Clarise Larson

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Waesche is currently docked in the capital city at the downtown cruise ship dock as it prepares to venture to the Bering Sea to conduct maritime security operations and fisheries enforcement.

The 418-foot-long national security cutter and its roughly 150 crew arrived in Juneau on Thursday morning. It’s homeported in Alameda, California.

Petty Officer 1st Class Travis McGee said the ship is in Juneau for a logistical stop as it heads north for an Arctic District patrol in the Bering Sea. 

“Their primary focus on this patrol is going to be fisheries enforcement, but they’re also able to respond to other missions as well, including search and rescue,” he said in an interview Friday afternoon. 

McGee could not confirm how long the ship would remain in Juneau before continuing on. He said the Coast Guard typically does not release the specific timelines of vessel movements.

Juneau residents will have a chance to weigh in on what they’d like the city to prioritize during its upcoming budget process as it faces a multimillion-dollar budget hole. 

The city will host the first of three public workshops on the topic on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Filipino Community Hall downtown. The workshop is filled up – the city capped participation at 25 people – but people can join a waitlist. 

During last fall’s municipal election, Juneau voters approved municipal tax cuts that will lower the city’s revenue by an estimated $10 to 12 million. At the upcoming workshops, city officials will break down what services are at stake. Residents will have a chance to share their thoughts and work through different scenarios to balance the budget. Those could include cuts to city services or increases in local sales taxes.

The upcoming workshops come after a city survey that asked residents to pick what city programs and services are most important to fund and to pick what services to reduce funding for. The list includes programs like libraries and museums, trails and parks, and homelessness services. 

The survey also asked what residents want the Assembly to prioritize, like whether to keep taxes low, continue to support local businesses year-round, or fund affordable housing projects. The survey closed earlier this week and the results have yet to be shared with the public. 

City officials say the survey and the public workshops will help inform the Assembly in the coming months as it decides how to move forward with the budget. 

Two other workshops are slated in the coming weeks at the Mendenhall Valley Library on Feb.  24 and Douglas Library on March 3. Both are also full, but people can join a waitlist for potential future workshops. The Assembly will also host a listening session for the public to weigh in on the process on April 15.

A Juneau representative’s proposal to ban law enforcement officers from wearing face masks on duty got a chilly reception from some state lawmakers during its first hearing on Tuesday.

Rep. Sara Hannan, D-Juneau, prefiled House Bill 250 in early January ahead of the legislative session. In a presentation to the House State Affairs Committee, Hannan called her bill “pro-law enforcement.” She said it’s aimed at increasing police transparency and communication in Alaska. 

“Masked law enforcement is wrong on many levels,” she said. “When officers conceal their faces, they compromise transparency, communication and the public’s perception of accountability.”

Hannan’s bill comes in the wake of public outrage across the nation after a masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Minnesota woman on camera. Another man was killed by a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis just weeks later. 

The deaths drew heavy criticism. Minnesota and Congressional leaders pressed the Trump Administration over the facts and legality of actions by federal officers. That’s as protests over immigration enforcement have ramped up across the country. Rep. Andi Story, also D-Juneau, spoke about the unrest in Minnesota, which is her home state. 

“I think about the harm that’s happening, what we’re hearing about on the federal level now, when people are coming into communities,” she said. “It’s significant psychological harm that I have been hearing and reading about, and I think that’s what you’re trying to prevent in this bill for that happening here.”

Other states across the U.S. have sought to impose similar bans. On Monday, a federal court blocked enforcement of a law in California that sought to bar federal and local officers from wearing masks. The judge ruled it violated a federal doctrine that prohibits state laws from discriminating against the federal government — in this case, federal agents. 

However, Hannan’s bill, as drafted, would ban anyone acting as a law enforcement officer in Alaska from wearing a mask while on duty — including federal, state and local agents. The ban exempts medical masks, transparent safety shields, cold-weather masks or masks worn by undercover officers. 

An officer who violates the ban would be charged with a Class B misdemeanor per violation, which is punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $2,000 fine. 

At Tuesday’s hearing, some lawmakers were skeptical.

“I’m seriously concerned about this bill,” said Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake.

He argued that masks are a tool that can prevent attacks and doxxing of officers. He questioned whether the bill was necessary in Alaska. 

“I have never seen a masked officer that wasn’t on a snowmobile actually in Alaska,” McCabe said. “So I’m not sure that this is actually a problem, but I do think it is a tool.”

Hannan said ahead of this year’s legislative session that she saw the bill as a way to start a conversation about the issue. It’s unclear if it will have enough support to advance in the Legislature.

The Juneau Assembly approved more than $2 million in city funding to support four proposed affordable housing projects on Monday.

The money comes from the city’s Affordable Housing Fund. The fund was created five years ago to help combat the city’s housing shortage. It offers grants or loans to projects that aim to build more low- and middle-income housing.

The projects approved Monday are expected to create more than 40 housing units, including both single-family homes and apartment complexes located throughout the borough.

Dave D’Amato is a developer attempting to renovate the shuttered Bergmann Hotel in downtown Juneau into an apartment complex. In an interview on Tuesday, he said it hasn’t been easy.

“There’s quite a few elements that are outside the city’s control that are conspiring to make building very challenging and very costly,” he said. 

Last night, he got some help with those costs. The Assembly approved a $900,000 loan for his project that would turn the historic 46-room hotel into an 18-unit apartment complex. The loan is close to one-third of the total projected cost of $3.1 million. 

D’Amato said he hopes to have the units ready for renters within two years. He’s been working on redeveloping the building since 2017.

“I was really pleased that the Assembly decided to preserve the Bergmann and to simultaneously add 18 housing units to its affordable housing profile moving forward,” he said. 

The Assembly also approved two grants to Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority. One grant is for $800,000 to help fund the construction of 16 single-family homes in the Pederson Hill subdivision, some of which are currently being built. The other grant is for $250,000 to help pay for building five single-family homes on North Douglas.

Southeast Endeavors, LLC was approved for a $200,000 loan to construct a fourplex on Lee Street in Auke Bay. The Assembly did not vote on a fifth project that was up for a $150,000 grant to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul because of a clerical error. That vote was pushed to a later meeting.

At the meeting, the Assembly also approved zoning changes at two locations in Lemon Creek to allow for more housing developments in the future.

In this newscast:

• The Juneau Assembly will vote Monday night on whether to approve $2.3 million worth of city funding to support five proposed affordable housing projects.
• Support for grant-funded positions and teacher contracts became the main issue during the Juneau School Board’s budget public forum last week.
• Alaska’s state government remains in search of a solution to its long-running budget problems.
• Kipnuk was one of the Yukon-Kuskokwim villages hit hardest by the remnants of Typhoon Halong in October. This week, residents are starting to vote on whether they want to rebuild their community, or relocate to higher ground.

The Juneau Assembly will vote Monday night on whether to approve $2.3 million worth of city funding to support five proposed affordable housing projects. 

The money comes from the city’s Affordable Housing Fund. The city created the fund five years ago to address its housing shortage — specifically, the lack of low- and middle-income rentals. Since then, the city has awarded nearly $13 million in grants or loans from the fund. This round, $2.5 million is available.

The city uses criteria like proximity to public transportation and long-term affordability to decide which projects get funding and how much. The projects proposed this year would help create more than 40 units of housing, comprising both single-family homes and apartment complexes, all across the borough.

The city uses a formula based on Juneau’s income data to determine eligibility for affordable housing programs. People qualify as “low-income” if their household or individual income is at or below 80% of the Area Median Income. In Juneau in 2025, 80% AMI for a single person is $72,080 and $102,960 for a four-person household.

The Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority is up for two grants. One is for $800,000 to help fund the construction of 16 single-family homes in the Pederson Hill subdivision. The other grant is for $250,000 to help pay for building five single-family homes on North Douglas.

Another applicant, Dave D’Amato with Brave Enterprises, LLC, is up for a $900,000 loan to help fund the renovation of the shuttered Bergmann Hotel in downtown Juneau. The project would turn the historic 46-room hotel into an 18-unit apartment complex.

Shawn Kantola with Southeast Endeavors, LLC, is asking for a $200,000 loan to construct a fourplex on Lee Street in Auke Bay. And the Society of St. Vincent de Paul requested a $150,00 grant to help pay for long-term maintenance of its Teal Street facilities. 

Juneau residents have the chance to testify on ordinances on Monday’s agenda – as well as on non-agenda items – in person or online before the Assembly votes. People who want to testify online must notify the city clerk by 4 p.m. before the meeting. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall.