Anchorage news

• Newscast – Monday, June 29, 2026

  30-06-2026 02:59 via ktoo.org
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:A group of state lawmakers tasked with drafting a final version of an Alaska LNG tax relief bill kicked off work this weekend,
  Governor Mike Dunleavy vetoed nearly half a million dollars from the state budget Wednesday that would have gone toward efforts to retain and recruit teachers in Alaska,
  A new nonprofit Jiu Jitsu studio opened this month,
  One Alaska couple shares their experience over a 50 year re
  
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• Juneau “Glitz” drag show celebrates LGBTQ+ love and community

  30-06-2026 03:07 via ktoo.org
  
  Aria B. Cassadine holds out the microphone to the crowd during her drag performance on June 26, 2026. (Photo by Alix Soliman/KTOO)
  Bubbles, a giant rainbow flag, 3 days of performances, 15 drag artists, Cookie Monster, sequins, glitter and glam. Over the weekend, more than 300 people attended Glitz, Juneau’s annual LGBTQ+ Pride extravaganza. 
  Juneau Drag is organized by local Drag Queen Gigi Monroe, who started Glitz in 2015. The show is filled with gender expression in the form of gl
  
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• Alaska Supreme Court orders a spot on the ballot for 2nd Dan Sullivan

  30-06-2026 03:07 via ktoo.org
  
  The Alaska Supreme Court hears oral argument from Christopher Murray, middle right, representing the Alaska Division of Elections. Jeffrey Robinson, bottom left, represents Daniel J. Sullivan. The case was argued June 29, 2026. (Gavel Alaska/KTOO)
  The Alaska Supreme Court issued an order Monday afternoon that Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg, must be included on the ballot for Alaska’s U.S. Senate seat. The court sent the case back to the Division of Elections to decide h
  
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• A new Jiu Jitsu studio in Juneau brings trust and care to the mat

  30-06-2026 02:45 via ktoo.org
  
  Jiu Jitsu Instructor Becca Charbonneau demonstrates a hold on June 23, 2026 at Flow State Jiu Jitsu and Yoga. (Yvonne Krumrey/KTOO)
  Listen:
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/29JJ.mp3
  Right off the bat I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t have shorts to wear under my Gi — the jacket, pants and belt ensemble people typically practice Jiu Jitsu in.  
  “Its just that sometimes the pants come down a little,” Flow State Jiu Jitsu and Yoga founding member S
  
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• Dozens of Alaska bills meet their fate at Gov. Dunleavy’s desk

  29-06-2026 15:01 via ktoo.org
  
  The Alaska State Capitol is illuminated by sunlight on Feb. 14, 2025.
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy told lawmakers on Thursday he’d vetoed six bills, including a ban on Styrofoam foodservice packaging. Meanwhile, dozens more have passed into law over the past few weeks, including a crime bill that raises Alaska’s age of consent to 18.
  Here’s a look at a few vetoes and new laws.
  House Bill 25, banning the use of disposable polystyrene foodservice containers
  The sponsor of the Styrofoam-ban
  
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• Dunleavy vetoes $123k for Mt. Edgecumbe maintenance position

  29-06-2026 15:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Mt. Edgecumbe serves students from across the state, the majority of whom are Alaska Native from rural communities. (KCAW/Hope McKenney)
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed about $123,000 from the state budget Wednesday that was earmarked for a maintenance position at Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka.
  The school, which is operated by the state, currently has three budgeted maintenance positions, but two remain unfilled.
  Dunleavy spokesperson Grant Robinson said in a statement that the governor generally
  
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• Judge puts 2nd Dan Sullivan back on ballot in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race

  28-06-2026 08:45 via ktoo.org
  
  Dan Sullivan from Petersburg, left, wants to challenge U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, right. (Alaska Public Media)
  A Superior Court judge says the Alaska Division of Elections was wrong to disqualify Petersburg retiree Dan Sullivan as a challenger to U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan.
  Judge Thomas Matthews said the decision to drop the candidate “was based upon a new, previously unstated, ‘good-faith’ criteria” that’s not in the Constitution or state law.
  “In addition, the (Di
  
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• Helicopter crash site in Sitka remains closed for U.S. Coast Guard investigation

  27-06-2026 15:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Red indicates the updated closed area on Harbor Mountain. (U.S. Forest Service)
  The scene of a Coast Guard helicopter crash in Sitka on Monday remains closed until further notice, officials say.
  The U.S. Forest Service issued an updated closure order Thursday for the area on Harbor Mountain, where a MH-60 Jayhawk carrying four crew from Air Station Sitka went down during a training exercise. The crew was transported to the local hospital with “non-serious injuries” and released the s
  
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• Juneau residents rally around tunnel solution to glacial outburst flooding

  27-06-2026 03:15 via ktoo.org
  
  Debbie Penrose Fischer was rescued by Capital City Fire/Rescue after flood water surrounded her home on Gee Street in 2024. (Photo courtesy of Debbie Penrose Fischer)
  Juneau residents in the glacial lake outburst flood zone are rallying around a single, long-term solution: a tunnel. At a community-led meeting, a local mining expert presented an alternative tunneling method that could cut the cost of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ proposed project in half.
  More than a hundred people sat
  
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• Dunleavy vetoes $490,000 earmarked to support teacher retention and recruitment

  27-06-2026 03:04 via ktoo.org
  
  Jennifer Schmitz interviews a teacher candidate while on a recruiting trip to the Philippines in 2025. (Brian Venua/KMXT)
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed $490,000 from the state budget Wednesday that would have gone toward efforts to retain and recruit teachers in Alaska.
  The Alaska Educator Retention and Recruitment Center began almost two years ago as a resource to support recruiting and retaining teachers in Alaska. Jennifer Schmitz, its executive director, said its services include marketing teach
  
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• Newscast – Friday, June 26, 2026

  27-06-2026 02:59 via ktoo.org
  
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260626-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:The Juneau Assembly made a number of appointments and reappointments to city boards during a special meeting Wednesday,
  Former Alaska state senator Natasha Von Imhof has thrown her hat in the ring in the race for Anchorage’s next mayor,
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy told lawmakers he’d vetoed six bills, and dozens more have passed into law,
  KTOO’s Mike Lane speaks with Walk Southeast organizers
  
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• Broken Bottle Circus | Douglas 4th of July Committee | ‘Blue Ticket’ screening | Mystical Masquerade at Zach Gordon

  27-06-2026 02:58 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Juneau Afternoon – Recorded live on Friday, June 26, 2026
  Rachel Levy’s Broken Bottle Circus one-night only event at Alaska Robotics and Amalga Distillery on July 3Douglas 4th of July Committee features Grand Marshals from JDHS Class of ’66 and Soapbox DerbySpecial screening of Mo Longworth’s “Blue Ticket” on Monday, June 29, at Goldtown NickMystical Masquerade at Zach Gordon Youth Center on Saturday, June 27
  Audio PodcastVideo LivestreamBostin Christopher ho
  
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• Dunleavy vetoes bill naming ISER and marine park after Vic Fischer

  27-06-2026 01:10 via ktoo.org
  
  Vic Fischer smiles at his wife, Jane Angvik, in 2021. (Bob Waldrop)
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a bill Wednesday naming a storied University of Alaska, Anchorage, public policy research center after its first director, Vic Fischer.
  Fischer was a delegate to Alaska’s constitutional convention who had a seven-decade career in politics in the state. In 1966, he became the first official director of what’s now known as the Institute for Social and Economic Research at UAA.
  In the 60 years
  
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• ‘The Romance of Magno Rubio’ opens Alaska Theater Festival 2026 | World Affairs speaker Gary Powers | Marine Biologist Heidi Pearson on Whale Health

  26-06-2026 23:55 via ktoo.org
  
  Juneau Afternoon – Recorded live on Thursday, June 25, 2026
  Theater Alaska opens “The Romance of Magno Rubio” as part of the 2026 Alaska Theater FestivalJuneau World Affairs Council guest speaker Gary Power previews his talk “Spy Pilot: Francis Gary Powers, the U-2 Incident, and a Controversial Cold War Legacy”Dr. Heidi Pearson, from the University of Alaska Southeast, on her Fulbright research in Portugal, and Juneau Whale Health
  Audio PodcastVideo LivestreamBosti
  
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• Trump lashes out at Murkowski and other Republicans at fiery luncheon

  26-06-2026 21:23 via ktoo.org
  
  Sen. Lisa Murkowski at the U.S. Capitol in 2023. (Liz Ruskin/Alaska Public Media)
  WASHINGTON — President Trump had choice words Wednesday for Sen. Lisa Murkowski, one of the four Republicans who helped Democrats pass a war powers resolution restraining Trump’s use of force against Iran.
  He spoke at a closed-door luncheon with Senate Republicans at the Capitol. Murkowski missed the first part of the event so she escaped Trump’s direct attack. Colleagues filled her in on a meetin
  
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• Newscast – Thursday, June 25, 2026

  26-06-2026 03:02 via ktoo.org
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-News-Update-1.mp3
  In this newscast:Gov. Mike Dunleavy trimmed nearly $90 million from the state budget with line-item vetoes before signing a series of appropriations bills Wednesday afternoon,
  Bookings opened Thursday morning for Juneau’s new public use cabin at the Mendenhall Campground,
  There is a new social media trend of people dancing around Alaska Native totem poles. Tribal organizations across Southeast Alaska are speaking
  
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• State could differentiate 2 Dan Sullivans on the ballot but doesn’t have to, its attorney says

  26-06-2026 02:34 via ktoo.org
  
  Chris Murray, of the Colorado firm First and Fourteenth argued the Alaska Division of Elections was right to drop a same-named challenger to U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan. A judge heard the case by Zoom on June 25, 2026. (Liz Ruskin | Alaska Public Media)
  An attorney representing the Alaska Division of Elections acknowledged to a judge Thursday that the agency could craft a solution so that voters can differentiate between U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and a would-be challenger of the same name.
  But the chal
  
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• Community Bands 4th of July concerts | National Weather Service Open House | Library and Chamber updates

  26-06-2026 00:06 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Juneau Afternoon – Recorded live on Wednesday, June 24, 2026
  Juneau Community Bands hosts 4th of July concerts on Sunday, June 28, and Friday, July 3National Weather Service Forecast Office hosts an open house on Saturday, June 27Juneau Public Library reading programs and summer activitiesJuneau Chamber of Commerce upcoming events
  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. List
  
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• Q&A: Walk Southeast on walking, virtually, from Juneau to Ketchikan

  25-06-2026 23:02 via ktoo.org
  
  Hikers walk the Mount McGinnis ridge in Juneau on Saturday, August 2, 2025. (Photo by Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  What started as a way to stay active during COVID is now a regular seasonal fixture to many Juneau and Southeast residents. Walk Southeast is a free program of CBJ Parks and Recreation. The goal is to walk almost 300 miles and, while doing it, you get tickets for raffle drawings. Parks and Recreation’s Dawn Welch heads up the program. And Linda Kruger is AARP’s liaison for Walk
  
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• Native leaders say disrespectful social media trend symptom of larger problem

  25-06-2026 21:21 via ktoo.org
  
  Klawock Totem Park shown in November 2025. (Sydney Dauphinais/KRBD)
  There’s a new social media trend of people dancing around Alaska Native totem poles to a Lil Jon song, replicating a scene from the 2009 movie “The Proposal.”
  Ketchikan Indian Community, Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, and Alaska Native Heritage Center sent out a joint press release last week condemning the behavior and calling on visitors to do better.
  Emily Edenshaw, CEO of
  
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• Gov. Dunleavy vetoes $89.5M from Alaska budget but leaves school funding intact

  25-06-2026 20:55 via ktoo.org
  
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks to reporters during a news conference on May 19, 2025. (Eric Stone/Alaska Public Media)
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy trimmed nearly $90 million from the state budget with line-item vetoes before signing a series of appropriations bills Wednesday afternoon.
  Despite the vetoes, the budget bills leave in place many of legislators’ top priorities. That includes nearly $150 million in funding for badly needed school maintenance and construction enabled by higher-than-expected oi
  
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• Confidential document guided Alaska senators working on natural gas pipeline tax break

  25-06-2026 20:49 via ktoo.org
  
  Members of the Senate Finance Committee convene on the first day of a special legislative session on the proposed LNG gas line project on May 27, 2026. (Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
  Last year, a state-owned Alaska corporation transferred leadership of the proposed trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline project to a private developer.
  Now, a newly revealed draft analysis of the agreement between the state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corp. and Glenfarne, the private developer, shows that if the pr
  
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• Preliminary necropsy shows dead fin whale in Seward had injuries consistent with vessel strike

  25-06-2026 15:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Alaska SeaLife Center Laboratory Technician Natalie Hunter (left) and Veterinary Fellow Dr. Josie Thal (right) examine a suspected fracture in the jaw of a deceased fin whale during a necropsy performed on June 20, 2026.
  The pregnant dead fin whale found attached to the bow of a cruise ship that arrived in Seward on Friday likely died from a vessel strike. Biologists completed the preliminary necropsy over the weekend, announcing their findings Tuesday afternoon.
  The official cause of death is
  
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• New Forest Service cabin in Juneau expected to become most popular in the Tongass

  25-06-2026 03:49 via ktoo.org
  
  Sítʼ Yá Hítʼ or “Face of the Glacier House,” pictured on June 24, 2026 at the Mendenhall Campground, is expected to become the most popular cabin in the Tongass National Forest. (Photo by Alix Soliman/KTOO)
  On the shore of Mendenhall Lake overlooking the Mendenhall Glacier, Forest Service staff cut a green and white ribbon spanning the stairs to a new recreational cabin on Wednesday. Booking opens Thursday morning.
  It’s Juneau’s first Forest
  
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• Newscast – Wednesday, June 24, 2026

  25-06-2026 02:59 via ktoo.org
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260624-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:A Juneau man was arrested last week after he allegedly chased two girls in the Mendenhall Valley,
  The former Juneau Police officer who slammed a man to the ground during an arrest last summer is asking a court judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought against him,
  A new state law enacted Monday allows charitable organizations to gamble on snowfall,
  A U.S. Department of Defense agency is preparing to exhume the r
  
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• Man arrested for chasing girls in the Mendenhall Valley

  25-06-2026 01:38 via ktoo.org
  
  Juneau Police in the Mendenhall Valley on Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  A Juneau man was arrested last week after he allegedly chased two girls in the Mendenhall Valley, prompting concerns for their safety. 
  36-year-old Darian Bliss has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of causing fear of imminent and serious injury. Charging documents say the girls were afraid Bliss was going to kidnap them. 
  Sam Kokotovich is the father of one of those girls. He said the expe
  
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• Former Juneau police officer seeks dismissal of civil case after violent arrest last year

  25-06-2026 01:35 via ktoo.org
  
  Body-worn camera footage shows former Juneau police officer Brandon LeBlanc during the incident on Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (Courtesy/Juneau Police Department)
  The former Juneau Police officer who slammed a man to the ground during an arrest last summer is asking a court judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought against him by the man he arrested.
  Christopher Williams, Jr. originally filed the civil lawsuit last November against the City and Borough of Juneau and former Juneau Police Officer Brandon L
  
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• High PSP toxin levels mean it’s ‘not a good time’ to harvest shellfish in parts of Southeast Alaska

  24-06-2026 21:26 via ktoo.org
  
  Liam Wirak Cassidy, who collects samples to track paralytic shellfish toxins for the Chilkoot Indian Association, participating in a beach cleanup in spring 2025.
  Samples collected this month show that high levels of harmful toxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning are again present in the waters around Southeast Alaska. That includes Haines, for the third year in a row.
  The Chilkoot Indian Association collects the samples as part of a broader effort by more than a dozen tribes across th
  
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• With Murkowski’s help, Senate votes to restrain Trump’s power to wage war on Iran

  24-06-2026 21:14 via ktoo.org
  
  U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski at the Alaska State Capitol in March.
  WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to curtail President Trump’s use of military force, telling him to cease hostilities against Iran unless Congress explicitly authorizes it.
  Sen. Lisa Murkowski was among four Republicans who voted with Democrats to pass the resolution, 50-48.
  The House passed the resolution weeks ago. It likely does not have the force of law but its passage is a blow to Trump and a reflection of
  
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• Alaska charities can now host snowfall betting pools

  24-06-2026 03:35 via ktoo.org
  
  Snow blankets the Mendenhall Wetlands and Juneau International Airport on Jan. 1, 2026. (Photo by Alix Soliman/KTOO)
  The Alaska legislature passed a law on Tuesday that allows charitable organizations to gamble on snowfall.
  Now, qualified organizations across the state can host betting games called “snow classics,” where prize money is awarded to the best guess of total snowfall at a specific location and time. 
  Previously, state law restricted the game to the Mount Alyeska Snow
  
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