Adelyn Baxter

A dog helped Juneau police locate a man suspected of shoving his girlfriend out of a moving vehicle Wednesday night.

According to a release from the Juneau Police Department, the female victim called 911 shortly after Giancarlo Gomez pushed her from a car going about 15 miles per hour near the McNugget intersection.

The woman was not seriously injured and was able to call police from the roadside along Egan Drive.

She told police she and Gomez had gotten into a fight while he gave her a ride home. She said he threatened to take her somewhere and kill her before shooting himself. She tried to call 911 from the car, leading to a struggle with Gomez for the phone. She told police Gomez hit her in the face.

Later, after she had been transported to the hospital, she told police Gomez had gone to her home looking for her.

He later called her threatening to shoot himself in front of her children.

Police went to the home to make sure everyone was safe. They found Gomez’s car nearby but could not find him.

While police searched, the children were transported to the police station for their safety.

Officer Steve Scherrer then noticed a dog waiting by the vehicle and watching a nearby meadow as if waiting for someone to come back.

Officers searched the meadow and found Gomez, who was hiding with a .40-caliber handgun.

They arrested him on multiple counts of assault and interfering with a report of domestic violence.

A robbery suspect allegedly swung a hatchet at employees Wednesday afternoon as he attempted to exit a store in the Nugget Mall.

According to a Juneau Police Department release, a Sportsman’s Warehouse employee approached Pavel Bogatko, 28, outside the store as he attempted to leave the area with a basket of merchandise without paying.

When they asked him to return the items, Bogatko allegedly took a hatchet out of the basket and swung it at an employee.

No one was hurt, but police say Bogatko then dropped the basket and took off on foot, still carrying the hatchet.

Employees called police who responded and pursued the suspect to Ka-See-Ann Drive where a witness said they saw a man jump a fence.

Police say Bogatko did not have the hatchet when they found him. Officers later found it in the woods nearby.

Sportsman’s Warehouse employees and security footage later confirmed Bogatko’s identity as the suspect, according to JPD.

The stolen items totaling $930 were recovered.

Police placed Bogatko under arrested and charged him with robbery and theft.

Online arrest records list him as currently in custody.

State education officials released new test data Wednesday that show more Juneau students are proficient in English, math and science than before.

It’s a positive trend, but the snapshots of test scores show plenty of room for improvement.

Students in grades three through nine throughout the state took the Performance Evaluation for Alaska’s Schools or PEAKS test in the spring. It was the second time this particular test was administered.

The results are meant to help schools, districts and parents measure how students improve from year to year.

More than 2,500 students took the test in Juneau at the end of last school year. The results published by the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development show a slight improvement over test scores from the year before.

In English language arts, only 48 percent of Juneau students demonstrated advanced or proficient understanding. Still, scores improved by four percentage points from the year before.

In math, nearly 60 percent of Juneau students scored below or far below proficient. That number was almost 63 percent the year before.

The Alaska Science Assessment is a separate test that’s also administered in the spring to students in grades four, eight and 10.

According to those results, 56 percent of the 1,000 Juneau students who took the test scored advanced or proficient. The previous year saw only 52 percent of students achieving that level.

For both tests, Juneau students did better than the statewide averages.

The PEAKS and ASA tests are aligned with state education standards and are just two of the standardized tests given to Alaskan students during the school year.

The Jensen-Olson Arboretum is closed until further notice due to bear activity.

A release from the City and Borough of Juneau says the arboretum manager decided to close the site Wednesday in order to keep humans and bears safe.

According to posts on the arboretum’s Facebook page, mountain ash berries and ripening apples attracted a black bear to the area in late August. Visitors were cautioned to enjoy the garden at their own risk.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10155563911371389&id=344775221388&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARC2jmi7nH7kybEqrJuJUx2YOmbx5zA54FShwiRHctWdwJzGlEIFEp3QRx-xMc2qjwyJxxcqDLLrEzFbwp6Zf4KVmqfvXv1yfnGtSgLRZhoNiOMP3if2harOc0wpDZyefH7OlNOTFZb7M3_JFoqQxtJFg-GO004SbzXpkST1Xln0Tbz_J11nfv4&__tn__=-R

The arboretum was also closed on Labor Day due to bear activity.

No visitor access will be granted for about two or three weeks. The arboretum and the city will post updates on their Facebook pages and on the city website.

Electric buses will hit the road in Juneau in the coming years.

The City and Borough of Juneau recently learned it will receive $1.5 million in federal grant money to help purchase a new electric bus and charging equipment. The city expects the new bus to enter use in 2022.

Capital Transit Superintendent Ed Foster said the city’s long-term goal is to gradually replace its diesel fleet with electric buses over the next decade.

“Electricity in Juneau is pretty economical and it, you know, comes from natural resources,” Foster said. “All the research tells us that Juneau is an ideal climate for electric vehicles, based on the fact that it doesn’t get real cold and it doesn’t get real hot.”

The city is already in the process of buying another electric bus from Proterra, a company that builds zero-emission electric buses. It’s partially funded by the same federal transit grant. That bus should be in use by late next year.

“Electric buses are — they’re about twice the cost of the diesel buses we buy, so they’re pretty expensive to buy. The grants that we’re able to get makes it a lot easier,” Foster said.

Juneau was one of 52 projects across 41 states to receive grant funding through the program.

The city already uses three electric Chevrolet Bolts as support vehicles for the Capital Transit fleet.

Foster said the city’s street maintenance crew also uses an electric vehicle.

The Juneau Assembly unanimously approved Robert Palmer as the city and borough’s new municipal attorney Wednesday night.

Palmer has served as acting city attorney since Gov. Bill Walker appointed his predecessor, Amy Mead, to be a Juneau Superior Court judge in July.

He joined the city’s law department as an assistant municipal attorney in 2014. Originally from Washington state, Palmer previously worked at a private law firm on Bainbridge Island and as a law clerk for the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Before that, he served as a National Park Service ranger for 14 years.

The Assembly’s Human Resources Committee interviewed candidates on Tuesday and later offered Palmer the position, which he accepted.

Palmer will receive an annual salary of $140,000 per year.