Pablo Arauz Peña, KTOO

In this newscast:

• The Census Bureau reports that almost all Alaskan households have been counted already. But the accuracy of that number is in question.
• Ketchikan emergency officials raised the community’s pandemic alert level to “moderate” after reporting five new positive cases of COVID-19 Wednesday.
• Alaska’s elections watchdog commission says a group opposing a ballot measure to overhaul elections violated state law by airing radio ads with outdated contributors and ordered the group to redo or take down the ads.
• More than 40% of registered voters in Juneau voted in the capital city’s first by mail election.

The Southeast Alaska community of Gustavus published its preliminary local election results on Wednesday.

Voting happened in person for the most part. Karen Platt, the city clerk, said there were precautions because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The only thing that was different from years past is that we were wearing masks and maintaining a little additional distance,” Platt said.

Platt also said the city moved its polling place from the Gustavus Public Library to the Community Center.

“We did that so that we could maintain social distancing, worked out really great,” she said. “It’s a very nice space.”

While there were 328 total ballots total, Platt says there were 206 properly cast ballots and 22 absentee ballots.

Tania Maria Lewis and John Gerald Buchheit were elected to three-year terms on the city council. Michael Taylor was elected for a one-year term.

The preliminary election results are:

• City Council Seat C: 158 votes for Tania Marie Lewis (three-year term)
• City Council Seat D: 135 votes for John Gerald Buchheit (three-year term)
• City Council Seat G: 134 votes for Michael S. Taylor (one-year term)

Platt says the results will be certified on Friday at 5:30 p.m.

Correction: We previously listed Jim Wagner as the winning candidate for City Council seat D. He was not a candidate in that race and did not win a seat on the city council. 

In this newscast:

• Juneau is closing the Mill Campground for the season.
• Several Americans have been cited by law enforcement in British Columbia for breaking rules intended to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
• The pandemic has disrupted all of our lives in some way or another, but it’s had a particularly dramatic impact on the lives of college students.
• This year the FCC opened a window of opportunity for Native Americans to secure rights to their own wireless broadband networks.
• Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan says he plans to vote for President Donald Trump.

In this newscast:

• Voters cast their last-minute ballots today in Juneau’s first-ever by mail election.
• Early voter turnout is more than triple last year’s count in Sitka meaning residents likely won’t have a good idea of who won until Wednesday afternoon.
• Construction began in August on Sealaska Heritage Institute’s future arts campus in downtown Juneau. But they found contaminated soil, which may affect the institute’s goal to have it complete in time for Celebration next year.
• The temporary closure of a nationwide movie theater chain is expected to result in the indefinite closure of three theaters in Anchorage.

In this newscast:

• Voting in Juneau’s local election ends Tuesday Oct. 6.
• With COVID-19 case counts rising significantly in Alaska, hospitals are concerned about what comes next.
• The group tasked with reshaping the future of the state-run ferry system is recommending the creation of an executive board, fewer vessels, and at least two years of forward funding for the cash-strapped ferries.

The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska held its 85th Tribal Assembly on Thursday.

For the first time it was held virtually and it was a condensed version of the usual three-day event.

President Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson says economic sovereignty is ultimately the council’s goal.

“Moving forward, you know, we’re building, we’re doing economic development,” he said. “We’re looking at, you know, reentry and recovery are big issues for us, you know, a tribal college is really being discussed, and we’re just looking at new ways to expand services for our tribal citizens.”

The meeting also included discussions of issues including public health, climate change, subsistence and support for congressional legislation.

Peterson says the resolutions involving money for the tribe or that might have been controversial have been forwarded to the Executive Council at the Tribe’s next meeting.

The assembly also held executive council elections. Most of the current executive committee was re-elected with the exception of two new vice presidents.

• President – Richard J. Peterson
• Vice Presidents – 1st: Catherine Edwards, 2nd: William Micklin, 3rd: Rob Sanderson Jr., 4th: Tasha Hotch, 5th: Delbert Kadake, 6th: Ralph Wolfe
• Chief Justice- Lisa Lang
• Delegate/Citizen of the Year – Cindy Leask
• Emerging Leader- Simon Friday

“We have Tasha Hotch from Anchorage [who] was elected and Delbert Kadake from the community of Kake. And, yeah, we just had our reorganization meeting this morning. I think both are very excited and eager to roll up their sleeves and get to work,” Peterson said on Friday.