Newscasts

In this newscast: Alaska Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Carney defended the court system’s work and laid out plans for the future in a speech to state lawmakers; Juneau’s Visitor Industry Director Alix Pierce shared data from an annual tourism survey that shows the conversation about the future of tourism’s growth is far from over; An education compact is an agreement between tribal and state governments that allows tribes to run their own public schools, and Alaska’s Department of Education and Early Development is working with tribes to kick start a compacting program and give tribes sovereignty over education; Alaska State Troopers arrested a Metlakatla man last week on six felony charges of sexual abuse of a minor, and they believe he may have had other victims

In this newscast: A team of researchers in Alaska have banded together to investigate a famous Alaska shipwreck. The Star of Bengal sank off the coast of Prince of Wales Island in 1908, taking more than 100 lives with it. The shipwreck highlighted a stark racial inequality in Alaska at the time– most of those who died were Asian cannery workers. Members of a 2022 expedition to the site of the wreck are going back in May. In this episode of Tongass Voices, team members Gig Decker and Jenya Anichtchenko share what they hope to uncover; As lawmakers continue to work through an education funding package, members of the House are turning to another priority for the session: reforming the retirement system for state and local government employees. Alaska Public Media’s Eric Stone has this look at a bill that would return public-sector workers to a defined benefit pension system.

In this newscast: The 2025 Native Youth  Olympics Junior Celebration took place over the weekend in Juneau. Elementary school students from across the borough competed in events like the seal hop, two-foot high kick, Inuit stick pull and more; The Alaska Senate passed a bill today that would allow teenagers to serve alcohol at restaurants. The bill would lower the minimum age to serve alcohol from 21 to 18; The second annual Juneau Jazz Festival packed nearly thirty performances, workshops and events related to jazz in four days. 

In this newscast: The Alaska Senate unanimously joined the state House this morning in urging President Donald Trump to reverse his decision to rename North America’s tallest peak as Mount McKinley; Searchers found the missing Bering Air plane on the sea ice southeast of Nome, but they did not find any survivors; A lawsuit that clouded the future of homeschooling in Alaska for months last spring took on new life yesterday after the plaintiffs asked a judge to join four school districts as defendants in the long-running case; Ketchikan is now officially classified as rural in the eyes of federal subsistence regulations, after a historic, landmark decision by the Federal Subsistence Board overruled a recent vote by the Regional Advisory Council to keep Ketchikan’s status as nonrural; One of Alaska’s most famous contemporary bands Portugal. The Man, along with Samantha Crain and Ya Tseen sold out two shows this weekend to raise money for an effort to rebuild a Kiks.adi clan house in Sitka

In this newscast: Juneau city officials have proposed a multi-million dollar wastewater bond package to offset utility rate hikes; Ketchikan’s local governments are pursuing a new sales tax on cruise ship passengers; The U.S. Forest Service has completed assessment reports on over 20 topics that will inform how the Tongass National Forest will be managed in decades to come. The last time the Forest Service studied the Tongass this deeply, the movie Titanic was hitting the screens; Delta Junction residents will soon have to make a decision about whether, and how, they’ll restore emergency medical services to their community, after the city’s only ambulance service, Delta Medical Transport, announced that it will stop providing services to the city

In this newscast: Lawmakers are working to hammer out a compromise on an education bill that could avoid the governor’s veto; FBI agents in Anchorage participated in a nationwide immigration crackdown under President Trump last weekend, but local groups, including the Anchorage School District, are pushing back; More than 100 Juneau residents took to the sidewalk across the street from the Alaska State Capitol this afternoon to join a nationwide protest against President Donald Trump’s administration and its recent executive orders; Tongass Voices: Tamara Wilson on her museum installation and the slinkies that live there