Jeremy Hsieh

In this newscast: Sealaska Heritage Institute announces a federal grant to help build out its vision for an arts campus in downtown Juneau, rescuers reach a hiker who was stranded overnight on Mt. Roberts, state lawmakers look ahead at the budget process after the polarizing budget director Donna Arduin gets a diminshed role, ConocoPhillips says it intends to drill seven new exploratory wells in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, Federal law enforcement agencies reveal a previously undocumented drug problem in Alaska with an opioid called Tramadol, and an unexploded aerial bomb is discovered in a home near Fort Wainwright. 

In this newscast: State health officials recommend all Alaskans 6 months and older get a flu shot after flagging 18 deaths flu deaths last season, University of Alaska President Jim Johnsen says 13 teams are looking into restructuring options for the system, Senate Republicans shoot down Rep. Laddie Shaw’s appointment to their chamber, the Alaska Department of Revenue’s chief economist walks through how Alaska fits into global markets after the oil field attack in Saudi Arabia, the Petersburg Borough Assembly writes Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asking for salmon protections from Canadian mines, Alaska’s top transportation official and the mayor of Prince Rupert fail to reach a deal to keep ferry service going to small port city in British Columbia, someone firing off expired flares near Petersburg triggers unnecessary rescue responses, and Amazon vows to switch to track and report its greenhouse gas emissions and switch to 100 percent renewable energy.

In this newscast: The annual Southeast Conference begins in Sitka with headlines about the ferry system, cruise industry growth and timber contractions; the megaship Norwegian Joy ruffles Haines gillnetters and residents during its Chilkat Inlet visit last week; a family accuses an Anchorage funeral home of holding their loved one’s body hostage over unpaid bills; and the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly hosts another non-traditional invocation, this time with a member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. 

In this newscast: The state sues to try to stop the state’s largest public employee union from collecting dues without “clear and compelling evidence” that the workers consent, Gov. Mike Dunleavy names Alaska’s new Public Defender, scientists try to figure out what seabirds died off en mass again this summer, a permafrost tunnel north of Fairbanks serves as a lab for testing techniques for searching for ice on other planets, and a food researcher and author names Sitka in a list of seven cities changing the way Americans eat. 

In this newscast: Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s polarizing budget director Donna Arduin moves to a lower advisory role, emails from the end of the last administration suggests former Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott may have invited a woman into his room, Cordova braces for its last state ferry until the end of April, Southeast Alaska won’t have a commercial fishing season for red king crab again, Washington state health officials say two more residents have been treated for severe lung disease linked to vaping, Anchorage’s plastic bag ban takes effect, and the National Weather Service forecasts heavy rain with multiple days of multi-inch rain totals later this week. 

In this newscast: The Trump administration takes one the last steps needed to let oil companies bid on oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the state files criminal charges against oil field services company Baker Hughes alleging workers were ignored and exposed to toxic chemicals, federal officials declare an unusual mortality event for three species of ice seals, police data in Nome show just 8% of calls about sexual assaults against adults resulted in an arrest over a 10 year period, Alaska delegates travel to Washington D.C. to reauthorize and make mandatory federal payments in lieu of property taxes to Tongass communities, Facebook expands its “Today In” service to 6,000 U.S. cities and towns to coax news deserts into bloom, and a vaping-related hospitalization is confirmed in King County, Washington. 

In this newscast: Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Environmental Conservation Commissioner Jason Brune visit a proposed mine site near Haines, Alaska results from spring standardized testing are out and there’s plenty of room for improvement, the Juneau School Board OKs a three-year contract to retain Superintendent Bridget Weiss, residents of Nome and Shishmaref sound off on climate change effects to federal and international officials, and Cordova is in week six of a water shortage. 

In this newscast: A state Superior Court judge says a lawsuit alleging the state unlawfully declared an emergency to cut Medicaid payments raises “serious and substantial questions,” owners of a Ketchikan pulp mill pitch converting their mill into additional cruise ship berths and tourism attraction, the city of Fairbanks reaches out to local businesses to keep funding going for a service that transports intoxicated people on the streets to safety, Alaska State Troopers announce an arrest in a 41-year-old cold case murder, a bus driver who struck and killed Skagway’s mayor and mother in Washington D.C. pleads guilty to negligent homicide, two artists from St. Lawrence Island finish a Juneau residency with a blanket toss, and Galena residents pay for an alleged drug dealer’s plane ticket out of town.