Newscasts

In this newscast:  A new play “These Birds: A play inspired by death, flowers, and Farkle” opened in Juneau last week; The Ketchikan Indian Community purchased a former resort north of town with the goal of converting it into an addiction healing center, but a handful of residents in the neighborhood expressed opposition for the project at a recent borough planning commission meeting; Marlene Johnson, a Lingit civil rights leader, died last week at the age of 90

In this newscast: The North Douglas boat launch will soon reopen to the public after being closed for more than two weeks due to damage to its parking lot; As the city’s Emergency Programs Manager, Ryan O’Shaughnessy leads emergency planning, response and recovery for the City and Borough of Juneau. KTOO’s Mike Lane recently caught up with O’Shaughnessy to talk about lessons learned from the major storm events in December and January and how the department operates; The U.S. Forest Service is moving forward with a plan to harvest over five thousand acres of trees in the Tongass National Forest, just east of Ketchikan. A majority of that is going to be old-growth trees, which some people worry will be devastating to the forest.

In this newscast: Sitka will receive $10 million dollars for a new wastewater disinfection system; Juneau residents might have to pay sales tax again on food and utilities despite voters approving a local exemption for them during last fall’s municipal election; The Juneau School Board is quickly moving through the search process for a new superintendent; Some storefront owners in Juneau are speaking out against U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement or participating in the nationwide strike today, following recent killings in Minneapolis; The state House’s ethics committee has launched an investigation into whether Homer Republican Rep. Sarah Vance illegally used state resources when she successfully pushed the local newspaper to remove and revise a story.

In this newscast: Juneau’s recycling center is closed again in order to repair damaged critical equipment. And it could be quite a while before the center opens back up again; New public art is coming to downtown Juneau this spring. Murals will soon adorn the Marine View building parking garage near the cruise ship docks. It’s part of a project years in the making that teaches artists about the legal and creative sides of murals; The City and Borough of Juneau tip-toed toward a federal buyout program for homeowners on View Drive this week, a street that’s been hit the hardest by annual glacial outburst flooding. And the city’s asking those residents if they’ll help pay for their own buyout; More than 200 people gathered in the capital city on Thursday to speak out against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, following recent killings of two citizens in Minneapolis.

In this newscast: Scientists have confirmed that destructive landslides are happening more frequently across Alaska — especially in Southeast — using news articles dating back more than a century. It’s because climate change is making atmospheric rivers more extreme; John Bressette is the city’s avalanche advisor, tracking weather and avalanche risk in Juneau’s urban paths. He joined CBJ just before record snowfall — followed by rain and flooding — pushed the city to declare a disaster and issue evacuation advisories downtown. He spoke with KTOO’s Mike Lane about the job; Gov. Mike Dunleavy introduced a series of bills on Friday and Monday that he says would stabilize the state’s finances

In this newscast: The Juneau Assembly has stalled on deciding whether to disempower the Eaglecrest Ski Area’s board of directors until March; Students are speaking out about how unresolved union negotiations are affecting them in the classroom; Students in Skagway are calling on their school district to adopt a policy that would let them take part in subsistence activities without it potentially counting against them; With almost 700 participants, Juneau’s annual board game convention sold out for a second year.