Clarise Larson

Sealaska Heritage Institute is seeking Alaska Native artists to pitch designs for Celebration – the every-other-year gathering of Indigenous people in Southeast Alaska. The multi-day event takes place June 5 through 8.

SHI President Kaaháni Rosita Worl says this year’s theme is “Together we live in balance,” and designs should depict that using Northwest Coast style art. The winning design will appear on all Celebration materials, including t-shirts and the event program.

Worl said creating a balance between the different Southeast Alaska Native people in the region is essential to maintaining lasting relationships for future generations. 

“The whole concept of social and spiritual balance is a basic underlying theme or value in our culture,” she said. “We need to have both social and spiritual balance to maintain a healthy society.” 

Worl said balance is an important belief in Lingít culture that goes back thousands of years. An example of that can be seen with the Lingít moieties of Raven and Eagle. She said even today, it’s essential that a balance is struck between the moieties during gatherings. 

“When we have someone from a Raven clan speak, we have to have balance and so an Eagle has to respond,” Worl said. “If we don’t do that, our belief is that, you know, the spirits can go wandering, and cause harm. 

Worl said SHI is asking artists to encapsulate that balance not only between Alaska Native peoples but also in the natural world around Juneau. The sketches of proposed concepts are due Jan. 12 and artists can apply online. The winning artist will receive a cash award.

Five-year-old Axel Boline didn’t have much to say after plunging into Juneau’s icy cold ocean water on Monday afternoon.

“It was really cold,” he said. “I’m just cold.”

But for his mom, Amanda Triplett, running into the cold water with her son — alongside dozens of other people — signified the start of a new chapter. 

“It is cold, that initial shock, but you come out afterward and everyone’s smiling and bundled up and it’s fun to come out and be here with the Juneau community,” she said.

More than a hundred people spent the first afternoon of the new year partaking in the Polar Bear Dip at Auke Recreation Area, a three-decade-long New Year’s tradition in Juneau. 

The countdown began under cloudy skies, with temperatures in the mid-30s. At 1 p.m. sharp, the crowd of brave souls crashed into the water at Auke Bay. 

For most, it was a mad scramble in and then back out to one of the handful of fires scattered across the rocky beach.

That was the case for high school students Della Mearig, Zoe Lessard and Miranda Stichert, who said they were the only three people who showed up out of their entire cross-country team. They said they didn’t mind because so many other people showed up. 

“It’s so hype that everyone is here,” Stichert said. 

A few people managed to wade in the water for a bit longer. Half a dozen Capital City Fire/Rescue swimmers were there alongside them, in case of an emergency. 

Pete Boyd with CCFR said the rescue suits aren’t the warmest to wear in the chilly waters. But, he said it’s important to be there in case anything goes awry, and to support the community.  

“It’s just really nice to get out with and show that CCFR is part of the community, that we’re here to help out everybody,” he said. 

Boyd said there were no reported injuries or emergencies at the dip on Monday.

In this newscast:

• A network of Artic observers spanning nearly all of Alaska’s northern coast is helping to center Indigenous knowledge in climate change research,
• Sitka struggles to cope with the crowding and congestion from the rapid growth of cruise tourism in recent years,
• In Anchorage a lawsuit in federal court seeks to have Donald Trump disqualified from Alaska’s 2024 presidential election ballot.

The city’s only electric bus hasn’t hit the road in more than a year. 

Instead, it’s been sitting in a parking lot in the Mendenhall Valley since November of 2022. Throughout the past year, it has undergone numerous repairs but remains out of commission. 

Capital Transit Superintendent Rich Ross says the bus’s problems have been a disappointing start to an exciting plan to electrify Juneau’s bus fleet.

“Being early adopters of new technology, we expected some hiccups along the way,” he said. “We definitely did not expect them to be this significant.”

Juneau’s electric city bus began to run regular routes in the spring of 2021. At the time it was considered groundbreaking as one of the first municipally operated electric buses in the state. It cost about $1 million along with charging infrastructure and was paid for using a federal transportation grant and a state settlement fund.

Ross said the bus first went out of commission because of issues with its wiring harness. He said it took the Southern California manufacturer, Proterra, until May of this year to source the needed repairs. But, after that fix was done – another problem surfaced.

“We were test-driving the bus to verify the repairs and one of the transmissions exploded on it,” he said. 

The replacement for that transmission didn’t arrive until this November. Ross said that was due in part to Proterra filing bankruptcy this summer, which delayed the process a bit. He said the transmission problem has now been fixed, but there are still a multitude of other issues keeping it idled this winter. The additional repairs are expected to take at least another six months and have all been paid for by Proterra. 

Despite the problems with the bus, seven more electric buses are on their way to Juneau next year. They are manufactured by a different company, Gillig, which is the same brand that makes Capital Transit’s diesel fleet. Ross said that will hopefully mean easier maintenance and more reliable buses than the first one – but that isn’t a guarantee.

Ross said moving forward with newer technology is always a process, but he thinks the benefits will outweigh the problems that may arise. 

“It’ll greatly reduce emissions,” he said. “It’s one of the Assembly’s goals to reduce emissions and one of the low-hanging fruit to being able to do that is transportation.”

The new buses were purchased with funding from the Federal Transit Administration and were supposed to arrive early next summer. However, Ross said the build date for the buses got delayed, meaning they won’t likely be shipped to Juneau until late fall. 

In this newscast:

• The National Weather Service office in Juneau issued a high wind warning for downtown Juneau and Douglas,
• Sealaska Heritage Institute released new language learning apps in endangered Southeast Alaska languages,
• The Alaska Marine Highway System is unsure if it will have enough crew to operate all seven ferry ships this summer,
• The Alaska Marine Highway System plans to ask shipyards in the coming weeks to submit proposals to build a replacement for the ferry Tustumena.

With the holiday season well underway, local health officials are encouraging residents to incorporate some precautions for seasonal respiratory viruses.

Bartlett Regional Hospital spokesperson Erin Hardin said that by taking care of individual health needs, people can help take care of the community’s health as well.

“It’s a good reminder to continue to take reasonable precautions, stay home when you’re feeling sick and keep up to date on your vaccines,” she said. “That really helps keep both the health care system and ourselves as healthy as possible.”

Contagious viruses like COVID-19, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus, known as RSV, continue to hit households in Alaska this holiday season. This week, 21 people were admitted to hospitals across the state with confirmed cases of COVID-19. That’s according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s nationwide tracker. 

The state’s weekly respiratory virus bulletin updated on Dec. 16 cited just over 60 cases of RSV, 70 cases of flu and 235 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases across Alaska. 

Hardin said Wednesday that the Juneau hospital has seen similar trends in seasonal illness. 

“We had an early rise of respiratory illnesses, particularly flu in the community of Juneau, that really mirrored what we kind of saw happening at the statewide level,” she said. “But fortunately, that didn’t translate to higher admissions here at the hospital.”

Hardin said admission numbers have continued to remain low going into the holiday season, though she said they expect a minor uptick as the new year approaches. 

Residents hoping to test for COVID-19 before gatherings should be aware of changes to where you can find tests locally. The Juneau municipality stopped offering free tests to the public at libraries and city hall midway through this past summer, according to George Schaaf, who was the logistics section chief for the city’s emergency operations center throughout the pandemic. 

Schaaf said the city’s supply of free tests ran out shortly after the federal COVID-19 emergency officially ended in May.

“That’s why we no longer have access to purchase them and be reimbursed from the federal government for the purchase of the test kits,” he said. 

Schaaf said some people still call the city even now to ask if free tests are available. He tells them to purchase kits at local pharmacies or retail stores in Juneau that carry them.

There is still a way to get tests for free, but it might take a bit longer than a walk or drive to the local pharmacy. This fall the federal government revived its program to provide free tests to residents who order them through the US Postal Service. People in Alaska can utilize that program now, though it’s not clear how long it will last. Each household order comes with four at-home tests. 

For residents looking for vaccines, Juneau Public Health Center’s nurse manager Alison Gottschlich said most local pharmacies and health care providers have the most recent COVID-19, flu and RSV vaccines. 

She encouraged residents to call ahead of time to make sure the vaccines are available or call the Juneau Public Health Center with any questions about availability or insurance coverage at different locations around Juneau.