Jeremy Hsieh, KTOO

The Mendenhall Wastewater Treatment Plant serves roughly 20,000 people, but it’s producing sewage experts would expect from about 50,000.

A city official says its arrival is all the more reason to get vaccinated and continue other preventative measures, like masking and social distancing.

Officials are considering new risk metrics and more relaxed requirements for social distancing, masks and indoor gatherings based on the community’s vaccination rate.

Juneau is the only regular cruise ship stop in Alaska that offers wastewater service to ships in port.

If the initial paperwork is OK, the activists will have 30 days to collect nearly 3,000 signatures from local voters to get three cruise ship questions on the fall ballot.

Juneau Emergency Medical Associates put up the prize money to try to nudge people who are on the fence into getting vaccinated.

A state environmental air quality study found that downtown Juneau generally has good air quality, and cruise ship emissions didn’t threaten the city’s good standing with the Environmental Protection Agency. 

Alaska Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink and local experts will be available for the community’s vaccine questions on March 24.

The terms of the settlement are confidential, but some effects of it may become public.

Case count trends lines are going in the right direction, but city officials are worried about more aggressive variants of COVID-19 making their way to Juneau.