Pablo Arauz Peña, KTOO

On Wednesday, Joshua Allen Shaff, 30, was arrested and charged with the murder of Majid Sateri, 69. Sateri was also known as Mark Humford.

According to the Juneau Police Department, Shaff called the police and reported the murder from a senior housing facility in downtown Juneau. Police say the initial cause of death appeared to be multiple stab wounds.

At Shaff’s arraignment on Thursday, Judge Emily Wright said Shaff does not have a criminal history, but evidence shows there’s probable cause for his arrest and detainment.

Juneau District Attorney Angie Kemp described what she could share from video surveillance footage of the crime scene.

“The victim … had gone back to his residence for a short period of time,” she said. “After that, the defendant came to his residence, knocked on the door. He was inside for minutes, and then he came back outside. He was outside the door. The next image showed him apparently covered in blood, or at least his pants had blood all over them.”

The victim’s family called for the maximum penalty of 99 years in prison. His brother Mohammed Sateri said he wants justice.

“I really feel that this man has to be punished to the extent of the law,” he said. “And it was a violent act to a man that did not deserve anything like that.”

Shaff is currently being held at Lemon Creek Correctional Center. His bail is set at $500,000 and his next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 14.

In this newscast:

• A pickup truck exploded in downtown Juneau Monday night, but police do not believe the fire was suspicious or a crime.
• Voters re-elected Ketchikan’s Rep. Dan Ortiz by a wide margin, returning the independent for another two years representing House District 36.
• The Petersburg pool, which closed down after a fire, could reopen with some temporary fixes.

In this newscast:

• SEARHC is no longer offering free COVID-19 testing for people who don’t have symptoms of the virus in Juneau.
• Hoonah has its first confirmed cases of COVID-19.
• Juneau’s electric utility has had an unusual run of outages and blips this month, affecting a lot of its customers.
• Exploration is resuming for copper, gold and other metals on lower Prince of Wales Island.

In this newscast:

• Six students at The University of Alaska Southeast are in isolation on campus after testing positive for COVID-19.
• There will be no jury trials in Alaska’s courthouses until at least Jan. 4.
• Former Sitka School Board president Lon Garrison has been named executive director of the Association of Alaska School Boards.
• As coronavirus cases continue to skyrocket in the state, cracks are appearing in Alaska’s fragile healthcare system.

Six students at the University of Alaska Southeast are in isolation at John R. Pugh Residence Hall after testing positive for COVID-19.

Lori Klein, the school’s vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment, said the students are doing well.

“We’re in touch with them daily, if not multiple times each day,” Klein said. “Our care team at the university is trying to provide wraparound services, including academic support, counseling, health, support for their housing situation.”

Klein said a student reported testing positive last Tuesday and subsequent testing to close contacts found the additional five cases. The university sent out an announcement about the cases on Friday.

A total of eight cases have been reported at UAS. That includes the current cluster on campus, along with a student who tested positive but returned to a home community and one case reported in August.

Klein also said the university is encouraging students, faculty and staff to rethink their plans if they’re thinking about traveling for the holidays.

“Particularly with COVID spiking in Alaska and across the nation,” she said. “However, we know that time away from school and time with family is very important to the mental health and well being of our university community.”

The university is asking everyone who may have been exposed or have even mild symptoms to report them immediately so they can test those individuals and find close contacts.

The City and Borough of Juneau reported 27 new positive cases of COVID-19 on Monday. The city currently has 49 active cases and no one is being treated for COVID-19 at Bartlett regional hospital.

An earlier version of this story reported that a total of seven COVID-19 cases have been reported at UAS. The total number of cases reported as of Wednesday is eight, according to the university.

In this newscast:

• The Juneau School District has shifted gears on its decision to expand in-person classes.
• Juneau households that receive the city’s pandemic relief housing and utility grants this year may get $1,000 more than was initially offered.
• Two local government bodies will now recognize Ketchikan’s original inhabitants before each public meeting.
• A new video game set in Southeast Alaska seeks to turn back the tide on the history of inaccurate representations of indigenous communities.