Juneau

Update | Oct. 21, 2015 3:25 pm

Juneau police have identified Christopher D. Strawn, 32, as the shooter. Strawn was arrested for first degree murder and transported to Lemon Creek Correctional Center.

Update | Oct. 21, 2015 2:48 pm

Juneau police have identified the victim in Tuesday night’s shooting as 30-year-old Brandon C. Cook.

Cook was fatally shot at Kodzoff Acres Mobile Home Park around 10:30 p.m. Police responded to a 911 call about a disturbance and found Cook on the ground. He was pronounced dead by Capital City Fire/Rescue.

Police spokesperson Erann Kalwara said officers sprang into action to find the shooter.

“Conducted a search of the residence for the suspect and then started searching other areas for the suspect,” she said.

Police have yet to name the 32-year-old suspect who fled the scene. Kalwara said he was located just a few blocks away at his residence on Stephen Richards Memorial Drive.

A SWAT team was organized to take him into custody.

“They waited until 8:30 to execute the plan because we wanted to make sure morning’s traffic, kids on their way to school, those kinds of things were taken into the consideration,” Kalwara said. “When they did make entry, he was taken without much further ado and then brought back to the police department.”

Kalwara said the motive for the shooting is under investigation. The suspect’s name is expected to be released later today.

Original story | Oct. 21, 2015 10:59 am 

Juneau police are investigating the murder of a 30-year-old man, whose identity has not been released. Police responded to a call Tuesday night that a male shot another male at the 2800 block of Mendenhall Loop Road.

When officers arrived, they found the victim severely injured on the floor. The suspect had fled the scene.

Police detained the 32-year-old suspect on Wednesday morning but have not released his identity. The investigation is ongoing.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

After three hours of testimony and discussion, the Juneau School Board on Tuesday night rejected a proposal to start a STEM charter elementary school in the district.

When the Summit STEM School was first proposed to the board in August, organizers said it would be located in four classrooms within an existing Mendenhall Valley elementary school, but didn’t specify which one. On Tuesday night, Superintendent Mark Miller said, if approved, it would be located at Riverbend Elementary School.

That school’s principal Michelle Byer says she was informed of this on Oct. 8 and was concerned about negative impacts to her school. Her testimony came amid other comments from Riverbend parents.

“You have heard the concerns from our community – the Riverbend community – fear of losing staff, having splits across all grades. Should this happen, parents who can have already told me that they would look for a different school,” Byer said. “These are some of the concerns, but the question is this: If this is good for some children, why not for all? We had a number of open positions this last year and would’ve embraced these great ideas. We would love to be a magnet school and serve an entire population.”

Retired principal of Juneau-Douglas High School Sasha Soboleff testified in favor of the Summit STEM School as a charter school.

“I’m here to support the effort of recognizing that there are children in our school district today who fail, not because you’re not good teachers, but they fail because you haven’t recognized their unique skill set of learning for which charter schools generally do very, very well in because they are very specifically driven to recognize that skill set,” Soboleff said.

During board discussion, Vice President Andi Story said she’d rather see STEM touch more students’ lives through a magnet school. She spoke against approving the charter proposal.

“When we’re going to have the 80 students go to another program, those students are not in our general operating fund anymore, and so we’re going to have to lose some services if we don’t plan for more money at some of the neighborhood schools,” Story said.

New school board member Josh Keaton supported the STEM school. He said he’d rather start with the current proposal than wait for the perfect proposal for a magnet school.

“I have high hopes and I firmly believe that by voting yes to this proposal we are beginning the implementation of STEM education throughout Juneau, not just the charter school. We are taking that stepping stone to start the process so we can implement it throughout the district,” Keaton said.

Keaton and fellow new board member Emil Mackey were the only yes votes in favor of the charter school. At a candidate debate in September, Mackey had said he did not support it.

The motion to approve the Summit STEM School failed 5-2.

The Juneau Assembly wants public comment on an ordinance that will define the marijuana business in the capital city. It specifies where marijuana can be grown, processed and sold.

Assemblymember Karen Crane said the Juneau Planning Commission spoke about wanting to preserve neighborhoods.

“But they only preserve neighborhoods inside the urban service area,” Crane said. “They have left open action in neighborhoods outside urban service area, and I think there needs to be more discussion about this.”

The city has a moratorium that expires at the end of the year on marijuana businesses. After that, pot entrepreneurs will be able to apply for conditional use permits. Crane said she’d like to hear more input before the deadline.

“I know there’s a lot of pressure to make these decisions but this decision, I’d like to have some more discussion on — instead of being pushed into making it right now,” Crane said.

The public gets a chance to weigh in at the next assembly meeting on Nov. 9.

The kitchen at Faith Lutheran Church caught on fire Tuesday afternoon. It started after cooking oil was left unattended on the stove.

By the time Glacier Fire Station crew arrived, Assistant Chief Ed Quinto discovered that the fire had been put out but smoke was still wafting through the doors.

“The flames had gone up to the tongue and groove ceiling, so the ceiling itself is all charred up. There are holes in the walls where we had to check for extension and there’s dried chem — not only in the kitchen itself but the adjacent rooms because it got all over the place,” Quinto said.

That’s dried chemical, the solution that comes out of a fire extinguisher. No one was hurt during the fire. The Head Start program that meets at the church had just let out.

Quinto said the program will have to relocate as the church is cleaned up and repaired. Damages are estimated to be around $40,000.

Editor’s note: Ed Quinto’s title has been corrected. Quinto is assistant chief, not chief. 

About 300 people heard Dr. Astrid Pujari’s talk at Centennial Hall on Saturday during this year’s Cancer Connection Health Forum. The Seattle-based doctor spoke about mindfulness being both a way to prevent and live with cancer.

“Stress is a fear response to life and we have a choice about how we react to an event; we don’t have to automatically react with fear. Mindfulness is the process by which we become aware of that choice and then choose something else. But in order to achieve that, you have to practice,” Pujari said.

She led the audience through a series of breathing exercises and a short meditation. Pujari showed scientific data supporting how doing these practices can make a difference in physical health and cancer prevention, not just mental well-being. She presented preliminary research linking telomeres – DNA at the end of chromosomes – and aging. She said new studies suggest meditation and other lifestyle changes can prevent the shortening of telomeres and, in turn, many diseases.

“So that’s actually pretty profound – that we might be able to do something psychologically to affect our physical DNA is a big deal,” Pujari said.

Alaskans, she said, may be ahead of the curve when it comes to mindfulness.

“People in Juneau, people in Alaska, because they’re in a place that’s so naturally beautiful, they’re going to care more about lifestyle in a way that perhaps isn’t accessible to someone who doesn’t live in nature in the same way. Because of that, they have the potential to become more aware of what their thoughts and their feeling and how those things are affecting their inner state, but also their physical health,” Pujari said.

Cancer Connection has been holding health forums in Juneau for about 17 years. The nonprofit’s mission is to provide support to Southeast residents dealing with cancer and connect them to resources. It offers support groups, counseling and travel assistance.

President Ruth Johnson said the forum allows people to access information on cancer prevention, treatment and intervention resources. And she hopes it fulfills the organization’s mission set by founder Mike Miller, who was diagnosed with a terminal form of prostate cancer at age 42.

“He flew out of town. This highly energetic man in the prime of his life was terrified. He was very lonely, he was very afraid and he thought, ‘If I survive this thing, no one in my community is going to deal with this alone again,'” Johnson said.

So far this year, Cancer Connection has provided travel assistance to 37 individuals and fields about a hundred calls a month on inquiries for support and service.