KTOO News Update

KTOO News Update

The day’s local and state news in about 10 minutes.


Newscast – Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025

In this newscast: Juneau city officials have proposed a multi-million dollar wastewater bond package to offset utility rate hikes; Ketchikan's local governments are pursuing a new sales tax on cruise ship passengers; The U.S. Forest Service has completed assessment reports on over 20 topics that will inform how the Tongass National Forest will be managed in decades to come. The last time the Forest Service studied the Tongass this deeply, the movie Titanic was hitting the screens; Delta Junction residents will soon have to make a decision about whether, and how, they'll restore emergency medical services to their community, after the city's only ambulance service, Delta Medical Transport, announced that it will stop providing services to the city

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Newscast – Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025

In this newscast: Lawmakers are working to hammer out a compromise on an education bill that could avoid the governor's veto; FBI agents in Anchorage participated in a nationwide immigration crackdown under President Trump last weekend, but local groups, including the Anchorage School District, are pushing back; More than 100 Juneau residents took to the sidewalk across the street from the Alaska State Capitol this afternoon to join a nationwide protest against President Donald Trump's administration and its recent executive orders; Tongass Voices: Tamara Wilson on her museum installation and the slinkies that live there

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Newscast – Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025

In this newscast: Alaska nonprofit face immense uncertainty due to the Trump administration's pause on federal grants and loans; The City and Borough of Juneau will move forward with a controversial plan to mitigate glacial outburst floods in the Mendenhall Valley; Members of Juneau's chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters union spoke out again about the lack of competitive wages leading to staffing shortages in Juneau, and as contract negotiations begin, first responders are asking the city for relief; Lawmakers are pushing Gov. Mike Dunleavy's administration to release drafts of a statewide salary study submitted by a human resources consultant

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Newscast – Monday, Feb. 3, 2025

In this newscast: A teenager was fatally shot at a roundabout in Juneau's Mendenhall Valley early this morning; The Alaska Board of Fisheries is entering its second week of deliberations on Southeast Alaska fishing regulations in Ketchikan, and this week is about salmon and herring; The state regulatory group will take up herring proposals this week and it could adopt changes to how the Sitka Sound Sac Roe herring fishery is managed; Alaskans testified overwhelmingly in favor of a bill that would boost per-student funding at a meeting of the House Education Committee last week, and KCAW stopped by Sitka's legislative office to speak to those there who testified; NOAA has released a new catalogue that chronicles more than 100 species of seaweed commonly found in Alaska, which will serve as an important resource as Alaska works to get in on kelp products

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Newscast – Friday, Jan. 31, 2025

In this newscast: Portugal. the Man, Ya Tseen and Samantha Crain are performing in Southeast Alaska this weekend to fundraise for the Point House Revitalization Project; Alaska Folk Festival leadership announced that the guest artists for the 50th festival will be Rhiannon Giddens and Dirk Powell; Gov. Mike Dunleavy unveiled his own education bill this morning, setting the stage for negotiations with legislative leaders; The Skagway Assembly voted last month to collect sales tax on the full price of tours sold, but across Lynn Canal, Haines is worried the changes could impact their economy

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Newscast – Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025

In this newscast: Alaska students posted some of the lowest scores in the country in national reading and math test results that were released yesterday; State regulators have fined proponents of the 2024 ranked choice repeal ballot measure nearly $157,000 for what officials called "egregious and widespread" violations of campaign finance laws; Officials in Alaska are still scrambling to understand the impact of a Trump Administration freeze that halts spending on infrastructure project -- one that came before the memo that froze federal grants and loans this week; This week, Juneau is seeing some snow after a winter that hasn't gotten nearly as much as usual, and skiers are taking advantage of it 

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Newscast – Wednesday, Jan 29, 2025

In this newscast: Rumors have been circulating on social media that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have detained tribal citizens in Juneau, but local officials say that is not true; Gov. Mike Dunleavy touted his administration's accomplishments and outlined plans for his final two years in office during his seventh annual State of the State address; Starting this summer, the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce will no longer provide visitor services for the city; The Alaska Board of Fisheries kicked off their highly-anticipated regulatory meeting in Ketchikan; Protections for 28 million acres of wilderness lands across the state have once again been called into question by a sweeping executive order for the state of Alaska released by the White House last week

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Newscast – Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025

In this newscast: A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck about 60 miles southwest of Unalaska Sunday afternoon; On April 1, Anchorage will hold its municipal election, and half of the seats on the Assembly are on the ballot along with two school board seats; As Eaglecrest Ski Area faces ongoing financial hardship, city officials continue to hope the gondola will one day make it self-sustaining; Delta Airlines pulled booking for summer flights to both Ketchikan and Sitka fr0m its website earlier this month, leaving Alaska Airlines as the only major carrier in the two communities as it is in much of the state; Tongass Voices: Marian Call and Lisa Puananimōhala’ikalani Denny on bringing together Juneau’s music-makers

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Newscast – Monday, Jan. 27, 2025

In this newscast: The Alaska House of Representatives offered a rebuke to President Donald Trump's move to rename North America's highest peak as Mount McKinley; The Alaska Legislature is getting to work on a bill that would boost state funding for public schools by more than $460 million; One of the more than 200 executive orders President Donald Trump signed in the first days of his new term was aimed at accessing more natural resources in Alaska, and seeks to roll back protections on millions of acres in the Tongass National Forest; The City of Delta Junction's privately-owned ambulance service announced it would dissolve, possibly leaving residents to provide their own emergency transportation to Fairbanks, almost a hundred miles away 

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Newscast – Friday, Jan. 24, 2025

In this newscast:  Over $130 million in grants for clean energy projects in rural Alaska are now frozen, after President Donald Trump signed an executive order freezing funding from the federal Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law; At least three districts across the state are considering closing at least one school, one of the most visible signs of the state's shrinking population; Juneau is set to house the Coast Guard's Aiviq icebreaker soon, but the vessel has a history of design problems and failure

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