Pablo Arauz Peña, KTOO

In this newscast: Hundreds more Juneau residents with applications pending for individual assistance grants may get paid soon; Gov. Mike Dunleavy warned Alaskans away from “misinformation” regarding the pandemic and his administration’s response to it; Petersburg, like other communities in Southeast Alaska, saw next to zero tourism last summer; Alaska Native tribes are awaiting word on scores of wireless broadband licenses at no charge by the Federal Communications Commission. 

In this newscast: State officials announced today that the next tier of people eligible for vaccination against COVID-19 opens tomorrow; When Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s pandemic disaster declaration expires this weekend, the state will lose a wide range of special powers to respond to COVID-19; Several million dollars in pandemic relief money is still available to Tlingit and Haida tribal members.

In this newscast: Since mid-January, a dozen staff and patients at a Juneau nursing home have tested positive for COVID-19; Relief programs are starting to pop-up funded by the bill Congress passed at the end of the year, which included at least $200 million for rent relief for Alaskans; The Anchorage Assembly will consider a resolution this week to formally recognize Assembly member Jamie Allard’s statements defending a pair of Nazi-themed license plates as a “breach of public trust”; A disaster declaration intended to aid Alaska’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic is set to expire this weekend unless state lawmakers act to extend it.

In this newscast: The entire Southeast Alaska panhandle will experience very cold temperatures this week, with wind chill warnings issued for upper Lynn Canal; The parent company of the proposed Pebble Mine says it is cooperating with a federal grand jury investigation; Inclusivity has always been an issue for scientific fields like paleogenomics — or the study of ancient DNA; The United States and Russia have updated their plan for addressing pollutants across national boundaries in the Bering and Chukchi Seas.

In this newscast: During World War II, Native Unangax̂people were forcibly removed from their home in the Pribilof Islands and interned at an abandoned cannery on an island in Southeast Alaska; In pre-pandemic times, preparations for the summer season would already be underway for Alaska tourism businesses. But uncertainty about the 2021 season has left many in a holding pattern, especially those that rely on the cruise ship industry; A limited number of criminal jury trials may resume in state courts starting March 17.