KTOO News Department

In this newscast:

• Southeast’s sunshine yesterday was one for the books, literally. Multiple towns in the region reached record high temperatures,
• There is a small pool of candidates running for the open Juneau Assembly and Board of Education seats in this fall’s local election,
• The Juneau Assembly approved a ballot question asking voters weather the city should implement a new seasonal sales tax system,
• Organizers of a tiny home neighborhood in Anchorage meant to transition people out of homelessness say the pilot project is succeeding, and now the city is looking to launch its own version

In this newscast:

• Contract negotiations between the Juneau School District and the Juneau Education Associations stalled Thursday when both sides declared an impasse, as the district and teacher’s union enter their sixth month of negotiations,
• Northern Panhandle communities enjoyed sunshine and warm temperatures over the weekend but today brought a heat advisory,
• A dead humpback whale calf washed ashore near Juneau’s Douglas Harbor on Saturday, and NOAA officials don’t yet know how it died,
• Members of the Juneau Off-Road Association have been volunteering their weekends this summer to construct the capital city’s first-ever dedicated off-road vehicle park,
• The Trump administration wants to eliminate the federal agency that’s helped Alaska villages develop infrastructure with more than $2 billion over the decades

It’s been almost two years since Juneau’s glacial outburst flood got out of hand. 

On that August day, the water level rose swiftly on the Mendenhall River. That wasn’t unusual. Local experts had been tracking water levels in Suicide Basin — the glacial lake high up on Mendenhall Glacier that fills with rain and meltwater every summer — for years and gave ample notice of the annual release.

But unlike in previous years, the water level rose to nearly 15 feet.

“There is no comparison,” National Weather Service Meteorologist Nicole Ferrin told KTOO at the time. “We’re two feet over our last record.”

One unoccupied house crashed into the swollen river. Other homes had their foundations exposed by the eroded riverbank.

The event caught everyone off guard, including those of us in the newsroom. Aside from some erosion and moderate flooding that threatened a few homes along the river, the annual outburst flood was in many ways more of a novelty up to that point.

The next year, the flood was even bigger and the consequences were much more serious. Hundreds of homes flooded when the river crested at 16 feet. 

KTOO Climate and Weather Reporter Anna Canny covered the aftermath of both record-breaking events. Last fall, she proposed a series examining the floods and secured funding from the Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism to help make it happen.

Now, as Juneau residents and officials prepare to take on a potential third year of flooding, our newsroom has a new series, Outburst, that takes stock of the evolving threat and efforts to keep residents safe.

Although Anna left Juneau at the beginning of the year to pursue new opportunities, this series would not have been possible without her. 

Climate and Environment Reporter Alix Soliman joined the newsroom in February and dove headfirst into flood reporting, picking up right where Anna left off. She’s reported extensively on the construction of HESCO barriers along sections of the river and preparations ahead of this year’s flood and hosts the series. 

ACEJ’s grant supported this four episode series, as well as outreach efforts to make sure information about the flood gets to the people who need it. Those included a community public safety barbecue this July and a set of maps that show the evolving course of the river, its flood paths and the recession of the Mendenhall Glacier.

Outburst premieres in early August. Find it here at ktoo.org/outburst, on the radio and wherever you get your podcasts.

 

In this newscast:

• A second Juneau school board member is not running for reelection.
• Juneau’s Bartlett Regional Hospital leadership discusses the financial impacts on cuts to Medicaid funding.
• Law enforcement officers arrested Juneau residents this week for their roles in an alleged drug distribution ring.
• State Sen. Shelley Hughes, a Palmer Republican, says she’s running for governor.
• Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced today that Department of Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum plans to resign early next month.
• Petersburg teenagers learned outdoor skills on a weeklong kayak trip.

In this newscast:

• The City and Borough of Juneau is inviting developers, nonprofit and tribal governments to apply for grants or loans from its affordable housing fund.
• Two black bear cubs were electrocuted to death after climbing a utility pole in downtown Juneau Monday night.
• The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development is appealing a federal decision that could cost the state $80 million.
• A coalition of schools and advocacy groups, including several Alaska school districts, is suing the Trump administration over its decision to withhold about $6.8 billion in federal education funds approved by Congress.
• The state’s only med school program started this week with its biggest cohort.

In this newscast:

• The Juneau Assembly is moving forward with a plan to temporarily move its regular meetings from City Hall to Centennial Hall due to sound quality issues.
• The candidate filing period for Juneau’s local election opens tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.
• City officials are warning residents in Mendenhall Valley’s flood zone to evacuate when the flood happens — even with temporary levees in place.
• This week’s Curious Juneau looks into a local Easter egg that has fallen silent.