Anchorage news

• Juneau’s off-road vehicle park could partially open this September

  14-07-2026 01:12 via ktoo.org
  
  A switchback on one of the wide ORV trails in the new park. (Marc Wheeler/CBJ)
  Juneau’s new off-road vehicle park could open its first trail as soon as this September. That’s according to Marc Wheeler, director of Parks and Recreation for the City and Borough of Juneau. 
  At a community meeting in the Mendenhall Valley Public Library on Thursday [July 9], he presented an update on the ORV park going in at mile 35 of Glacier Highway, near Bridget Cove. 
  “At this point,
  
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• A new model could help predict rusting rivers, researchers say

  14-07-2026 21:23 via ktoo.org
  
  Rusting on a tributary of the Eli River, taken on Patrick Sullivan’s research trip in June. Sullivan said it shows iron throughout the aufeis and in the shrubs, which suggests that metals were being released throughout the winter. The iron in the shrubs was probably deposited when the aufeis was near its maximum extent. (Patrick Sullivan)
  Rivers across Alaska’s Arctic are turning orange and acidic as permafrost thaws, threatening subsistence resources that thousands of people rely on
  
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• To vote in Alaska’s primary elections, residents must register by July 19 — here’s how

  14-07-2026 21:20 via ktoo.org
  
  An early voting site is seen on Monday, Aug. 1, 2022 at the State Office Building in Juneau, Alaska. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
  Alaska’s primary election just over a month away, and the deadline to register to vote in that election is Sunday July 19.
  Alaska’s primary election is Tuesday August 18, when voters will mark their ballots to choose among candidates for governor, legislators in the Alaska House and Senate, and representatives in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. A sample of
  
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• Newscast – Monday, July 13, 2026

  14-07-2026 03:14 via ktoo.org
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260713-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:Juneau’s new off-road vehicle park could partially open as soon as this September
  One of Juneau’s most dangerous intersections, near Fred Meyer, will get a traffic light thanks to a federal grant
  Sorely needed renovations at two affordable housing complexes in Juneau come with challenges for tenants
  A new study suggests having a dog could more than double the chance of a bear conflict
  
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• Juneau residents temporarily relocated during affordable housing renovations

  14-07-2026 01:11 via ktoo.org
  
  A worker stands outside a Coho Parks Apartment unit with machinery in Juneau on July 7, 2026. (Jamie Diep/KTOO)
  Listen here:
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/13CohoReno.wav
   
  Renovations are underway for two affordable housing complexes in Juneau. Residents say the upgrades are sorely needed but the transition has been challenging. 
  Annett Ritter has lived in the Coho Park Apartments since 2021. The Section 8 affordable housing complex, which is federally subsidized, i
  
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• Juneau secures $12.1M federal grant for Fred Meyer intersection improvements

  13-07-2026 23:39 via ktoo.org
  
  Traffic traffic zooms down Egan Drive where it intersects with Yandukin Drive in Juneau on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (Photo by Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $12.1 million to Juneau last week to fund safety improvements at one of Juneau’s most dangerous intersections. 
  The funding is for the intersection at Yandukin Drive and Egan Drive, near the Fred Meyer grocery store. According to the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, betw
  
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• 15 Alaskans and businesses charged with $1.8M in Medicaid fraud

  13-07-2026 21:15 via ktoo.org
  
  Pedestrians pass the Nesbett Courthouse, located in downtown Anchorage on August 31, 2022. (Valerie Kern/Alaska Public Media)
  State investigators have accused 15 Alaskans and businesses of filing more than $1.8 million in fraudulent Medicaid claims in five separate cases.
  The criminal cases filed in June are part of a broader nationwide effort to crack down on fraud in the jointly funded federal and state program, state officials said.
  The defendants include managers and proprietors of Anchorage
  
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• Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy sets state record for most vetoes in a single Legislature

  13-07-2026 20:26 via ktoo.org
  
  Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy talks to reporters during a news conference on Monday, May 19, 2025. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
  Amid a series of disagreements with lawmakers in the state House and Senate, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has set a record for the most vetoes by an Alaska governor during a single two-year Legislature.
  Through Friday morning, Dunleavy had vetoed 29 of the 115 bills passed by the 34th Alaska Legislature.
  The previous record, 25 vetoes, was held by Gov. Tony Knowles in
  
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• Newscast – Friday, July 10, 2026

  11-07-2026 03:03 via ktoo.org
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260710-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:Defenders of ranked choice voting and the open primary filed complaints to the Alaska Public Offices Commissions against a campaign supporting a measure to repeal both things.
  A Juneau resident shot and wounded a yearling black bear that was rummaging through trash downtown on Thursday morning.
  Alaska’s three major cities continue to have higher living costs than most of the nation’s urban are
  
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• Patrick Bringley ‘All the Beauty in the World’ talk and book signing | Juneau Community Foundation Hope/CBJ Grant

  11-07-2026 02:44 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Juneau Afternoon – Recorded live on Friday, July 10
  Juneau Afternoon featuring Patrick Bringley’s author talk for “All the Beauty in the World” with City Museum, Juneau Community Foundation Hope/CBJ Awards, Marimba workshop and public performance at Perseverance Theatre on Sunday, July 12.
  Audio PodcastVideo LivestreamBostin Christopher hosts the conversation. Juneau Afternoon airs at 3:00 p.m. on KTOO and KAUK with a rebroadcast at 7:00 p.m. Listen online or subscribe t
  
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• Yearling bear euthanized after being shot out of a tree in downtown Juneau

  11-07-2026 02:30 via ktoo.org
  
  A second yearling black bear, which was traveling with the bear that got shot, was seen in the area off of Village St. the next day, on July 10, 2026. (Photo by Alix Soliman/KTOO)
  A Juneau resident shot and wounded a yearling black bear that had been rummaging through trash downtown on Thursday morning. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game euthanized the bear soon after. The unknown resident who shot it could face criminal charges.
  Heather Hintze, a Juneau resident, witnessed the shooting just
  
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• 4 Alaska communities could get millions in FEMA disaster funding

  10-07-2026 23:53 via ktoo.org
  
  Chilkat Indian Village environmental staff stand on the 23 mile slide area during a site visit in 2025. (Avery Ellfeldt/KHNS)
  Four communities across Alaska could soon receive nearly $7 million in federal funding to better prepare for natural disasters.
  The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced late last month that it has set aside disaster-related funding for Juneau, the Bering Sea community of St. Paul, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and the Chilkat Indian Village, near Haines.
  The
  
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• Group seeking to repeal Alaska’s ranked choice voting hit with campaign finance complaints

  10-07-2026 23:44 via ktoo.org
  
  A sample ballot from Alaska’s first ranked choice election, in 2022. (Liz Ruskin/Alaska Public Media)
  Defenders of Alaska’s open primary and ranked choice ballot say the campaign to repeal the system is violating campaign finance and disclosure laws.
  That might sound familiar: A different repeal campaign, Alaskans for Honest Elections, was fined for multiple campaign finance violations in 2024.
  A fresh repeal measure will be on the November 2026 general election ballot, and again the
  
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• Bridge Adult Day Program | Wander the Wetlands

  10-07-2026 23:31 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Juneau Afternoon – Recorded live on Thursday, July 9
  Juneau Afternoon featuring the Bridge Adult Day Program, Wander the Wetlands event with Discovery Southeast and SE Alaska Land Trust, and Outburst podcast from KTOO News.
  Audio PodcastVideo LivestreamBostin Christopher hosts the conversation. Juneau Afternoon airs at 3:00 p.m. on KTOO and KAUK with a rebroadcast at 7:00 p.m. Listen online or subscribe to the podcast at ktoo.org/juneauafternoon.Subscribe to the podcast:Apple Podcast
  
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• Dunleavy vetoes limits on campaign donations, ensuring August vote to impose new caps

  10-07-2026 20:20 via ktoo.org
  
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks during a news conference on June 19, 2026. (Eric Stone/Alaska Public Media)
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a bill Thursday that would have reimposed limits on campaign contributions in state elections, ensuring an August vote on a similar ballot measure will go forward.
  The veto means that for now, donors can continue to give an unlimited amount of money to candidates for governor, the state Legislature and more. A federal appeals court ruled in 2021 that Alaska’s $500
  
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• Newscast – Thursday, July 9, 2026

  10-07-2026 03:06 via ktoo.org
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260709-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a bill today that would have reimposed limits on campaign contributions in state elections.
  The City and Borough of Juneau released a new evacuation zone map in preparation for the glacial outburst flood expected later this summer.
  The Alaska Beacon reports Alaskans who have been wrongfully convicted can now apply to claim Alaska Permanent Fund dividends that were withheld while
  
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• Juneau releases new glacial outburst flood evacuation map

  10-07-2026 02:19 via ktoo.org
  
  Benjamin Coronell and S’eiltin Jamiann Hasselquist with the Juneau Tlingit and Haida Community Council fill sandbags before the flood in 2025 (Photo by Alix Soliman/KTOO)
  Listen to this story:
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/09EvacMap-WEB.mp3
  The City and Borough of Juneau released a new evacuation zone map in preparation for the glacial outburst flood expected later this summer. At a press conference on Thursday morning, public safety officials said the evacuation zone i
  
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• Alaskans with certain low-level marijuana convictions can keep record private under new law

  10-07-2026 01:43 via ktoo.org
  
  Buds of marijuana on display inside Mother Earth Wellness in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
  Alaskans who have been convicted for low-level marijuana possession will be able to apply to keep their records confidential so they do not appear in background checks, under a new law that takes effect in 2027.
  The change is part of a wide-ranging omnibus crime package that was approved by the Alaska Legislature and allowed to pass into law without Gov
  
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• Faced with surging power bills, the Haines landfill is going off-grid

  10-07-2026 01:18 via ktoo.org
  
  Community Waste Solutions General Manager Craig Franke said it should be cheaper to go fully off-grid than to rely on the local utility. (Avery Ellfeldt/KHNS)
  Once a week, employees at the Haines landfill scoop mountains of trash into a machine that squashes it into gigantic cubes.
  The baling process significantly reduces how much space the garbage occupies, solving a major real estate problem. But it also takes a lot of power, which historically has come from the local utility, Alaska Power and
  
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• Under new agreement, federal government limits obstacles to oil leasing in Alaska’s Arctic refuge

  10-07-2026 01:06 via ktoo.org
  
  A single caribou stands in 2019 amid cottongrass and other tundra plants near the Hulahula River in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Photo by Alexis Bonogofsky/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
  The federal government has agreed to permanently loosen rules for oil and gas lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, according to a draft settlement agreement filed this week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska.
  Adam Gustafson, an attorney with the U.S. Departme
  
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• Master’s Faire | JGLT’s ‘A Feast For Your Ears’ cabaret | Sustainability Commission’s dock tour

  09-07-2026 22:56 via ktoo.org
  Juneau Afternoon – Recorded live on Wednesday, July 8, 2026
  Juneau Afternoon featuring Master’s Faire, JGLT “Feast for Your Ears” cabaret, and Commission on Sustainability Docks and Harbors tour.
  Audio PodcastVideo LivestreamBostin Christopher hosts the conversation. Juneau Afternoon airs at 3:00 p.m. on KTOO and KAUK with a rebroadcast at 7:00 p.m. Listen online or subscribe to the podcast at ktoo.org/juneauafternoon.Subscribe to the podcast:Apple PodcastsNPR OneSp
  
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• Q&A: Southeast Alaska Food Bank on growing demand

  09-07-2026 21:31 via ktoo.org
  
  Dan Parks, the executive director of the Southeast Alaska Food Bank, smiles for a photo at KTOO on Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Photo by Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  For almost three decades the Southeast Alaska Food Bank has served people in Juneau, as well as other Southeast communities. KTOO’s Mike Lane visited with Dan Parks, the executive director of the food bank, about the organization’s beginnings, how it works, and how community members can help.
  Listen:
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-conten
  
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• Newscast – Wednesday, July 8, 2026

  09-07-2026 03:18 via ktoo.org
  
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260708-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:The Juneau School District’s chief financial officer is resigning.
  Some whale advocates want to relist Pacific gray whales under the Endangered Species Act.
  A team of experts is working to salvage a Coast Guard helicopter that crashed on Sitka’s Harbor Mountain last month.
  A Soldotna swimmer brought home silver in the 50-yard freestyle at the Special Olympics USA games last month in Minnesota.
  
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• Turnover continues among Juneau School District top officials

  09-07-2026 01:13 via ktoo.org
  
  Juneau School District Chief Financial Officer Nicole Herbert speaks during a school board meeting at Thunder Mountain Middle School in Juneau on march 13, 2025. (Photo by Jamie Diep/KTOO)
  The Juneau School District’s chief financial officer is resigning. That means nearly everyone in the district’s top leadership team will be new to their role this school year. 
  Nicole Herbert has worked for the district since March 2025 and was responsible for overseeing the district’s b
  
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• Many gas pipeline construction jobs will go to non-Alaskans, 2020 study indicates

  09-07-2026 01:03 via ktoo.org
  
  Fireweed blooms on either side of the trans-Alaska pipeline near mile post 86, Dalton Highway in 2006, two years after the 2004 Dall City fire. (Craig McCaa/BLM Alaska)
  If built as proposed, the trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline is expected to create thousands of jobs. Many, if not most, will go to people who don’t live in Alaska.
  A six-year-old study, commissioned by the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. as part of the project’s environmental statement, says “an estimated
  
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• Gray whales are washing up dead in large numbers along the Pacific Coast

  09-07-2026 00:52 via ktoo.org
  
  
  A gray whale washed up on the southern end of Kodiak’s road system, June 6, 2025. (Brian Venua/KMXT)
  Listen to this story:
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/08GrayDeath-WEB-.mp3
  Pacific gray whales are washing ashore in high numbers this year.Their deaths are part of an overall population decline linked to climate change, and some whale advocates want to relist the species under the Endangered Species Act. 
  According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrati
  
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• Wrongfully convicted Alaskans can now apply for withheld PFDs under new law

  08-07-2026 15:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Spring Creek Correctional Center is seen in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Alaska Department of Corrections)
  Alaskans who have been wrongfully convicted can now apply to claim Alaska Permanent Fund dividends that were withheld while they were incarcerated, under a new law.
  The Alaska Legislature passed Senate Bill 167 by a combined vote of 58 to 2, and Gov. Mike Dunleavy allowed the bill to pass into law without his signature last month.
  Under current Alaska law, those who are incarcer
  
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• Trump pardons Wasilla mechanic who removed anti-pollution devices from diesel pickups

  08-07-2026 15:00 via ktoo.org
  
   
  WASHINGTON — President Trump has pardoned a diesel mechanic from Wasilla who was convicted of removing pollution-control equipment from diesel vehicles.
  Trump granted full clemency on Friday to Mackenzie Spurlock, co-owner of Matanuska Diesel.
  U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan celebrated Spurlock’s pardon. He and other critics of the anti-pollution equipment say it often fails in temperatures lower than 12 degrees, sometimes leaving drivers with a vehicle that could only go 5 miles per h
  
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• Newscast – Tuesday, July 7, 2026

  08-07-2026 03:04 via ktoo.org
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260707-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:Juneau’s city-owned Eaglecrest Ski Area will soon have a new general manager.
  State lawmakers are debating whether to controversial tax change in a bill aimed at easing the financial case for the Alaska LNG project.
  A red-tailed hawk named Warrior escaped from the American Bald Eagle Foundation in Haines on Friday.
  Fairbanks scientists are tracking a tiny parasite that lives in local swimming holes
  
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• Corporate income tax change remains key sticking point for Alaska gas pipeline bill

  08-07-2026 01:10 via ktoo.org
  
  The Alaska State Capitol is seen on May 18, 2026. (Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)
  The Alaska state Capitol was quiet Monday, with halls empty and offices dark as legislators traveled and visited their home districts amid an ongoing special session.
  Lawmakers reached by phone said they expect next week to be different, and a key vote that would decide the fate of the tax break for the proposed trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline could take place on July 16.
  “This week I’m expecting
  
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