Neighbors

Game On gets high score in national competition

Call it an achievment unlocked. Game On, a local small video game retailer, has won national recognition for their unique business model. Owners and married… Continue reading

  • Apr 8, 2018
  • By Juneau Empire

Three JDHS students earn awards at statewide science fair

Three Juneau-Douglas High School students won awards at the Alaska State Science and Engineering Fair in March for projects that studied herring habitats and glacial… Continue reading

  • Apr 8, 2018
  • By Juneau Empire
Photo by Jack Keller

Last chance for Children’s Art Walk

As the weather warms and we prepare for the upcoming season, business owners will be making their way back to town, removing their window coverings… Continue reading

  • Apr 8, 2018
Photo by Jack Keller
Ten plagues of Juneau

Ten plagues of Juneau

Yesterday concluded the Jewish holiday of Passover, commemorating Exodus, by which I mean the biblical story of Exodus, as opposed to “Exodus” the Bob Marley… Continue reading

  • Apr 8, 2018
  • By Geoff Kirsch
Ten plagues of Juneau

Thanks to Territorial Sportsmen sponsors and donors

On behalf of Territorial Sportsmen, I would like to thank our very generous Alaskan donors and sponsors for making the 18th annual TSI/AOC fundraiser another… Continue reading

  • Apr 8, 2018
  • By Barbara Burnett
In this Nov. 17, 2016 photo, Gavin McNicol, Junior Jules Francois and Denis Darline are photographed at SOIL Haiti’s composting site near Cap-Ha&

‘Mountains beyond mountains’: How human waste (that’s right, poop!) can be transformed into safe and useful resources

I arrived in Juneau last summer with mixed emotions. I was excited to start a new life in Southeast, but I’d also just left behind… Continue reading

In this Nov. 17, 2016 photo, Gavin McNicol, Junior Jules Francois and Denis Darline are photographed at SOIL Haiti’s composting site near Cap-Ha&
A flock of black turnstones fly in to feed on Shaman Island at the north end of Douglas Island in April 2009. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)

Birds of a feather: Why do birds do things in groups?

It is said that “birds of a feather flock together,” and indeed they do. We see gangs of crows — sometimes 100 or more —… Continue reading

A flock of black turnstones fly in to feed on Shaman Island at the north end of Douglas Island in April 2009. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)
Looking back on Juneau early on the walk around Douglas Island. (Photo by Bjorn Dihle)

Doug Peacock and a walk around Douglas Island

Walking around Douglas Island isn’t fun in the traditional sense of the word. Most of the island’s beaches are rocky and there are a lot… Continue reading

Looking back on Juneau early on the walk around Douglas Island. (Photo by Bjorn Dihle)
Using snow anchors we pactice belaying on a Munter hitch. (Photo by Gabe Donohoe)

Traversing the Mendenhall Glacier

While many were celebrating Easter and Passover with loved ones this past weekend, the University of Alaska Southeast sent its Glacier Crevasse Rescue class to… Continue reading

Using snow anchors we pactice belaying on a Munter hitch. (Photo by Gabe Donohoe)
Fiddlehead ferns. Photo by Vivian Mork Y&

Planet Alaska: Spring is sneaking into Alaska

Spring, Taakw eetí, is sneaking into Alaska again. Fairbanks and Juneau are still covered in snow. In Sitka, there are signs of spring. As I… Continue reading

Fiddlehead ferns. Photo by Vivian Mork Y&
Long Hill, Chilkoot Trail, looking southwest. This view shows the Chilkoot Railroad & Transport Company (CR&T) aerial tramway in operation. One of the CR&T tramway towers is in the background left and a canoe and crate are being hauled over the line toward the summit of the Chilkoot Trail. Two men, possibly tramway workers, are observing the load. This photograph was taken on Long Hill between Sheep Camp and the Scales between the spring-fall of 1898-1899. Image courtesy of the National Park Service, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, Candy Waugaman Collection, KLGO LH-68-8973.

Southeast in Sepia: The Chilkoot Railroad & Transport Company

The Chilkoot Railroad &Transport Company (otherwise known as the CR&T Company) was the longest, most sophisticated and best known of the three aerial tramways that… Continue reading

Long Hill, Chilkoot Trail, looking southwest. This view shows the Chilkoot Railroad & Transport Company (CR&T) aerial tramway in operation. One of the CR&T tramway towers is in the background left and a canoe and crate are being hauled over the line toward the summit of the Chilkoot Trail. Two men, possibly tramway workers, are observing the load. This photograph was taken on Long Hill between Sheep Camp and the Scales between the spring-fall of 1898-1899. Image courtesy of the National Park Service, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, Candy Waugaman Collection, KLGO LH-68-8973.

What’s Happening the week of April 4-10

Partners in Healing, April 5, 5:15 p.m., Gold Town Theater. This film discusses the partnership between western medicine and other healing modalities to promote a… Continue reading

George Gress speaks with a reporter at his home in Juneau on Tuesday, March 27, 2018 about his three-year tenure making guitars for clients across the country. Richard McGrail | For the Capital City Weekly

Making sustainable music

A pallet, planks from an old dock in Dillingham, and a used skateboard are all things that George Gress has repurposed into guitars. He’s passionate… Continue reading

George Gress speaks with a reporter at his home in Juneau on Tuesday, March 27, 2018 about his three-year tenure making guitars for clients across the country. Richard McGrail | For the Capital City Weekly
Camp 18 sits on a rock knob above the Gilkey Trench, as students take in the sunset on the Juneau Icefield, July 2017. Photo by Ben Huff.

In focus: The Juneau Icefield Research Program

This summer, a group of about 30 students will step into the most unique classroom they will ever have: the Juneau Icefield. Every year, students… Continue reading

Camp 18 sits on a rock knob above the Gilkey Trench, as students take in the sunset on the Juneau Icefield, July 2017. Photo by Ben Huff.
Hope Griffin in July 2016. Photo by Micah Mackenzie, courtesy of Hope Griffin.

Alaska calls Hope home

Among this year’s Alaska Folk Festival lineup of artists is Hope Griffin, a singer/songwriter based out of Asheville, North Carolina, whose music has been inspired… Continue reading

Hope Griffin in July 2016. Photo by Micah Mackenzie, courtesy of Hope Griffin.
Mary Catharine Martin on the Pelly River. (Photo by Bjorn Dihle)

Wild, wonderful and cheap Yukon family canoe float trips

Southeast Alaska offers countless amazing outdoors opportunities but, due to our rugged and glaciated topography, there aren’t that many long or easy float trips. Luckily,… Continue reading

Mary Catharine Martin on the Pelly River. (Photo by Bjorn Dihle)
A male snow bunting, still partly in winter plumage, finds beach rye seeds. (Photo by Jos Bakker)

Snow buntings

As a few green shoots popped up in intertidal meadows and along the beach fringes in the middle of March, a welcome avian harbinger of… Continue reading

A male snow bunting, still partly in winter plumage, finds beach rye seeds. (Photo by Jos Bakker)
Belted kingfisher posing on a rock. (Photo by Kerry Howard)

Wild Shots

Reader-submitted images of Mother Nature in Southeast Submit your wild shots: The Empire Outdoors page is looking for superb images of Alaska’s wildlife, scenery or… Continue reading

Belted kingfisher posing on a rock. (Photo by Kerry Howard)
The humble, yet hardworking and epic logging (raft) dog. Photo by Tara Neilson.

Alaska for Real: The secret life of logging dogs

If you stroll down Clay Street in Portland, Oregon’s Central Eastside District you’ll spy an odd looking, small sculpture: a steel spike with a circle… Continue reading

The humble, yet hardworking and epic logging (raft) dog. Photo by Tara Neilson.
Glassing for grouse looks weird, but this is the way it’s done&

Going for grouse

Enthusiasm can enhance skill, but it can’t replace experience. In my effort to become a better Alaskan, I took up grouse hunting last fall. This… Continue reading

Glassing for grouse looks weird, but this is the way it’s done&