KTOO News Update
The day’s local and state news in about 10 minutes.
Newscast – Friday, Feb. 6, 2026
In this newscast: Nineteen people have applied to be the Juneau school district's next superintendent, according to search firm McPherson & Jacobson; Alaska's largest professional theater indefinitely postponed a run of its show in Anchorage this spring due to financial concerns; The Juneau Assembly will vote Monday night on whether to approve $2.3 million worth of city funding to support five proposed affordable housing projects; Alaskan Dream Cruises, a Sitka-based cruise line, is closing its doors; After proposing to build a new cabin near Juneau's Herbert Glacier, the U.S. Forest Service released a draft decision last month abandoning it.
Read More »Newscast – Thursday, Feb. 2, 2025
In this newscast: On Monday, a Juneau jazz musician canceled a show that was meant to be a part of a festival in town this week. The show was advertised as a fundraiser for the ACLU of Alaska but the organization who planned the festival said they didn’t agree to that; The Alaska Department of Fish & Game recently euthanized a sick mountain goat that had a highly contagious viral skin infection that can transfer to humans and pets; The department learned about the goat from a Juneau resident who found it on Perseverance Trail and took it home last weekend; The Juneau Assembly is considering whether to ask voters to renew a 3% temporary sales tax and approve two multimillion-dollar bond packages on this fall’s municipal ballot; Juneau’s Crimson Bears high school football team is slated to be featured in the most-watched sporting event in the United States this weekend – the Super Bowl.
Read More »Newscast – Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026
In this newscast: The Juneau School Board will take public testimony tomorrow as it works on building out a budget; American Cruise Lines plans to expand in Alaska in the years to come. But that plan requires prized mooring space in harbors that are tight to begin with. In Haines, the company said it would pitch in to rebuild a public dock to solve that problem. Then, it backed out amid community pushback; Former Sitka state representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tompkins entered the race for governor this week; A round of vetoes by Gov. Mike Dunleavy last summer have Alaska’s construction industry on edge. Industry groups are pushing state lawmakers to quickly pass an appropriations bill that they say would unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in federal matching funds
Read More »Newscast – Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026
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
Read More »Newscast – Monday, Feb. 2, 2026
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.
Read More »Newscast – Friday, Jan. 30, 2026
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.
Read More »Newscast – Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026
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.
Read More »Newscast – Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026
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
Read More »Newscast – Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026
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.
Read More »Newscast – Monday, Jan. 26, 2026
In this newscast: More than 200 Juneau residents gathered downtown at Overstreet Park last night for a candlelight vigil. They were there to honor a man who was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during protests against ongoing ICE operations; Juneau teens and residents are calling on the Alaska Legislature and Governor Mike Dunleavy to call off the state’s longtime push for a natural gas pipeline in Alaska; The State Board of Education unanimously approved a school psychology masters program at the University of Alaska Anchorage aimed to address the state’s shortage of school psychologists. The approval took place during the board’s special virtual meeting on Thursday; KTOO Morning Host Mike Lane checks in with Representative Andi Story; Former Alaska Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum deviated from state policy and failed to perform the necessary due diligence before committing millions in state savings to a private equity fund. That’s the conclusion of an outside review ordered by Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration after Crum’s decision came to light last summer
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