Lisa Phu

The first Delta Air Lines flight to Juneau is scheduled to arrive from Seattle at 8:49 p.m. Thursday.

After that, Delta will have one flight a day between the two cities until September. For years, Alaska Airlines has been the only carrier flying that route.

Juneau International Airport Manager Patty deLaBruere says several changes have been made to accommodate Delta, including a new jet bridge, Delta check-in counters, Delta offices, and a second baggage scanner.

The jet bridge replaces one that was more than 40 years old. Delta’s  Boeing 757s  are slightly taller and wider than the 737s used by Alaska Airlines. deLaBruere says the airport was able to purchase a larger bridge that’s only 12 years old. The part and installation cost $430,000 and is eligible for a federal Airport Improvement Project grant.

deLaBruere says the airport is ready for Delta’s arrival.

“It made us do a lot of changes that needed to occur anyway,” she says. “It’s always good to have an additional carrier here, that other window to the world. And I think having more carriers and just having additional business is going to be good for Juneau and good for Southeast.”

deLaBruere says competitive airfares between Alaska Airlines and Delta will likely increase the traffic within the airport.

“It’s encouraging, maybe, people to do some traveling where they weren’t going to travel before, which is good. So I think we’re going to see a few higher numbers,” she says.

An online spot check of round-trip flights between Juneau and Seattle in July show the airlines offering the same round-trip fare of $244.

Update | May 29, 2014 at 5:15 p.m.

Alaska State Troopers called off the search for 48-year-old Juneau resident Sharon Buis Thursday afternoon around 4 p.m. Buis has been missing since Saturday.

A Troopers press release says, “Despite the best efforts of searchers, no new leads have been found since discovering Buis’ vehicle on May 24, 2014.”

A missing persons case will remain open until she is located. In an earlier interview, Trooper Sgt. Timothy Birt said the search could resume if new information is discovered.

The Trooper release says Buis’s family has been contacted on the case status. Her brother and sister-in-law arrived in Juneau Wednesday from Ontario, Canada.

Update | May 29, 2014 at 12:50 p.m.

No search teams are out today for 48-year-old Sharon Buis, who’s been missing since Saturday.

Alaska State Trooper Sgt. Timothy Birt says the search is still open, but it’s in the reassessing phase.

“We’re going back and looking at all the information we have. We’re double checking our facts and double checking the leads and double checking our search efforts,” Birt says.

Wednesday afternoon’s search of the Mt. Maria area wrapped up around 8 p.m. No leads came of it.

At this point, Birt says teams have double and triple searched areas where Buis is likely to be and areas where she’s not likely to be.

Birt says there’s no indication of foul play.

Original story on May 29, 2014 at 6:00 a.m.

The U.S. Coast Guard and Juneau Mountain Rescue weren’t able to find any evidence leading to missing hiker 48-year-old Sharon Buis during an aerial search Wednesday afternoon.

Ensign Dwight Shaffer says a Coast Guard H-60 helicopter out of Sitka combed the Mt. Roberts area for about an hour and a half.

“It encompassed basically everything down to where the tram is and then all the way around the front and side of Mt. Roberts that face Flume Trail. I know it was basically an all-encompassing search of all those areas,” says Shaffer.

This was the Coast Guard’s second aerial look, and the fourth helicopter search overall since Sunday. Shaffer says the Coast Guard is standing by in case Alaska State Troopers need more assistance.

Without any new leads, Trooper Sgt. Timothy Birt says the search effort could wrap up soon.

“At that point, she becomes a missing person and there will be a missing person file opened up on her and if there are any new leads or new information we can certainly resume the search all over again,” Birt says.

Birt appreciates the efforts of all the volunteers and people who’ve offered help.

“We’re still getting people calling in tips, which we’re following up on, and we’re still getting people calling in and offering their time or assistance in conducting the searches,” Birt says. “I just want to let them know we do appreciate that and we appreciate the volunteers who have been out searching for us.”

Buis’s family from Ontario is also grateful. Her brother and sister-in-law arrived in Juneau Wednesday. Birt says they stopped by the command center at 5 p.m. and thanked the searchers before the teams set off to look in the Mt. Maria area near Starr Hill. Volunteers spent the morning and afternoon scouring the Perseverance Ebner Falls area, which resulted in no new leads.

Buis’s coworkers at Juneau Physical Therapy are also feeling her absence.

Owner and physical therapist Carla Goeransson says everyone at work is devastated, but trying to stay hopeful.

“Sharon was a vital part of our team. Top notch orthopedic physical therapist. Over 20 years of experience. Ten years with us, so just a real go-getter,” Goeransson says.

Prior to Juneau Physical Therapy, Buis worked with Dr. John Bursell. Buis has extensive training in orthopedics, specifically back and neck injuries. She also travels to Skagway to work at Dahl Memorial Clinic.

Goeransson says Buis is a reliable and committed physical therapist.

“She worked really well with the elderly and people that were really struggling to get going again. Takes a lot of patience and a good steady careful plan to get there without a setback oftentimes after an injury, so she was really good at sticking with it, with clients and getting them over those occasional bumps in their rehab,” she says.

Since Buis went missing, many of her clients have called the practice distraught and concerned.

Goeransson says the practice just wants to have Buis back, but a therapist from Anchorage will start working at Juneau Physical Therapy starting next week to fill the void.

Alaska State Troopers are meeting this morning to decide what comes next in the search for Buis.

Previous stories:

Update: U.S. Coast Guard takes another look for missing hiker

Scent of missing hiker found on trail but no cell phone trace

Search underway for missing hiker

Update | May 28, 2014 at 2:45 p.m.

A U.S. Coast Guard H-60 helicopter is conducting another aerial search of the Mt. Roberts and Mt. Juneau areas looking for 48-year-old missing hiker Sharon Buis.

A Juneau Mountain Rescue member is onboard directing the search and thermal imaging devices are being used. This is the Coast Guard’s second scan, and the fourth helicopter search overall since Sunday.

“No new information prompted this, it’s just double checking areas, and checking and double checking,” says Alaska State Trooper Sgt. Timothy Birt.

The helicopter search started around 12:45 p.m. Wednesday and will last roughly three hours.

Ground teams continue to scan the area as well. Birt says the command center for the fourth search day is located in the parking lot of the Mt. Roberts trailhead.

Birt says members of Buis’s family are expected to arrive in Juneau this afternoon.

Original story on May 28, 2014 at 11:24 a.m.

The search effort for missing hiker Sharon Buis continues into the fourth day, but with fewer volunteers.

Alaska State Troopers Sgt. Timothy Birt says approximately ten volunteers set out midmorning to scour the Perseverance Ebner Falls area.

“That’s a relatively small area but there are some trails in there that we haven’t covered yet, so it should be able to be covered within a couple of hours effort,” Birt says.

Approximately 22 ground searchers were looking in the Mt. Roberts Trail area Tuesday. The day before saw 35 volunteers. Birt says morale among the smaller group of searchers remains optimistic and motivated.

“We’re getting closer to the end of what we reasonably can do. We’ve put in a lot of effort in the last three days. Today’s effort isn’t what we seen in the last three days but we’re still out searching,” Birt says.

Without any new leads, Birt says the search effort could wrap up in the next couple of days.

“At that point, she becomes a missing person and there will be a missing person file opened up on her and if there are any new leads or new information we can certainly resume the search all over again,” he says.

Juneau Mountain Rescue and community volunteers will reexamine the Mt. Maria area near Starr Hill this afternoon.

Previous stories:

Scent of missing hiker found on trail but no cell phone trace

Search underway for missing hiker

Volunteers are getting briefed Wednesday morning at Juneau Mountain Rescue for the fourth day of searching for missing hiker 48-year-old Sharon Buis. Tuesday’s efforts resulted in no new leads.

Buis has been missing since Saturday. When she didn’t show up for a planned group hike Saturday morning, a friend reported her missing that evening.

Alaska State Troopers say Southeast Alaska Dogs Organized for Ground Search, or SEADOGS, have detected the scent of Sharon Buis on the Mt. Roberts trail, where teams have been searching.

Her scent was first detected on the trail above Mt. Roberts Tram Sunday. Tuesday morning, a different search and rescue dog detected her scent closer to the Mt. Roberts trailhead near the parking lot on Basin Road. Buis’s black Honda Civic was located there Saturday morning by a friend.

Trooper Sgt. Timothy Birt says these are good leads and confirms the search team is on the right track, but a lot more information is still needed.

“We don’t have a lot of clues. Right now we’re doing area based searches of the trail corridor and other routes along the ridgelines and hills here. We haven’t found any clues to go off of, to base our searches on,” Birt says.

Buis was first reported missing 10:30 Saturday evening and the search effort started a few hours later around 1 a.m. Sunday morning.

Ground teams have repeatedly hiked the trails of Mt. Juneau, Perseverance, Granite Creek, and Mt. Roberts, along with side trails, ridgelines and basins. State Troopers are leading the effort with assistance from Juneau Mountain Rescue, SEADOGS, Juneau Alpine Club, and the U.S. Coast Guard.

The search has been confined to where Buis might go for a day hike. Birt says there’s no indication that she went on anything longer since her overnight backpack was found in her house and she had a hike scheduled the following morning with the Juneau Alpine Club to Hawthorne Peak.

Troopers haven’t found Buis’s cell phone. Birt says the cell phone company hasn’t been able to identify the phone’s location indicating it could be turned off.

The Coast Guard conducted a helicopter search Sunday evening with night vision and thermal imaging devices, but didn’t come up with any leads. Birt says troopers conducted another aerial search for about three hours Monday and have exhausted the areas to cover by helicopter.

“We covered the Mt. Juneau ridgeline, Mt. Roberts ridgeline, Sheep Creek drainage, as well as Granite Creek Basin, areas where it’s not safe for the ground searchers to cover the ravines or the snow fields,” Birt says. “Snow conditions up high are deteriorating and the ravines are deteriorating and there’s a real safety issue and concern up there.”

The search and rescue command center is located in the Mt. Roberts Tramway restaurant. James Dooley is with Juneau Mountain Rescue.

“We’re up here because it gives us a better line of sight for our radios with our search teams out in the field as well as just kind of puts us closer to the incident. It’s also a convenient jumping off point for our search teams because our search is kind of centered in this area right now,” Dooley says Tuesday.

Two teams were deployed by helicopter to Mt. Juneau and the Gastineau Peak area early Tuesday morning, while the rest of the roughly 20 searchers hiked up from the tram or from the Mt. Roberts trailhead.

Ground searchers work in teams of two or three.

“In search and rescue you don’t necessarily look for the person – I mean that would be great – but you look for clues. Looking for anything and everything that might be related or not related but you just want to document it. You know shoe tracks, wrappers, pieces of her property or things that can be tied back to her, just anything that might give us some clue or some bit of information,” Dooley says.

Buis was last seen Friday morning between 9:30 and 10 a.m. at Alaska Marine Lines.

“The last person that we know saw her on Friday said she was wearing bright colored exercise clothing, and it seems fairly consistent as to what her friends say she usually hikes in and she currently has a black cast on her left hand and is described as very active, very fit,” Dooley says.

Buis has lived in Juneau for about ten years. She’s a physical therapist with Juneau Physical Therapy out of its Valley location inside the Alaska Club. Buis was last at work on Thursday, May 22.

Besides being an experienced hiker, Buis also plays hockey, kayaks, and runs.

Troopers are in contact with her family in Ontario, Canada.

Sgt. Birt reminds hikers to carry a form of communication and wear bright clothing.

Previous Story:

Search underway for missing hiker

Juneau police responded to two incidents of guns in schools last week, which is unusual in the capital city. One was a BB gun while the other was a .22-Caliber pistol. While no one was hurt or threatened, both can result in dire consequences.

Lt. Kris Sell says the BB gun a 13-year-old boy brought to Floyd Dryden Middle School on May 17 was a replica of a real handgun.

“You would not be able to tell just by looking at it that it was not a real semi-automatic .22,” she says.

It even had the weight of a real gun. And that’s what the boy who brought it to Saturday detention pretended it was.

“There was no threat and he never pointed it at anybody. It was more like, ‘Look what I’m carrying because you never know what could happen.’ So it was a showing off type thing. But it was showing off of what he was portraying as a real hand gun,” Sell says.

And it worked. Another kid believed it was a real gun and told his mother who contacted police.

Sell could only tell it was a BB gun after pulling the slide back and looking inside the mechanism of the gun.

She says a family member had given the realistic looking BB gun to the 13-year-old. Sell cautions against this unless the adults are willing to accept the implications.

“There’s just all kinds of problems kids can get into if they’re flashing what anybody would believe is a real gun. And the response to that either from an armed citizen or the police could just be really horrific,” Sell says.

The 13-year-old boy could face reckless endangerment charges. He’s with his parents while his case was turned over to the Johnson Youth Center.

The 17-year-old male student who brought a .22-caliber pistol to Thunder Mountain High School on May 22 is being lodged at Johnson Youth Center. He was arrested for fourth degree misconduct involving a weapon, which is a Class A misdemeanor.

It’s illegal in Alaska for anyone to bring a firearm to a school. For adults, it’s a felony, but for students, it’s a lesser crime.

Sell wonders if this makes sense.

“I think that’s something that maybe from a lawmaking standpoint we need to think about changing in the future because most school shootings are by students with guns, not adults with guns,” Sell says.

Juneau School District spokesperson Kristin Bartlett says the good news is that no one was hurt in either situation.

“It doesn’t sound like anyone had any intent to injure another person, but at the same time, anytime there is any kind of weapon on a school campus, there is the possibility that someone can get hurt,” Bartlett says.

She considers Juneau School District to be safe, but says the two gun incidents are cause for concern.

“This would be a good time for us to review all of our safety procedures to make sure that all of our schools are running their regular drills every month and every year and then also to communicate with students and families about the expectation for behavior in school,” Bartlett says.

Every school is required to perform routine emergency drills for evacuations, earthquakes and lockdowns.

When police were searching for the student with the .22-caliber pistol, Thunder Mountain High School and nearby Riverbend Elementary School went into lockdown. Other schools went into ‘stay put’ mode.

Bartlett says the lockdown went smoothly at Thunder Mountain.

“The teaching staff and the students all knew what to do and they did it in an efficient and calm manner, so I think it was an impressive response,” Bartlett says.

Thunder Mountain High School had to take similar precautions in September 2012. The school went into ‘stay put’ mode when a student brought in a knife.

Bartlett is in the process of compiling data to figure out if there’s been an uptick of weapons in schools.

Update | 2:00 p.m.

A 17-year-old high school student was arrested for possession of a firearm as Thunder Mountain High School and Riverbend Elementary School were in lockdown this morning.

Lt. David Campbell says a Juneau Police Department officer working at Thunder Mountain received a report from a student just after 10 a.m.

“A 17-year-old female told the officer that she saw a 17-year old male with a handgun. The 17-year-old male suspect was last seen leaving the school on foot,” Campbell says.

Other schools in the Mendenhall Valley and downtown’s Juneau-Douglas High School were in ‘stay put’ mode.

Juneau School District spokeswoman Kristin Bartlett explains the difference between lockdown and ‘stay put.’

“In a lockdown, all of the blinds are closed, and the lights go off, and students get into more of a hidden mode. And in a ‘stay put,’ that just means that we aren’t having outdoor recess and kids aren’t going between classes,” Bartlett says.

Lt. Campbell says the suspect was found near the Thunder Mountain around 10:30 a.m.

“[Juneau police] officers contacted the 17-year-old male suspect near the Dimond Field House. He was taken into custody and the .22-caliber pistol was seized as evidence,” Campbell says.

The teenager was arrested for fourth degree misconduct involving a weapon, a Class A misdemeanor. He was transported to the Johnson Youth Center.

The suspect’s name could not be released because of confidentiality laws.

The lockdowns were lifted around 10:40 a.m. and students at Thunder Mountain High School were allowed to come and go as usual.

No one was injured during the incident.

Bartlett says every school holds drills for a potential lockdown. The one at Thunder Mountain High School went according to plan.

“There have been real lockdowns here in the past. This is the first time that we’ve had an incident of this nature,” Bartlett says.

In the school’s administration offices, Juneau Police Department investigators interviewed at least two students and a parent as potential witnesses to the incident.

Bartlett says the district issued a phone message to all parents notifying them of the lockdown after it was lifted.

Rosemarie Alexander and Heather Bryant contributed to this report.

Our original reporting continues below:

Update | 12:26 p.m.

Thunder Mountain High School and Riverbend Elementary were placed on lockdown this morning after Juneau police detained a person with a gun near both schools.

Lt. David Campbell says a Juneau Police Department officer working at Thunder Mountain received a report from a student just after 10 a.m.

“A 17-year-old female told the officer that she saw a 17-year old male with a handgun. The 17-year-old male suspect was last seen leaving the school on foot,” Campbell says.

Other schools in the city went into stay put mode so no students were outside of school buildings.

The suspect was found roughly half an hour later.

“[Juneau police] officers contacted the 17-year-old suspect near the Dimond Field House. He was taken into custody and the .22-caliber pistol was seized as evidence,” Campbell says.

The teenager was arrested for possession of a firearm, a Class A misdemeanor. He was transported to the Johnson Youth Center.

Campbell could not release the suspect’s name because of confidentiality laws.

In a release, the Juneau School District says the lockdowns were lifted around 10:40 a.m.

Update | 12:05 p.m.

The Juneau Police Department says an officer at TMHS was contacted by a student who said they had seen a student with a handgun. JPD officers made contact with a 17-year-old male student near the Dimond Field House. The suspect was arrested and a .22-caliber pistol was seized as evidence.

Update | 11:51 a.m.

The Juneau School district just sent out this press release.

The release states that after the school received a report of student with a weapon, both Thunder Mountain High School and nearby Riverbend Elementary School went into lockdown as a precaution. Other schools in the area were put into stay put mode, meaning no students were allowed outside. The lockdown was lifted at 10:40 a.m.

Original Post | 11:15 a.m.

Juneau Police Department received a secondhand report at 10:05 a.m. of a student with a weapon in the area of Thunder Mountain High School.

JPD spokesperson Erann Kalwara says the subject reported to have a weapon was contacted and detained at 10:31 a.m.

“Everything is safe at this point,” Kalwara says.

JPD is currently at the high school.

 This is a breaking story. Check back here for updates.