Clarise Larson

Juneau residents will have a chance to learn more about the three finalists for Juneau’s next city attorney this week.

The candidates will be interviewed by the Assembly and partake in an assessment exercise at a public meeting at 5:15 p.m. Thursday at City Hall.

Two of the candidates live in Juneau, and one of them previously lived in Alaska. 

Rebecca Convery is currently the associate deputy general counsel for the U.S. Army’s Office of General Counsel in Washington, D.C. Before that, she was assistant attorney general for the State of Alaska, a city and county attorney in Montana and a law clerk for a justice on the Montana Supreme Court.

Convery went to law school at the University of Montana and received a Master’s of Law from the University of Florida. 

Megan Costello owns the Foghorn Law Office in Douglas. She was previously an assistant municipal attorney with CBJ and the chief legal officer at Bartlett Regional Hospital.  

Costello went to law school at the Lewis and Clark Law School, and after graduating she was a judicial clerk for the Dillingham Superior Court. She grew up in Kodiak and has been a Juneau resident since 2013.

And Emily Wright is currently an assistant municipal attorney with CBJ. She also worked for the Alaska Court System, the State of Alaska and was a law clerk with the Denver District Court.

She went to law school at the University of Colorado and has a master’s in teaching from the University of Alaska Southeast. She has lived in Juneau since 2011.

Juneau’s outgoing city attorney Robert Palmer announced plans to resign in May. He’s held the position since 2018. Come August, he’ll begin working with an Anchorage-based firm that deals with both municipal and private law. He will continue to reside in Juneau.

The meeting tomorrow can be watched in person or streamed over Zoom. The Assembly will head into executive session with each candidate during a portion of the interviews.

A Juneau man suspected of committing an assault back in January is now considered a missing person.

Corey B. Coleman, 55, was listed on the Juneau Police Department’s missing persons page in early July.

According to Deputy Chief of Police Krag Campbell, police continue to seek any information about Coleman’s whereabouts, and the other open cases listed on their website too. 

“It provides some information out there for community members to keep it relevant. Because some of the people that are missing, we’d love to get information about them,” he said. 

Police say Coleman is the suspect in an assault that left an elderly man with a gunshot wound in an area near Sunshine Cove. He was last seen on Jan. 10, walking on a trail toward Berner’s Bay cabin. 

The missing person’s page on JPD’s website is relatively new — it was launched in 2022. It’s dedicated to highlighting recent and longtime missing persons cases in Juneau.

On his missing person’s page, Coleman is described as a white male who is 5 feet, 11 inches tall and slender. He has light brown hair and green eyes. He is also reportedly missing his left ring finger, due to an injury suffered during the assault. 

Campbell said Coleman wasn’t dressed in warm clothing and it was below freezing when he was last seen.

“People wouldn’t normally be able to be outside in those conditions for very long. And if he is deceased, then we want that case to be out there, so if he’s ever found or his remains are found, we can find that and tie it back to that person in that area,” he said. 

Campbell encourages anyone with information on this case or other missing persons cases to call JPD dispatch at 907-586-0600 or submit an anonymous tip through Juneau Crimeline.

In this newscast:

• A landslide in downtown Juneau displaced at least seven people in the Strasbaugh Apartments building late Sunday morning amid heavy rain.
• A federal judge in Juneau sentenced two members of a Washington state family who sold over 1 million dollars of fake Alaska Native art in Ketchikan.
• In the wake of five police shootings in Anchorage in less than two months, the Party for Socialism and Liberation-Anchorage is pushing for the city to establish an independent police review board to increase transparency and accountability.
• The wet weather that drenched much of Southeast Alaska over the weekend is expected to persist through tomorrow morning.

Update, 7 p.m. Monday:

A Juneau man has died after he was shot multiple times by police on Front Street in downtown Juneau on Monday afternoon. 

The Alaska Bureau of Investigation identified 35-year-old Juneau resident Steven Kissack as the man involved in the incident. He was declared dead at Bartlett Regional Hospital.

According to a release from the Alaska Department of Public Safety, an officer from the Juneau Police Department contacted Kissack on Front Street shortly after 1 p.m. about an assault that allegedly took place on Sunday. Police say Kissack produced a knife and was not listening to the officer. The officer called for backup from other law enforcement officers in the area. 

After several minutes of telling him to drop the knife, officers shot “less-lethal bean bag-style rounds” at him. The release says he then charged officers with the knife and multiple officers shot at him. He was then given CPR and taken to the hospital shortly after. 

The police officers who shot Kissack have been placed on administrative leave per department policy and an Alaska Wildlife Trooper who also opened fire has been placed on 72 hours of administrative leave. Their names will be released in three days.

In videos of the incident shared with KTOO by witnesses, Kissack appears to hold an object toward officers and approaches them before being shot multiple times. He begins to run as officers continue shooting. He then falls to the ground. 

Kissack was a member of Juneau’s unhoused community, and was often seen downtown accompanied by his dog, Juno. She’s currently being housed by Juneau Animal Rescue. 

The Alaska Bureau of Investigation is now in charge of the investigation. Once complete, the Alaska Office of Special Prosecutions will determine if the lethal use of force was justified.

In a statement at a Juneau Assembly committee meeting Monday night, City Manager Katie Koester called the situation a tragedy.

“Our hearts and minds are with the families of everyone involved in the tragic incident,” she said.

Original story:

A man was taken to the hospital Monday after an altercation with police on Front Street in downtown Juneau. 

Speaking from the scene of the incident, Juneau Police Chief Derek Bos said he had little information to share at the time.

“All I can tell you is we did have an officer-involved shooting with an armed suspect,” he said. “Beyond that, I don’t have any more information.”

In a video of the incident shared with KTOO by a witness, the man appears to hold an object and approaches police before being shot multiple times. At one point, he begins to run away as officers continue shooting. He then falls to the ground. 

Another witness who asked to remain anonymous said the man was holding a knife. Police did not immediately confirm what the object was, how many officers were involved in the incident or how many shots were fired.

The area of the incident was taped off and surrounded by police vehicles and ambulances around 1:30 p.m. The man was receiving CPR.

Bos said the man was transported to Bartlett Regional Hospital. His condition is not known at this time. 

“There’s no threat to the public, we’re not concerned about anyone else’s safety right now,” he said. “This was a contained situation and it is unfortunate.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

A landslide on Gastineau Avenue late Sunday morning displaced at least seven people in the Strasbaugh Apartments building. 

According to Tom Mattice, the city’s Emergency Programs Manager, no injuries or major damage to the building has been reported, but city officials recommended residents evacuate as a precaution. 

Heavy rain triggered the slide, which brought down some trees, large debris and mud onto the road. Mattice said two more slides have also occurred in downtown Juneau as of Sunday afternoon, and more are likely as the rain continues. 

“We could definitely see more events over the next couple of days,” he said. “People who live in the affected areas should be thinking about their safety, and if they choose to self evacuate or spend the night at a friend’s house, it’s never a bad idea.”

The National Weather Service Juneau has issued a flood watch through Monday evening, and significant rainfall is expected through Tuesday. 

“The bottom line is, is if you’re at the base of a big hill, you’re going to see a lot of water coming off that hill. And sooner or later, you may see mud with it,” Mattice said.

City Manager Katie Koester said the city is not evacuating any more people at the moment. 

“This is the beginning of a three-day rain event, so it’s going to get wetter,” she said. “If people have somewhere else safe to stay for the night or a couple, might not be a bad idea. But that’s a personal decision right now.”

Gastineau Avenue was the site of another landslide that displaced residents and heavily damaged a home in September 2022.

According to Deputy City Manager Robert Barr, evacuations for residents of the Strasbaugh Apartments have been voluntary so far per recommendations from the city. The Red Cross is assisting displaced residents. 

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates. 

The candidate filing period for Juneau’s local election opened at 8 a.m. sharp on Friday. And like clockwork, Juneau residents Nano Brooks and Emily Mesch were patiently waiting outside of City Hall, sipping coffee and chatting till the time struck. 

Brooks and Mesch ran for seats on the Assembly last year but lost to Ella Adkison and Paul Kelly. This time around, they’re running against each other. But Brooks said he hopes to see more people turn out, too. 

“The more people that run the better. I love seeing people get involved and throwing their hat in the race,” he said. 

In this October’s local election, there will be six open seats: three on the Assembly — including the mayor’s seat — and three on the school board. There are also a few ballot propositions.

All of the open seats can be filled by anyone who is qualified to vote in Juneau and has been a resident for at least one year. For the Assembly seats, you also have to live in the district you’re running for.

The deadline to file is on July 22 at 4:30 p.m.

Brooks and Mesch are vying for the Assembly seat that represents parts of the Mendenhall Valley, Auke Bay and Out-the-road. Mesch said she’ll advocate for the same things she did last year — more housing, supporting schools and balancing cruise ship tourism. 

She said what’s different this time is the rising stakes for those issues. 

“I think on some level, everything is being at least attempted, but I think those are the things that we need to redouble our efforts on and making sure that we really find a solution for them,” she said. 

Brooks said he and Mesch share similar goals, and he also wants to focus his campaigning on the recent hospital and school funding crises. And he said he hopes some of the ballot propositions can help boost voter turnout. 

“I think this is all good things for getting people engaged and getting into the topics of the community,” he said. “Regardless of the topic on the ballot initiatives, when ballot initiatives are brought forth like this, that shows active community members, and that’s always a great thing.”

City Clerk Beth McEwen was ready to go Friday morning to help the pair file their paperwork. She said she recommends that people file sooner rather than later. There’s more information on how to do that on the election tab on the city’s website. 

“Don’t wait until the last minute on the last day. Sometimes people get confused as to which forms to turn in,” she said. “We want to be able to help and facilitate that, and we don’t want to have to disqualify someone because they turned in the wrong form.”

The clerk’s office will be updating the website with certified candidates throughout the filing period. In an interview with KTOO in late June, incumbent Mayor Beth Weldon said that she planned to run for a third term this election. 

“It’s been an extremely tough decision to make, especially with my husband, Greg’s, passing,” she said. “But I just come back to the same thoughts that I’m committed to Juneau, and I think I still have some things to offer.”

But Assembly members Michelle Hale and Wáahlaal Gídaag Barbara Blake said they don’t plan to run again. 

The school board seats that are opening up are currently filled by Will Muldoon, Elizabeth Siddon and Amber Frommherz. All three told KTOO in May that they were still deciding whether to run again. 

Ballots will be mailed to registered voters beginning on Sept. 12 and must be postmarked or returned by Oct. 1.