46°

Overcast, mist, light rain

Weather sponsored by:

DOT&PF trying to get Thane avalanche cameras installed for winter

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities is working to install two cameras along Thane Road for the purposes of monitoring traffic through its most active avalanche zone along the road before winter falls.

The paired cameras, which would be placed two-tenths of a mile apart, would be able to alert DOT&PF staff to potential emergency situations involving vehicles being caught in an avalanche, DOT&PF Communications Officer Jeremy Woodrow said Monday.

Comments: (1) | Read More | Login to post a comment

Assemblymembers want more information on rink study

City Manager Kim Kiefer received direction from the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly Committee of the Whole Monday night to bring back more information at a future meeting on a possible study to determine the feasibility of a new, city-operated ice arena.

The Juneau Community Foundation, a nonprofit organization to which $650,000 was appropriated by the Alaska State Legislature this year for planning and study of an ice rink in Dimond Park, requested that the CBJ consider operating the facility.

Comments: (55) | Read More | Login to post a comment

Juneau appeals Petersburg Borough boundary approval

The City and Borough of Juneau has filed a judicial appeal of the Local Boundary Commission’s decision to approve the northern boundary for the proposed Petersburg Borough, arguing that the commission failed to “critically analyze” the CBJ’s request to annex of some of the same land sought by the Petersburg Borough petitioners.

Comments: (5) | Read More | Login to post a comment

New Assembly talks focus, future direction at retreat

The City and Borough of Juneau Assembly spent much of Saturday in the Assembly Chambers, working with city staff and discussing amongst themselves how the Assembly should approach issues facing the city in the coming year.

The portion of the retreat dealing with goals and action items, something that the Assembly sets after the election every year to map out the city’s short- and long-term policy direction, was facilitated by Scott Miller, public policy and planning consultant with the McDowell Group.

Comments: (18) | Read More | Login to post a comment

Juneau schools celebrate Red Ribbon Week

Jared Vance, a freshman at Juneau-Douglas High School, wobbled slightly as he reached out to grasp an orange traffic cone that wasn’t quite where he thought it was.

“It’s confusing,” said Vance of his temporary visual impairment: a pair of Fatal Vision goggles intended to simulate the distortion that can be brought on by alcohol inebriation.

After crawling unsteadily from cone to cone in a zig-zag pattern, as another student used a stopwatch on her cell phone to time him, Vance got to his feet and removed the goggles.

Comments: (5) | Read More | Login to post a comment

Eaglecrest Learning Center construction tentatively set for 2014, could open that year

The Eaglecrest Learning Center, a planned building that would house a “learning school” for aspiring skiers and snowboarders next to the Eaglecrest Lodge, could open during the winter season of 2014-15, General Manager Matt Lillard told the Eaglecrest board of directors’ Planning Committee Thursday evening.

Lillard presented a set of preliminary dates, which he said was provided by Engineering Director Rorie Watt, penciling out the process for the Learning Center.

Comments: (9) | Read More | Login to post a comment

Floyd Dryden students get hunters' ed.

About 200 sixth-graders at Floyd Dryden Middle School are participating this week in the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Hunters’ Education and Firearms Safety Program.

The program teaches adolescents how to safely handle and shoot rifles, as well as hunting ethics, conservation and management, navigation and other outdoor skills.

But longtime organizer Ken Coate stressed that teaching kids to become outdoorsmen is not the aim of the program.

Comments: (20) | Read More | Login to post a comment

Becker named deputy mayor at first full 2012-13 Assembly

Assemblymember Jerry Nankervis was officially sworn in as a member of the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly Monday night, while first-term Assemblymember Mary Becker was selected as deputy mayor.

Becker was first elected to the Assembly in 2010. She succeeds former Assemblymember David G. Stone in the position, which requires her to stand in for the mayor in leading the Assembly when the mayor is unavailable.

Comments: (4) | Read More | Login to post a comment

Newly elected Juneau, Whitehorse leaders seek deeper ties

The mayor-elect of the Yukon capital of Whitehorse, Dan Curtis, said Monday afternoon that he would like to work on further developing the relationship between his city and Juneau.

Curtis, who won election last Thursday to a three-year term as mayor, said he has spent a lot of time in Juneau over the years and values Whitehorse’s relationship with its Alaskan sister city.

“I was born and raised in Whitehorse, and I’ve been to Juneau countless times,” said Curtis.

Juneau and Whitehorse have been sister cities since 1989.

Comments: (1) | Read More | Login to post a comment

Honorary consulate general to be located at Filipino Community, Inc.

Although Filipino Community, Inc., President Jenny Gomez Strickler is not running for reelection to the presidency next month, her office will remain at the Filipino Community Hall — as the honorary consul general of the Philippines to Alaska.

Strickler is the Philippines’ first honorary consul general to Alaska, and she believes she is the first ever honorary consul general from any country to be based in Juneau.

Comments: (3) | Read More | Login to post a comment