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This is a photo of the South Douglas building set to be the first marijuana dispensary in Douglas. At the Monday night City and Borough Assembly meeting members unanimously approved the consent agenda which included the approval of a retail marijuana license for the company Treadwell Herb Co., which is set to operate the business. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

City OKs license for first marijuana dispensary in Douglas

Owner says license is “another step,” though opening date not set.

This is a photo of the South Douglas building set to be the first marijuana dispensary in Douglas. At the Monday night City and Borough Assembly meeting members unanimously approved the consent agenda which included the approval of a retail marijuana license for the company Treadwell Herb Co., which is set to operate the business. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
One person was killed and four medevaced out of Juneau following a two-vehicle collision on Egan Drive near Fred Meyer on Saturday afternoon. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

Police: Four people medevaced out of Juneau following fatal crash Saturday

The crash occurred at the Fred Meyer intersection and an investigation is ongoing, officials say.

One person was killed and four medevaced out of Juneau following a two-vehicle collision on Egan Drive near Fred Meyer on Saturday afternoon. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
Heidi Teshner, acting commissioner of the Department of Education and Early Development, discusses proposed legislation during a House Education Committee hearing March 29. Teshner is among four Juneau residents named to a Child Care Task Force announced in April by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, which currently has 13 members and is scheduled to release a report of recommendations in July of 2024. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire File)

Four Juneau residents named to governor’s Child Care Task Force

Locals say progress at community level will help with study of problems statewide.

Heidi Teshner, acting commissioner of the Department of Education and Early Development, discusses proposed legislation during a House Education Committee hearing March 29. Teshner is among four Juneau residents named to a Child Care Task Force announced in April by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, which currently has 13 members and is scheduled to release a report of recommendations in July of 2024. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire File)
State Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, addresses a crowd during a May 7 rally at the Alaska State Capitol calling for public employee pension reform. Kiehl received the second-highest score in an annual online survey ranking legislators released Friday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire File)

Kiehl finishes second in annual survey ranking legislators

Juneau state senator finishes behind Sen. Bill Wielechowski; Rep. Jamie Allard finishes last

State Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, addresses a crowd during a May 7 rally at the Alaska State Capitol calling for public employee pension reform. Kiehl received the second-highest score in an annual online survey ranking legislators released Friday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire File)
J. Allan MacKinnon performs his first concert in more than three years on the 1928 Kimball Theatre Pipe Organ in the Alaska State Office Building during the noon hour on Friday. Weekly concerts on the instrument were a hallmark of the building for decades, but were halted in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The inactivity left the organ unplayable until technicians from Oregon tuned and restored the instrument the week before MacKinnon’s performance. Additional concerts are scheduled weekly through August. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Kimball Theatre Pipe Organ concerts return to State Office Building

Longtime local fans and first-time visitors hear first performance in more than three years.

J. Allan MacKinnon performs his first concert in more than three years on the 1928 Kimball Theatre Pipe Organ in the Alaska State Office Building during the noon hour on Friday. Weekly concerts on the instrument were a hallmark of the building for decades, but were halted in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The inactivity left the organ unplayable until technicians from Oregon tuned and restored the instrument the week before MacKinnon’s performance. Additional concerts are scheduled weekly through August. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Salmon dries on a traditional rack on the beach in the Seward Peninsula village of Teller on Sept. 2, 2021. Salmon is a dietary staple for Indigenous residents of Western Alaska, and poor runs have created hardship. A new Alaska salmon task force mandated by federal law is now appointed and charged with producing a science plan within a year. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska salmon task force charged with developing science plan

19 members appointed by federal and state leaders to spend a year on sustainable management

Salmon dries on a traditional rack on the beach in the Seward Peninsula village of Teller on Sept. 2, 2021. Salmon is a dietary staple for Indigenous residents of Western Alaska, and poor runs have created hardship. A new Alaska salmon task force mandated by federal law is now appointed and charged with producing a science plan within a year. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Stellar’s Jays kissing in a tree May 3 in the North Tee Harbor area. (Courtesy Photo / Glenn Ramsey)

Wild Shots

Reader-submitted photos of Mother Nature in Southeast Alaska.

  • Jun 12, 2023
Stellar’s Jays kissing in a tree May 3 in the North Tee Harbor area. (Courtesy Photo / Glenn Ramsey)
Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire Crew members of the <strong>Moananuiākea</strong> voyage from the <strong>Hōkūle‘a</strong> canoe paddle to the shore of Auke Bay as they are welcomed Saturday afternoon by Juneau residents and tribal leaders.

‘You lift our spirits by coming to our land’: Welcoming ceremony held for Polynesian canoe voyage

The ceremony kicks off celebrations for the grand send-off of a four-year-long global expedition.

Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire Crew members of the <strong>Moananuiākea</strong> voyage from the <strong>Hōkūle‘a</strong> canoe paddle to the shore of Auke Bay as they are welcomed Saturday afternoon by Juneau residents and tribal leaders.
Cinnamon-colored Juneau black bear watching cars drive by out the road at the 20 mile marker on Friday, June 2. (Courtesy Photo / Virginia Kelly)

Wild Shots

Reader-submitted photos of Mother Nature in Southeast Alaska.

  • Jun 10, 2023
Cinnamon-colored Juneau black bear watching cars drive by out the road at the 20 mile marker on Friday, June 2. (Courtesy Photo / Virginia Kelly)
Rear Adm. Megan M. Dean (center) awaits her entrance during a change-of-command Friday in Juneau where she was sworn as the new command of U.S. Coast Guard District 17 at the Alaska Army National Guard Aviation Operating Facility in Juneau. Standing behind to her left is Vice Adm. Andrew J. Tiongson and to her right is outgoing Rear Adm. Nathan A. Moore. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

Coast Guard’s Alaska district under new command

Incoming Rear Adm. Megan M. Dean says she is excited about working with the people of Alaska.

Rear Adm. Megan M. Dean (center) awaits her entrance during a change-of-command Friday in Juneau where she was sworn as the new command of U.S. Coast Guard District 17 at the Alaska Army National Guard Aviation Operating Facility in Juneau. Standing behind to her left is Vice Adm. Andrew J. Tiongson and to her right is outgoing Rear Adm. Nathan A. Moore. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
A harbor seal pokes its head up near Low Island in Sitka Sound on June 1. The area was the site of a fatal charter boat accident May 28. (James Poulson/The Daily Sitka Sentinel via AP)

Body of captain recovered 11 days after five die in Sitka boat sinking

Authorities have recovered the body of the captain of a fishing charter boat that was found last month partially submerged off an island in Southeast… Continue reading

  • Jun 9, 2023
  • The Associated Press
A harbor seal pokes its head up near Low Island in Sitka Sound on June 1. The area was the site of a fatal charter boat accident May 28. (James Poulson/The Daily Sitka Sentinel via AP)
From left to right, U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, sit side by side during a U.S. Coast Guard event in Juneau on Friday. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

Alaska delegation differs on Trump indictment

Murkowski, Sullivan say matter is serious, but clash on merit; Peltola says she trusts process.

From left to right, U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, sit side by side during a U.S. Coast Guard event in Juneau on Friday. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
A Chinook salmon is seen in an undated photo. (Photo by Ryan Hagerty/USFWS)

Washington-based group wants Endangered Species Act protections for Alaska king salmon

By Nathaniel Herz, Alaska Beacon A Washington-based conservation group whose actions have already caused the closure of an iconic Southeast Alaska fishery is now planning… Continue reading

A Chinook salmon is seen in an undated photo. (Photo by Ryan Hagerty/USFWS)
Annie Bartholomew plays a song from her upcoming debut album “Sisters of White Chapel” on a clawhammer banjo on a bench at Mayor Bill Overstreet Park on Thursday. The longtime local folk musician said she learned the instrument specifically for the project, and both the character of the instrument and women who played it during the Klondike Gold Rush helped inspire the mostly original songs she performs on the album. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Capital City Weekly

Musical revelations of the Klondike’s ‘White Chapel’

Annie Bartholomew’s new album shares surprising untold stories of sex workers during the gold rush

Annie Bartholomew plays a song from her upcoming debut album “Sisters of White Chapel” on a clawhammer banjo on a bench at Mayor Bill Overstreet Park on Thursday. The longtime local folk musician said she learned the instrument specifically for the project, and both the character of the instrument and women who played it during the Klondike Gold Rush helped inspire the mostly original songs she performs on the album. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire File Girls teams face off on the twin courts of the main gym at Juneau-Douglas Yadaa.at Kalé High School during the Juneau Invitational Volleyball Extravaganza on Oct. 15, 2022. A proposal being considered by the Alaska State Board of Education and Early Development to ban transgender females from participating in girls high school sports could take effect before this year’s fall sports season.

Public comment open for statewide transgender sports ban

Proposal barring transgender girls from girls’ high school sports teams to be reconsidered July 26

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire File Girls teams face off on the twin courts of the main gym at Juneau-Douglas Yadaa.at Kalé High School during the Juneau Invitational Volleyball Extravaganza on Oct. 15, 2022. A proposal being considered by the Alaska State Board of Education and Early Development to ban transgender females from participating in girls high school sports could take effect before this year’s fall sports season.
Lawrence “Woody” Widmark holds up his Alaska School Activities Association Gold Lifetime Pass as Sitka Wolves players and ASAA executive director Billy Strickland applaud during the presentation at the ASAA State Baseball Championships in Sitka last week. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)

Southeast Alaska umpire receives golden honor

Sitka’s Lawrence “Woody” Widmark receives ASAA lifetime pass

  • Jun 9, 2023
  • By Klas Stolpe Juneau Empire
Lawrence “Woody” Widmark holds up his Alaska School Activities Association Gold Lifetime Pass as Sitka Wolves players and ASAA executive director Billy Strickland applaud during the presentation at the ASAA State Baseball Championships in Sitka last week. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
Former President Donald Trump listens as he speaks with reporters while in flight on his plane after a campaign rally at Waco Regional Airport, in Waco, Texas, on March 25 while en route to West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Trump charged over classified documents in 1st federal indictment of an ex-president

MIAMI — Donald Trump said Thursday that he was indicted for mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, a remarkable development that makes him the… Continue reading

  • Jun 8, 2023
  • By Eric Tucker, Jill Colvin and Michael Balsamo Associated Press
Former President Donald Trump listens as he speaks with reporters while in flight on his plane after a campaign rally at Waco Regional Airport, in Waco, Texas, on March 25 while en route to West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on March 7 in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Opinion: Sullivan’s complaints about debt ceiling deal reveal hypocrisy about government spending

Before Sen. Dan Sullivan voted against the Fiscal Responsibility Act, he praised House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for “his hard work in getting President Biden… Continue reading

  • Jun 8, 2023
  • By Rich Moniak
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on March 7 in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Key Bank was one of the banks victimized by a Juneau man who pleaded guilty Thursday to federal theft charges after stealing nearly $580,000 from multiple banks and credit unions between 2019 and 2022. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File)

Juneau man pleads guilty to nearly $580,000 bank fraud

He faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

Key Bank was one of the banks victimized by a Juneau man who pleaded guilty Thursday to federal theft charges after stealing nearly $580,000 from multiple banks and credit unions between 2019 and 2022. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File)
City and Borough of Juneau Assembly member Greg Smith smiles Thursday afternoon while walking across the rainbow crosswalk recently repainted in downtown Juneau. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
Features

Faces of Pride: Assembly member Greg Smith

“For me it’s about acceptance, respect and understanding where people are in their lives.”

City and Borough of Juneau Assembly member Greg Smith smiles Thursday afternoon while walking across the rainbow crosswalk recently repainted in downtown Juneau. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)