KTOO News Department

In this newscast: The City and Borough of Juneau has reached a collective bargaining agreement with the union that represents Juneau police; Most of the residents of the Juneau neighborhood hit hardest by annual glacial outburst flooding don’t want to pay for a portion of a buyout program that would allow them to leave the flood zone; Juneau’s city-owned airport was briefly at risk of an emergency closure as its fleet of Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting trucks faced maintenance issues that could have shut down air traffic if all vehicles broke down; Staffing shortages, heavy workloads and burnout have stretched Juneau’s fire department thin. Now, a new chief is at the helm, and he wants to rebuild morale and reshape the culture inside Capital City Fire Rescue

In this newscast: A Juneau man who had been staying at a local shelter for unhoused people has not been seen by staff in more than two weeks and has been reported missing; Winter maintenance of streets, supporting schools and public safety are the top budget priorities of more than 4,000 Juneau residents who took a city budget survey earlier this year; The Juneau planning commission unanimously approved a conditional use permit on Tuesday for a two-story retail and entertainment building called “Alaska Fly & Dive” in the heart of downtown Juneau’s tourism corridor; Language educators in Juneau are working to create a Master’s in teaching program for Indigenous languages at the University of Alaska Southeast. It would be the first of its kind in Alaska; At least 10 high school students from around the globe are in Alaska right now as exchange students. Several gathered in Juneau earlier this month for a student orientation; Alaska senators moved forward a new version of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s tax bill last week. The newest draft of the bill bears little resemblance to the bill the governor proposed earlier this year as part of his broader fiscal plan

In this newscast: The Juneau School Board has selected three finalists to be the district’s next superintendent; The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has backed out of studying a lake tap solution to glacial outburst floods that have ravaged Juneau’s Mendenhall Valley neighborhoods in recent years; The Haines Assembly voted in January to change how it collects sales tax. Now, cruise ships docked in Haines will be required to charge local sales tax on onboard purchases; A measure to repeal Alaska’s nonpartisan primaries and ranked choice general elections will be on the ballot this year, but exactly how its worded remains a hot dispute

In this newscast: The Alaska House approved a fast-tracked spending bill totaling nearly half a billion dollars this afternoon. It’s intended to cover higher-than-expected costs in the ongoing fiscal year, and it’s a combination of several requests from Gov. Mike Dunleavy; Several Juneau boats sank in city harbors during the intense winter storms that started in late December. The city is still dealing with the aftermath; The Alaska Federation of Natives urged state lawmakers to fix Alaska’s dual fish and wildlife management system; A state legislator’s former chief of staff faces charges of child sexual exploitation and child sex trafficking

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.