Elizabeth Jenkins, Alaska's Energy Desk - Juneau

On Tuesday, Cruise Lines International Association hit Juneau with a lawsuit filed in federal court. It alleges the city misused a combination of marine passenger fees, port development fees and state excise taxes.

The association represents major cruise lines, like Celebrity, Disney and Holland America.

When it comes to how the city allegedly misused the funds, the lawsuit names a life-size bronze whale statue. The whale itself was paid for by private donors. But a $10 million park under construction — featuring an artificial island — will be paid for by tourists.

The president of the association, John Binkley, said he doesn’t think the whale benefits cruise ships and passengers. It’s located near the Douglas Bridge — about a mile from the port.

“And so while we’re not opposed to paying taxes, we feel that proposed island and the foundation for the whale sculpture is beyond what those funds should be used for. We’re just trying to get guidance from the court,” Binkley said.

Actually, the filing also asks the court to permanently stop “the assessment, collection and improper use” of the fees.

Binkley estimates, every year, up to $8 million is collected from passengers that arrive in Juneau. He said the association sent letters to the city about the whale park, but their concerns weren’t addressed.

In a press release, the municipality stated it was expending the fees in a “responsible” way. Kim Kiefer, the city manager, said she thought the city was doing its best.

“We’re trying to use those fees to facilitate the safe and effective  movement of those passengers throughout community, and I think we do that quite well,” Kiefer said.

The association said it would not be targeting other cruise ship ports with similar fees — like Ketchikan.

Juneau City Manager Kim Kiefer is retiring after more than 32 years of public service. Her decades-long career was celebrated at last night’s assembly meeting. Five previous Juneau mayors attended to commemorate Kiefer on all of her achievements.

Kiefer was appointed to city manager in 2012. Before that, she ran Parks and Recreation and the Zach Gordon Youth Center.

To a packed crowd, former Mayor Sally Smith reflected back to a time when her band wanted to play at Marine Park for the Fourth of July.

“And the city wanted $50 for us to play a free concert, which was pretty darned annoying,” Smith said. “So I went in and I talked to Kim and I complained about the fact that here were 60 people who were giving their time for Fourth of July and I didn’t think we should have to pay the 50 bucks. And she said you know, ‘I agree.’ And to this day, I have a feeling that Kim Kiefer put in that $50.”

Kiefer’s last day will be April 28. You can listen to the entire ceremony below:

If you’re planning a trip to Seattle after August, the price of plane tickets may go up. Delta Air Lines is stopping all flights to Juneau next fall, to return in May of 2017.

The airline competition has meant hot ticket prices, but Delta says the community’s reception has been chilly, so far.

If you booked a flight between September to January through Delta, your chances of arriving in Seattle late were about four out of 10, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. That’s about three times Alaska Airlines’ rate.

But Delta’s Vice President in Seattle Mike Medeiros  said that’s not the reason the airline decided to stop its fall and winter flights.

“Had nothing to do with weather. It’s purely commercial nothing to do with the operation,” Medeiros said.

He said, at least on the Seattle side, ticket sales were good.

In Juneau, “Candidly, it’s been poor. And yet we know that folks are traveling. It takes really both points of sale for a market to be successful,” he said.

For about 20 years, Alaska Airlines held a monopoly as Juneau’s only major airline provider. Delta arrived on the scene in the summer of 2014. Then, last year, the company announced year-round service to Juneau.

With the increased competition, ticket prices plummeted — sometimes by half. Medeiros said he knows the community was appreciative.

“However, while they’re appreciative of lower fares … local residents haven’t really supported Delta in a way that we really need them to continue the service,” Medeiros said.

So he thinks Delta dipped its big toe into somewhat tepid water. But travel analyst Scott McMurren said it’s not uncommon for airlines to operate seasonally in Alaska.

Look at larger hubs, like Anchorage, he said.

“Airlines like Condor and Icelandair and jetBlue and Sun Country, Air Canada’s another one. They only come in May and leave in September,” McMurren said.

For the consumer, the downside to all this means ticket sales could fluctuate dramatically.

McMurren thinks prices will spike after Aug. 31 when Alaska Airlines goes back to being the city’s only major airline — at least for the season.

“And the reason I think that is because that’s what happens in Sitka and Ketchikan after Delta stops flying there and Alaska is the only carrier. That’s what happens,” McMurren said.

After August, he estimates ticket prices could jump between 50 to 100 percent.

Medeiros said Alaska Airlines is what’s familiar to the customer base. But he’s not sure why Juneau hasn’t been more receptive to competition.

“There’s an extreme loyalty factor in the state of Alaska because that’s all they had,” Medeiros said.

And — at least next fall and winter — one major airline is all there will be.

Update | April 9, 4:59 p.m.

A nursing supervisor at Harborview Medical Center says Morgan Enright, 21, is currently in “critical” condition.
-Jennifer Canfield

Update | April 8, 8:56 p.m.

The sole survivor of a plane crash on Admiralty Island will be transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Bartlett Regional Hospital representative Jim Strader said 21-year-old Morgan Enright’s condition was listed as “guarded” around 6:45 p.m.

A nursing supervisor said shortly before 9 p.m. that Enright was not yet at Harborview but that she was expected to arrive at some point in the night.
-Jennifer Canfield

Update | April 8, 6:58 p.m.

The Alaska State Troopers have identified the victims of the plane crash in an online dispatch. All three are from Wrangell.

David Galla, 60
Greg Scheff, 61
Thomas Siekawitch, 57

Morgan Enright, 21, of Ketchikan, was identified as the sole surviving passenger. Earlier reports say she was transported to Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau. Troopers do not know the extent of her injuries.

According to the troopers dispatch, next of kin have been notified and recovery efforts for the bodies of the deceased are ongoing.

Troopers say they received a report from Sunshine Aviation at around 10:22 a.m. that their Cessna 206 was overdue. Shortly after, troopers were notified by the U.S. Coast Guard that an emergency locater transmitter was going off near Admiralty Island.

A Temsco helicopter responded to the transmission and found the crash site in “steep terrain.” The Coast Guard also went to the site. The National Transportation Safety Board has been notified of the crash and will investigate.
-Jennifer Canfield

Update | April 8, 4:38 p.m.

Three are dead after a plane registered to a Wrangell-based charter airline crashed on Admiralty Island Friday.

Four people were traveling on a Sunrise Aviation Cessna 206  between Wrangell and Angoon. Only one female passenger survived, according Sitka Mountain Rescue Captain Lance Ewers.

The Coast Guard received an emergency alert in the morning indicating the aircraft was in distress.

A Coast Guard helicopter located the downed plane 20 miles southeast of Angoon, but was unable to land due to turbulent winds. Members of Sitka Mountain Rescue were called in. Ewers said the team was dropped off 600 yards below the wreckage, which is located in snowy, alpine terrain.

“To everyone’s disbelief, they found one of the four passengers was alive,” Ewers said. “Then they immediately started mounting an effort to get her out of the plane where they could insert her into the helicopter.

Ewers is helping guide the team remotely from Sitka. The female survivor is being medevaced to Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau. Her medical condition in unknown.

State business licensing documents for Sunrise Aviation identify two owners: Tyler Robinson and David Galla. Both are listed with Wrangell mailing addresses.

FAA records show that both men are licensed commercial pilots.
-Elizabeth Jenkins

Update | April 8, 4:08 p.m.

Lance Ewers, captain of Sitka Mountain Rescue, confirmed that three passengers on the flight did not survive. One passenger is being medevaced to Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau.
-Elizabeth Jenkins

Original story

A plane crashed on Admiralty Island Friday morning southeast of Angoon after departing from Wrangell. A search for survivors is underway.

The Coast Guard received a distress signal this morning, and a commercial aircraft located wreckage from a Cessna 206. The plane is registered to Sunrise Aviation, a charter flight company in Wrangell.

According to a Coast Guard news release, there were four passengers on board.

A Coast Guard helicopter was unable to land at the crash site, so a team from Sitka Mountain Rescue will conduct a ground search.

The flight was heading to Angoon.
-Katarina Sostaric, KSTK

The Juneau Police Department recently held an event to bring people and service providers together called Hope, Not Heroin. Alaska lawmakers were there, as well as Gov. Bill Walker. And for some in the crowd, the event signified how communities are changing the conversation when it comes to talking about addiction.

Hope, Not Heroin started off with a Juneau firefighter describing how he uses Naloxone, also known as Narcan, in the field.

“Giving Narcan, we want to make sure that they are actually overdosing on an opiate,” he told the crowd. 

It’s an emergency drug that can save a person dying of an overdose. And it won’t be just emergency responders administering it anymore. Since the legislature passed Senate Bill 23, some Alaska pharmacies could start carrying it as early as the summer. Family members or friends could have access to the drug.

That’s one of the reasons why 19 year-old Nichelle Williams said she wanted to be here: Naloxone saved her life.

“I just came out of treatment from a heroin overdose. And so I came here to help support the bill and everything that’s going on with the heroin stuff,” Williams said.

Williams is exactly who this event is for. Around the room, there are about 31 booths with information about addiction, recovery, even proper syringe disposal. But for such a heavy topic, the atmosphere is light. There’s folky music and a food truck selling pizza.

Rick Hanby is sitting around a table with his wife and kids. He said they decided to come because they’ve known someone who’s struggled with opiate use.

“I think sooner or later, or one way or another, it affects somebody, everybody here. It affects our community. So this is a really good start to get everyone to start thinking and start talking about it,” Hanby said.

Lt. Kris Sell said it’s not common for police departments to organize an event like this. But over the past six months, they’ve tried to use other tactics to reduce heroin use. For decades, she said police across the country focused on the narcotics supply in the War on Drugs.

“And so now we’re acknowledging that it’s the demand that fuels this problem,” Sell said.

Seven people died in heroin-related deaths in 2015. This year, there’s been one. And Sell thinks, overall, 200 people in Juneau use heroin on a daily basis.

“Doubling to about 400 during the summer when we get in highly paid seasonal workers, like in the fishing industry. Some of the tourist industry,” Sell said.

So, for those struggling with addiction who want to get help, she said it can be difficult to navigate what treatment options are available. Unfortunately, in Juneau, the answer is not a lot.

Mitzi Privett, the interim director at Rainforest Recovery Center, said typically, they have some beds available for in-patient detox.

“Recently, we’ve been very full,” Privett said. “And so if someone came in that needed help right away, it would be much harder to serve them. If we had more options, we could say, ‘We’re not available to help but let us refer you to somebody who is.’”

Nichelle Williams was one of the people who was able to get in after her heroin overdose. But she thinks Juneau should have more options. Recently, her friend overdosed and died before she could get help.

“And it was really hard, and she didn’t have the option of treatment because when she went into the hospital, they were like, ‘We can’t help you,'” Williams said. “That’s how most people die in Juneau, if they want help and they try to get help, the hospital can’t help them detox.”

With her recovery, Williams said seeing support — like Saturday’s event — has been huge. But there’s still room for growth when it comes to educating people about addiction.

“When people call me a junkie or something, it makes me feel degraded,” Williams said. “I’m a normal human being. I just have an issue. Just the labeling, it really gets people down. It really does.”

While Juneau waits for more addiction treatment, Williams said there’s something else the community can do to help: be positive and keep the conversation going.

The Juneau Assembly is in the process of streamlining conditional use permits for marijuana businesses and establishing new guidelines. Assemblymember Maria Gladziszewski  raised concerns over an ad that recently popped up on Craigslist, boasting two acres of “land available for marijuana cultivation” for rent.

“And when we saw people on Craigslist saying, ‘Get in the green rush. Come to North Douglas or out the road and put a shed on the property.’ That was not what was discussed in the marijuana committee,” Gladziszewski said.

North Douglas is a low-density neighborhood where zoning allows commercial marijuana cultivation. The state already requires marijuana business owners be Alaska residents. But now, an amendment to Juneau’s land use code clarifies — when it comes to neighborhoods — they must also live on site. Although, if the owner approves, this would not stop a renter from starting a commercial grow operation.

Marijuana entrepreneurs may also be required to apply for a pot business license in addition to the state’s. The city license would give the municipality more local control if businesses fail to comply with city laws.

The assembly voted 6-3 on Monday to lower the licensing cost from $450 to $250. The assembly will reopen the discussion again on May 2 with public testimony.