KTOO News Update
The day’s local and state news in about 10 minutes.
Newscast – Thursday, December 4, 2025
In this newscast: Juneau's Eaglecrest Ski Area will not open to skiers this weekend after all; Downtown Juneau's annual Gallery Walk event is tomorrow from 4 to 8 p.m.; Alumni and former staff members at Mt. Edgecumbe High School are raising serious concerns about safety and student support at the state-run boarding school in Sitka; The Chilkat Valley is home to one of the world's largest gathering of bald eagles, and this year, the highest number of raptors were recorded in more than two decades
Read More »Newscast – Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025
In this newscast: Next week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will hold a closed-door, three-day meeting in Juneau to discuss long-term solution options for glacial outburst floods in the Mendenhall Valley. Federal agencies, local officials and researchers will participate; The City and Borough of Juneau is seeking ideas from Juneau residents about how to spend the fees paid by cruise ship passengers this coming year. More than $20 million is expected to be available for tourism-related projects; The Sitka Tribe of Alaska's CEO is stepping down; Ten years ago the state of Alaska signed an agreement with British Columbia that sought to give Alaskans a say in the development of mines upstream of Southeast Alaska. But environmental advocates say Gov. Mike Dunleavy's administration has walked away from key pillars of that agreement; Tongass Voices: Svitlana Bell on quilting for Ukrainian pride and independence
Read More »Newscast – Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025
In this newscast: With major cruise tourism developments on the horizon in the capital city, the City and Borough of Juneau is resurrecting a task force to look at whether its current approach to managing tourism is working; Eaglecrest Ski Area is slated to open for its 50th season this Saturday, and KTOO's Mike Lane sat down with Craig Cimmons, the general manager of the city-owned ski area, to talk about the season ahead; A portion of the lucrative Bristol Bay red king crab harvest nearly went to waste this season. A catcher processor that was set to take the crab was forced to shut down, leaving a good chunk of the catch to spoil in fishermen’s tanks. But the City of Unalaska stepped in to take those crab deliveries; An entangled whale was found dead near Kodiak earlier this month. Scientists believe it was caught in some kind of old fishing gear. It’s at least the 13th dead humpback reported around the archipelago this year.
Read More »Newscast – Monday, Dec. 1, 2025
In this newscast: The comment period for the first phase of construction of a new ferry terminal north of Juneau has been extended to January 9, 2026; A Superior Court judge is allowing the City and Borough of Juneau to refile eviction cases against the tenants who are refusing to vacate the historic Telephone Hill neighborhood in downtown Juneau; Alaska's Office of Children's Services pushed back last week on the findings of an audit required by a law meant to reform the state's foster care system; Juneau Public Markey ramped up the holiday shopping season in Alaska's capital city with hundreds of people buying handmade art, jewelry, clothes, and other goods; Juneau’s Parks and Recreation department began hosting pick-up pickleball three days a week at the Floyd Dryden gymnasium this fall. In the last decade, new players across the country — especially seniors — have been picking up the sport.
Read More »Newscast – Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025
In this newscast: The comment period for the first phase of construction of a new ferry terminal north of Juneau ends this Friday; For the first time, Juneau's famous Mendenhall Glacier is not touching Mendenhall Lake; As Thanksgiving approaches, some Southeast residents are already putting up Christmas decorations, including a Christmas tree that can be harvested in the Tongass National Forest and Juneau city land; Lingít and Dena'ina writer and playwright Vera Starbard recently clinched her fourth Emmy nomination for the PBS show, "Molly of Denali."
Read More »Newscast – Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025
In this newscast: Sitka city officials look into what to do about the ability for uninsured boats to use the marine haulout at the Gary Paxton Industrial Park; Marc Wheeler talks about potential changes to Juneau Parks and Recreation services; S'eitlin Jamiann Hasselquist talks about community soup nights where she makes soup from traditional Lingít foods.
Read More »Newscast – Monday, Nov. 24, 2025
In this newscast: Alaska's state government is increasingly failing to keep up with requirements in state and federal law, according to the state's nonpartisan auditor; Thousands of Alaskans who rely on the federal marketplace for health insurance are experiencing sticker shock as they apply for coverage for the coming year; Earlier this month, the Juneau School District unilaterally announced it was entering arbitration with its teacher's union after more than nine months of contract negotiations; An Alaska Marine Lines barge that was taking on water off the coast of British Columbia has continued its journey south to Seattle.
Read More »Newscast: Friday, Nov. 21, 2025
In this newscast: Maggie McMillan is the new Juneau Arts and Humanities Council Executive Director. The JAHC announced the hire Friday, more than six months after the former director stepped down in May; A District Court judge has dismissed the eviction cases against three tenants refusing to vacate their rentals in the historic Telephone Hill neighborhood in downtown Juneau; Juneau’s sole electricity provider, Alaska Electric Light & Power, is appealing the Regulatory Commission of Alaska’s decision to approve a new public utility. This month, the Superior Court of Alaska consolidated two separate cases involving disputes between the hydroelectric companies; A lawsuit from Alaska’s only Native reservation will proceed over the objections of other Southeast tribes. That’s after a federal judge declined a request from a coalition of tribes, including the largest in Southeast, to throw out Metlakatla Indian Community’s lawsuit challenging the state’s authority to regulate its fishermen; The Trump administration has a new offshore drilling proposal to offer nearly all of the oceans off Alaska to potential leasing.
Read More »Newscast – Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025
In this newscast: Earlier this week, the Juneau Assembly approved spending more than $320,000 -- made up of mostly grant funding from the FAA -- to purchase an amphibious wetland rescue vehicle for the Juneau International Airport; Starting today, Juneau residents won’t have to pay local sales tax on essential food and residential utilities. Voters in Juneau approved exempting them during this fall’s recent municipal election; A lawsuit from Alaska’s only Native reservation will proceed over the objections of other Southeast tribes. That’s after a federal judge declined a request from a coalition of tribes, including the largest in Southeast, to throw out Metlakatla Indian Community’s lawsuit challenging the state’s authority to regulate its fishermen; Researchers and community members gathered in Yakutat late last month, in northern Southeast Alaska, to discuss local geohazards, like landslide-induced tsunamis, and how they can be addressed; Congress has nullified the Biden administration's resource plan for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska
Read More »Newscast – Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025
In this newscast: Last night, the Juneau Assembly officially killed a proposal to locally implement ranked choice voting. The body unanimously voted to table the ordinance to adopt a ranked-choice voting system for municipal elections beginning next year; The man who was slammed to the ground by a former Juneau police officer this summer is suing the City and Borough of Juneau and the officer in civil superior court; A controversial mineral exploration project near Haines is changing hands again – just one year after the last shakeup. Vizsla Copper Corporation is the new owner. The company says one of its key priorities is earning local support. But at least for one local tribe, that’s not in the cards; Researchers say vessel strikes are a major threat for whales -- including in the waters off Alaska. But a new technology is aiming to change that, by using AI, thermal imagining and marine observers
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