KTOO News Update
The day’s local and state news in about 10 minutes.
Newscast – Thursday, March 27, 2025
In this newscast: Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium is yet again expanding its reach in Juneau with a new dental clinic in Mendenhall Valley; Crews in Ketchikan are still dealing with a rockslide that cut off access to the northern part of the island; Southeast Alaska's Chilkat Valley is inching toward the area's first major timber harvest since the 1990s, but the state is pausing a needed application amid public concern; State lawmakers are now more than halfway through their four-month legislative session and time is ticking away. Alaska Public Media reporter Eric Stone gives an update on where things stand; Scientists at the Alaska Earthquake Center are monitoring several earthquakes near Adak Island. Since last Wednesday, there have been at least eight quakes greater than magnitude 5
Read More »Newscast – Wednesday, March 26, 2025
In this newscast: U.S. House Republicans put the top executives of NPR and PBS on the hot seat today, in a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency; Juneau's mayor selected 11 residents to serve on a short-term rental task force, which is meant to assess the benefits and downsides of short-term rentals in the housing market. All but one member are homeowners; An Alaska Airlines jet leaving Wrangell Sunday declared an inflight emergency and landed in Ketchikan; Tongass Voices: Betsy Longenbaugh and Ed Schoenfeld on the skeletons in Juneau’s closet
Read More »Newscast – Tuesday, March 25, 2025
In this newscast: A Fairbanks Republican lawmaker wants to put the governor’s mansion on Airbnb; Alaska already imports most of its food. But for many tribes in rural areas, cuts to federal grants and staff by the Trump administration could make food security even tougher; A draft of the 20-year plan for Alaska’s state ferry system is open for public comment. Officials with the Alaska Department of Transportation are asking residents to weigh in on the plan that will guide the Alaska Marine Highway System through the year 2045; Juneau’s Valley Transit Center will soon have a new charging station for the city’s fleet of electric buses. According to Capital Transit Superintendent Rich Ross, construction will begin next week (March 31) and should be completed in mid-July.
Read More »Newscast – Monday, March 24, 2025
In this newscast: Friday marked the first-ever World Day for Glaciers, a day observed by the United Nations to sound the alarm on the accelerating pace of global melting. Scientists who study Alaska glaciers spoke about their research to uncover how these rapidly changing systems affect our world; Sydney Isaacs-Hulstine is a Craig-based Lingìt and Haida artist. Raised in Klawock, Isaacs-Hulstine is an associate producer for children’s TV show “Molly of Denali.” She recently wrote an episode for another show, “Work It Out Wombats.” It features an Alaska Native character that draws on Lingìt and Haida culture; The 76th annual Juneau Lions Club Gold Medal Basketball Tournament kicked off yesterday in Juneau. Throughout this week hundreds of people from across Southeast Alaska will attend to watch 50 games.
Read More »Newscast – Friday, March 21, 2025
In this newscast: President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday [March 21] abolishing the U.S. Department of Education. While many key programs remain unchanged, hundreds of millions of federal dollars are at stake in Alaska if the order disrupts funding; Juneau’s only landfill is filling up quickly – really quickly. If the town keeps up its current dumping pace, residents and businesses could run out of space for their trash within the next decade. A new study offers a few scenarios for what the city could do after that; Crews have begun clearing Thursday's rockslide blocking Ketchikan’s main road. But it’s still unclear how long the cleanup will take. The slide came down in the morning and completely covered Tongass Avenue, just north of the airport. It left people who live north of the slide cut off from city services and the airport indefinitely.
Read More »Newscast – Thursday, March 20, 2025
In this newscast: Fish processor Silver Bay Seafoods announced Tuesday it will take over all Alaskan facilities owned by competitor OBI Seafoods; Several federal employees in Juneau who were fired as part of President Trump's federal staffing purge have been reinstated; Federal investigators released initial findings from a plane crash near Nome; A Canadian ski race persists amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Canadian governments.
Read More »Newscast – Wednesday, March 19, 2025
In this newscast: Ketchikan's school district superintendent is resigning at the end of the school year; People with disabilities, care providers and advocates marched to the state Capitol Wednesday to improve access to services; The remains of two French bulldogs that went missing on Prince of Wales Island over a month ago were found in a pair of crab pots last week; The University of Alaska Fairbanks as shuttered the office and taken down the website for an on-campus center that supported cultural programs and diversity related training; Lawmakers narrowly rejected an executive order from Gov. Mike Dunleavy that would have created a state agriculture department.
Read More »Newscast – Tuesday, March 18, 2025
In this newscast: The Juneau Assembly may mandate a timeline for the release of body-worn camera footage when a police officer shoots someone; The Alaska House Resources Committee met on Friday to hear testimony on a resolution recognizing the longstanding partnership between Canada and the United States; Sen. Lisa Murkowski says President Trump is testing the limits of his power.
Read More »Newscast – Monday, March 17, 2025
In this newscast: Juneau resident and author X̱’unei Lance Twitchell won an Emmy for "Not a Mascot" — an episode he wrote for TV show "Molly of Denali;" Sitka's planned internet outage lasted for less time than predicted; researchers and Sealaska shareholders are calling for change to long time limits placed on Alaska's commercial fisheries; Alaska's state development agency says it's talking with the operator of the Ketchikan Shipyard to resolve a dispute that threatens the future of the key local employer; Juneau community members gathered for a candlelight vigil for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People on Thursday.
Read More »Newscast – Friday, March 14, 2025
In this newscast: Alaska's state ombudsman is resigning in April. Kate Burkhart leaves after eight years on the job and countless investigations that have led to major systemic reforms in the state; The Juneau School District approved a budget for the next fiscal year on Thursday; People rallied again outside the Alaska State Capitol today, this time to protest the Trump Administration's plans to eliminate tens of thousands of jobs at the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs; After a German Shepherd named Jackie evaded euthanasia in Los Angeles, she's now evading animal control officers in Juneau; Alaska's fired federal workers are beginning to file unemployment claims, following the Trump administration's move to reduce the federal workforce
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