Pablo Arauz Peña, KTOO

No one was harmed in a traffic accident Friday morning that left a school bus in a ditch along the Douglas Highway at the bottom of Crow Hill.

Erran Kalwara with the Juneau Police Department says the crash happened around 9:30. A pick-up truck hit the bus at the intersection. The bus was left in place most of the day while a tow truck company figured out how to pull it out, Kalwara said.

Kristin Bartlett with the Juneau School District says the bus was just starting its run to pick up students who attend Sayéik Gastineau Community School.

Both the district and the company that operates school busses said no students were on the bus. And the police department confirmed that neither the bus driver nor the truck driver were injured.

But the crash caused some traffic delays on the road well into the afternoon. Kalwara said Juneau Police hoped to get traffic cleared up by 3 p.m.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story said that the police department said the bus hit a truck. According to the driver of the bus, the truck hit the bus. The story has been updated.

In this newscast:

• Thane Road will be closed Wednesday afternoon because of high natural avalanche danger.
• The rate of preterm births is creeping up nationwide and in Alaska.
• A documentary film about the impacts of logging on Southeast Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island called “Understory” is making its way through film festivals.
• COVID-19 case counts and vaccinations in Juneau are continuing to trend in the right direction.
• The Department of Corrections says it will allow prisoners to meet with their attorneys again, after a year-long ban on visits because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this newscast:

• FBI agents arrested a Wasilla man this morning on federal charges he participated in the Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol.
• The municipality of Skagway hired a private catamaran on Tuesday to replace this week’s canceled state ferry sailing between Juneau, Haines and Skagway.
• Even though they can get a COVID-19 vaccine, many Alaskan women are wrestling with the question of whether or not they should.
• Alaska’s state government is forecast to receive nearly $800 million more in revenue over this year and next year than was projected last fall.

In this newscast:

• Both of Alaska’s U.S. Senators joined Democrats in voting to confirm Deb Haaland as Interior Secretary today.
• The first Alaska Native woman to serve as lieutenant governor will lead a key Tribal health organization in the state.
• The Dunleavy administration’s plans to replace six state DMV’s with unnamed private vendors is facing pushback.
• Metlakatla Indian Community is appealing a federal judge’s dismissal of a fishing rights case against Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration.

In this newscast:

• Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game is raffling off permits for some the most sought-after hunts in the state.
• In 2020, a year of widespread financial hardship, Alaska’s housing market was surprisingly strong.
• Gov. Mike Dunleavy has proposed a new bill to boost independent oversight and planning for the Alaska Marine Highway System.

In this newscast:

• Juneau has announced its next vaccine clinic will be on March 23 at Centennial Hall.
• Every Saturday afternoon since January, traffic backs up outside of the Holy Trinity Church in downtown Juneau as people line up for Choir from Cars.
• Last month, the state of Alaska’s investment authority agreed to put $35 million towards pre-development work on the Ambler Road project.
• The Iditarod has announced its first coronavirus case, in a musher at a major mid-race checkpoint.