KTOO News Update
The day’s local and state news in about 10 minutes.
Newscast – Monday, Nov. 17, 2025
In this newscast: The Juneau School District Board of Education is considering giving more than $1 million dollars earmarked for child care back to the city at its regular meeting tomorrow; The longest government shutdown in U.S. history came to an end last week. That paved the way for federal employees to return to their posts, including many in Alaska’s capital city. But as KTOO’s Alix Soliman reports, reopening isn’t necessarily a smooth process and some agency workers are frustrated,; Two landslides took out Juneau's popular Auke Lake Trail in September, causing the city to close it to the public. Now, as trail workers repair it with chainsaws and gravel, they say it's an example of climate impacts on trails they've been seeing more frequently in recent years; Earlier this year, a killer whale totem pole was raised in Angoon. It’s a part of a long legacy of kootéeyaa that have stood next to a clan house. The clan house leader shared the history of those poles and the people who helped raise and lower them over the years at a lecture in Juneau on Wednesday. It was part of a Sealaska Heritage Institute series celebrating Native American Heritage Month.
Read More »Newscast – Friday, Nov. 14, 2025
In this newscast: The Juneau Assembly is slated to decide on Monday night whether Juneau should adopt a ranked choice voting system for municipal elections beginning next year; The City and Borough of Juneau demolished an encampment of unhoused people in the Mendenhall Valley again this morning; Palmer Republican Sen. Shelley Hughes resigned from the Alaska Senate today to pursue her gubernatorial candidacy; Juneau high school students are getting real-world building experience while creating much-needed affordable homes in the community.
Read More »Newscast – Thursday, No.v. 13, 2025
In this newscast: University of Alaska President Pat Pitney will retire this spring; After a decade of serving Juneau a range of fresh food and diverse flavors, a beloved local restaurant is closing its doors later this month. Zerelda’s Bistro was started by a couple who love food almost as much as they love each other; Powerful solar storms brought a dazzling light show to the skies above the Northern Hemisphere this week. As the Alaska Desk’s Shelby Herbert reports, even scientists who have observed the aurora for decades say this storm is something special; A derelict vessel is no longer drifting unmanned in the waters of the Wrangell Narrows, near Petersburg; Nine puppies found seemingly abandoned in a crate at the Fox transfer site in Fairbanks last week were all adopted by new families in a single day
Read More »Newscast – Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025
In this newscast: The number of Democrats running for governor of Alaska grew to two on Monday as Anchorage state Sen. Matt Claman entered the race; More than a dozen people without permanent housing have been camping out on Teal Street in the Mendenhall Valley. It’s Juneau’s largest unhoused encampment and the city plans to force people and their belongings out of the area on Friday, ahead of the season’s first expected snowfall; One Fairbanks woman is especially grateful to be home with her family for the holidays. That’s after she spent a month in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Washington State. The Alaska Desk’s Shelby Herbert caught up with Atcharee Buntow about her ordeal, and her hopes for maintaining her residency in the United States
Read More »Newscast – Monday, Nov. 10, 2025
In this newscast: Tomorrow is Veterans Day and there are several ceremonies honoring veterans in Juneau; Juneau's avalanche forecasters are gearing up for winter; The state of Alaska is limiting payments to SNAP recipients this week in response to federal guidance; Dozens of elders and youth from around Alaska learned how to process a seal at a workshop last month
Read More »Newscast – Friday, Nov. 7, 2025
In this newscast: The delay in SNAP benefit payments has driven Juneau residents to worry that their next meal isn’t guaranteed, and local organizations are stepping up their efforts to fill the gaps; The University of Alaska Board of Regents approved increasing tuition across the board by 4% next year; Fishing jobs in Alaska are down for the fifth year in a row, according to new economic data from the state Department of Labor for the year 2024; Cruise ships are relatively new to Prince of Wales Island, and not all residents are happy to have them
Read More »Newscast – Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025
In this newscast: Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is among 40 airports across the country forced to slash air traffic by 10% starting Friday as the government shutdown becomes the longest in U.S. history; The Juneau Assembly is facing some tough decisions in the coming months. That’s after Juneau voters approved tax cuts this fall, leaving an estimated $12 million annual hole in the city’s budget. Last night, Assembly members discussed what that will mean for the level of services the city can provide moving forward; The state of Alaska is moving forward with a controversial plan to build a brand-new ferry terminal north of Juneau that it says will have short- and long-term benefits. But the idea has stirred pushback in communities who rely on the ferry system to access healthcare, air travel and more in Juneau. An advisory board charged with overseeing the ferry system’s planning process has also raised concerns; The Municipality of Anchorage is set to own its city hall, rather than rent it, after the Assembly approved a purchase agreement Tuesday night. In total, the city is authorized to spend about $35 million dollars on both the building and renovations to the roof and fire systems.
Read More »Newscast – Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025
In this newscast: Alaska might soon regulate its own hazardous waste if authorized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Haines and Skagway are among the communities across Alaska are doing what they can to support the more than one thousand people displaced by Typhoon Halong; The largest community in the North Slope Borough has a new grocery store; College Gate Elementary School now have 70 new students who evacuated from Western Alaska communities after ex-typhoon Halong last month.
Read More »Newscast – Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025
In this newscast: The U. S. Coast Guard may briefly be unable to hear distress calls in Southeast Alaska for 3-5 minute intervals this week; Tenants living in Juneau’s historic Telephone Hill neighborhood had until this past weekend to move out. But some didn’t, and several are now suing the city to reverse the evictions. At the same time, city officials are discussing the next steps for the downtown neighborhood's redevelopment into new, denser housing; A controversial higher education compact from the Trump administration has sparked a petition from several University of Alaska unions, who say they’re worried about political overreach stifling academic freedom; Alaska’s state-owned economic development and finance corporation is committing another $50 million to the controversial Ambler Road Project. Earlier this month, the board of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority unanimously voted to make the money available to support the 211-mile project, which would connect the Dalton Highway to an undeveloped, mining region near the Brooks Range.
Read More »Newscast – Monday, Nov. 3, 2025
In this newscast: The Juneau Assembly doesn't plan to take a stance on whether it's in favor of the state's proposed Cascade Point Ferry Terminal north of Juneau; Five firefighter apprentices in Juneau received their pins on Saturday — that means the formally joined the force; Renters living in Juneau's Telephone Hill neighborhood had until Saturday to vacate their homes before the city would have evicted them; The Juneau Assembly is hoping to avoid paying a portion of the cost for a federal program that would offer buyouts to residents living on the street hardest-hit by the city's annual glacial outburst flood; People who rely on food assistance from SNAP, the Supplemental nutrition Assistance Program, could have their electronic benefits cards refilled as soon as this week; The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently canceled its contract with the entity that collects much of the data on earthquake and tsunami signals.
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