Juneau

State transportation officials will hold a virtual public forum on Wednesday evening on proposed safety improvements at one of Juneau’s most dangerous intersections.

The intersection at Yandukin Drive and Egan Drive is near the Fred Meyer grocery store and has long been one of Juneau’s most accident-prone areas. Dozens of crashes, some deadly, have occurred there over the years. 

Sonny Mauricio, a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Transportation, said the state is hosting the meeting to gather public feedback and share more information about a proposed plan to improve safety at the intersection. 

“This intersection is historically one of Juneau’s most dangerous, ranking as the third highest for injury crashes in Juneau,” he said. “The primary issue is the high-risk left turn going towards Fred Meyer.”

The proposed improvements would partially signalize the intersection with a traffic light and add a pedestrian crossing, which Mauricio said will help improve safety, circulation and connectivity. 

Juneau residents have been vocal about the need for safety changes for at least two decades. In 2023, the Juneau Assembly passed a resolution asking the state to make “immediate and substantial improvements” at the intersection following a fatal crash.

Since then, the state has made small changes like extending the medians there, painting clearer markings and introducing a seasonal speed limit reduction. 

According to Mauricio, the state hopes to secure a contractor and begin construction for the more substantial improvements later this year. 

“We’re making the intersection safer for everyone, including drivers, and there’ll be more features for pedestrians and cyclists as well, with crosswalks and things like that,” he said. “It’s a major improvement for that intersection.”

The virtual open house meeting is on Wednesday evening at 5:30 p.m. More information about the proposed project and the meeting link can be found on the Department of Transportation’s website.

A Canadian company with plans to mine for gold near the face of Herbert Glacier applied to punch an access road through state land in December. The state opened a public comment period for the road last week. 

Grande Portage Resources wants to build a 15 foot-wide and 1.3 mile-long unpaved road with helicopter pads connected to Glacier Highway around mile 27. The road between Herbert River and Eagle River would allow the company to stage drilling supplies for transportation to the proposed New Amalga mine site. 

This would be the first segment of road that will eventually reach the mine site if the U.S. Forest Service approves the operation, according to the company’s application to the state. 

The Forest Service approved exploratory drilling at New Amalga last spring. Grande Portage has been flying in prospecting supplies from Mendenhall Valley and wrote in its application that building a new staging site and access road will shorten the helicopter flights.

The road would cut through forest and wetlands in a popular recreation area near the Eagle Glacier Cabin trail, Herbert Glacier Trail and Windfall Lake Cabin Trail. 

If approved, the company anticipates road construction will begin this spring. 

The deadline to submit public comments is March 13 at 5 p.m. and comments can be emailed to john.driscoll@alaska.gov. 

Monday is Elizabeth Peratrovich Day, an Alaska State holiday honoring a Lingít activist who testified before Alaska’s territorial legislature in Juneau to demand civil rights for Alaska Native people.  

In the 1940s, the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood began petitioning Alaska’s territorial governor for civil rights protection. That included equal access to public facilities and services, banning racial discrimination in businesses open to the public, and no more signs that said things like “No dogs, no Natives.”

Elizabeth Peratrovich Day marks the anniversary of the Alaska Anti-Discrimination Act passed in 1945. It was the first anti-discrimination act to become law in any state or territory in the United States and came years before the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum.

Lingít author Shaankaláx̱t’ Ernestine Hayes said Peratrovich and her legacy inspire her, especially as she reads the news today. 

“Not only are we facing the same challenges as she faced,” she said. “But we have her as a model, and if we stop and consider ‘what would she be doing right now, today?’ then we can use her example as the choices we should make.”

Hayes has written two memoirs, chronicling her life in and out of Southeast Alaska in the wake of Peratrovich’s advocacy.

She was selected as Alaska State Writer Laureate in 2016. In 2021, she was named the Rasmuson Foundation’s Distinguished Artist. Two years later, she was awarded a United States Artists fellowship.

One way Hayes thinks we can embody Peratrovich’s mission today: making sure that Alaska Native people continue to have a seat at decision-making tables. 

“We need to ask ‘Has that discrimination that Elizabeth Peratrovich fought, has it just moved out of the restaurants and into the boardroom and into the organizing committees?’” she said.

And Hayes said Peratrovich’s fight against discrimination isn’t over – especially when it comes to pointing the mirror at ourselves.

“If we speak out, demonstrate against or protest against an administration that, as policy, is trying to destroy diversity and inclusion,” she said. “Then we really should be modeling that ourselves.” 

She said having a state holiday to celebrate Peratrovich’s advocacy is a step toward deeper and more meaningful acknowledgement of the role Alaska Native people have had and continue to have in shaping our community. 

“It’s certainly not our ultimate goal, which is inclusion, but I think it’s a good step, as long as we always remember there’s no real final step in nurturing our values,” Hayes said. “There’s always more to do.”

Peratrovich’s testimony is often credited with swaying the territorial legislature. Though no audio recording of her actual testimony exists, a version of it for kids has been memorialized in an episode of the PBS Kids show “Molly of Denali.”

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Waesche is currently docked in the capital city at the downtown cruise ship dock as it prepares to venture to the Bering Sea to conduct maritime security operations and fisheries enforcement.

The 418-foot-long national security cutter and its roughly 150 crew arrived in Juneau on Thursday morning. It’s homeported in Alameda, California.

Petty Officer 1st Class Travis McGee said the ship is in Juneau for a logistical stop as it heads north for an Arctic District patrol in the Bering Sea. 

“Their primary focus on this patrol is going to be fisheries enforcement, but they’re also able to respond to other missions as well, including search and rescue,” he said in an interview Friday afternoon. 

McGee could not confirm how long the ship would remain in Juneau before continuing on. He said the Coast Guard typically does not release the specific timelines of vessel movements.

The Juneau School District released a budget simulation tool on Wednesday that allows people to build and submit what they think the district’s budget should look like.

Balancing Act focuses on building the district’s operating budget. That includes funding for student instruction, including teachers, administrators and school supplies.

The district originally planned to also send a budget survey to families earlier this month. But Juneau School Board Vice President Elizabeth Siddon said during a budget work session last month she was concerned that the community might not see its responses reflected in the budget.

“I don’t want to put a survey out that is not real clear to the public how we used it later, especially in our budget,” she said. “So this all needs to have clear line of sight, what we’re going to do with the feedback we get in the budgeting process.”

The board unanimously decided to set the survey aside this year after board member Steve Whitney brought up the idea.

The budget tool starts off with a preliminary budget that maintains all of the district’s current services going into the next school year. It gives the public options on where they can add or cut teachers and funding. But there are some limits.

Some funding is required by law and can’t be changed. Other services can’t be cut by more than 10%. Information in the tool states larger cuts “would likely result in the inability to maintain compliance.”

The initial budget begins with a $5.3 million dollar deficit and assumes the city will contribute $35.8 million – the maximum it’s legally allowed to. Even when making all the cuts possible within the tool, the district is still left with a $1.1 million deficit. That could be covered with the district’s savings.

There’s an opportunity within Balancing Act to write comments on every source of revenue and expenditures.

Juneau School District Chief of Staff Kristin Bartlett said in an email the tool will likely close between the first and second reading of the budget, which is currently scheduled between Feb. 19 and March 10.

This isn’t the first time Juneau residents have been able to build their own budget. The city released its own version when building a budget in 2022.The next budget related meeting is Saturday at 8:30 a.m. at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé. Community members can also submit written feedback by emailing budgetinput@juneauschools.org. The board is expected to approve a budget by March 12.

Hundreds of thousands of people attended the Seahawks Super Bowl 2026 parade in Seattle on Wednesday, and Juneau resident and Seahawks superfan Donna James was one of them. 

James went to the parade with her partner, Ken Willard, also a Juneau resident. The two decided to make the trip to Seattle after the Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots 29 to 13 in Sunday’s game. 

“We watched the Super Bowl, and they announced that the parade was going to be on Wednesday. So right after the Super Bowl, I said, ‘Well, are we gonna go? Are we gonna go?’ He said, ‘Let’s get our tickets now.’ So we got our tickets that night, and we flew out on Tuesday,” James said. 

On the day of the parade, James and Willard woke up at 3 in the morning and got to the parade grounds in downtown Seattle at 5 a.m. for an 11 a.m. start time.

They watched the parade from a bridge on 4th Avenue. James said being at the parade, cheering for her favorite team alongside other “12s” – as Seahawks fans are known – was “a dream come true.”

“When I’m around Seattle Seahawk fans, I get this cold chill, a happy feeling. (I’m) just so happy. It’s hard to explain,” James said. “And then halfway through, I kind of cried – just to be at a Super Bowl parade with a favorite team, all the fans.” 

James has been a Seahawks fan since 2010. She’s been known to drive around Juneau in a truck with Seahawks decals, and her license plate says “GO HWKS.”

And she has countless memorabilia – including Seahawks-themed Tlingit regalia, jewelry and a paddle, signed football helmets and Seahawks luggage. James said she never misses watching a Seahawks game and has attended 18 in person.