the COVID-19 vaccine. (Steven Cornfield/Unsplash)
  About one in 500 Alaskans died of COVID-19 between 2020 and 2023. That’s according to an epidemiology bulletin the Alaska Department of Health released Dec. 9, which says there were substantial racial disparities in rates of COVID-19 hospitalization and mortality in the state.
  Early in the pandemic, for instance, age-adjusted mortality rates in the state were about 3.6 times higher for Asian and Pacific Islander people co
  
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• Judge restores federal funding for museums and libraries, including in Alaska

  15-12-2025 21:38 via ktoo.org
  The Klukwan Library. (Jamie Katzeek)
  Federal funding for libraries and museums has been reinstated nine months after the Trump administration first sought to eliminate the agency that provides that money.
  The initial move sparked concern around Alaska, where dozens of tribes and villages rely on federal dollars to pay staff and offer programming at libraries. At the time, a handful of libraries reported grant cancellations.
  But in early December, the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Ser
  
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• Alaska Native veterans and heirs race to apply for Native allotments

  15-12-2025 21:02 via ktoo.org
  Photo of Anthony “Bone” Lekanof (Courtesy of Michael Livingston)
  For those who haven’t filed for their Native allotments, Alaska Native veterans don’t have much time to claim 160 acres of federal land. The window for applications closes permanently on Dec. 29.
  ANCSA ended 1906 Native allotment program
  The land grants were part of a government program created over a hundred years ago, to promote homesteads and private property ownership. But the 1906 Native allotment progr
  
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• Juneau schools are closed Monday due to ongoing snow storm

  15-12-2025 17:13 via ktoo.org
  In this file photo, a bobcat removes snow from a parking lot downtown on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  Juneau schools will be closed Monday due to weather conditions in the Juneau area.
  A winter storm warning is currently in effect for the Juneau area. An additional 4 to 7 inches of snow accumulation is forecasted.
  After-school activities and events are also canceled. The special school board meeting will take place as scheduled at noon on Zoom.
  City and Borough of Juneau faciliti
  
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• Congress approves reauthorization of Secure Rural Schools funding

  14-12-2025 15:03 via ktoo.org
  Secure Rural Schools payments go to municipalities with large amounts of untaxed federal land — including those near the Tongass National Forest and the Chugach National Forest. (Sydney Dauphinais/KRBD)
  Congress approved critical funding for rural schools Tuesday night with the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act.
  More than $12 million is set aside for Alaskan communities affected by the decline of the timber industry. That money goes to districts with large amounts of untaxed federal
  
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• Rare birds in Sitka spark excitement ahead of annual count

  14-12-2025 14:56 via ktoo.org
  
  
  A Dickcissel spotted in Sitka in mid-November (Marc Kramer/Birding By Bus)
  Two different birds rarely seen in Sitka and much of Alaska showed up in Southeast last month. As KCAW’s Katherine Rose reports, it was exciting news for birders leading into a big month for our feathered friends–the Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count.
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/09RAREBIRD.mp3
  In mid-November, the arrival of two rare birds in Sitka caught the attention o
  
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• Federal agency restores funding for museums and libraries, including in Klukwan

  13-12-2025 20:31 via ktoo.org
  The Klukwan Library. (Photo courtesy of Jamie Katzeek)
  Federal funding for libraries and museums has been reinstated nine months after the Trump administration first sought to eliminate the agency that provides that money.
  The initial move sparked concern around Alaska, where dozens of tribes and villages rely on federal dollars to pay staff and offer programming at libraries. At the time, a handful of libraries reported grant cancellations.
  But in early December, the U.S. Institu
  
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• Lawsuit challenges Trump administration approval for Arctic Alaska oil exploration plan

  13-12-2025 15:00 via ktoo.org
  A caribou in the Teshekpuk herd is seen on June 27, 2014, in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. A lawsuit filed Thursday claims the U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved ConocoPhillips’ winter oil exploration plan without adequately considering damages to habitat used by caribou and other wildlife. (Bob Wick/U.S. Bureau of Land Management)
  Environmental and Native organizations on Thursday sued the Trump administration to try to overturn last month’s approval of an expansiv
  
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• Facing a hot Trump controversy, Sullivan deploys a sidestep

  13-12-2025 04:19 via ktoo.org
  Sen. Dan Sullivan at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing earlier this year. (Screenshot | U.S. Senate video)
  WASHINGTON — The subject of Thursday’s hearing was one of the biggest political controversies of President Trump’s second term: His use of the National Guard within the United States.
  Democrats on the Senate Armed Service Committee railed against the deployment of the National Guard to American cities. Some Republicans on the committee vigorously defended those ur
  
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• Angoon students return home after being stuck in Juneau

  13-12-2025 03:32 via ktoo.org
  The Alaska ferry MV LeConte docked at the Auke Bay Ferry Terminal on Sept. 2, 2025. The LeConte has been docked since Aug. 31 due to mechanical issues. (Photo by Jamie Diep/KTOO)
  A group of 14 student athletes from Angoon finally returned home from Juneau Friday morning after a cancelled ferry left them stuck in the capital city for four extra days.
  The students came to Juneau on Dec. 3 for a basketball tournament. Angoon School principal Emma Demmert was on the trip with the team and said their
  
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• Newscast – Friday, Dec. 12, 2025

  13-12-2025 03:03 via ktoo.org
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20251212-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has landed on a solution to put an end to glacial outburst floods that have grown more destructive in Juneau’s Mendenhall Valley neighborhoods over the past few summers,
  Juneau Animal Rescue might soon have a location in the Mendenhall Valley for its proposed new animal shelter,
  A group of 14 student athletes from Angoon finally returned home from Juneau Friday morni
  
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• Army Corps will pursue a ‘lake tap’ solution to stop glacial outburst floods in the Mendenhall Valley

  13-12-2025 03:02 via ktoo.org
  Sean Smack pulls people on a raft through floodwaters on Meander Way on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (Photo by Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has landed on a solution to put an end to glacial outburst floods that have grown more destructive in Juneau’s Mendenhall Valley neighborhoods over the past few summers. 
  The agency will pursue something called a ‘lake tap.’ It’s essentially a tunnel through Bullard Mountain on the east side of the glacier t
  
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• Federal shutdown disrupts quota-setting for pollock

  13-12-2025 02:24 via ktoo.org
  Trawlers like the F/T Alaska Ocean, pictured here in Dutch Harbor in 2023, will be able to catch just under 1.4 million metric tons of pollock in 2026. (Theo Greenly | KUCB)
  Last week, members of the body that oversees federal fisheries off Alaska’s coast recommended keeping next year’s catch limits for the sprawling Bering Sea pollock fishery about the same as this year.
  Managing the nation’s largest commercial fishery is never simple, but North Pacific Fishery Management Cou
  
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• Juneau Assembly might approve a spot for Juneau Animal Rescue’s new shelter

  12-12-2025 23:04 via ktoo.org
  Kittens cuddle together at Juneau Animal Rescue on Wednesday, June 12, 2024. (Photo by Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  Juneau Animal Rescue might soon have a location in the Mendenhall Valley for its proposed new animal shelter.
  The Juneau Assembly is slated to vote Monday night on whether to lease a parcel of city property to the rescue for less than fair market value.
  The nonprofit organization has been fundraising to construct a newer, updated facility for the last few years. The current shelter was bui
  
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• Arctic temperatures hit Southeast Alaska as Petersburg sees record snowfall

  12-12-2025 19:00 via ktoo.org
  People walk on icy streets and shovel snow in downtown Petersburg on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. Over 15 inches of snow fell in the town earlier that week. (Taylor Heckart/KFSK)
  Winter has arrived in Southeast Alaska, bringing freezing temperatures and enough snow to break daily records for some communities.
  Jeff Garmon is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Juneau.
  “I don’t think anybody escapes having to, you know, just make sure that we’re ready for arctic tem
  
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• Juneau artists rack up eight Rasmuson awards. Here’s what three of the winners are creating.

  12-12-2025 15:07 via ktoo.org
  Rasmuson Individual Artist Awardees CJ Harrell, Flordelino Lagundino, and Neech Yanagut Yéil Laine Rinehart. (Photos courtesy of the artists)
  The Rasmuson Foundation announced their list of Individual Artist awardees, and eight Juneau projects made the list. The 50 total awards go to artists across the state, who will receive $10,000 each toward a project they have planned. 
  For Juneau-based artists like CJ Harrell, the grants support deeply personal projects. Harrell plans to make bl
  
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• ‘Can they adapt?’: Researchers watch for signs of lynx in the Chilkat Valley

  12-12-2025 09:15 via ktoo.org
  Kevin White checks a trail camera strategically positioned to capture images of lynx and other wildlife in the Chilkat Valley. (Avery Ellfeldt/KHNS)
  On a crisp day in mid-November, two wildlife biologists bushwhacked into the Takshanuk Mountains until they reached the edge of a canyon that offers close-up views of mountain goats.
  Kevin White, a wildlife biologist and Haines local, checked the batteries and downloaded the photos from a camera strapped to a nearby tree.
  “There’s a por
  
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• Dunleavy’s proposed budget requires $1.5B from savings

  12-12-2025 04:47 via ktoo.org
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks direct-to-camera in a video published Dec. 11, 2025 discussing his budget proposal. (Screenshot)
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy unveiled his proposed state budget on Thursday — but this year, he skipped the usual press conference.
  Instead, the governor released a short YouTube video and Facebook Reel outlining his plan.
  “Here are the examples of the larger budget items proposed in this year’s budget,” Dunleavy read, “a full Permanent Fund dividend, as
  
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• Newscast – Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025

  12-12-2025 03:00 via ktoo.org
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20251211-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:Juneau’s Eaglecrest Ski Area is slated to open at a limited capacity on Saturday and Sunday after an influx of snow earlier this week,
  The Rasmuson Foundation announced their list of Individual Artist awardees, and eight Juneau projects made the list. The 50 awards go to artists across the state, who will receive $10,000 each toward a project they have planned,
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy plans to roll out a
  
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