Newscasts

In this newscast:

• The Juneau School District is returning over $1 million earmarked for child care back to the city,
• The Alaska Department of Transportation has faced intense scrutiny in recent months over its plan to build a new ferry terminal between Juneau and Haines. Now, the agency is drawing fire from a panel of lawmakers charged with overseeing it,
• For the Alaska Survival Kit series, Alaska Public Media’s Wesley Early set out to learn how Alaskans can increase their chances of finding a date and falling in love,
• Alaska Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Carney highlighted efforts to reduce case backlogs and asked lawmakers to fund new judges and long-delayed courthouse maintenance during the annual State of the Judiciary address today

In this newscast:

• The Juneau Assembly approved more than $2 million worth of city funding to support four proposed affordable housing projects last night,
• As breweries in Alaska adjust to a legal ruling that allows them to have unlimited live shows, a different sort of industry is also celebrating: musicians,
• Tribal leaders from across the country spoke out today at a U.S. Senate hearing against possible changes within the Small Business Administration that supports Native entities,
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski returned from a three-day trip to Greenland Monday. She was the sole Republican among four senators who took the trip to try and repair the relationship with the Danish territory after President Trump’s repeated threats to acquire the island

In this newscast:

• The Juneau Assembly will vote Monday night on whether to approve $2.3 million worth of city funding to support five proposed affordable housing projects.
• Support for grant-funded positions and teacher contracts became the main issue during the Juneau School Board’s budget public forum last week.
• Alaska’s state government remains in search of a solution to its long-running budget problems.
• Kipnuk was one of the Yukon-Kuskokwim villages hit hardest by the remnants of Typhoon Halong in October. This week, residents are starting to vote on whether they want to rebuild their community, or relocate to higher ground.

In this newscast:

• Nineteen people have applied to be the Juneau school district’s next superintendent, according to search firm McPherson & Jacobson.
• Alaska’s largest professional theater indefinitely postponed a run of its show in Anchorage this spring due to financial concerns.
• The Juneau Assembly will vote Monday night on whether to approve $2.3 million worth of city funding to support five proposed affordable housing projects.
• Alaskan Dream Cruises, a Sitka-based cruise line, is closing its doors.
• After proposing to build a new cabin near Juneau’s Herbert Glacier, the U.S. Forest Service released a draft decision last month abandoning it.

In this newscast:

• On Monday, a Juneau jazz musician canceled a show that was meant to be a part of a festival in town this week.  The show was advertised as a fundraiser for the ACLU of Alaska but the organization who planned the festival said they didn’t agree to that.
• The Alaska Department of Fish & Game recently euthanized a sick mountain goat that had a highly contagious viral skin infection that can transfer to humans and pets. The department learned about the goat from a Juneau resident who found it on Perseverance Trail and took it home last weekend.
• The Juneau Assembly is considering whether to ask voters to renew a 3% temporary sales tax and approve two multimillion-dollar bond packages on this fall’s municipal ballot.
• Juneau’s Crimson Bears high school football team is slated to be featured in the most-watched sporting event in the United States this weekend – the Super Bowl. 

In this newscast:

• The Juneau School Board will take public testimony tomorrow as it works on building out a budget,
• American Cruise Lines plans to expand in Alaska in the years to come. But that plan requires prized mooring space in harbors that are tight to begin with. In Haines, the company said it would pitch in to rebuild a public dock to solve that problem. Then, it backed out amid community pushback,
• Former Sitka state representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tompkins entered the race for governor this week,
• A round of vetoes by Gov. Mike Dunleavy last summer have Alaska’s construction industry on edge. Industry groups are pushing state lawmakers to quickly pass an appropriations bill that they say would unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in federal matching funds