Wire Service

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

Police calls for Tuesday, June 4, 2023

This report contains information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

Police calls for Monday, June 3, 2023

This report contains information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

Police calls for Sunday, July 2, 2023

This report contains information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
A sign for a store that accepts food stamps and exchange benefits transfer cards is seen in this 2019 photo. Ten Alaskans are suing the state over its failure to provide food stamps within the time frames required by federal law. (Photo by Scott Heins/Getty Images)

New data shows measurable progress on Alaska’s food stamp backlog

The division of state government that handles food stamps has made progress in eliminating the backlog of thousands of Alaskans waiting for aid, but it… Continue reading

A sign for a store that accepts food stamps and exchange benefits transfer cards is seen in this 2019 photo. Ten Alaskans are suing the state over its failure to provide food stamps within the time frames required by federal law. (Photo by Scott Heins/Getty Images)
Photos by Mary F. Willson
Female goatsbeard flowers, left, are less conspicuous, so the inflorescence is less decorative. Male goatsbeard flowers, right, have visible stamens and slightly larger petals than females, making the inflorescence showy.

On the Trails: Cowee Meadows

On a cool, gray day just after the sunny summer solstice, a group of friends set out to enjoy the annual Cowee Meadow flower show.… Continue reading

Photos by Mary F. Willson
Female goatsbeard flowers, left, are less conspicuous, so the inflorescence is less decorative. Male goatsbeard flowers, right, have visible stamens and slightly larger petals than females, making the inflorescence showy.
Children participate in a watermelon eating contest Monday evening at a community picnic at Sandy Beach in Douglas. (Therese Pokorney / Juneau Empire)

Celebrating the freedom to begin Fourth festivities early

Watermelon-eating contests, sand dollar search add flavor to beach picnic on eve of Independence Day

Children participate in a watermelon eating contest Monday evening at a community picnic at Sandy Beach in Douglas. (Therese Pokorney / Juneau Empire)
Jim Dalman and his granddaughter Devlin, 6, decorate a bicycle in the Douglas Library parking garage Saturday during the annual pre-July 4 gathering to prepare for the Children’s Parade on Independence Day. (Therese Pokorney / Juneau Empire)

Gearing up for the Fourth of July

Red, white and blue abound as kids deck out their rides in Douglas.

Jim Dalman and his granddaughter Devlin, 6, decorate a bicycle in the Douglas Library parking garage Saturday during the annual pre-July 4 gathering to prepare for the Children’s Parade on Independence Day. (Therese Pokorney / Juneau Empire)
(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

Police calls for Thursday, June 29, 2023

This report contains information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

Police calls for Friday, June 30, 2023

This report contains information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

Police calls for Saturday, July 1, 2023

This report contains information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
Don Sakis checks the fire in his Riteway wood stove at his home on Jan. 23, 2018, in Palmer. Sakis and his family have heated their home with the stove for 35 years. Attorneys general from 10 states plan to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, alleging the agency’s testing and certification program for home wood heaters is ineffective — raising health concerns — and that EPA has failed to undertake a timely review of performance standards for new heaters. (Loren Holmes/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

Alaska among 10 states planning to sue EPA over standards for residential wood-burning stoves

Attorneys general from 10 states plan to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, saying its failure to review and ensure emissions standards for residential wood-burning… Continue reading

Don Sakis checks the fire in his Riteway wood stove at his home on Jan. 23, 2018, in Palmer. Sakis and his family have heated their home with the stove for 35 years. Attorneys general from 10 states plan to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, alleging the agency’s testing and certification program for home wood heaters is ineffective — raising health concerns — and that EPA has failed to undertake a timely review of performance standards for new heaters. (Loren Holmes/Anchorage Daily News via AP)
Albino Steller sea lion at Faust Rock on June 30. (Photo by Richard Fagnant)

Wild Shots

To showcase our readers’ work to the widest possible audience, Wild Shots have been moved in front of the Juneau Empire’s paywall. Don’t have a… Continue reading

Albino Steller sea lion at Faust Rock on June 30. (Photo by Richard Fagnant)
A totem stands outside the former Hospice and Home Care of Juneau on Oct 14, 2022. The facility shut down days later after providing services for about 20 years. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

My Turn: Ongoing lack of hospice care complicates matters of life and death

“Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone?” - Joni Mitchell Last September Juneau’s Hospice and Home… Continue reading

A totem stands outside the former Hospice and Home Care of Juneau on Oct 14, 2022. The facility shut down days later after providing services for about 20 years. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Alexander B. Dolitsky

My Turn: What is freedom?

Editor’s note: The following is an account of a fictional conversation. Recently I had a conversation with an American in her late 20s about current… Continue reading

Alexander B. Dolitsky
Public domain photo from the Library of Congress
Jefferson “Soapy” Smith standing at bar in saloon in Skagway on July 29, 1989.

My Turn: Soapy Smith rides again

I recently spent a rainy Sunday afternoon in the Gold Rush cemetery in Skagway, wandering behind tour guides who reenacted Skagway’s most famous story: the… Continue reading

Public domain photo from the Library of Congress
Jefferson “Soapy” Smith standing at bar in saloon in Skagway on July 29, 1989.
Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities employees met at Discover Eaglecrest Day on Sept. 17, 2022, to field questions regarding the Juneau Douglas North Crossing Planning and Environmental Linkages Study. This photo shows a map of potential locations proposed so far for the construction of the bridge if it comes to fruition. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire File)

Letter: Second Juneau-Douglas crossing won’t fix low- and middle-income housing woes

The article on the second crossing in the Empire on June 28 dredges up the old statement that “if developed, the crossing would open nearly… Continue reading

Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities employees met at Discover Eaglecrest Day on Sept. 17, 2022, to field questions regarding the Juneau Douglas North Crossing Planning and Environmental Linkages Study. This photo shows a map of potential locations proposed so far for the construction of the bridge if it comes to fruition. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire File)
President Joe Biden speaks about the student debt relief portal beta test in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, Oct. 17, 2022. A sharply divided Supreme Court has ruled that the Biden administration overstepped its authority in trying to cancel or reduce student loans for millions of Americans. Conservative justices were in the majority in Friday’s 6-3 decision that effectively killed the $400 billion plan that President Joe Biden announced last year. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

The Supreme Court rejects Biden’s plan to wipe away $400 billion in student loan debt

A sharply divided Supreme Court on Friday effectively killed President Joe Biden’s $400 billion plan to cancel or reduce federal student loan debts for millions… Continue reading

President Joe Biden speaks about the student debt relief portal beta test in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, Oct. 17, 2022. A sharply divided Supreme Court has ruled that the Biden administration overstepped its authority in trying to cancel or reduce student loans for millions of Americans. Conservative justices were in the majority in Friday’s 6-3 decision that effectively killed the $400 billion plan that President Joe Biden announced last year. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
The setting sun over Kotzebue Sound is seen on an evening in 2010. (Photo provided by Alaska Division of Community and Regional Affairs)

Would-be child care providers in remote Alaska say it’s all but impossible to get a state license

Kotzebue’s child care center closed more than a decade ago, and the community hasn’t had one since. Tracey Schaeffer and her daughter Bailey are trying… Continue reading

The setting sun over Kotzebue Sound is seen on an evening in 2010. (Photo provided by Alaska Division of Community and Regional Affairs)
UAF Chancellor Dan White pretends to take a sample from a mammoth skull with the help of Matthew Wooller to promote the Adopt a Mammoth Program at the Museum of the North on the UAF campus on Aug. 5, 2022.

Alaska Science Forum: Adopted mammoth fell 15,000 years ago

A few days ago, Mat Wooller had news about a woolly mammoth my friend LJ and I “adopted” last October. “You’ve got one of the… Continue reading

UAF Chancellor Dan White pretends to take a sample from a mammoth skull with the help of Matthew Wooller to promote the Adopt a Mammoth Program at the Museum of the North on the UAF campus on Aug. 5, 2022.
Author standing at the Sitka terminal ramp May 22 waiting to board the Columbia to Haines. (Photo courtesy of Regina Discenza)

My Turn: My costly experience with the Alaska Marine Highway System

Last year during the summer of 2022 I wanted to visit a few small towns in Alaska with the ferry. Air service to Gustavus was… Continue reading

Author standing at the Sitka terminal ramp May 22 waiting to board the Columbia to Haines. (Photo courtesy of Regina Discenza)