KTOO News Department

In this newscast:

• Juneau choreographer Hali Duran explores the six stages of a queen bumblebee’s life cycle in Acoustic Turbulence — a new production of Orpheus Project, showing this weekend.
• A large gravel lot in the hear of downtown Juneau’s tourism corridor has sat empty for years. But that might soon change.
• In a recent budget meeting, the Juneau School Board discussed adding rather than cutting positions next school year.
• Alaska saw its eighth hottest year on record last year.

In this newscast:

• The City of Hoonah has a new chief of police, and his hiring comes after the last chief was fired while trying to resign last spring.
• The Juneau School Board will hold its first reading of the school district’s budget tomorrow.
• Nearly all who testified at a public hearing yesterday afternoon at the state capitol were in favor of a Juneau representative’s bill that seeks to ban law enforcement officers from wearing face masks on duty in Alaska.
• The U.S Forest Service officially kicked off its public process for the Tongass National Forest Plan Revision on Wednesday.
• Travelers can now schedule ferry rides with the Alaska Marine Highway for May through September.
• The first round of fundraising reports in the 2026 governor’s race is out, shedding some light on a crowded field.

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan is scheduled to deliver his annual address to the Alaska Legislature at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

The Alaska Legislature invites the congressional delegation to deliver an address while they’re in session each year. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is scheduled to address the Legislature in March.

Sullivan was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2014. Prior to that, he served as Alaska’s Attorney General and Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. He’s up for re-election in November, and is being challenged by former U.S. Representative for Alaska Mary Peltola.

Watch a live stream here, on KTOO 360TV or tune into KTOO 104.3 or 91.7 FM.

In this newscast:

• State transportation officials will hold a virtual public forum tomorrow evening on proposed safety improvements at one of Juneau’s most dangerous intersections.
• For the first time, Juneau police confirm immigration enforcement activity in Alaska’s capital during President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration push.
• A proposed mining road in Juneau is up for public comment.
• Mariculture experts and tribal members gathered in Juneau last week to talk about the pressing obstacles – and opportunities – shaping the mariculture industry in Southeast Alaska.

In this newscast:

• Hundreds of thousands of people attended the Seahawks Super Bowl 2026 parade in Seattle on Wednesday. Juneau resident and Seahawks superfan Donna James was one of them,
• 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 Juneau School District released a budget simulation tool on Wednesday that allows people to build and submit what they think the district’s budget should look like,
• A Juneau representative’s proposal to ban law enforcement officers from wearing face masks on duty got a chilly reception from some lawmakers during its first hearing earlier this week,
• Monday is Elizabeth Peratrovich Day and KTOO’s Yvonne Krumrey spoke with Juneau author Ernestine Hayes about Peratrovich’s influence and what she thinks the activist would do if she was alive today

In this newscast:

• The state Senate will consider a bill meant to increase educational options for Alaska students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
• Staff from Alaska Marine Lines and the Alaska Marine Highway System discussed EV shipping safety during a panel held by Renewable Juneau, an advocacy nonprofit, yesterday.
• KTOO’s Mike Lane sat down with Akanksha Basil to learn about her efforts to strengthen and streamline disaster response coordination in Juneau.
• There will now be more time to speak out on the future of the Federal Subsistence Board, which has authority over hunting and fishing on federal public lands.