News

Colby Nelson throw one of the 11 fish he and Patrick Willis caught on Saturday for the derby. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

A slow derby doesn’t stop local fishermen

Slow and steady wins the… salmon derby.

Colby Nelson throw one of the 11 fish he and Patrick Willis caught on Saturday for the derby. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
Two king salmon sit in ice after being weighed at the Auke Nu Cove weigh station. The fish were caught by James Jack SR at 14.4 pounds and Leonard Johnson, at 11.1 pounds. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire) (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

Getting down and derby

Salmon derby kicks off with slow start

Two king salmon sit in ice after being weighed at the Auke Nu Cove weigh station. The fish were caught by James Jack SR at 14.4 pounds and Leonard Johnson, at 11.1 pounds. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire) (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
Senior Jarrell Williams throws a pass during Thursday’s practice before Saturday’s opening game in Anchorage against Dimond High School. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire)

Huskies head to Anchorage for opening game

Saturday’s game against the Dimond Lynx

Senior Jarrell Williams throws a pass during Thursday’s practice before Saturday’s opening game in Anchorage against Dimond High School. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire)
Juneau School District Bridget Weiss, shown in this September 2021 photo, shows an art project she completed as a kindergarten student at Harborview Elementary School. Weiss, superintendent since 2018, received a one-year extension of her contract until June of 2025 on Tuesday. (Dana Zigmund/Juneau Empire File)

Superintendent gets contract extension, raise

Bridget Weiss, Alaska’s 2022 Superintendent of the Year, to preside over Juneau schools until 2025.

Juneau School District Bridget Weiss, shown in this September 2021 photo, shows an art project she completed as a kindergarten student at Harborview Elementary School. Weiss, superintendent since 2018, received a one-year extension of her contract until June of 2025 on Tuesday. (Dana Zigmund/Juneau Empire File)
Screenshot from www.predictit.org A betting chart lists Sarah Palin as the strong favorite to win the special election for Alaska’s U.S. House seat next Tuesday despite polling suggesting she is the least likely of the three candidates on the ballot to prevail.

The odds are odd for special election

Palin a strong favorite and Peltola a 7-1 longshot, which differs from polls.

Screenshot from www.predictit.org A betting chart lists Sarah Palin as the strong favorite to win the special election for Alaska’s U.S. House seat next Tuesday despite polling suggesting she is the least likely of the three candidates on the ballot to prevail.
This combination photo shows hiring signs in the windows of businesses in downtown Juneau this spring. As of Wednesday, the City and Borough of Juneau has 23 open employment positions, some with multiple vacancies within them according to the CBJ website. (Peter Segall/ Juneau Empire)

Help wanted Juneau: City feels the sting of the nationwide worker shortage

Openings include multiple City and Borough of Juneau departments.

This combination photo shows hiring signs in the windows of businesses in downtown Juneau this spring. As of Wednesday, the City and Borough of Juneau has 23 open employment positions, some with multiple vacancies within them according to the CBJ website. (Peter Segall/ Juneau Empire)
This is a photo of a young Gabrielle Shaawatgoox George-Frank smiling as she holds a fish caught near Angoon, Alaska where her family originates from. George-Frank is one of the five students who received this year’s Golden North Salmon Derby’s annual scholarships. (Courtesy Photo / Gabrielle Shaawatgoox George-Frank)

Salmon derby scholarship helps local student reach longtime goal

She shares what the upcoming event’s scholarship means to her.

This is a photo of a young Gabrielle Shaawatgoox George-Frank smiling as she holds a fish caught near Angoon, Alaska where her family originates from. George-Frank is one of the five students who received this year’s Golden North Salmon Derby’s annual scholarships. (Courtesy Photo / Gabrielle Shaawatgoox George-Frank)
(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

Police ID man missing from cruise ship

Coast Guard suspends search efforts

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire Aaron Surma, the executive director for National Alliance on Mental Illness Juneau and the Juneau Suicide Prevention Coalition, leads a safety plan workshop Tuesday night hosted by NAMI and the Juneau Suicide Prevention Coalition. The workshop was a collaborative brainstorming session with Juneau residents about how to create a safety plan that people can use to help someone who is experiencing a mental health or suicide crisis.

Study shows a rise in anxiety and depression among children in Alaska

Increase may indicate growing openness to discussing mental health, according to experts.

Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire Aaron Surma, the executive director for National Alliance on Mental Illness Juneau and the Juneau Suicide Prevention Coalition, leads a safety plan workshop Tuesday night hosted by NAMI and the Juneau Suicide Prevention Coalition. The workshop was a collaborative brainstorming session with Juneau residents about how to create a safety plan that people can use to help someone who is experiencing a mental health or suicide crisis.
Radio equipment sits atop Saddle Mountain near Juneau. The Juneau Police Department shares this equipment with other agencies. JPD is currently operating on a radio system that was dated to stop working eight years ago and faces an $11 million gap in funding to pay for a new one according to the police chief who presented a slideshow on the topic at the Assembly Committee of the Whole meeting Monday night. (Courtesy photo / Juneau Police Department)

Juneau Police Department seeks to update radio system

The department faces an $11 million gap in funding to pay for a new one

Radio equipment sits atop Saddle Mountain near Juneau. The Juneau Police Department shares this equipment with other agencies. JPD is currently operating on a radio system that was dated to stop working eight years ago and faces an $11 million gap in funding to pay for a new one according to the police chief who presented a slideshow on the topic at the Assembly Committee of the Whole meeting Monday night. (Courtesy photo / Juneau Police Department)
This photo shows the Holland America Line cruise ship Koningsdam in Juneau on Monday night. Hours later, the U.S. Coast Guard was notified a crew member had gone overboard near Juneau. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

Update: Search suspended for man missing from cruise ship

Coast Guard asks help for information

This photo shows the Holland America Line cruise ship Koningsdam in Juneau on Monday night. Hours later, the U.S. Coast Guard was notified a crew member had gone overboard near Juneau. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
on Monday night the Assembly gave the OK for Docks & Harbors to begin formulating a plan that would use $20 million of city funds to go toward electrifying two city-own cruise ships docks and redo some of the work at Juneau’s’s already existing electrified dock built in 2001. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

City takes step toward dock electrification

“There are many pieces to plugging in”

on Monday night the Assembly gave the OK for Docks & Harbors to begin formulating a plan that would use $20 million of city funds to go toward electrifying two city-own cruise ships docks and redo some of the work at Juneau’s’s already existing electrified dock built in 2001. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
Alex Whetman, suffering leg cramps and numb hands moments after winning the inaugural Ironman Alaska on Sunday, found something sufficient to divert his attention a minute or so later while in the midst of explaining his victory to the surrounding cameras and voice recorders. Whetman, a Salt Lake City resident participating in his fifth Iron Man, finished with a time of 9 hours, 11 minutes and 17 seconds, more than 12 minutes ahead of the second-place finisher. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Ironman Alaska chills and thrills

Rain and numbing cold add extra challenge to inaugural race in Juneau, but warmth from locals shines

Alex Whetman, suffering leg cramps and numb hands moments after winning the inaugural Ironman Alaska on Sunday, found something sufficient to divert his attention a minute or so later while in the midst of explaining his victory to the surrounding cameras and voice recorders. Whetman, a Salt Lake City resident participating in his fifth Iron Man, finished with a time of 9 hours, 11 minutes and 17 seconds, more than 12 minutes ahead of the second-place finisher. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Mr. Higgins, a large pony at Ridge Stables LLC owned by Chava Lee, munches on some grass as a smiling biker passes by. (Clarise Larson/ Juneau Empire)

Slightly off course:Sights and stories from Ironman Alaska’s sidelines

Grazing horses, fundraising efforts and more.

Mr. Higgins, a large pony at Ridge Stables LLC owned by Chava Lee, munches on some grass as a smiling biker passes by. (Clarise Larson/ Juneau Empire)
Alex Whetman, suffering leg cramps and numb hands moments after winning the inaugural Ironman Alaska on Sunday, found something sufficient to divert his attention a minute or so later while in the midst of explaining his victory to the surrounding cameras and voice recorders. Whetman, a Salt Lake City resident participating in his fifth Iron Man, finished with a time of 9 hours, 11 minutes and 17 seconds, more than 12 minutes ahead of the second-place finisher. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Update: Freezing hands and cramping legs still make it across the Ironman Alaska finish line

Willpower and horsepower?

Alex Whetman, suffering leg cramps and numb hands moments after winning the inaugural Ironman Alaska on Sunday, found something sufficient to divert his attention a minute or so later while in the midst of explaining his victory to the surrounding cameras and voice recorders. Whetman, a Salt Lake City resident participating in his fifth Iron Man, finished with a time of 9 hours, 11 minutes and 17 seconds, more than 12 minutes ahead of the second-place finisher. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
A Princess Cruise Line ship is docked in Juneau on Aug. 25, 2021. (Michael Lockett / Juneau Empire File)

Ships in Port for the week of Aug. 7

Here’s what to expect this week.

A Princess Cruise Line ship is docked in Juneau on Aug. 25, 2021. (Michael Lockett / Juneau Empire File)
A telephone booth, one of two in Tenakee Springs, awaits callers near the recreational boat harbor at the edge of town. While full-size phone booths have all but vanished in the United States, the two in Tenakee are all the more remarkable because both allows calls to be made free of charge. The drawback is the calls can only be local and calling cards for long-distance numbers aren’t always available for purchase. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Trivial Tenakee tidbits

Random bits of weirdness from a town with two phone booths and no bathhouse committee applicants

A telephone booth, one of two in Tenakee Springs, awaits callers near the recreational boat harbor at the edge of town. While full-size phone booths have all but vanished in the United States, the two in Tenakee are all the more remarkable because both allows calls to be made free of charge. The drawback is the calls can only be local and calling cards for long-distance numbers aren’t always available for purchase. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire Laird Jones, a Juneau resident who attended a sharing event Friday, shares the story of his great-aunt’s death while attending the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. She is still buried in one of its graveyard’s 14 unmarked graves, Jones said. His family is on a mission to bring her home to Alaska and to share her story.

Boarding school sharing event highlights family’s fight to bring their loved one home

“She is so far from here, we want to bring her home to be with family”

Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire Laird Jones, a Juneau resident who attended a sharing event Friday, shares the story of his great-aunt’s death while attending the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. She is still buried in one of its graveyard’s 14 unmarked graves, Jones said. His family is on a mission to bring her home to Alaska and to share her story.
This photo shows Delta Air Line’s ticket counter after hours inside the Juneau Airport. Delta has been consisting offering daily flights in and out of Alaska to Seattle throughout the year, though that is expected to change starting in October. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire)

Fewer fall flights expected, but Delta says year-round service to continue in Juneau

Daily flights expected until October.

This photo shows Delta Air Line’s ticket counter after hours inside the Juneau Airport. Delta has been consisting offering daily flights in and out of Alaska to Seattle throughout the year, though that is expected to change starting in October. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire)
An update on the possible expansion of the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center gives the public a glimpse at three new alternative action plans. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

Forest Service announces reworked Mendenhall area plans

A suppemental statement is expected this fall.

An update on the possible expansion of the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center gives the public a glimpse at three new alternative action plans. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)