Pablo Arauz Peña, KTOO

In this newscast:

• Avalanche forecasters are warning of increasing danger in downtown Juneau and the surrounding backcountry.
• Juneau residents found out this week that their local electric utility will not cover damage caused by an unusual power surge in November.
• Matanuska-Susitna Borough submitted a bid to host the 2024 Arctic Winter Games.

In this newscast:

• Schools in Juneau are a little safer now that all teachers and staff in the district are eligible to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
• Hospital employees at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage are stepping in to fill the void to hold some of the hospital’s sickest newborns.
• The Alaska Marine Highway System is working to finalize the sale of its fast ferries to an overseas bidder.
• U.S. Rep. Don Young introduced legislation that aims to allow large cruise ships to return to Alaska this summer.

Schools in Juneau are a little safer now that all teachers and staff in the district are eligible to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Chris Heidemann is a culinary arts teacher at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé. He got his first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine at the city’s last vaccination clinic.

Heidemann said before that, it was difficult having kids back in his classroom.

“It was a constant stressor on top of, you know, the day-to-day stress of trying to design instruction for both remote and in-person students, to have to worry about, you know, not having the vaccination,” Heidemann said.

Superintendent Bridget Weiss said it took a lot of advocacy with the state’s medical team to get all teachers on the eligibility tier for vaccination. The original tier was limited to educators 50 and up.

“Many other states did not do that, wherever they put educators in the tiered system, it was just all educators versus split by age,” Weiss said. “We were a little surprised when that original announcement came out.”

She said out of about 750 staff, 350 have been vaccinated at least once. Another 230 are planning to get vaccinated.

“Certainly want as many to get vaccinated as are comfortable getting vaccinated,” Weiss said. “At this point, it’s just been helping facilitate the process so that they know how to get an appointment and all of those pieces.”

Heidemann is still teaching a majority of his class remotely. He said, with kids, it’s especially challenging.

“I mean, right now I’m assessing cooking via photographs that they send me from their home kitchens,” Heidemann said.

But, there is an upside to teaching at least for families.

“I’ve had a ton of comments from parents that it’s been awesome to have their kids at home, cooking a meal and providing that to siblings and family and then help cleaning up and working around the kitchen,” he said.

He said he’s looking forward to the day he can do his job that way it’s supposed to be done — in the kitchen with all his students, safely.

Those eligible to get vaccinated can sign up online for the city’s upcoming vaccination clinic on March 12th and 13th at or by calling the city’s COVID-19 hotline at 586-6000.

In this newscast:

• Hospital workers began processing COVID-19 tests locally in Juneau on Tuesday.
• Many Petersburg residents are rallying behind a family left homeless after a Feb. 15 fire destroyed their Scow Bay rental.
• Petersburg’s COVID cases continue to climb from an outbreak that appears to have begun last week.
• Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday and is suffering from what his office is calling mild symptoms.

In this newscast:

• The president of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium Andy Teuber has resigned.
• Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka ceelbrated Gil Truitt Day today and will honor the Tlingit elder and local historian this evening with a plaque dedication and tribute.
• Some Alaska communities have had no COVID-19 cases through the whole pandemic and have vaccinated enough people to be close to reaching herd immunity.
• Trident Seafoods’ huge processing plant on the remote Aleutian island of Akutan reopened Friday after nearly a month-long COVID-19 closure.

In this newscast:

• The avalanche danger for downtown Juneau was lowered from ‘high’ to ‘considerable’ on Monday.
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Wednesday that it would provide assistance for the December storm disaster in Southeast Alaska.
• The cruise industry in Southeast Alaska remains frustrated by Canada’s decision to close its ports to large ships for the year, effectively prohibiting anything close to a typical visitor season in 2021. But in 2022, the cruise rebound in ports like Sitka could be staggering.
• Alaska public health officials say 3,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine will arrive later than expected because of a winter storm that has ravaged the lower 48.
• Newly purchased property and buildings adjacent to an Anchorage shelter are expected to serve as a resource hub for people experiencing homelessness.