News

Oke and Robert Rodman talk about their experiences of owning and operating Percy’s Liquor on Front Street on Friday, Nov. 17, 2017. They are closing the business after 30 years. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

Mom and pop close bottle shop

After 29 years running their downtown bottle shop together, Oke and Robert Rodman have decided to stop and smell the roses. Percy’s Liquor, a stalwart… Continue reading

Oke and Robert Rodman talk about their experiences of owning and operating Percy’s Liquor on Front Street on Friday, Nov. 17, 2017. They are closing the business after 30 years. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
Alaska Electric Light and Power Company Lemon Creek operations center in Juneau on Wednesday, July 19, 2017. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

AEL&P rates to remain the same after state decision

This week, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska approved a permanent rate increase for Alaska Electric Light &Power, the first for the utility since May 2010.… Continue reading

Alaska Electric Light and Power Company Lemon Creek operations center in Juneau on Wednesday, July 19, 2017. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
Father Gordon Blue, left, and Mary Alice McKeen, middle, prepare pie filling at a the Holy Trinity Church on Saturday. Blue and McKeen helped with the church’s “pie-a-thon” charity event, where they made 300 pies for sale and for donation in preparation for Thanksgiving Day. (Kevin Gullufsen | Juneau Empire)

Pie prep pandemonium

What does it take to create 300 apple pies in a day? About 45 volunteers, 600 pounds of apples, hot coffee and careful planning. A… Continue reading

Father Gordon Blue, left, and Mary Alice McKeen, middle, prepare pie filling at a the Holy Trinity Church on Saturday. Blue and McKeen helped with the church’s “pie-a-thon” charity event, where they made 300 pies for sale and for donation in preparation for Thanksgiving Day. (Kevin Gullufsen | Juneau Empire)
Juneau-Douglas’ Koen Schultz (23) celebrates his touchdown reception with quarterback Max Wheat, left, against Thunder Mountain at TMHS on Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. TMHS won 10-7 in overtime.

Merged football team will get new name

The Thunder Mountain High School football players will be resting a little easier tonight. They won’t be playing for their cross-town rival Juneau-Douglas High School… Continue reading

Juneau-Douglas’ Koen Schultz (23) celebrates his touchdown reception with quarterback Max Wheat, left, against Thunder Mountain at TMHS on Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. TMHS won 10-7 in overtime.
In this undated photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an airplane flies over caribou from the Porcupine Caribou Herd on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska. A showdown is looming in the nation’s capital over whether to open America’s largest wildlife refuge to oil drilling. A budget measure approved by the Republican-controlled Congress allows lawmakers to pursue legislation that would allow drilling on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge takes up an area nearly the size of South Carolina in Alaska’s northeast corner. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via AP)

Congress debates oil drilling in largest US wildlife refuge

ANCHORAGE — Sometime next April, pregnant cows in the Porcupine Caribou Herd in Canada will take the lead in an annual migration of nearly 200,000… Continue reading

In this undated photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an airplane flies over caribou from the Porcupine Caribou Herd on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska. A showdown is looming in the nation’s capital over whether to open America’s largest wildlife refuge to oil drilling. A budget measure approved by the Republican-controlled Congress allows lawmakers to pursue legislation that would allow drilling on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge takes up an area nearly the size of South Carolina in Alaska’s northeast corner. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via AP)

Space heater suspected as cause in construction trailer fire

As the snow began to fall Thursday night, a small fire was burning in the Mendenhall Valley. At 10:05 p.m. Thursday, Capital City Fire/Rescue responded… Continue reading

Police & Fire for Sunday, Nov. 19, 2017

This report contains public information available to the Empire from law enforcement and public safety agencies. This report includes arrest and citation information, not conviction… Continue reading

Turkey Shoot returns

The Thanksgiving Turkey Shoot returns this year on Saturday, Nov. 18 at 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Juneau Gun Club and Alaska Department of Fish… Continue reading

Monthly poetry slam combines forces with student group

For its monthly poetry slam, Woosh Kinaadeiyí is combining forces with a University of Alaska Southeast student group tonight. At 7 p.m. Friday at the… Continue reading

Erik Scholl with his partner, Tianna Banua, and their children Ezra and Ezlyn Vidal, stand in front of one of their two food businesses in the State Office Building on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017. They operate SOB Grinds and Shaka Shack, both located on either end of the eighth floor atrium. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

Say aloha to the SOB’s newest eateries

Erik Scholl’s coffee comes from the side of a volcano in Hawaii. His salt, straight from the island’s famed beaches. Everything at his two new… Continue reading

Erik Scholl with his partner, Tianna Banua, and their children Ezra and Ezlyn Vidal, stand in front of one of their two food businesses in the State Office Building on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017. They operate SOB Grinds and Shaka Shack, both located on either end of the eighth floor atrium. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
Meilani Schijvens gives her “Southeast by the Numbers” presentation at the Juneau Chamber of Commerce weekly luncheon at the Moose Lodge on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

Population, government job decreases expected to continue in Southeast Alaska

As she began a presentation built around economic statistics in Southeast Alaska, Rain Coast Data Director Meilani Schijvens began with an apology. “There’s a lot… Continue reading

Meilani Schijvens gives her “Southeast by the Numbers” presentation at the Juneau Chamber of Commerce weekly luncheon at the Moose Lodge on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
Lily Hope tells a story about respecting nature to second-grade students from Harborview Elementary and Juneau Charter Community Schools at the Walter Soboleff Center on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017. The Storytelling Excursion for all Juneau School District second graders is part of the Any Given Child programming sponsored by the Juneau School District, Mayor’s office, University of Alaska Southeast, Sealaska Heritage Institute and the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

Second-grade students get front-row seats to Native storytelling on annual tour

Fifty second-graders watched with wide eyes as Lily Hope talked about urine buckets. Hope, a Tlingit artist and storyteller, was explaining to students in the… Continue reading

Lily Hope tells a story about respecting nature to second-grade students from Harborview Elementary and Juneau Charter Community Schools at the Walter Soboleff Center on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017. The Storytelling Excursion for all Juneau School District second graders is part of the Any Given Child programming sponsored by the Juneau School District, Mayor’s office, University of Alaska Southeast, Sealaska Heritage Institute and the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

Police seek tips about downtown burglary

The Juneau Police Department is looking for help in solving an October burglary. At about 10:45 a.m. on Oct. 22, JPD received the report of… Continue reading

Juneau veteran dies at Alaskan Hotel

In the early morning of Saturday, Nov. 11, a Juneau man was found deceased in a room at the Alaskan Hotel. Acquaintances of Clarence Stanly… Continue reading

Juneau resident suffers accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound

At 4:15 a.m. Wednesday, a woman arrived in the emergency room at Bartlett Regional Hospital with a gunshot wound to her right leg. Officers from… Continue reading

Man, woman end up in hospital with knife wounds after argument

Two Juneau residents ended up in the hospital Wednesday night, both claiming that the other person stabbed them. At 5:40 p.m. Wednesday, multiple calls came… Continue reading

Police calls for Friday, Nov. 17, 2017

This report contains public information available to the Empire from law enforcement and public safety agencies. This report includes arrest and citation information, not conviction… Continue reading

Centennial Hall Convention Center. (Kevin Gullufsen | Juneau Empire)

Central Council to host job fair at Centennial Hall

The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska will hold a job fair on Friday from 1-4 p.m. at Centennial Hall. Twelve… Continue reading

Centennial Hall Convention Center. (Kevin Gullufsen | Juneau Empire)
John Cloud, an independent historian of geography and cartography, gives a lecture titled “The Treaty of Cession, as Seen through the Lenses of Art, Cartography, and Photography,” at the Walter Soboleff Center on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

Sleuthing historian connects the dots on uncredited Alaska Native cartographers

In 1869, two years after the United States purchased Alaska from Russia, the U.S. Coast Survey’s George Davidson departed Sitka with a small party of… Continue reading

John Cloud, an independent historian of geography and cartography, gives a lecture titled “The Treaty of Cession, as Seen through the Lenses of Art, Cartography, and Photography,” at the Walter Soboleff Center on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

Impounded vehicles go up for auction Saturday

About 60 impounded cars sat in a parking lot on La Perouse Avenue on Wednesday morning, as Juneau residents came and inspected them. Starting promptly… Continue reading