KTOO News Update
The day’s local and state news in about 10 minutes.
Newscast – Tuesday, June 24, 2025
In this newscast: The Coalition for Education Equity is preparing to sue the state over what it says is inadequate funding for public schools in Alaska; The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced plans to rescind the Roadless Rule yesterday,; Tongass Voices: Olga Sofia Lijó Seráns on a Juneau bookstore’s 50-year legacy; A new federal report says the group overseeing the 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline System needs to update its operations
Read More »Newscast – Monday, June 23, 2025
In this newscast: The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which oversees federal fisheries off Alaska's coast, is scaling back operations due to federal funding uncertainties; A man died after falling roughly 150 near Salmon Creek Dam in Juneau on Saturday; Record breaking rainfall caused the water supply for the blind Slough Hydroelectric Plant near Petersburg to spill over; Attorneys allege the Alaska Department of Corrections is violating federal standards while holding dozens of immigration detainees; The community of Kwethluk burst with activity as Orthodox pilgrims from across the world honored the first-ever Yup'ik saint.
Read More »Newscast – Friday, June 20, 2025
In this newscast: The Juneau Independent, a new web-based newsroom in Juneau, launched today with a mission to offer a newspaper that is locally owned and operated; A Juneau court declared a woman who has been missing for six years legally dead Tuesday, at the request of her family. The woman’s case was never solved. They sought the death declaration in the hopes of getting a chance to ask police about their investigation in front of an official audience, but that didn’t happen; Invasive species are everywhere… but the folks who dedicate their lives to battling them believe they can win, especially in Alaska. Last week was Alaska’s invasive species awareness week; More than 900 cyclists are set to participate this weekend in an annual cross-border race that starts in Canada and ends in Haines.
Read More »Newscast – Wednesday, June 18, 2025
In this newscast: A man was arrested twice in Juneau last month for fraud, theft and attempted escape; The City and Borough of Juneau and the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska released a draft risk assessment for the capital city on Tuesday; Petersburg’s Borough Assembly on Monday approved limiting the town’s senior sales tax exemption to just low-income seniors. But before any change can be made official, the townspeople will have the final say; For a few weeks in February, Safety Roadhouse hosts Iditarod mushers making their way to Nome. The roadhouse is closed until May, when it takes on a new life as a summer hangout spot – steeped in Iditarod history; The field of candidates for Alaska governor grew to four last week. That’s after Matanuska-Susitna Borough Mayor Edna DeVries filed a letter of intent saying she’s considering a run for governor.
Read More »Newscast – Tuesday, June 17, 2025
In this newscast: The editor of Juneau Empire is leaving the paper. Mark Sabbatini has edited the paper since 2023 and announced his departure in a Facebook post; The Juneau Police Department cleared a homeless encampment on the side of a Mendenhall Valley road this morning; The National Weather Service issued Juneau's first recorded severe thunderstorm warning yesterday afternoon after conditions escalated and a cruise ship partially broke free from its moorings; The special election to determine whether or not to form the Xunaa Borough will be paused until further notice, after a superior court judge granted a stay of a state commission's approval of the proposed borough in Southeast Alaska; Smoke poured over the Canadian border into eastern Alaska this weekend, impacting communities from Southeast to the Interior
Read More »Newscast – Monday, June 16, 2025
In this newscast: The Juneau chapter of St. Vincent de Paul will have a new executive director in July; One of Eaglecrest Ski Area's four chairlifts is permanently closed; Nearly 2,000 Juneauites joined hundreds of thousands of people across the country to protest President Trump and his polices; Juneau will officially have a second electric utility that is poised to expand the capital city's renewable energy capacity, but only if the company can finance and build its proposed hydroelectric project before its federal license expires; A Petersburg senior was targeted in a phone scam and defrauded of over $100,000, but when two men came to town for another money pick-up, they were arrested
Read More »Newscast – Friday, June 13, 2025
In this newscast: Alaska's public schools likely won't get all the money lawmakers approved in a bipartisan vote last month after Gov. Mike Dunleavy unilaterally reduced education funding with a line-item veto; Juneau's fire department is piloting a paid internship program this year that equips locals with certifications and skills needed to work in the field; A shipping container full of empty industrial-sized fish food bags fell off a barge heading from Baranof Island to the landfill in Petersburg and dozens of the plastic bags have washed up near Juneau over the past week; Residents are advised against harvesting clams, mussels and other shellfish near beaches across Southeast Alaska due to concerns about paralytic shellfish poisoning; Curious Juneau: Why is the state capital Juneau and not Anchorage
Read More »Newscast – Thursday, June 12, 2025
In this newscast: The massive budget reconciliation bill the U.S. House delivered to the Senate would block Medicaid patients from receiving care at Planned Parenthood health centers, and health care providers and advocates in Alaska are afraid that would prevent many Alaskans from getting critical health care; The Juneau School District is cracking down on cell phone use in schools; A group of state lawmakers is set to meet this summer and fall to continue working on ways to improve Alaska's public schools; Researchers say it's clear that wolves in parts of Southeast Alaska are increasingly turning to the sea, instead of the land, for food, but now there's evidence that the behavior can have toxic results; Ketchikan's tribal government will soon be under new leadership
Read More »Newscast – Wednesday, June 11, 2025
In this newscast: Juneteenth will now be an observed holiday for most City and Borough of Juneau employees starting next week; Juneau's three Democratic state lawmakers met with constituents downtown to share what happened and what didn't happen during this year's legislative session; In Juneau, a traditional subsistence site owned by the federal government is now one step closer to returning to its original tribal owners; A contractor died while doing maintenance work at a popular cruise tourism facility near Ketchikan last month, and the company that hired him has a history of safety problems
Read More »Newscast – Tuesday, June 10, 2025
In this newscast: The Juneau Assembly voted to increase both the city's property tax and utility rates for the fiscal year that begins in July; The City and Borough of Juneau plans to evict all residents of the historic downtown Telephone Hill neighborhood by October 1st; After upheaval in the federal funding that supports trail maintenance, KTOO checked up on the state of trail work in Juneau on National Trails Day; A team of about 10 people returned last month from visiting the old shipwreck site of the Star of Bengal near Wrangell
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