Anchorage news

• Alaska pollock processors drop foreign worker program, citing uncertainty

  14-01-2026 02:23 via ktoo.org
  The UniSea processing plant in Unalaska in Jan. 2019. (Berett Wilber/KUCB)
  Some of Alaska’s largest pollock processors are abandoning a foreign worker visa program that once supplied up to half their workforce, citing rising costs and uncertainty under stricter immigration policies.
  Tom Enlow is the president and CEO of UniSea Seafoods, Unalaska’s largest seafood processor. He said the company is moving away from the H-2B visas to save money on an inconsistent system.
  “The H-2B
  
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• Newscast – Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026

  16-01-2026 03:00 via ktoo.org
  
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/20260115-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:The Juneau School District Board of Education agreed to approve the $180,000 in funding to help pay for a new playground at the Dzantik’i Heeni campus in Lemon Creek,
  Southeast Alaska’s largest tribe has earned nearly $40 million from U.S. Navy contracts in Guantanamo Bay,
  KTOO is checking in with members of Juneau’s legislative delegation to talk priorities, predictions, and plans for t
  
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• Dzantik’i Heeni playground inches toward reality following school board funding approval

  16-01-2026 02:40 via ktoo.org
  This is a concept design rendering of a portion of the proposed Dzantik’i Heeni campus playground. (Courtesy/Juneau School District)
  The Juneau School District Board of Education agreed to approve up to $180,000 dollars in funding to help pay for a new playground at the Dzantik’i Heeni campus in Lemon Creek.
  During a special meeting Thursday, board members agreed to pull the money from an afterschool child care fund to match a foundation’s grant toward the project. The child ca
  
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• Juneau weaver receives national fellowship with $50,000 attached

  16-01-2026 00:07 via ktoo.org
  Master weaver Lily Hope. (Courtesy of Lily Hope).
  Local master Chilkat and Ravenstail weaver Lily Hope has been awarded a national fellowship that bolsters culture and tradition across the United States.She is one of the United States Artists awardees for 2026, which means she gets $50,000 toward her work with no strings attached. 
  “It’s a wild gift to have somebody just hand you some money and say, ‘Do what you will,’” she said. “There is absolutely zero
  
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• Local bar association offering free legal help sessions on MLK holiday, AWARE looking for couples for 10-week relationship course, Mudrooms 2nd annual adult-only event.

  15-01-2026 22:07 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Juneau Afternoon recorded Wednesday, January 14, 2026:
  The Juneau Bar Association, in conjunction with the Alaska Bar Association, is hosting its annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Legal Aid Clinic at two locations in Juneau. Check the Alaska Bar Association website for details.AWARE is offering a 10-week relationship course specifically designed for partners to strengthen their bond before challenges arise. The course begins January 22. Information and sign-up are available at the AWARE website.
  
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• Priorities, predictions and plans going into the legislative session with Juneau’s Sen. Jesse Kiehl

  15-01-2026 21:43 via ktoo.org
  Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, speaks during a town hall at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé on Monday, June 9, 2025. (Photo by Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  With the second regular session of the 34th Alaska Legislature beginning on Tuesday, it’s a good time to check in with members of Juneau’s delegation to talk priorities, predictions and plans for the session.
  Sen. Jesse Kiehl (D-Juneau) spoke with KTOO’s Mike Lane about what he expects to see this year.
  https://media.k
  
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• Priorities, predictions and plans going into the legislative session with Juneau Sen. Jesse Kiehl

  15-01-2026 21:43 via ktoo.org
  Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, speaks during a town hall at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé on Monday, June 9, 2025. (Photo by Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  With the second regular session of the 34th Alaska Legislature beginning on Tuesday, it’s a good time to check in with members of Juneau’s delegation to talk priorities, predictions and plans for the session.
  Sen. Jesse Kiehl (D-Juneau) spoke with KTOO’s Mike Lane about what he expects to see this year.
  https://media.k
  
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• State seeks input for plan to boost logging in Haines

  15-01-2026 20:30 via ktoo.org
  The Baby Brown and Glacier Side timber areas, left, are south of Glacier Creek, a main tributary to the Klehini River. (Courtesy of Derek Poinsette)
  The state Department of Natural Resources is moving forward with its effort to overhaul the longstanding plan that dictates how it manages one of Alaska’s three state forests.
  Agency staff are in Haines this week to meet with a range of local groups to solicit input for the new roadmap, which would open the entire Haines State Forest to loggin
  
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• Murkowski wants to reassure Denmark, but it’s not clear Congress is with her

  15-01-2026 20:14 via ktoo.org
  Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, center, and U.S. senators spoke to reporters at the Hart Senate Office Building on Jan. 14, 2026. (Liz Ruskin/Alaska Public Media)
  WASHINGTON — Sen. Lisa Murkowski was among a group of senators who met with the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland Wednesday, trying to provide an assurance that they couldn’t get from the White House: That Greenland is safe from a U.S. military incursion.
  “I think it’s important to
  
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• Tlingit and Haida tribal members concerned by tribal government corporation presence in Guantánamo Bay

  15-01-2026 17:00 via ktoo.org
  Migrants detained in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown are led to a plane bound for Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. (U.S. Department of Homeland Security)
  Southeast Alaska’s largest tribe has earned nearly $40 million from U.S. Navy contracts in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba – money some tribal members are concerned comes from supporting immigrant detention. 
  While tribal corporation leadership says their operations are separate from the detention center on the mil
  
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• Residents in avalanche zones return home after Juneau clears last evacuation advisory

  15-01-2026 01:43 via ktoo.org
  The Behrends slide path on Mount Juneau on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Photo by Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  Residents living in avalanche-prone downtown neighborhoods got the all-clear to return home Wednesday after the city lifted its last remaining evacuation advisory this morning. 
  Mary Amor was finally preparing to leave Juneau’s emergency shelter at Centennial Hall. She’s been staying there with her brother since last Friday, when the city issued an evacuation advisory for resident
  
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• Newly proposed legislation aims to curb Alaska bycatch

  15-01-2026 01:24 via ktoo.org
  The proposed legislation would establish a fund for fishermen to purchase updated technology and trawl gear to limit seafloor contact and bycatch. (Theo Greenly/KUCB)
  Alaska’s congressional delegation introduced legislation Wednesday that aims to reduce bycatch in parts of southwest Alaska using better marine data, technology and gear.
  The Bycatch Reduction and Research Act, introduced by U.S. Sens. Dan Sullivan, Lisa Murkowski and Congressman Nick Begich, would address research gaps in en
  
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• Newscast – Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026

  15-01-2026 01:00 via ktoo.org
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/20260114-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:Residents living in avalanche-prone downtown neighborhoods got the all-clear to return home today after the city lifted its last remaining evacuation advisory this morning,
  Avalanche risk rose over the weekend, as more snow and then rain pounded Juneau. Meanwhile, staff at the city’s emergency warming shelter for unhoused residents relocated operations three times in two days,
  A Juneau-born athlete
  
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• The freshmen: Two new Mat-Su Republicans prepare for their first session

  14-01-2026 23:48 via ktoo.org
  Republican Reps. Garret Nelson, left, and Steve St. Clair pose for a photograph during a swearing-in ceremony in Anchorage on Dec. 30, 2025. (Alaska House Republicans)
  The Alaska House of Representatives will have two new faces when lawmakers return next week for the start of the legislative session. Gov. Mike Dunleavy appointed Mat-Su Republicans Steve St. Clair and Garret Nelson to fill two open seats in the state House.
  So, who are these two new lawmakers, and what do they hope to accomplish
  
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• A Juneau-born athlete is headed to the 2026 Olympic Winter Games

  14-01-2026 21:23 via ktoo.org
  Maxime Germain during a World Cup Biathlon relay in Oberhof, Germany, on Jan. 11, 2026. (Photo by Nordic Focus Photo Agency)
  A Juneau-born athlete is headed to Italy next month to represent Team USA’s biathlon team in the 2026 Olympic Winter Games. 
  Last month, 24-year-old Maxime Germain made the team for the event that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. 
  This week, Germain spoke to KTOO from Germany, where he’s racing in the Biathlon World Cup. He said he&rs
  
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• Why Juneau’s warming shelter moved multiple times during the avalanche advisory

  14-01-2026 03:39 via ktoo.org
  Juneau’s emergency warming shelter on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  Avalanche risk rose over the weekend as more snow and then rain pounded Juneau. Meanwhile, staff at the city’s emergency warming shelter for unhoused residents relocated operations three times in two days.
  When the city issued evacuation advisories for high risk areas of town on Friday, it said the shelter along Thane Road was too close to historic avalanche paths to stay put, said St. Vincent de Pau
  
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• Newscast – Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026

  14-01-2026 03:00 via ktoo.org
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/20260113-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:An evacuation advisory remains in effect for Juneau’s Behrends avalanche path downtown for a fifth day, but now the City & Borough of Juneau’s evacuation alert is using more urgent language,
  The cost to move Juneau’s City Hall is coming in millions of dollars higher than expected,
  A 10-year-old Bethel cold case murder spotlights faults in Alaska justice system,
  The United States Supr
  
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• Afro Mermaids: Healing our relationship with water

  14-01-2026 02:24 via ktoo.org
  Culture Rich Conversations show aired on January 13, 2026Dive into an enchanting episode of Culture Rich Conversations featuring Dr. Jalondra Davis, Mermaid scholar, and Blixunami from the hit Netflix series Merpeople.  Discover the transformative power of African spirituality, wellness, and unity in the captivating world of Afro Mermaids.  Prepare to explore the deep waters of fantasy, the symbolism behind the aquatic world, and how these trailblazers are helping the Black Cultur
  
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• Juneau’s City Hall move will cost millions more than expected

  14-01-2026 00:29 via ktoo.org
  The Michael J. Burns Building, which houses the Permanent Fund offices on 10th Street, on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (Photo by Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  The cost to move Juneau’s City Hall is coming in millions of dollars higher than expected.
  According to the city administration, it’s expected to cost $20.5 million to purchase, renovate and move into two floors of the Michael J. Burns building, which houses the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation downtown. The floors are slated to become Junea
  
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• U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear case that could have upended Alaska subsistence fishing

  13-01-2026 19:53 via ktoo.org
  The Kuskokwim River is seen in this image captured by scientists working on NASA’s Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment, or ABoVE. (Peter Griffith/NASA)
  The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected the state of Alaska’s latest attempt to alter Alaska’s decades-old system of subsistence fishing management.
  In a one-sentence order Monday, the court said it will not review a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in August that Alaska cannot manage fishing on a st
  
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• Mount Juneau gets new radar avalanche detection system as Behrends path remains under evacuation advisory

  13-01-2026 03:23 via ktoo.org
  Avalanche forecasters view drone footage avalanche paths at City Hall on Jan. 12, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Catherine Melville).
  An avalanche evacuation advisory remains in effect for one neighborhood that sits beneath Mount Juneau in Alaska’s capital city. And now, for the first time, the city is using a radar detection system to track avalanches that rumble down the mountain, thanks to state money freed up by the city and tribe’s disaster declaration last week. 
  Severin Staehly
  
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• Newscast – Monday, Jan. 12, 2026

  13-01-2026 03:00 via ktoo.org
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/20260112-News-Update-1.mp3
  In this newscast:An atmospheric river struck Juneau over the weekend, after previous back-to-back storms buried the city in several feet of snow,
  The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska recently launched a new foundation,
  For the first time, Juneau is using a radar detection system to track avalanches that rumble down the mountain, thanks to state money freed up by the city and tribe’s
  
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• Tlingit and Haida launches nonprofit to fund new $90M tribal education campus in Juneau

  13-01-2026 00:34 via ktoo.org
  This is a rendering of the conceptual design of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s education campus. (Courtesy/Raeanne Holmes)
  The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska recently launched a new foundation. Its main goal right now is to fundraise for a new education campus in Juneau. 
  The tribe announced the formation of the Tlingit & Haida Foundation last month. Jamie Gomez is the executive director of the nonprofit.&nb
  
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• Alaska offers free rocks and dirt, helping big state-backed construction projects

  12-01-2026 22:05 via ktoo.org
  A motorcyclist descends a hill as he approaches Coldfoot, Alaska on the Dalton Highway in 2014. (Bob Wick/Bureau of Land Management)
  The state of Alaska is preparing to give away millions of dollars worth of gravel to public corporations, a move that would amount to millions of dollars in assistance to some of the state’s biggest construction projects.
  According to a Q&A posted by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, the beneficiaries could include the proposed Ambler Access Pro
  
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• Mary Peltola enters Alaska U.S. Senate race

  12-01-2026 18:29 via ktoo.org
  Mary Peltola, then Alaska’s U.S. representative, at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage in 2023. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media)
  WASHINGTON — Democrat Mary Peltola announced Monday that she’s running for U.S. Senate, taking on Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan.
  Peltola served one partial and one full term in the U.S. House, becoming the first Alaska Native person elected to Congress. She then narrowly lost her seat in 2024.
  Her announcement Monday c
  
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• Ahead of legislative session, Alaska lawmakers propose big changes and small tweaks

  10-01-2026 03:20 via ktoo.org
  The Alaska State Capitol is illuminated by sunlight on Feb. 14, 2025. (Eric Stone/Alaska Public Media)
  The start of Alaska’s annual legislative session is just over a week away. And there’s plenty on the agenda for lawmakers this year, from a possible gas pipeline to a plan to stabilize the state’s finances. But lawmakers have some other ideas they’d like to discuss in the next four months, too. Alaskans got their first look at a set of pre-filed bills ahead of this year&
  
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• Newscast – Friday, Jan. 9, 2026

  10-01-2026 03:00 via ktoo.org
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/20260109-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:The City and Borough of Juneau issued an avalanche evacuation advisory for all residents in slide zones this morning. The advisory comes as an atmospheric river slams Juneau, after previous storms dumped several feet of snow,
  As snow turned to rain in Juneau today, the city is warning residents that roads are beginning to flood, and the snow on roofs is getting heavier,
  The City and Borough of Juneau has
  
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• Multiple small avalanches release in Juneau after city issues evacuation advisory

  10-01-2026 00:22 via ktoo.org
  Ezra Strong in front of the Behrends slide path on Friday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Photo by Alix Soliman/KTOO)
  Two small avalanches released on a slide path of Mount Juneau, above the Behrends neighborhood, as Ezra Strong was on a walk this morning in the pouring rain. 
  The city issued an evacuation advisory about an hour earlier for Juneau residents in all known slide paths downtown and along Thane Road. Strong and his wife live on Gruening Avenue with their dog. He said he’s not heeding the
  
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• Snow removal, roof monitoring at Juneau schools continues through weekend

  09-01-2026 23:52 via ktoo.org
  A swing set and dinosaur play structure are buried under several feet of snow at Harborview Elementary School in Juneau on Jan. 7, 2025. (Photo by Jamie Diep/KTOO)
  The City and Borough of Juneau has largely wrapped up shoveling on Sít’ Eetí Shaanáx — Glacier Valley Elementary School and began work on Mendenhall River Community School on Friday. 
  This comes after record snowfall caused the district to close schools multiple times this week, including all scho
  
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• Eaglecrest Ski Area’s general manager resigns, board chair steps down

  09-01-2026 22:02 via ktoo.org
  Craig Cimmons interviews for the Eaglecrest Ski Area general manager position during a meeting at City Hall on Friday, Aug. 2, 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  The general manager of Juneau’s Eaglecrest Ski Area has resigned and the chair of its board of directors has stepped down. Both departures were announced Thursday night during the ski area’s board of directors meeting.
  Hannah Shively served as the board chair for less than six months. At the meeting, she said she was leaving the ro
  
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