"Juneau Economic Development Council"

Juneau’s first large cruise ship of the year arrives this weekend, but the conversation about how to manage a growing tourism industry will continue well beyond this record-breaking summer season.  

This year’s Innovation Summit in Juneau featured an expert from Iceland’s tourism sector. Much like Southeast Alaska, the visitors the tiny island nation sees every summer far outnumber its total residents.  

Alaska Seaplanes is planning to continue offering direct, 55-minute flights between Juneau and Whitehorse for at least the next two seasons.

Gov. Walker’s advisory panel is looking at where roads could be built inside the Tongass National Forest. But more than two dozen people testified at a hearing in Juneau against the idea.

“It’s supposed to be like an NCAA tournament and a Hollywood film opening all at once. So we’ve got an emcee doing play-by-play for the robot matches. We’ve got a DJ playing music all day. Our referees are dancing and wearing silly costumes,” said Rebecca Soza with JEDC.

Improvements can be as simple as planting flowers or as extensive as painting the exterior of a building — whatever the owner sees fit.

The Juneau Assembly and city administration are hoping better planning will lead to less uncertainty with future budgets.

Speaking at JEDC’s Innovation Summit, Walker says Alaska will need ingenuity – and possibly carrot beer – to deal with the state’s budget deficit.

The fourth publicly accessible electric vehicle charging station in Juneau will go online the day after Christmas at the Marine Parking Garage.

Local businesses and nonprofits raised $50,000 to install a network of electric vehicle charging stations on the Juneau road system