Grim news dominated the capital city’s local headlines in 2015, including austere budgets from the state, city, and school district, a groundswell of concern over heroin overdoses, two high-profile trials revisiting past killings in Hoonah and Juneau, a spate of new murders and our newly elected mayor’s unexpected death.
In January, Gov. Bill Walker set the tone for budget deliberations with a dour State of the Budget Address.
“My message to you tonight will be simple. It won’t be easy, but we’ll manage Alaska out of the fiscal challenges facing our state.”
Lawmakers were slow to reach consensus on a scaled-back budget. As the clock wound down on the fiscal year, the state was forced to mail out 10,000 layoff notices to state workers in case of a possible government shutdown. Eventually, lawmakers approved a budget that put a dent in the deficit but largely relied on savings to make ends meet.
Skiers and snowboarders couldn’t even find solace on the slopes because Mother Nature didn’t cooperate. Without enough natural snow, the city’s Eaglecrest Ski Area only partially opened and shut down early in March.
For the upcoming budget year, Gov. Walker has proposed more austerity, new taxes, and a sovereign wealth fund concept that rearranges existing state revenue and Alaska Permanent Fund payouts to sustainably fund state government.
In business news, Delta began its second year serving Juneau by expanding its service year-round. The competition with Alaska Airlines has certainly driven air fares down though the frequency of Delta weather cancellations and delays compared to Alaska has left some travelers with heartburn about its reliability.
Juneau was able to celebrate the completion and grand opening of Sealaska Heritage Institute’s new Walter Soboleff Building in May. The architecture is a blend of traditional and modern, including a clan house inside. SHI President Rosita Worl said she knew it would be a special place.
“But what we hadn’t counted on, what I hadn’t thought about was this almost sacred feeling that you get when you go into that clan house,” she said.
The Soboleff Building put to rest a former downtown eyesore. And around the corner, the city secured contracts to demolish another one, the Gastineau Apartments, which burned in 2012.
Hiker Kathleen Turley, her photo of a bald eagle caught in a fur trap and subsequent trap springing fired up trappers and wildlife interests around the state at the end of 2014. In 2015, she was on a rollercoaster ride after getting dinged with citations for hindering trapping, having her case dismissed, then being sued in small claims court by the trapper.
“They wanted to make a point that it’s not OK to spring people’s traps and they’ve made that point because they won as far as that goes,” she said.
Ultimately, she didn’t have to pay any fines or damages.
Check back tomorrow for a look at the most popular stories of 2015 at KTOO.org.
