KTOO News Update
The day’s local and state news in about 10 minutes.
Newscast – Friday, May 15, 2026
In this newscast: Divers are searching the murky waters of Gastineau Channel this week in hopes of locating the body of a Juneau man who has been missing for nearly a year; The case against a former Juneau chiropractor accused of assaulting more than a dozen women under the guise of medical care may continue into another year. At a hearing Wednesday, the defense attorney said he would likely not be ready to go to trial until 2027; The Alaska Legislature rejected Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s pick for attorney general, Stephen Cox, on a 29-31 vote Thursday morning; A health clinic in Sitka closed mid-day yesterday after a possible measles exposure; A Superior Court judge is allowing the Anchorage School District to resume the process of closing Campbell STEM Elementary School; Spending in Alaska's U.S. Senate race is ramping up
Read More »Newscast – Thursday, May 14, 2026
In this newscast: Beginning next school year, elementary school students will no longer be dismissed 30 minutes early on Mondays; Juneau's pools are no longer on the Juneau Assembly's chopping block, for now. The city museum still is; National Geographic journalist Paul Salopek has been walking around the world since 2013. But now that he’s in Alaska, his main mode of transportation is about to change; The federal government has decided against listing Gulf of Alaska king salmon with Endangered Species Act protections
Read More »Newscast – Wednesday, May 13, 2026
In this newscast: As lawmakers spar over a wide range of issues in the final days of the Alaska Legislature’s regular session, one idea is bringing them together. The state House of Representatives voted unanimously on Wednesday to make the giant green cabbage Alaska’s official state vegetable; A Canadian company proposing to reopen a gold mine in British Columbia plans to drive a large boat up Alaska’s Taku River – south of Juneau – to get to the site this summer. Some locals worry it could run aground; The Alaska Legislature’s regular session ends in just over a week, and lawmakers are racing to pass a wide range of bills and resolutions before the deadline. Alaska Public Media’s Eric Stone has been at the Capitol tracking what lawmakers are up to, and he spoke with Alaska News Nightly host Casey Grove; With a week left in the session, the Alaska House yesterday passed a bill focused on how students are counted.
Read More »Newscast – Tuesday, May 12, 2026
In this newscast: The Juneau School Board will consider what to add back to its budget for this fiscal year during a regular meeting Tuesday night. The district has more unspent funds than what it’s allowed under state law to carry over into the next fiscal year that begins in July; Juneau residents will see higher electricity bills starting next month; More than 100 middle school students in Juneau are getting hands-on experience to learn about traditional Lingít carving by crafting their own canoe paddles in the classroom; The City and Borough of Juneau clerk’s office has certified two proposed citizen ballot propositions for the 2026 local election. That means the groups behind them are approved to start collecting signatures of support to put the questions on the ballot this fall; Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a disaster declaration yesterday for two Interior Alaska communities, after they were inundated with severe ice jam flooding. The declaration covers the areas near Chalkyitsik on the Black River and Hughes on the Koyukuk River
Read More »Newscast – Monday, May 11, 2026
In this newscast: Young Juneau musicians got a chance to bring down the house over the weekend at a dual fundraiser for the Juneau Soccer Club and a music program that groups kids who want to play in rock bands,; Researchers have spent months studying the Tracy Arm tsunami landslide, and they conclude it was the second largest on record; The Alaska Legislature is asking the federal government for some flexibility when it comes to implementing a massive program intended to "transform" rural healthcare across the state; New survey results show Alaskans' confidence in the economy is at nearly the lowest point since the survey began 16 years ago; A bill that seeks to make it easier for Alaskans to repair consumer electronics cleared the state Senate today
Read More »Newscast – Friday, May 8, 2026
In this newscast: Huna Totem Corporation officials say they are full steam ahead with the plan to open downtown Juneau’s fifth cruise ship dock by 2028. That’s despite unexpected timeline delays and price hikes that may scale down the project; In early April, two people allegedly severely beat a man in the Marine Parking Garage in downtown Juneau. He was medevaced out of town. Nearly a month later, Alfred Torres Sr. was pronounced brain dead and taken off of life support on Monday; KTOO’s Mike Lane recently sat down with Area Management Biologist Carl Koch with Fish and Game Wildlife Conservation to talk about how best to keep safe in bear country,; Juneau woman Tracy Day has been missing for more than seven years. And while her disappearance has become a rallying cry for the families of missing and murdered Indigenous people in Juneau, her daughter, Kaelyn Schneider, also wants people to know who she was before she went missing
Read More »Newscast – Thursday, May 7, 2026
In this newscast: The Juneau Police Department has arrested a man suspected of assaulting three people over the weekend in the Mendenhall Valley; Kaelyn Schneider has a lot of questions about the police investigation into her mother’s disappearance. Tracy Day, a Lingít woman from Juneau, went missing in 2019 and police say they have no suspects; A bill aimed at stabilizing school district budgeting process made its way out of the House Finance Committee Tuesday; A Juneau lawmaker’s bill to increase state funding for free legal aid to vulnerable Alaskans is headed to the governor
Read More »Newscast – Wednesday, May 6, 2026
In this newscast: Tuesday was a day of remembrance, awareness and calls to action to address the crises of Alaska Native and other Indigenous people facing extreme rates of violence; City and federal contractors originally planned to build the flood wall along the Mendenhall River much higher this summer, after it just barely protected hundreds of homes from Juneau’s largest glacial outburst flood last August. But after the project cost ballooned, leaders decided to scale it back; Gov. Mike Dunleavy is pressing lawmakers to act quickly on his proposal to cut taxes for the Alaska LNG project; Lawmakers in the Alaska House unveiled their first draft of the state's capital budget on Monday. It adds about $100 million in spending to the roughly $250 million capital budget that passed the Senate last month
Read More »Newscast – Tuesday, May 5, 2026
In this newscast: As the Juneau Assembly moves forward with ending the city’s involvement in Eaglecrest Ski Area’s controversial gondola project, they’re now trying to figure out what to do with the parts; Last year, missing woman Tracy Day’s family requested a death declaration hearing as a way to ask police officers questions about their investigation. But the judge said their questioning wasn’t allowed – even though it was allowed for the family of another Alaska Native woman who went missing elsewhere in the state; The Norton Sound community of Shaktoolik said their goodbyes to Kelly Hunt at a memorial service this weekend; The Alaska Legislature failed to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy's veto of a closely watched election reform bill yesterday
Read More »Newscast – Monday, May 4, 2026
In this newscast: The Goldbelt Tram in downtown Juneau will remain closed for at least the next three weeks, after a tram car came to an abrupt halt at its bottom terminal last week; Public service is nothing out of the ordinary for Scott Ciambor, a longtime employee of the City and Borough of Juneau. He’s worn different hats within CBJ, from chief housing officer to planning manager to his newest role as director of the Community Development Department; A new exhibit by an Alaska nonprofit dedicated to archiving Filipino American history in Alaska features the stories, photos, and belongings of Filipino elders in Juneau; A confidential informant is suing the state public safety department, two Alaska State Troopers and the A&E Television Network
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