Lyndsey Brollini

Many Alaska Native tribes are getting behind U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. 

One tribe supporting Jackson is Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. 

President Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson said that, while Jackson doesn’t have the most experience in Indian Country law, she is the most qualified candidate nominated to the Supreme Court in recent years. 

“I think her given aptitude for it is a plus for us,” Peterson said. “You know, we want people to adjudicate on the letter of the law, and we think the letter of the law favors a lot of the tribal cases.”

Other tribes and tribal organizations across the state have sent letters of support to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee this month, including the Association of Village Council Presidents, which represents 56 tribes in Western Alaska.

The letter from AVCP stated that her record of fairness makes her a good choice for the Supreme Court. 

“AVCP recognizes the importance of a U.S. Supreme Court appointee who understands and is committed to protecting the rights of all Americans, including those who have historically received inequitable and unfair treatment,” the letter said. 

Jackson also has support from Kawerak, Inc., Hydaburg Cooperative Association, Craig Tribal Association, Native Village of Eyak, Akiak Native Community, Noorvik Native Community and Tanana Chiefs Conference.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are pushing for a vote tonight on moving her nomination to the full Senate and hope get Jackson confirmed before they go on Easter recess this weekend.

Earlier today, Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced that she would support Jackson’s nomination.

If confirmed, Jackson would be the first Black woman to serve in the nation’s highest court.

For years, Juneau Assembly members have said they want to do a project for the Lemon Creek neighborhood. It’s been overlooked in the past for improvements and new projects.

But now, the Assembly says a multiuse path through the neighborhood is on top of its Legislative priorities list. That means the Assembly will prioritize the project in its requests for money from state and federal lawmakers. 

The city’s working title for the project is the Lemon Creek Multimodal Path — meaning it can be used by all kinds of people in all kinds of ways for recreation and to get around the neighborhood. 

The city’s community development director Jill Maclean said the project is complex and it will take a lot of time and money to complete.  

“This isn’t something that we could just make happen more easily as like a small playground within a neighborhood or something,” Maclean said.

The biggest reason for the project is because the city is trying to give the neighborhood the attention it deserves, Maclean said. 

“We’ve recognized, the city and the Assembly, that Lemon Creek may not have historically received as much attention as some other areas and it’s now time for Lemon Creek to get some love,” Maclean said.

Right now, the city doesn’t know where the path will be, what it will cost, or when it will be done. It needs money to make a plan for the multiuse path first. Once there is a plan, there will be a chance for the public to weigh in.

The project hits a few pieces of the city’s Lemon Creek Plan, including transportation and recreation. Maclean said that Lemon Creek deserves these amenities that other neighborhoods in Juneau have enjoyed for years. 

And Maclean said the Systemic Racism Review Committee has made city staff think more about how resources are distributed. 

“That has also put a focus much more closely on land use, how we use the land, how we undertake permitting and how we cite certain uses,” Maclean said.

Assembly member Carole Triem said when the city and Assembly decide how to spend its money — that’s when inequity can happen. 

Triem said the Systemic Racism Review Committee can be a check on the Assembly, but it isn’t just on the committee to think about systemic racism in allocating resources.  

“So I think the majority of the responsibility is on the Assembly to make sure that the Assembly is keeping this in mind and not forgetting about it,” Triem said.

During an Assembly Finance meeting on March 12, Assembly members talked about putting one million dollars into the Lemon Creek path. And the capital budget has $150,000 set aside for planning. But these aren’t final budgets yet.

“We need to be focusing more on Lemon Creek. And when we talk about equity, we can start putting our money where our mouth is,” Triem said.

Triem is also hoping to put some money to some other smaller projects in Lemon Creek, like adding lights at Sigoowu Ye Park. 

The Juneau Police Department has a new page on its website dedicated to missing persons cases. 

The page has photos and descriptions of missing people in Juneau and details about when they were last seen. There are currently 15 people missing in Juneau. Cases span from 1985 to 2020.

All the missing people from last year were found dead. The last person to be found, Clifford White, was found this year on March 15. 

Juneau police used to have a missing persons page. JPD’s Public Safety Manager Erann Kalwara said the page went away when the city put all of the department’s websites onto a new system.

For the past few years, Facebook has been the main place where Juneau police have shared information about missing people in Juneau.

Kalwara said it’s harder to share all the necessary information there.

“We just don’t have enough room to give the details of all of them,” Kalwara said. “So we were talking about, should we highlight one of our older cases every month? How do we want to handle that? And we just decided it was best to readjust that webpage that we had.”

Kalwara said Facebook is still the place to get out more urgent information and to try to get the community’s help looking for someone. 

The police department is looking for feedback on its new page. 

“If family members or people who are familiar with missing persons cases want to provide feedback on ways that they think we can improve, we are absolutely open to that because this is our our first real attempt,” Kalwara said.

Kierstan Farnsworth’s brother went missing last year. She started a Facebook group dedicated to finding missing people in Juneau. She posted a link there to the new JPD missing persons page, and said she is hopeful that it’s a step in the right direction. 

Farnsworth hopes radio and phone alerts will happen next. 

But Kalwara said she doesn’t know if that will happen. Some other communities around the state use an alert system called Nixle to send alerts on missing people. But right now, Juneau police don’t plan to do that.

About every other month outside of Foodland IGA in downtown Juneau, Brian Buchman hands out a newspaper called The Homeless Changed.

Buchman started the paper two years ago on March 15, 2020 and it is now on its 11th edition. Stories come from both Buchman and other people in the community who experience homelessness. 

“They give me a writing they’d like to see in the paper or I transcribe it for them while they explain it because they may have difficulty writing it,” Buchman said.

They cover topics like the general morale of the community of people experiencing homelessness and the policies that impact them. The paper advocates for people in the community and is created to support them.

One of the stories in the last edition is about ideas for long-term housing for people experiencing homelessness in Juneau. 

Buchman gives out a black-and-white version of the paper for free and the color version is a $3 suggested donation. 

He said he has gotten a lot of support for the paper so far from businesses and the people who buy the paper.

“People are so generous,” Buchman said. “People give $20 bills for color editions when they’re only asked to do a $3 suggested donation. People have given $50 bills for a color edition and sometimes, even over these two years, higher amounts.”

Buchman is hoping to hand out the latest issue of the paper late this week or early next week outside of Foodland IGA. The paper is also available online through the crowdfunding platform Patreon.

There were multiple avalanches seen above the Flume trail this week. One happened Sunday afternoon and another Wednesday morning.  

Juneau’s urban avalanche danger right now is considerable, which is a 3 on a scale that goes to 5. 

“You know I think it’s important for people to recognize that even at low avalanche danger, it’s not ‘no avalanche danger,'” said Emergency Manager Tom Mattice. “Avalanches can always occur.”

Rain on top of loose snow is causing avalanche activity. Mattice said it has been a mixed bag of conditions, with snow near the top of mountains and rain at lower elevations causing some small avalanches at the lower level.

Mattice said that activity is not large, and it’s not widespread. 

“People are going to see avalanches, but that doesn’t mean they’re big enough to bury houses, which is why the, you know it’s an urban forecast so it’s considerable, not high,” Mattice said. “And yet, you know if you’re a backcountry skier, considerable means something completely different, right?”

Mattice recommends not going near the Flume or Perseverance trails, or in the gated area above the Behrends neighborhood. Mattice said if you see an avalanche, you should report it to the Coast Alaska Avalanche center. 

You can check the city’s avalanche advisory or report avalanches online. 

The body of a Juneau man who’s been missing since October of last year has been found. The State Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed that the body found in the Mendenhall Wetlands on March 10 is Clifford White.

White’s family reported him missing on Oct. 31. According to Juneau police, there were no search and rescue efforts for White when he was reported missing because there were no known places to search for him. 

White was 29 years old and Alaska Native. He was the fifth person to go missing in Juneau last year.

White’s cousin Davina Merchant said he was outgoing and had a big heart. She said it’s been hard having him missing for five months and she’s glad he is found.

“We wanted to say thank you to the community that helped search for my cousin Clifford,” she said on behalf of the family. “We appreciate all the help and support, because there were so many that were out there everyday looking for him just as much as I did.”

White’s case is still being investigated. Anyone with information on White’s death should contact Juneau police at (907) 586-0600 or make an anonymous tip at Juneaucrimeline.com.

This story has been updated with comments from Clifford White’s cousin.